Fortunately having bad days isn't something which happens everyday because then they would not be unusual and with a lot of bad days you'd get used to them. Perhaps they wouldn't be recognised as bad days just ordinary days, or they could be given pet names. Like a animal, what a skunk day it has been, with a bit of relaxed wallaby. What does help coping with these sort of periods is when they happen after being on holiday, feeling relaxed even in a stressed environment is a valuable asset and thing to achieve. I will admit there are times when I may appear calm and pensive but on the inside of a still exterior is a crazed lunatic on the verge of attacking the next inanimate object which fails to work the way it should work. If not object bureaucratic processes, a pop group has an apt name it is Rage Against the Machine.
This morning I failed to scan my prepaid travel card before getting on the train. This I unfortunately only realised when I got off the train at the destination station. But at the back of my mind I thought what I would do is get on another train and go the opposite direction. Go back one station to the station where I know there is no automatic barriers on one side and then walk and get some exercise. Unfortunately this did not go to plan, because at the earlier station there were revenues officers. The result was being issued with a £20 penalty ticket. Great.
Getting into the Fish Factory a little later than normal I am confronted with a one hell of a stinky fish explosion which means I will be in the Fish operating theatre all day long, elbows right into the inners of some disgusting stuff. Wonderful. I am then called into a brief meeting to be advised one of the Fish on my team has to be seconded into another pool and this will be for several weeks. Their absence will in due course result in their work being distributed to the other 8 fishes who are always at pain to express how over stretched they are. Of course their not the only ones but don't take into account such constant groaning and griping doesn't help the situation.
I get to lunch later than normal and decide not to buy a coffee from my sanctuary pub because I now have to try and account for the lost £20. I'm advised by Sparkling that losing this is not the same as losing 20 pounds in weight as it is the first day of dieting. Which also has to be taken slowly but stressful situations sometimes require gentle love and kisses to ease them. My love and kisses was gained from a Chinese take away when I returned home.
Leaving work I was fortunately offered a lift in someone's car. Except I would have to walk to them to their car which was up a hill somewhere. I didn't mind because I was going to walk home and save on buying a train fare as well. The walk took nearly half an hour, there were two separate hills to climb and I could of walked half way home in the same time myself. The calculations of money saved and loss today goes like this: Loss £20 through penalty fare, loss £2.60 from getting a take away so total loss is £22.60. Gains are, £1.90 from not purchasing a return ticket, £1.90 for getting a penalty fair and not purchasing a destination ticket, £3.30 from not having a pint in the pub and £2.25 from not having a sanctuary like cup of coffee at lunch time, total gains £9.45 full loss and profit comes to £22.60 loss and £9.45 gain leaving a net loss of £13.15 on the day. A couple of more days of destitution and I should of paid the penalty fare off.
Well it's a good thing I got my sense of humour, warm socks and porrage for tomorrow's breakfast.
P.S. I got a tooth ache which has been really bothering me the last two days, estimated cost to be discovered. But the worse thing is I don't know whether my gentle and very nice dentist still works at the surgery or has retired, otherwise next time I go it could be butcher time.
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Make tourism illegal
Now this may seem like an odd thing to say, but if you happen to frequent an area where there are tourists, which is nearly any area of London come to think of it, a certain level of anxiety and frustration will be present. It may even be harsh to make holidays illegal, but tourism is one for the books to think about. If you are set in a routine of where to have lunch, coffee and the chill out with the locals to suddenly find the establishments so fond to heart taken over by tourists just makes my blood boil. They sit there just lazing about and taking their time as if there is all the time in the world while workers running about them have to fit in their lunch during a limited break. They cue up and when reaching the counter they don't know what it is they want, so even after waiting in line for ages they make the rest of the cue wait even longer while the amoeba like brains scan the goods and they decide what to eat, drink or to ask further questions about.
If you are local to a put then a set of tables of chairs should be set aside just for the locals, with a little sign on top which says "feck off time wasting tourists." Of course worse or less worse expressions might be used than this. I certainly can think of a good few. Alternatively because tourists are so stupid then maybe there should be a special tourist set of prices, prices which are fifty percent higher. It makes sense, if they want to be part of the locals and they are visiting just for the one day they should stick a hand deep in their pocket and pay for the privilege. There may be businesses which live of tourists more than locals, but in an area I visit if the locals didn't use those businesses they would be bankrupt and empty buildings. It may be nice for business people to make a little extra cash on the side, yet at what real cost is it. This lunch time I walked away from my local coffee shop after seeing the crowds, and although I will visit again it will not be immediately. Possibly in a couple of weeks time, because to me they have sold me out. I was here first not these wondering about mumbling-not-knowing-what-they-are-doing penguins. I feel like Miss Doolittle and want to shout at them "move your blooming arse!" Instead I walk on head down depressed and caffeine less. Maybe it will do me good to miss out on an americano today.
Really I should just relax, perhaps go on holiday, even ask one of these tourists where they come from, then turn up there and stand in front of them in the cue, taking my own sweet time to chose what I'll have from the menu, I bet it must be a very relaxing experience.
