​Day 431 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

TIME PLAY
 
Time Play is a personal development
application, when we recall an event
or a time from our past,
and place it in the present.
Something from ten years ago
for example, becomes relevant now.
 
The process gives us a
more complete picture of our life
and a broader context of
what was  going on at that time.
Time Play also offers us fresh
insights on our current situation.
 
Places, people, relationships
and activities from  our past,
are present with us today.
All become re-discovered,
re-created and re-positioned.
Our past and present are one.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  Try the Time Play application. Recall a significant    event from your past.
2.   Place this in the current context. 
3. What does this suggest for your view of the past, for your present and for your life as a whole. 

THE GOD WORD
 
God is everything
and yet, nothing.
God is what we know
and what we don’t know.
God is what we believe
and what we don’t believe.
God is the word that is 
beyond and within all words.

​Day 429 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

PET PROJECT
 
I dropped off my car as usual,
 at my local garage for its service.
Yaz and the boys always
look after me.
 
I asked Yaz about his red TR5
that still sits aloft, overlooking
us all, covered in a dust sheet.
It’s Yaz’s pet refurbishment project.
 
I get a similar response every year when
I ask ‘How’s the TR5 coming along?’
‘Too busy mate. Too much to do.’
He sighs.
 
I know how much Yaz loves
that  bright red iconic car...
Sometimes we are all too busy
to focus on our pet project.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What is your Pet Project?
2. What  is the dream that you would still love to see happen?

​Day 428 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

SITUATIONAL   LEADERSHIP
 
We all behave differently
in different situations,
and with different people.
We are not the same person
at work, as we are at home.
It’s like when we play cards.
We respond to the hand that
we are faced with.

​ We adapt to situations,
the culture, the key factors,
and the expectations of others.
But what do we do, when their
values do not align with ours?
What do we do, when we disagree
with what is said, or expected of us?
Do we twist or stick?

​Day 427 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

​SPEAKING ENGEGEMENT
 
When my dad was getting older,
we used to meet up
every few days, for a coffee
in the local café.
 
He didn’t have much news
for me, and I’m not sure
that my updates were
really that riveting for him!
 
But we read the papers together,
commented on the football,
and both knew that
 we didn’t need to talk.

SPIRITUAL DUALITY

Spirituality talks of exploring
and developing an understanding,
of the   duality of human nature. 

The focus of this can be known
as   God,   or Love, or simply
the  Ultimate Reality of everything. 
For all are one and the same. 

Our Spirituality asks 
how can we experience God
in times of need, or in everyday
events, or with others?
 
But spirituality is also about us
in the presence of God’s life.
How can we be with him
beyond all that we are?

This is about us going to his place
and not just him coming to us.
 
These two sets of experiences
and learning, are not separate or
parallel, but are entwined.
This is the duality of human existence.

​The two paths are one.
For every road enables us to go,
and to come back
​from our destination.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What is the focus of your Duality?
2. Is your journey to be with God, or Love, or the Ultimate Reality of everything?​

​Day 425 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

WILDFIRES AT PENTECOST
 
Let us each be the protector
for the spark of love,
that is in all of us.
 
Let us each be the fuel
for the flame of love,
growing in each of us.
 
Let us each burn brightly
as wildfires of love,
consuming all of us together.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE?
1.  Have you the spark of Love within you?
2.  Can you help to fuel the flame of Love within you?
3.   Can  we become  wildfires of Love together? 

​Day 424 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

UNITY AND UNIFORMITY 

Uniformity is where we
want and require
everyone to be the same.
To wear the same  shirt.
 
Unity is where we
actively encourage everyone
to come together.
In their own clothes.
 
Uniformity puts us all
into a box created by others.
Unity  allow us
​to bring our own box.

​Day 423 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

IDENTITY  VERIFICATION
​
​If you  define yourself
as a teacher,
what do you share?
Who do you help?
 
If you define yourself
as a leader,
what cause do you champion?
Who do you help?
 
If you define yourself
as a writer,
what do you say?
Who do you help?
 
If you define yourself
as a friend,
what do you do?
Who do you help?
 
If you define yourself
​as love,
what are you?
Who do you help?

​Day 422 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

ORANGES
 
We are more than one thing.
We are not defined by our job,
or the work that we do.
 
Each of us is like an orange
that we can divide gently
into separate segments.
 
Each segment is a different piece
of who we are.
Each piece looks the same
from the outside.
And each piece fits together
as one.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What are your segments?​