Will I sue?

I just found this image on Henrik Larsson's website, he definately never asked my permission to use it, plus i think he may have altered it to give the impression that he is a celtic legend too.

All I can say I my defence is that I was younger at the time and needed the money.

What I'm getting myself for Christmas.

No not the full father ted collection on DVD. This year I'm getting myself a good kick up the arse.

It's been a while since i did anything that really challenged me or stretched me. and although things are grand I can feel them getting comfortable the last while, it's the watching eastenders and eating full bags of sensations (thai red chilli flavour) kind of comfortable and with Christmas coming up, that's really the wrong direction for me to be going.

When will the penny drop that I'm only really happy when I'm trying to climb a mountain, once i get there and sit on the top for a while I get bored, frustrated and have that sense that I should be doing something else.

So that's what I'm giving myself this Christmas, a good boot up the hole, the sort that gets me out exercising more, out working harder, reading writing and presenting more, playing a bit more sport, doing the christmas swim, enjoying life rather than sitting round staying warm.

I thought your man Kahlil Gibran put it fairly well.

"verily the lust for comfort murders the passion in the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral"



An after Christmas update, I did actually take my medicine on this one, and although i did manage a lot of sitting around, I also visited several people, had loads of visitors, did the christmas day swim, played 2 hours of basketball on boxing day, played a full gaelic football match on 27th, had a limited game of cricket several days and played the traditional new years day "american football game" now the trick is to keep it up cos Jan is often a month when it's hard to get really motivated

The ups and downs of life.

Maybe it's too early to be doing a review of the year, but this has definately been a most interesting one.

The American poet Robert Frost (the road less travelled by fella) said

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — It goes on"

It was Joy's birthday yesterday, she's 15 now, and she got out of hospital where she's been for the last week after getting a serious fright, so i'm in appreciative mode right now.

Christmas is coming, fast, there's a few balls to fall into place before that though, I'm never sure how they are going to fall, but I know there are going to be some predictable and some surprises, just like life itself

the only reason i put up that pic is because i like it, it was taken a few weeks ago at a friends wedding and i was obviously happy being the centre of attention.

My meme

The word "meme" was introduced by Richard Dawkins in his book, the selfish gene in 1976.

A meme is an idea that spreads, like a virus, through a population which can change the way we think about things, An example of a meme might be that you can do all your Christmas shopping without leaving your house, unthinkable a few years ago, but the idea has now spread and in a few years many many more people will feel safe and confident doing their shopping online.

So what's my meme?

Real change is a adaptive process over time, it's neither impossible nor transformational, but evolutionary.

For coaches this means we should be encouraging small but significant changes rather than trying to change the world, in terms of managing expectations we should not be promising revolution, but rather helping people to move towards what they want a step at a time, change can only really occur when we get momentum, not the pretendy enthusiasm which follows a motivational event, but real momentum built on concrete personal evidence.

I badly ned to find simpler language to get this across, but that's basically the idea I want to propogate.

Everton 7 Sunderland 1

This can't be right can it? i thought it was all about not failing to prepare, and being incredibly intense and not having any big egos in the dressing room.

And then getting stuffed 7-1, not by United, Liverpool, Arsenal or even Chelsea, but by Everton.

Frankly I'm appalled, I don't know what to think anymore.

Much better when it's busy.

Life is just much better when it's busy, whenever I read through my insights personal profile, it strikes me how easy I get bored and how dissatisfied I get when I don't have lots to do.

Too much of a good thing!

It's probably not a good idea to be blogging while watching TV.

I'm watching the mind blowing "high society", the RTE programme which makes me want to run out the front door and buy a gram from the first dealer I meet, It would certainly makes you think about the concept of addiction.

Cocaine looks to be great, the only reason people seem to stop using is that they get into financial trouble, lose a job, or get forced into rehab by somebody who really cares about them.

There is very little evidence that people ever go into rehab voluntarily, in fact the guy at the end made two very interesting statements.

1. I am certain that 95% of the best times in my entire life were when I was on a cocaine blast.
2. If i was 65 and diagnosed with a terminal illness would I go back using? You bet i would.

Now Brian Treacy "guru" used to have a goal setting exercise where he would ask what you would do if you were told you only had 6 months to live, I doubt he ever got "do as much coke as I can afford" as a response.

The problem in life is not drink or cocaine or sex or even scientology, the problem in life is that you can have too much of a good thing.

Irish people are just shite at moderation.

Absorbed!

How does it feel to be in "the flow"?

Completely involved, focused, concentrating - with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training
Sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality
Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going
Knowing the activity is doable - that the skills are adequate, and neither anxious or bored
Sense of serenity - no worries about self, feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of ego - afterwards feeling of transcending ego in ways not thought possible
Timeliness - thoroughly focused on present, don't notice time passing
Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces "flow" becomes its own reward

it's just a lovely place to be, when high skills meets high challenge.

Capturing Mary.

There's a massive amount happening in my life at the moment, it's not all positive and I find it hard to sit and simply focus on one thing for too long, there's also a great temptation for distraction from the difficulties I'm experiencing so it was in this light that I sat down last night to watch the new Stephen Poliakoff movie "Capturing Mary" on BBC.

After last week watching the Jimmy McGovern drama "The Street" all I can say is thank God for the BBC. They really do make the most wonderful pieces allowing one to forget all their worries and be transported to a different place for a little while. One of our greatest needs in modern society seems to be the need to be "distracted" from life by something else, TV, drugs, religion, something that will make us feel better about ourselves for a time. I usually think that this is taking refuge and failing to confront the issues in life, but I think I might be a little more conpassionate about it in the future.