If you are local to a put then a set of tables of chairs should be set aside just for the locals, with a little sign on top which says "feck off time wasting tourists." Of course worse or less worse expressions might be used than this. I certainly can think of a good few. Alternatively because tourists are so stupid then maybe there should be a special tourist set of prices, prices which are fifty percent higher. It makes sense, if they want to be part of the locals and they are visiting just for the one day they should stick a hand deep in their pocket and pay for the privilege. There may be businesses which live of tourists more than locals, but in an area I visit if the locals didn't use those businesses they would be bankrupt and empty buildings. It may be nice for business people to make a little extra cash on the side, yet at what real cost is it. This lunch time I walked away from my local coffee shop after seeing the crowds, and although I will visit again it will not be immediately. Possibly in a couple of weeks time, because to me they have sold me out. I was here first not these wondering about mumbling-not-knowing-what-they-are-doing penguins. I feel like Miss Doolittle and want to shout at them "move your blooming arse!" Instead I walk on head down depressed and caffeine less. Maybe it will do me good to miss out on an americano today.
Really I should just relax, perhaps go on holiday, even ask one of these tourists where they come from, then turn up there and stand in front of them in the cue, taking my own sweet time to chose what I'll have from the menu, I bet it must be a very relaxing experience.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Don't jump out the window, become a broom stick maker
So taking a crafty break from the bedlam of the Fish Factory I sneaked a phone call to Sparkling Eyes, not just to tell her I love her and miss her, but to have a good moan about work in the Fish Factory. It is getting out of hand especially when you go to a meeting and enter the room then a little man jumps out with a tape measure to check the size of your anus. This is always a bad sign for it means the last set of brooms they shoved up there are about to be renewed with another set. All you can hope is the handles are not as wide as they were last time. And of course it gives a chance to audition for a high pitched tenor vocal range at an Oprah House. So I says to Sparkling I think I could just jump out the window with the amount of crap they are now piling on. To which she replies "no you can't you have to get your Will sorted out first." Wonderful I would be better thought of as a rich dead dude than a poor overworked, stressed out alive dude. Of course she didn't mean anything by this comment, well, I hope not. I know she would rather be a full time GaGa to Princess J rather than be a hard working undervalued, underpaid stressed barmaid. The two of us being stressed isn't a good combination, yet finding humour in it is. For it seems every employer now days is out to get a few ounces over their pound of flesh? Yes, is the answer.
Mind, there would be quite a mess if anyone fell out of the window, it's 4 stories or more from the ground, and the landing is on hard concrete. No walking away, maybe this thought I have shows the need to mentally escape. I sit there and wait to see if any of the other middle management fish are about to have a mental breakdown, the only person I think is close to it is me. Then I carefully consider, these people don't give a shite about the broom sticks, in fact they stand around the corner making phone calls to Stationary asking if they need to get more broom sticks on order. Currently the world's supply of broom sticks is a booming industry. A growth industry with lots of broom stick makers popping up all over the place. They are now more frequent than Pound shops in the high street. Except these companies do their business behind closed doors and direct to employers.
It's odd, I mean, organizations have stress policies and they have Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) but this means nothing if those policies are not acted on. Someone who may be on the edge of a breakdown is just left to see how they get on. They are left to see if they do actually break down. To see how much stress they can take. There are few if any Stress assessments, because being stressed out is like having a mental illness and it is a marker of someone not being able to cope. Employees don't like to admit they are having problems. They don't want their cards marked. Then employers throw another spanner in the works and up the ante by bringing in more stringent sickness policies, or if they don't like to use the word sick they call them Attendance policies. Gone are the days of saying exactly what you mean because this is a taboo subject. Employees have got to show blood sweat and tears and be pushed and worn out like a part to an engine. And then ultimately they say it is the employees own fault, because it is they way they view the world.
I wonder if broom stick makers have the same problems as these organizations which run a common practice of over working employees and getting as much unpaid overtime out of them as possible. If only we all got bonuses equal to the degree of stress we felt. I don't though whether these would be much good to those individuals who have been to hell and back. The ones who have stepped on a precipice and fallen. Only to land in a large dung heap, left appropriately under every open window. Get up, shake yourself off and don't let the broom sticks change the way you walk down the road. Just sweep your troubles under the carpet, and while your sweeping there could you just....
Mind, there would be quite a mess if anyone fell out of the window, it's 4 stories or more from the ground, and the landing is on hard concrete. No walking away, maybe this thought I have shows the need to mentally escape. I sit there and wait to see if any of the other middle management fish are about to have a mental breakdown, the only person I think is close to it is me. Then I carefully consider, these people don't give a shite about the broom sticks, in fact they stand around the corner making phone calls to Stationary asking if they need to get more broom sticks on order. Currently the world's supply of broom sticks is a booming industry. A growth industry with lots of broom stick makers popping up all over the place. They are now more frequent than Pound shops in the high street. Except these companies do their business behind closed doors and direct to employers.
