The Human Imprint

Keeping Time

There is a Time for Everything

There is a time for everything and everything on earth has its own season.

There is a time to be born and a time to die.

There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants.

There is a time to kill and a time to heal.

There is a time to destroy and a time to build.

There is a time to cry and a time to laugh.

There is a time to be sad and a time to dance.

There is a time to throw away stones and a time to gather them.

There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain.

There is a time to search for something and a time to stop looking for it.

There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away.

There is a time to tear apart and a time to sew together.

There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.

There is a time to love and a time to hate.

There is a time for turmoil and ... a time for peace.

Adapted from Ecclesiastes 2

Leisure

I have been preparing some readings for a memorial service for a loved one and felt that I should put them on the blog over the next couple of days as a tribute to his life which was lived with vigour.

Leisure

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

W.H Davies

Quotes on materialism

With these torrid financial times my thoughts turned to the nature of materialism. Here are some quotes which I found thought provoking.

People recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment. Herbert Marcuse

There must be more to life than having everything. Maurice Sendak

You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you. Chuck Palahniuk

Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth. Mahatma Gandhi

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment. Mark Twain

Quotes on greed

Here are some quotes on greed - they make thought provoking reading in the current financial climate.

Ancient Greek and Roman Quotes

It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all. Democritus

Poverty wants much; but avarice, everything. Publilius Syrus

He who is greedy is always in want. Horace

Modern

The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. Charles Kuralt

Avarice, the spur of industry David Hume

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Mahatma Gandhi

What do you find wonderful?

We learn something new every day. In fact some days I feel like I am learning all day long! I am getting used to my new computer which also has a tablet function. In many ways I feel blessed to live in such a time when technology makes lives so much easier. My passion is writing – I love words and I love communicating. I often rant about the lack of understanding of the basic roots of the English language. Our culture is embedded in the language and our history. Many words have French origins, many Anglo Saxon or German origins, others Viking and many more Celtic. Our language is a mirror image of our civilisation. Now we have adopted words from the many new cultures that have influenced our language in my lifetime.

My grandmother did not have the opportunity to go to school passed the age of fifteen and she gained all her learning from books. She wrote exceptional poetry and would read the tales of Hiawatha to me when I was a child with such feeling and emotion. She loved the worlds that literature could lead you to.

I write all day. I write for my work [procedures, policies, plans, corporate documents etc], for my research – [academic papers and position statements] and for my hobbies [my blogs, my ebooks,] and last but not least for sanity [to express my thoughts and feelings and unload them onto paper]. It is now possible to publish your own books at an economic rate; and to access a wide group of people through the internet from a whole range of backgrounds.

My children do take technology for granted. Thirty-five years ago we had to do mental maths at school because calculators were uncommon; shop tills didn’t add up for you; we had slide-rules to work out difficult maths (anyone under thirty probably doesn’t know what a slide rule is!)

When I explain the excitement in my late teens when the early games “pac man” and “space invaders” arrived on the scene and some strange game of table tennis that involved a dot going from side to side on a screen, they can’t believe the journey that has taken place. I ask if some of the wonderment has gone too? As I battle to learn to use a stylus on my tablet – it is old hat to the children; as I enjoy the possibilities of catching up with friends from my childhood on Facebook – it is for them the norm. So what does create a sense of wonder now for young people? We all need a bit of wonderment in our lives that feeling we have discovered a new author we enjoy reading, a new restaurant, a new friend or colleague. My grandmother found life so full of joy and wonderful moments. She didn’t have any of the technology we have to make her life “easier” but she took nothing for granted, enjoyed every moment.

Five quotes from Florence Nightingale

I have quoted Florence Nightingale many times on this blog including yesterday. I feel these quotes are important to consider whatever sphere you work in because they contain a lot of wisdom and truth.

• I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse.
• Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.
• I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.
• How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.
• To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.

New drugs required - does this problem need a multipronged approach?

