A Galway Hooker is a traditional fishing vessel. It was typically used, and its design improved, by generations of fishing folk in Galway – a most beautiful city on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
Category: Being
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Home. Soon
In 2013 this will be home.
Pinos del Valle. Granada, Andalucia, Spain.
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Political Ideologies – A Primer.
By: Danny Birchall socialism:
You have two cows. Give one to your neighbour.
communism:
You have two cows.
Give both to the government. The government gives you milk.
capitalism:
You have two cows. You sell one cow and buy a bull.
fascism:
You have two cows. Give milk to the government.
The government sells it.
nazism:
You have two cows. The government shoots you and takes the cows.
New Dealism:
You have two cows. The government shoots one cow,
milks the other, and pours the milk down the sink.
anarchism:
You have two cows. Keep them. Steal another. Shoot the government.
conservatism:
You have two cows. Freeze the milk. Embalm the cows. -
Happiness Is Not To Be Found In A Product
Christmas – is it about the Gift, the Giving or the Receiving?
By: Lisa Dusseault As the Christmas season approaches, I have recently been thinking about how many people out there associate happiness with a product and how many children learn, not the power of giving nor the grace of receiving, but instead the lesson of entitlement. My enduring believe is that true happiness is not to be found in a product.
Perhaps it lingers in the thoughtfulness and consideration of the giver (at best) but not in the product itself. Maybe there are other words that people confuse with happiness and which, perhaps , might better describe their feeling. Perhaps contentment, satisfaction or even delight are better words for the feeling one gets from the emotional consumption of a physical product.
There are some who consider the commercialisation of Christmas to be a good thing – that it creates employment and generates money for large groups of people. There are others who despair at it and, at least with regards Christmas, calling for people to think more of Christ and his message to the world (rather than have a mug, DVD or the latest XBox game ).
As I explore my thoughts on this, I actually don’t care that people buy or give gifts – if they genuinely care about their recipients of their gifts and feel that it is a suitable expression of their love then great. What I am in total disagreement with is the sense of entitlement that I observe people to have about whether they will get a present or what present they will get. I am also in disagreement with what seems like a social compulsion to give gifts – even to those you actually care very little about.
What do you think? Is your happiness dependent on receiving fancy products at Christmas (birthdays or whenever)? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
On that note, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and sincerely hope that wherever you are this Christmas, that you are not lonely, nor sad but full of Joy and Hope.
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People Are Mostly Good (or How I lost My Keys, Shat a Brick and Was Saved By The Kindness of a Stranger)
I recently had an experience that reminded me that people are mostly good. In fact, good people (i.e. people who do good things, often instinctively) are everywhere.
I hope this helps remind you too.
Warning: This account involves mild to moderate panic, spontaneous anger, latent aggression and scheming that would put Wile. E. Coyote to shame. Enjoy.
Life is Not a Walk in the Park
It was a lovely West of Ireland day (which basically means ‘sunny with an ever-present threat of lashing winds and rain’) and my family and I decided to take a walk on the Salthill promenade, via a little play park – so we could exhaust the boys on the kids play things.
Somewhere on this walk, the seeds of my frustrating night were sown. I must admit, I was a grumpy old man on this walk – as though I knew of the impending doom!
After about 90 minutes of hanging out with my family and with the weather turning unfriendly, we headed back to the car park to head home for some dinner.
The Keys! The KEYS! Where the hell are the Keys?
I reached into my jacket for the familiar feel of my car keys, but alas, there was nothing but pocket liner and a used tissue! ‘Don’t panic Michael’ – wailed my inner voice (full of panic).
The future unfolded in my mind like a horror movie that I was forced to watch.As everyone does in this situation, I searched every pocket and even ones I thought I had – NOTHING! I searched again and again, as though the keys were playing an impromptu game of hide and seek with me. Not a trace, nada!
My facilitator mind kicked in. I grumped to the lovely Katharine that I lost the keys and that I needed to retrace my steps. She needed to look after the boys so I didn’t have to worry about them.
Katharine: ‘Are you sure, have you checked your pockets’
Me: [Angry, very angry] ‘Of course I’m sure, I’m not some kind of nincompoop’ (aside from losing keys, of course).I set off retracing our steps (which thankfully were not many and the light was still good). No sign of the bloody keys.
What started out as mild panic turned into a potential diplomatic incident (I am a Brit in Ireland after all). We called the Garda (the cops, the fuzz, the old bill) to let know them that we had lost keys and please could they call us if anyone handed them in. Then we headed off to a café to contemplate the consequences and figure out our options over a latte and a panini (must we starve as well as panic?).
The Bogeyman Has The Keys and Will Soon Have Your Car and your Life.
People are mostly good, I believe that almost wholeheartedly – I have experienced enough of the goodness of people to know.