There are some things in life that cannot be either controlled on wished away. There are difficulties that just are, things that can't be effectively confronted or run away from, perhaps these are the things that simply must be endured. Of course we are determined by our choices, but there are things in life we simply don't choose, illness, difficult relationships, and family are just 3 examples, we also have to expect that once you choose you can gain but you can also lose, so it's not just about choosing it's about trying to make the right choices.

This was intended to be about capturing mary, but as usual it's about me.

Births, Deaths and Marriages.

I'm off to the wedding of my friend Brian, and while I'm at the wedding I'll be thinking about the breakup of another friends marriage. And then in the next 12 months someone will die, and new people and things will be born, some will fall in love and more will fall out of it and do you know what... that's just fucking life.

It's births, deaths, marriages, divorces, tax, christmases, sex, sickness, joy, holidays, hope, pain, victories and car accidents.

It's a bloody rollercoaster because it's supposed to be, it's either highs and lows, or it flatlines... at which point it's so beige that you might as well be bloody dead anyway.

You want a life without pain, try a lobotomy? cocaine? Jumping off a bridge?

Otherwise it's a marriage today and a divorce tomorrow, a birth sunday and a death monday.. that's life man. don't expect it any other way.

Saturday afternoon

Spent a lovely few hours on Sat afternoon just going through and scanning some old pics, these are my maternal grandparents, taken in Glasgow in 1934

Where does it all go?

Nothing like this time of year for concentrating the mind, October 31st is the tax deadline (us tech friendly online dudes get an extra few weeks) and I'm just about to sit with the accountant to sign off on 2006.

Fantastic year, fantastic revenues, excellent profits... I have only one question ... WHERE THE **** DOES IT ALL GO?

Sure i can see some of it, in and around the house, and we did a few things of note, but I am totally shocked as to how much it costs just to live a "normal" life in Ireland these days.

It's difficult for us fortysomethings, I remember my first job had a salary of less than ten grand a year, maybe i still kinda think like that.... that if you have forty or fifty you should be well off.... it certainly does not work like that anymore... there are only two cures, cut back on expenses or earn more revenue, I'll try a bit of both and see what happens.

Update.... Just back from the meeting, that's the revenue sorted for another 12 months, it's amazing how quick it all comes around.

Sometimes my head hurts!

There are times I'm not sure if I'm heading in the right direction, if what i'm doing is actually making a difference.

At the weekend I got a lovely email from a client, and it reminded me of a story I heard from another guy on a course a few months ago who said.

"this young fella was walking along a beach when he came across hundreds and hundreds of stranded starfish, so he stopped and began throwing them back into the water, one by one, after a while a man comes along and while giving him a funny look asked him what he was doing?

The young fella said he was saving the starfish.

But the older man said... Look son, you're mad, there are thousands and thousands of starfish, you can't possibly make a difference.

At which point the young fella picked up another starfish, threw it back into the sea and replied.

Well I made a difference to that one.

Anvils around the corner!

"Dont worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday"

Sunscreen - Baz Lurhmann

Amazing how we've all been kinda programmed to worry, but the man is spot on, it's the things we don't know that should be bothering us, not the things we do.

and here was I thinking that as I got older life would have fewer surprises.

Not true - There's anvils around corners..

effin eddie

I first heard effin eddie in 1994, and 13 years later it's still as funny as ever.... enjoy

The wedding.

Such a good looking family....

We had a brilliant time at my brother's wedding in Kerry.

Simplify

It's the start of October, the last quarter of the year.

The summer has been very busy and fairly stressful, and in the last week there has been my brother's wedding (which was brilliant) my sister coming home for good from the states, my fathers 1st anniversary and several other things that had to be done.

So when I sat down last night to write a bit, the only word that would come into my head was simplify. I really only want to achieve two things over the next 3 months.

1. To work hard, bring in lots of business and have a storming year end.
2. To work out, maintain and improve my shape and fitness from the summer.

It's that simple, most other invitations will be declined, I just want a nice quiet but busy life over the next few months with as little extraneous activity as possible.

I'm looking forward to it.

New irish rugby shirt.

C'mon Ireland.... Wouldn't it be great to beat the Argies and stuff the bloody journalists.

Meaning V Happiness

Read a blog yesterday that inspired me to get a book called the Interpretation of murder, the first couple of paragraphs read like this

"There is no mystery to happiness.
Unhappy men are all alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn - or worse, indifference - cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present.

But there's the rub. The present can never deliver one thing: meaning. The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning - the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life - a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them"

So if we must only choose between them, which should we choose?

There is a strong argument for happiness, the idea that we should live only in the present, but it's also a life without "WHY" and although I've never figured out why why is so important, I still have a feeling it is, there must be a purpose however simple, maybe that purpose is just to be happy, which makes a neat circular argument but brings me no satisfaction as to meaning.

There must be more to life than happiness...... it's the most lovely feeling, to be happy, but surely it's not possible to attain it as a constant state.

Mosre questions than answers again I'm afraid... I'll just read the book and see what happens.

Yuvraj Singh 6 sixes Twenty 20 Cricket 2007 England v India

The bloody rugby has me mithered, so here's a real class sporting moment instead, and to think there are people who think cricket is boring. Have a look at the young fella celebrating after the second six.