The Guardian reports that the Health Protection Agency, the government body that monitors infectious diseases, has warned that hospitals are running out of effective treatments. This is a grave cause for concern because it is such a grave cause for concern. My step-father has a knee operation this week, my mother-in-law has an operation coming up in December - this problem affects everyone.

The emerging bacteria of concern are a drug resistant form of E coli called Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-producing E coli. This can cause urinary tract infections and blood poisoning. People with cystic fibrosis are also at risk from Pseudomonas and Burkholderia and Acinetobacter is of concern.

The bacteria Burkholderia is a new one on the block for me this is because it was previously part of the Pseudomonas family. (Bacteria have family trees but that is another story for another day). Members of the Burkholderia family are responsible for glanders in horses which I had heard about and Burkholderia can cause pneumonia in immuno-compromised individuals.

Whilst  the development of new drugs is one part of the solution, we also need to develop new sanitising chemicals which can be used more effectively in hospitals to ensure hygiene is maintained at all times and provide the resources required to clean the hospitals on a continual basis.

Personally, I would love to see every carpet, every mat removed from hospitals as a start. They can't be used in food production areas in factories because of the hygiene risk so why are they approved for hospitals?

Florence Nightingale once said "It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.”

Communication tools: the art of telling a story

Last week I gave a presentation on communication skills. It got me thinking about engaging people by "telling a story". Funnily enough I wrote about this nearly a year ago now when discussing the Pueblo traditions in Storytellers.  Here too are some of the quotes that I really like on the subject:

Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe.
Russell Banks

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today. Robert McAfee Brown

The storytelling gift is innate: one has it or one doesn't. But style is at least partly a learned thing: one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice - by work. Donna Tartt

Last year I asked "so who are our storytellers today? Who will pass our heritage from generation to generation?" Our rural heritage is very important and we need people to value it and what it provides  for everyone - then they will cherish it.

Quotes about passion

One of the things that struck me during the EISA farmer's exchange was that when people talk with conviction and passion they truly carry you along. We met with a number of people who talked about what they do every day at work, their businesses, their way of life and when they talked with passion it was truly captivating. It got me thinking about passion and here are some quotes that I like:

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested. E. M. Forster

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love life, engage in it, give it all you've got. love it with a passion, because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it. Maya Angelou

None, but people of strong passion are capable of rising to greatness.” Comte de Mirabeau

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. Benjamin Franklin

What being a mother has taught me

Well the children go back to school today after seven weeks at home. I speak to some parents and they say that the holidays have dragged and I speak to others who say that the time has gone in a flash. I do enjoy spending time with the children and being “Mum”. As I am self-employed I am flexible – I can work at night and in their “chill-out” times or when they are doing activities or meeting friends. It means that I can still meet deadlines and they are old enough not to have to be rushing about organising child-care on the days that I am away in the holidays. There has been lots of debate in the media about whether giving a fair proportion of your time to motherhood and working around parenthood rather than the other way around makes you a good prospect or candidate for a top job. Well here are the things that motherhood has taught me:

You can be up all night with a child with toothache which thankfully has gone by the morning and still be able to deliver a powerful presentation to a board of directors;

You can put the negotiation and team building skills that you have learned to good use in the workplace;

If you can run an parent-teacher association and learn the empathy and collaboration skills required they can be useful in any business or political interaction;

If you can organise the timetable for a family of five then you can organise any activity, business or organisation;

You only get back what you put in. If you are one of life’s takers then life will never hold enough for you. Conversely if you are one of life’s givers you will receive more support than you ever dreamed possible.

If you worry, you waste valuable energy.

You have to lose the odd skirmish in order to win the campaign. You need time (even five minutes) to be still and silent so that you can centre yourself, rebalance and refresh.

Your work career belongs to you and is measured for success by your parameters and not other peoples.

You only walk this road once and if you don’t stop to enjoy the moment then you miss out on so much.

Meryl Streep is reputed to have said “Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” So true.