I say ‘almost wholeheartedly’ because when faced with this situation, I chose to believe that some nameless, faceless mastermind criminal had found the keys, knew that my car was parked in this specific car park and clearly intended to come back later to steal it.Katharine and I went over the options.
This was a rental – so the most I would lose would be the insurance excess – aside from the bloody inconvenience of making claims , revoking cards (Katharine’s handbag was in the car also) and the like, this was acceptable. I could get replacement keys on Monday (today was Saturday), so the singular issue was how to secure the car and prevent the evil Criminal Mastermind from pinching it.Forget the limited financial loss, I was shitting a brick that the Criminal Mastermind would win the day. I visualised how he would vandalise my car, violating my space. Whatever options I had, I had to stop this from happening.
Good People Make Your Problem Their Problem
One of the first things I did was call the rental company (Avis in Shannon). A very nice guy – Patrick – answered and I explained the situation to him. He thought about it and , I’ll remember this for a long time, he said “Our options for this problem are…”. The inclusiveness of himself in my problem was heartwarming. He immediately made me feel less alone. He could have given me the company policy of “You are liable [blah blah blah]”. But he didn’t.
Patrick was magnificent. He called locksmiths on my behalf, spoke with the car recovery company and basically sprung to action on my behalf.
Good People Think About You and With You
Of course, my house keys were also unavailable (I had locked them in the car too!), so the challenge of how might we get back into the house was a real one. We called our landlady to get her parents’ number – so we could get a spare from them (because she lives in a different town to us). We explained the situation and she was so empathetic. As it turned out, she was in town and offered to come pick us up with the spare key . We agreed to be picked up 45 minutes later (it was during this time we had our light , hasty supper).
Our lovely landlady – Emer, newly wedded ( no kids, very hip chick) – shows up in a family sized car with 2 child seats!! In the time it took to come into town, she had somehow commandeered a car with child seats so that my children could travel home safely. I was lost for words, Katharine was speechless (a rare treat!). Our love for Ireland just got upgraded!
Good People Don’t Seek Recognition
I’ll save you the detail but here is what I tried/considered to secure the car in the car park…
- Hire a clamp and clamp a wheel till Monday
Didn’t happen, couldn’t figure out where to rent a clamp (might be a business opportunity to explore though) - Hire a tow truck and tow the car home (spent a good deal of time on this with a tow truck guy)
Didn’t work because the car park has a height barrier that prevented the tow truck from coming into the park. - Sleep in the car park overnight and keep watch over my car
Are you kidding me!? - Immobilise the car by letting the air out of two of the tyres – late breaking idea from my neighbour!
Finally, as I was about to leave home to let the air out of the two of the tyres, the phone rang. It was the Gardai.
Garda: Mike Sutton? I have some good news for you.
Me: Oh wonderful, someone found the keys?
Garda: Yes, Fella just walked in and handed them in.
Me: Fantastic, what was his name, I would love to thank him, maybe buy him a pint.
Garda: Oh, he didn’t leave his name. Just walked in.
All’s Well Ends Well
I have never really understood what this actually means. All wasn’t well , even if it did end well!
However, this experience led me to reflect on how I came to not expect that people would be good, by default.
How did I conjure up this Bogeyman (aka Criminal Mastermind)? Why did I choose to indulge in the fantasy that , despite my experience to the contrary, he would triumph and had to be stopped.It also got my inventive juices flowing. I imagined a device that you could put on a keyring and never had to again suffer the indignity of not finding lost keys. These guys beat me to it.
- Hire a clamp and clamp a wheel till Monday
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Art, Craft and Inspiration
A Question, A Long Flight and Time to Think
I work with brilliant bunch of curious people. The folks at Bigvisible (this is not a plug for them, but they really do rock! Check them out sometime). We have a hugely rich dialog on Yammer and on our internal work support email.
Once such thread was enquiring on Art.
What is Art? What is the relationship between Art and Craft – is there one?
I have often pondered this myself – and I don’t feel the conversation on my work thread sufficiently answered it for me – at least not in a way my brain could relate to.
On my recent flight from London to San Francisco – I had the perfect storm of time and desperately boring and emotionally retarded seat mates (that or they were both Benedictine monks sworn to a vow of silence!). This presented a great opportunity for me to sit and think about this topic.
Those who read my blog, not many I admit, would know I generally speak from my gut, more informed by intellect and heart than citations from the recorded word of others. I don’t often cite books, studies and stuff (unless that’s your kink!). So don’t expect any weird citations of how many cats and baboons can paint.
As I sat in my cramped United 955 airlines seat (exit row – great leg room!) I considered the topic and this is what I found.
Art is Thought
Art is creative thought. It exists only in the mind of the person having it. It is singly and entirely contained in the mind of the artist. I’m not proposing that every thought is Art. I am saying that all Art is thought – entirely. Got it? Good.
