Having a Wonderful Time …

As you probably know I’m on holiday, so instead of a long post today, here are a few photos from the past few days, including yesterday’s visit to Movie World. Just click on any of the images to have a better look.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Having a Wonderful Time …? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

No Reason is Reason Enough

20130325-210228.jpg
I’ve been to the Gold Coast twice before. The first time was for a day and a half. The second time a little longer. Both were for conferences and I didn’t have time in either of those instances to see much of the area.

This time it’s different. Both previous times I was here for a specific reason. This time I have no real reason to be here but that’s reason enough.

Of course saying I’m here for no reason isn’t completely true. What I mean is I’m not here for reasons of work or for a specific task.I’m here to kick back and relax with my family and that certainly is reason enough.

We’re here for just over a week and we don’t have to follow a schedule or be anywhere particular at any time. Our routine is very much about having no routine.

We spent today at Movie World meeting super heroes and cartoon characters. I’m not really a roller coaster person but those in the family who are had an amazing time on a number of stomach turning rides.

Routines are wonderful. They help us create systems that make day to day life run more smoothly but when we set up hard and fast routines we can become slaves of those routines,rather than using them to serve us. Slipping out of routine is a great way to remember that routine should never become our master.

I often find that holidays and breaks in routine remind me that I’m dispensable. The world can survive perfectly well without me. Strangely enough, far from being a depressing thought, understanding that the world doesn’t fall apart when I’m not following my normal routine is incredibly empowering. It tells me that I don’t have to carry the world on my shoulders but at the same time I can choose to play a part that will make a difference in the lives of others.

My break in routine is a great way to recharge then get stuck back into my regular life, ready to take myself less seriously while being more effective when my routine cranks up again.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading No Reason is Reason Enough? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Forced Stillness

20130323-202948.jpg
Four hours in limbo. Four hours in the air. Four hours away from the distractions.

We’re just over half way to Brisbane. When we arrive we’re heading to the Gold Coast for a family holiday. I’m trying to remember the last time we had a family holiday which means it’s been far too long since we did.

I’ve travelled a fair bit over the last couple of years but it’s always for work or for a cause of some kind. It’s so very good to have my family sitting in the seats next to me rather than a stranger who’s travelling for some unknown reason.

The great thing about flying, whether it’s with family or for whatever other reason is that I’m forced to stop for a few hours. I have to stop tweeting, checking Facebook, reading emails and everything else that life is about these days.

I’ve just read several chapters of a book … and it was so very good. I’ll probably read a few more after I’ve typed this post.

The busyness of life often means that those things we love doing, like reading, get forced to the bottom of the ever rowing pile of ‘things to do’. Forcing me to spend five hours in a hollow metal tube, a dozen kilometres above the earth, short circuits the usual rush of things that shout for my time, yet are so often so very unimportant.

Over the next week or so I’ll be a different kind of busy. I’ll be ‘family stuff’ busy. We’ll be doing all kinds of stuff with a bunch of people that I love. I hope that there’ll also be time to relax, refocus and even read. (It’s so good to have a virtual library with me on my iPad.)

What does it take to stop you long enough to enjoy some time out? Are you a good time manager? Are you someone who has the ability to switch off and power down at regular intervals to lose yourself in the pages of a book or to just ‘be’ with those you love? I’d really appreciate your comments.

(This post was written while in the air and posted while relaxing on the Gold Coast.)



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Forced Stillness? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

New Job Mistakes

paperclips
We’ve all been there. We’ve sweated over the job application, made it through the interrogation … er … interview, and been rewarded for our efforts with a brand new job. Brilliant. We’ve made it. Or have we?

Getting a new job can be a bit of an ordeal but then comes the real test. How are we going to make it through the early days, weeks and months? How long will it be before we’re no longer known around the office as, “the new guy”?

We’re being told that the first three months of any new job will either make or break our career move.

Career expert Russell Johnson says the biggest mistake people make when they start in a new workplace is they don’t realise how important the first three months actually are.

“The first day is the most important day, first week is the most important week, and by the time the first 90 days are over you’re either in or you’re toast,” said Mr Johnson, managing director of EPR Career Management.

“It’s simply that people are making their impression and first impressions are notoriously difficult to change – we make them emotionally, non-rationally, and intuitively.” – PerthNow

That’s all we need. We’re already concerned about making a good impression and now we’re told that we’ve got to be ‘absolutely fabulous’ from day one.

Apparently you’re likely to come unstuck in your first few months if:

* You’re a “know-it-all”
* You get a reputation for procrastination
* You try too hard to fit in
* You try to make the best of a bad situation
* You put up with a job that’s not what you expected
* You are too opinionated before you know the business

There are other mistakes but according to Russell Johnson but these are some the biggies.

Have you ever done anything embarrassing in the early days of a new job? What advice would you give someone who’s starting a new job?



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading New Job Mistakes? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Porn on the Brain

DrWilliamStruthers
Pornography used to be something hidden and shameful. In recent years it has become disturbingly mainstream. It’s talked about regularly on television and portrayed as normal as well as being discussed in general conversation.

Research shows that 35% of Internet users in Australia have viewed pornography or visited a sex-oriented matchmaker site. That’s around 4.3 million Australians.

Author and acclaimed Neuroscientist Dr. William Struthers is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Wheaton University and author of the book Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography hijacks the male brain.

“Our reproduction organs are often given too much attention in the discussion of sexuality,” say Dr. Struthers. “It is the brain, however, where we feel the sexual longing, the arousal, the focus and the ecstasy that comes from sexual intimacy.

Pornography takes human sexuality out of its natural context, intimacy between two human beings, and makes it a product to be bought and sold.”

“Repeated exposure to pornography changes the way our brains see each other. Repeated exposure to any stimulus results in neurological circuit making. Pornography is the consumption of
sexual poison that becomes part of the fabric of the mind”

He’s just finished touring Australia giving audiences an insight into the harmful effects of porn. I had the opportunity to chat to him just before he jumped on a plane to head home. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.
GuiltyPleasure
If you’d like more information about how porn is affecting our communities or how to break free from pornography, vist the Guilty Pleasure website.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Porn on the Brain? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.