Blog Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Fresh Eyes

October 29, 2014October 29, 2014 inspiringmax

Yesterday on my daily commute to work, I had a life changing experience. This experience was also shared with a retired couple sitting next to me. I was minding my own business blogging away, when as the train arrived at Central—Sydney’s largest train station—my eyes were suddenly and for no reason diverted to the open doors. A large group of school children and teachers got on in an excited, orderly fashion. The older Australian woman who looked old for her years, gently guided one young lady who had the most intense smile and a pretty face to sit on the side seats with her. I wondered to myself, why she was singled out to sit with the teacher, when the others were allowed to sit in the upper carriages. The girl didn’t look like trouble and the teacher obviously trusted her as she left her bag with her while she tended to some of the other children.

Five minutes into the short journey we shared—all was revealed. The teacher was taking a photo of the young girl and a smaller, energetic male student who briefly sat with her. She began chatting to the retired couple and I. The students who all looked eastern European or Asian were from an Intensive Language School in Sydney’s south west and were on an excursion to walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, around Circular Quay and up the stairs to the Sydney Opera House all for the first time. Every student was a new arrival to Australia—the young girl sitting with the teacher, had in fact only been in Australia from Iran for 14 days. The teacher had kept her close to show her a good view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House from the train.

The older couple and myself smiled at each other. We too were excited to be a part of this girls special moment. The teacher said she had been doing this excursion for 30 years and never tired of it. She loved working at the school helping these young children settle into and adjust to living in their new home—Australia.

Train line is on the bridge.

The train moved closer to Milson’s Point station were the children would be getting off. The teacher prepared the girl by standing her in middle of the side train carriage where she could see out each of the side windows. She was excited. The teacher was directed to the left and she got her first ever glimpse of Sydney Harbour. It was a precious moment.

“Oh wow” she said quietly, as her smile become even bigger—something I didn’t think was possible. We told her to look out the other where she saw the Sydney Opera House in all her glory, the ferries and the busy beauty that is Sydney Harbour—that we all know and love. Her response was again even louder.

“Oh wow”

After the children and teachers got off the train, the couple and I began chatting about how special that moment was and how it gives a different perspective to immigration—kids coming to Australia and seeing things through their new fresh eyes.

It was a great way to start the working day.

Out Of Breath

October 25, 2014 inspiringmax

The busier my day is—the more I need to focus on my breathing. It energises and anchors me. I take time to—stop and just breath.

I stand still

Take a deep breath in

Create a circle with my arms

And breath out deeply and slowly

Moving my body helps me to organise my headspace and thinking. If I don’t do it, things get crazy and my desk or work area reflects the chaos in my world. However by stopping, taking control and replacing my breath—I can change my world by centering it.

My busy day isn’t taken away by this activity—I am just put in the present moment and able to make a plan. Yes, by a plan—I do mean a list—naming all the priorities to be addressed today. If I need any extra strength, after my deep breath—I will stand in a power pose for two minutes to increase my testosterone levels—it is simple yet very effective skill.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/out-of-breath/

The Butterfly Effect

October 24, 2014 inspiringmax

The Butterfly has unknown origins but has strong learning for each of us to consider about what we need to fly—sometimes things are not as they seem.

A man finds a butterfly cocoon, which develops a small hole. Over several hours, he notices the butterfly struggling to force its body through the small hole.

After a period, the man noticed that the butterfly appeared stop progressing. In an attempt to be helpful, the man decides to cut the cocoon open. The butterfly emerged easily however its body was swollen and it had small-shrivelled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly expecting at any moment the wings to enlarge and expand enough to support the body.

Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around the ground. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not realise was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle by the butterfly to break free was nature’s way of forcing the fluid out of the butterfly’s body and into its wings so that it is ready for flight when the butterfly emerged.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. They allow us to overcome obstacles that would otherwise cripple us. Without them, we are unable to fly. We can get impatient when we think nothing is changing and begin to lose hope. This is the time to look back at how far we have come and remember a firm foundation takes time to build. Everyone’s journeys is a unique experience, and there are no maps.

Like the butterfly’s journey out of the cocoon, the struggles, we overcome in life, develop the strengths we need. Life has an odd way of putting the challenges we require in our path. It is important to notice what we learn from each experience—the good, the bad and the ugly. This is true for all areas of everyone’s life.

This butterfly effect has come into play since I began my blogging journey. I started my blog back in May and followed the advice of a blog builder to set it up. This worked really well except—I didn’t understand what I was doing. I actually didn’t even understand that I had set up a self-hosted blog or the struggles it would create for me. In the long term, a self-hosted blog was my goal, but not necessarily in the beginning, before I had an audience.

Now is the time my blog is squeezed through the hole and I figure out what I need to do to get it working. Originally, I couldn’t get any stats as my Jetpack wasn’t working, which was frustrating. I was definitely growing as a writer but had no audience, so life got busy and I stopped blogging for six weeks.

In August, I returned to my blog and was able to restart my Jetpack account only to realise—surprise, surprise—I had followers from Writing 101. Inspiring Max was developing its own online voice and I was beginning to fly. I have learnt a lot through my struggles to develop my blog and they have made me a stronger, more confident beginner blogger.

Welcome to my world.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/the-butterfly-effect/

Great Expectations

October 23, 2014 inspiringmax

How high are your expectations? One issue regularly struggled with is how high to set your expectations. If you set them too low, your expectations are achieved but they mean little as they were too easy.

“A calm sea never made a skilled sailor.” Anonymous

On the flip side—if you are to set the bar too high it becomes impossible to reach and you give up. This is frustrating and convinces you not to start.

The answer is to make your expectations great and achievable. Set realistic expectations at each stage. Let’s pretend that your great expectation is to sail in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race considered to be one of the most difficult ocean races in the world.

It is dangerous to think you would be able to do this as your first sailing experience. To achieve this great expectation, you would need to set various smaller challenges to build the skills required to achieve your ultimate goal— The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Possible goals may include:

1. Learn to sail.

2. Practice your skills in calm conditions.

3. Learn to read the weather and understand what a change in the conditions can mean and how to manage them. Out to sea there is no protection and unfortunately rescue and death are real options that need to be addressed.

4. Increase the difficulty of your sailing conditions to increase your skills.

5. Join a sailing club and begin yacht racing as a crew member.This will give you experience on decisions needing to be quickly and followed through. It can be an adrenaline rush as you realise that by tacking (changing direction and sailing into the wind), suddenly you can be leading the race.

6. When possible increase the size of the yachts you are crewing on to gain different experience and increase your skills.

7. When the opportunity presents itself, crew on yachts as they go in smaller ocean racing classics. If this yacht enters the Sydney To Hobart you will become familiar with the yacht which will help develop your confidence.

8. Learn as much as you can about the race and conditions of the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race. Join a crew, understand the risks and enjoy achieving your great expectation.