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Love after Love

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at  your own door, in your own mirror;
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here.  Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine.  Give bread.  Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love-letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on you life.
Source:  “Love after love” from Sea grapes by Derek Walcott. (1976)
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……on idle time

That idle time………

Sitting on the back verandah
    or by the corner window
Gazing over grassed paddock
    or paved car park
It matters not………

Seeking space for ideas to fit
    or making sense of that observed
Reconfiguring patterns known
    or grappling with the unknown
It matters not………..

From farm to c-suite
    experience is the same
Answers emerge from deep thought
    ideas grow in unfettered space
It matters…..that idle time


Shaun G Coffey
31 December 2013
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ONE MINUTE FOR MYSELF


What it is:
I balance my life by taking as good care of myself as I take of my family, my friends and my work.
I treat myself the way I would like other people to treat me.
I stop, look and listen.
I take one minute for myself a few times every day to stop and ask, “IS THERE A BETTER WAY FOR ME TO TAKE CARE OF ME RIGHT NOW?”
I realise that I have the answer within me.  I am quiet and listen to the wisdom of my best self.  I wait for it.
I discover what is best and I usually do it.
I give to myself and I receive from myself.
I am happier.
Why it works:
When I take as good care of myself as I take of others I am happier.  Because the better I take care of myself the less angry I am with myself and others.  And the more loving I become.
Source:  Originally taken from  One-Minute Manager Audiotape of the same name.  See the Spencer Johnson book – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88180.One_Minute_For_Yourself
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Rebel – a leader must break free of the wisdom of the herd, and strike out in bold new directions.

“…most people are incapable of truly original or independent thought, but a leader must have that ability”

In 2002 Steve Sample, Tenth President of the University of Southern California penned the book, “The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership”   I was reminded of this great little read during a discussion with a business colleague last week. Not surprising, when I found my copy it was full of many long-forgotten marginal notes and post-it stickers (also covered with my characteristically unreadable scrawl).

The key take-away of the book is that most people are incapable of truly original or independent thought, but a leader must have that ability.  Sample draws heavily on classical works from Shakespeare to Machiavelli to Abraham Lincoln to support this proposition.  As an aside, his recommendations for a reading list are fun, and…well, contrarian. 

Continue reading “Rebel – a leader must break free of the wisdom of the herd, and strike out in bold new directions.”