Is it my imagination, or are most organisations looking for more and more ways of being more efficient and more effective? Looking for savings here, making cuts there? It seems to have become endemic, an automatic reaction to any poor results or desire for greater profits. But where is the wisdom in all of this?
‘Engagement’ is the current name of the game. In Education, for example, students need to be fully engaged, and research staff need to be engaging with the wider community. Excellent. It’s common sense, but useful to highlight such needs and to commit to satisfying them. But . . .
From my observations, engagement is in danger of becoming just the latest in-thing that achieves very little. Why? Largely because it will be treated as the latest flavour of the month, in a short-term programme with a well-meaning intent and appealing words . . . but without really understanding what’s actually required.
When does a banana, or any other fruit for that matter, become ripe enough to eat? And at what point do they become over-ripe: too ripe to eat? I ask because both my partner and I have witnessed what to us is a huge waste: fruit that to us is still perfectly edible, but which other people are throwing away! Bananas are the case in point.
How can we best stay positive and hopeful during the next 2 years (and perhaps longer) during the Brexit process? How can we all, each and every one of us, play our part in smoothing the process and bringing about the best result for everyone: Brits and fellow Europeans alike?
Because isn’t that part of the reason the vote for Brexit went the way it did: that so many individuals felt excluded from the EU and related political and bureaucratic decisions and benefits? If we want a better, stronger Britain as a result, such factors have to be taken into account!
With so many untruths, if not downright lies being shared on social media these days, now more than ever we need a reliable way of separating fact from fiction. If we read something on-line, how do we know whether we can trust it or not?
You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the true spirit of Christmas. “Peace on Earth, goodwill to all men” is an intent understandable to and appreciated by men and women of pretty much any religion or no religion. So as we attempt to bring peace, health and inner harmony into our personal lives, how can we tap into this true spirit of love and shared humanity?
Beyond Thought Today is about bringing together the conventional and spiritual worlds. Here’s a great example: At the time I took my Second Degree Reiki, 20 years ago, I was working in the electronics industry, on the quality and reliability of the very latest silicon chips . . . such as were used in the first digital telephone exchange (remember BT’s Buzby?). A world away, you might think, from Reiki.
As the US faces the uncertain reality of its election result and Britain pursues Brexit, whatever that means in practice, so our nations may seem divided. Both campaigns were bitter and divisive. Although, on both sides of the pond, the winners have called for unity, healing and working together, within the hearts and minds of many Brits and Americans, this intent doesn’t seem realistic.
In a number of different scenarios, the idea of a gulf or chasm between two different ways of thinking is very much in evidence. In the West, for example, the Arts/Science divide is often considered insurmountable. But the list of chasms is a long one: young/old, rural/city, and religious beliefs for example. Or even the timeless man/women. Few would deny some fairly fundamental differences in how these respective pairings of mind-sets operate!
In the personal development arena, victim thinking is a major issue. So many of us can’t help feeling that the whole world is against is. And, of course, if that’s what’s in our heads so the universal law of attraction applies, and we bring that very situation to us. All classic justifications for positive thinking. But is it as simple as that? Can we just switch our thoughts to more constructive ones?