From Leonardo’s Mona Lisa to Munch’s Scream. From my doodles in my notebook during a unneccessary meeting to the delightful creations of Ruben – my 3-year-old son. It’s all thought.
And thought is intangible. There is nothing to hold, behold or condemn. It simply is.
Art does not mean good, valuable, beautiful or imply any such attributes at all. It merely means something is created and not necessarily something brand new either. I can think of something radically different from anything that has gone before or simply a novel interpretation of the old. But if it results in anything that doesn’t exist in the world in exactly the same way, shape or form – then it is Art (hmm…I might have to read that bit again!).
As a connected side note – I think it is impossible to have absolutely original creative thought, impossible for Art to be unconnected to something that has gone before – be it other Art, a problem, something in nature, people – whatever. Impossible.
Craft Is Expression
If all Art is nothing more than thought and thought is intangible then why can I admire Henry Moore’s bizarre but beautiful sculptures. Why can I walk around them, caressing their form and consume them as Henry intended?
The moment Art crosses the border of being intangible to being expressed – craft happens. Craft is how Art is expressed in order for it to be consumed.
More accurately, craft is the act of expression – not the output of expression. It is the ‘doing’ not the ‘thinking’ ; the ‘how’ not the ‘what’.
Craft covers any and every form of expressing Art – writing, painting, physical acts (of love, hate, anger etc) – if it is driven by a creative thought – it is Craft.
All Craft is connected to Art – either directly (for example, when artists paint or improvisers jam) or indirectly (think production line of millions of cars – many years after the design is created!).
Inspiration and the Magic of Feedback
So if Art is thought and Craft is expression what happens when Art is expressed and consumed?
Well, that bit is inspiration. Inspiration is what happens when Art is consumed.
Inspiration can result in more Art, more expression of Art or simply expression ( a clap, a smile or the spontaneous acts of love and other emotions etc).
Not all Art inspires, not all Inspiration comes from Art. Perhaps it is possible to not have any reaction to an expression of Art – I cannot imagine that. Even a raised eyebrow at Tracy Emin’s untidy bedroom (replete with post coitus stains) is an action inspired by consuming it.
Is there more?
This exploration has provided enough of an answer for me to not have to think about this any more, at least for now. I have shared only enough of what I thought about to help you understand where my head is at.
There is more on this topic – examples mostly and I would love to sit, drink, think and talk through this with anyone who is interested (and well past closing time too!). There is also the minor issue of where Art sits in relation to Science (which I have mentally crafted but not expressed – muhahaha, now I have cooked your noodle)
For me, this realisation has opened my mind to many other possibilities (inspired me!). Basically it is all Art, in some way or another. Everything we have in our lives, in the world is directly or indirectly from Art.
One lingering question for me is how much Inspiration is springing from all this Art, and what might the World be like if we had the greatest possible Inspiration from all the Art that is expressed around us?
What has it made you think about?
How might it change how things work for you from now on? I really would love to know.So comment please or better still let’s discuss on Twitter or in person (I’m at SFAgile2012 in San Francisco until June 6).
Thanks for reading and be well.
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Whose stepping stone are you?
‘If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants’ – Sir Issac Newton
I have been thinking about this for a few weeks and it has been truly humbling.
No one ever got anywhere without help. Every step of our journey through this world has been aided and abetted by other people. I believe it is the nature of our interconnectedness.
If you’re lucky you know who offered help or witheld obstruction to enable you to be exactly where you are today, then celebrate it.
If where you are now is good – great, if not, don’t fret. Life is funny that way.As you stride through life, through your career or relationships – pause for a moment and reflect two very important things…
Who has supported and help to shape you to make you the awesome bundle of possibilities you are today?
How are you helping others to cross the river of Life’s challenges?Thank you for reading this. Now, smile and go be great.
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An Ode for our Friend Lazu
Stand tall, My Friend, like the giant that you are
You’ve fought the valiant fight!
Soar high, My Friend, towards the farthest star
Become surrounded by it’s heavenly light.
Leave behind, My Friend, your body so weak
Your soul has earned it’s rest.
Let your spirit, My Friend, taste the peace that you seek
You have found freedom at it’s best.
Don’t look back, My Friend, at what you’ve left behind
A better place awaits you now.
Embrace the joy, My Friend, that you will find
And take your final bow.
This is not, My Friend, the last good-bye
For you’ll always be in my heart.
Nor is it, My Friend, all the tears I will cry
For those have only begun to start.
For now, My Friend, I shall let you go
To drift into a gentle sleep.
I’ll be fine, My Friend, of that you should know
For me you shouldn’t weep.
So soar, My Friend, fly high into the sky
I shall see you there someday
Until then, My Friend, I will get by
And in my memory you shall stay.-submitted by Alok.
