​POSITIONING STATEMENT 
 
I had a mentoring call
with an author in New York yesterday
from my rural base in the UK.
 
‘How are you today?’ she asked.
‘I’m brilliant!’ I responded.
She looked at me quizzically.
 
After a pause, she said ‘Here in the US
that means you’re like Einstein,
a genius, incredibly clever?’
 
I laughed.
‘No, I just meant I am in really good form.’
And we arrived on the same page.
 
I learned about her work,
empowering those who felt inadequate
 and the millions of people she had helped.
 
At the end of the call, she said ‘Thanks!’
I smiled and said, ‘You are brilliant!’
And we laughed.
 
How are you today?

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What do you say when others ask, ‘How are you today?’
2.  How often do you tell others that they are brilliant? ​

VENTURE CAPITAL
 
The taxi collects me at 8:40am
from my hotel in Seef
and takes me some 20 minutes
to the Sacred Heart church in Manama.
 
The driver and I
have enough English between us,
to arrange for him
to come back for me at 11am.
 
I spend two hours
captive in this compound
with no distractions.
It’s a haven of peace for me.
 
I leave at 10:58am and
my driver is here,
waiting  to take me back
to my hotel and swimming pool.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  Where is your haven  of peace?
2.  What is your next new venture?

SUITCASE

So much of our focus and time today
will be about the here and now.

Much of our focus will be on ourselves
and what we need to do, or
what we have to achieve.
​
We have the wrong perspective though,
for our focus and time today
should be on what comes next.

Our focus should be about
what we have to sort out
and do to get ready.

We need to work out
what we are putting in our suitcase.​

INSTANT ACCESS
 
To get from here to there
is simply impossible.
I know from experience
that it just can’t be done.
 
In practical terms,  it is not possible
and anyway, I have no idea
where I would even start.
These is no map.
 
It has never been done before.
So my brain can only
see the outcome and
not the steps.
 
But as I  see the outcome
I realise that 
I have already left where I was.
I am here.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Uncover your message.
Write your words.
Capture your stories.

Keep a journal.
Update it each day.
Include your case studies.

Harvest all that you are.
For the world needs
your grace and your love.

Start a blog.
Post your updates.
Publish your books.

Create your courses.
Record your podcasts.
Make your videos.

Share all that you are.
For the world needs
your grace and your love.

WORD

Thinking differently about everything
encourages us to focus on a word
and to hold this word.

We place this word at the centre
of our hearts and allow it
to grow in these moments.

It is in this process that we move
beyond our normal definitions
 of words and meanings

We try not to get distracted
and keep coming back to this word
resting gently within us.

It is only when we free the word
to be in and off itself
that it becomes all that it should be.

We then become one with the word
within us, for we are the word
and the word is with God.

LIFE SENTENCE
 
In this moment
a thought is born
and the idea comes.
The words flow
and the writing
takes shape.
Ready to share.

Every moment
holds a thought.
So let your ideas come,
your words flow
and your writing
take shape.
You’re ready to share.

BUBBLEWRAP

When I started my daily reflections at the beginning
of the Covid-19 lockdown, I never imagined that
I would go to a hundred days, never mind Book Two.
 
For what started out as a short sprint has now
become a marathon for all of us.
We’ve had to adjust in incredible ways.

Our normal relationships of family, work colleagues
and community have been disassembled
and we have been left floundering, trying to understand
 and to recreate ways of living, being and working.

We keep getting different rules that
only increase our uncertainty and stress.
And there is little to address the isolation,
 loneliness, sadness and fear that is being felt by so many.
 
Without a training manual we are having
to rewire our brains, reconfigure our thinking
and reprogram who we are. Some  are  gradually
adapting but so many  are struggling.

In the coming days and weeks and months
don’t shrink into yourself, don’t hide in your bubble
and don’t close your door. Be gentle on yourself
and reach out to others.

We  all need to know if you’re learning to cope
with the challenges that are unknown,
the new ways you are discovering,  and the
pieces of joy that you found in this difference.

So, as we look out at our world, floundering
with no plan and no certainty, let us each grasp
the opportunity to ask for help, seek support
and reach out in our own way.
 
Let us remember today, those without internet,
those on their own, the millions of people
 directly affected by Covid-19 and the loss of
loved ones. So many    are literally trapped.
 
But many of us are not
so what are we going to do?  
Let us all think and act
outside our bubbles.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  How can  ​ you be gentle with yourself  today?
2. How can you reach out and share with others in a new way? 

 
​REFLECTION

We can only really
see ourselves properly
when we look in a mirror.
The reflection comes
straight back to us. 
Our    bathroom mirror
shows us how we look today.

We can only really
know ourselves fully
when we look to see God.
The reflection comes
straight back and shows us
just like a mirror
all that we really are.

Until we look 
there can be no reflection.
There is no picture.
There is no image.
Until we look   to see   God
there can be no real
understanding of self.

​HOLDING COMPANY 
 
It is the pot that holds the soup.
It is our soup.
It is the universe that holds the world.
It is our world.
It is the arm that holds the child.
It is our child.
It is the book that holds the word.
It is our word.
It is the face that holds a smile.
It is our smile.
It is the light that holds all life.
It is our life.