It's odd, I mean, organizations have stress policies and they have Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) but this means nothing if those policies are not acted on. Someone who may be on the edge of a breakdown is just left to see how they get on. They are left to see if they do actually break down. To see how much stress they can take. There are few if any Stress assessments, because being stressed out is like having a mental illness and it is a marker of someone not being able to cope. Employees don't like to admit they are having problems. They don't want their cards marked. Then employers throw another spanner in the works and up the ante by bringing in more stringent sickness policies, or if they don't like to use the word sick they call them Attendance policies. Gone are the days of saying exactly what you mean because this is a taboo subject. Employees have got to show blood sweat and tears and be pushed and worn out like a part to an engine. And then ultimately they say it is the employees own fault, because it is they way they view the world.
I wonder if broom stick makers have the same problems as these organizations which run a common practice of over working employees and getting as much unpaid overtime out of them as possible. If only we all got bonuses equal to the degree of stress we felt. I don't though whether these would be much good to those individuals who have been to hell and back. The ones who have stepped on a precipice and fallen. Only to land in a large dung heap, left appropriately under every open window. Get up, shake yourself off and don't let the broom sticks change the way you walk down the road. Just sweep your troubles under the carpet, and while your sweeping there could you just....
Friday, August 16, 2013
Reflections and sayings
Socrates said
In fact Socrates said a lot. I don't particularly read any of his works, I mean it's old stuff, some of it is probably on stone tablets. Then once in a while a saying pops up, I then research the origin and it may well be one of Socrates. Collecting sayings is something we all do, whether from books or people we know. They are tags of quick reference, they set a scene and all else which follows is linked.
I think about my life all the time. It is as if it's more than a habit, it is something which happens naturally and often without real conscious thought. Just sitting at a desk, or watching a movie and out of the air would come a replay of an event from memory, followed by the question of why did it happen in the way it did. Were I an ice cream seller then probably it would all be a lot easier, but selling ice cream would not be enough, I'd have to know more about the ice cream, how to make it, where the best ice cream in the world comes from, whether there was an ice cream convention. It would go on and on. Especially if it were a passion. Just as examining my own life, it is an obsessive process. At times it brings happiness in it's reflections but at others I am in despair and just can't put things together. For the moment this is how I'm beginning to feel about work. It is workplace stress. My ice creams keep melting before I've had a chance to take a bite of them. If only it were this simple.
However, stress comes from multiple sources. It can be from kicking the dog on the way out of the house, not being able to find the thing you want. Like today, at lunch time I had it in my mind to get a certain pie, chips and beans from a pub. I went in the pub ordered a soft drink then at the food counter found there was no pie. I didn't want anything else, my mind was fixed on this impulsive, irrational need and it could not be satiated. So I went without the pie and got something else after quickly downing the drink. Disappointment on a small but significant scale was what I suffered. Later after work I went to the same pub, sat down with a couple of people I knew and we chatted. I felt exhausted after work. Someone had fed the music machine with coins and it was pumping out crappy electro hip music. Which wasn't even contemporary. I looked around and recognised the individual who would of fed the machine. For it is always the same kind of music they select. The volume was impinging overwhelmingly on my senses. I complained as I sat with my pint. Then decided I'd had enough and walked out, leaving half the pint unfinished. I wanted to relax, to chill. Yet twice in the same place I'd been disappointed. I made the choice and I walked out.
I think it is important to wrestle control, because the things we don't do are just as much by choice as the things we do act on. It is blame which gives the feeling of helplessness and victim status. I spoke to my 25 year old nephew and he tells me about his state of anxiety. About how he is afraid of everything in the world, everything causes him anxiety, he blames everything he can and takes no responsibility for his non action. He has been moulded by his upbringing and no matter how I've tried to coax him into making his own decisions for himself or motivate and raise him up, he always reverts back to the same frame of mind and sets of behaviours. it is sad, I want so much for him but it is his own choice even though he will deny it, he is what he is. Just as a melting ice cream is what it is. In need of some chilly air or a greedy dog to come and lap it up.
So I'll finish with another saying
"the unexamined life is not worth living."
In fact Socrates said a lot. I don't particularly read any of his works, I mean it's old stuff, some of it is probably on stone tablets. Then once in a while a saying pops up, I then research the origin and it may well be one of Socrates. Collecting sayings is something we all do, whether from books or people we know. They are tags of quick reference, they set a scene and all else which follows is linked.
I think about my life all the time. It is as if it's more than a habit, it is something which happens naturally and often without real conscious thought. Just sitting at a desk, or watching a movie and out of the air would come a replay of an event from memory, followed by the question of why did it happen in the way it did. Were I an ice cream seller then probably it would all be a lot easier, but selling ice cream would not be enough, I'd have to know more about the ice cream, how to make it, where the best ice cream in the world comes from, whether there was an ice cream convention. It would go on and on. Especially if it were a passion. Just as examining my own life, it is an obsessive process. At times it brings happiness in it's reflections but at others I am in despair and just can't put things together. For the moment this is how I'm beginning to feel about work. It is workplace stress. My ice creams keep melting before I've had a chance to take a bite of them. If only it were this simple.
However, stress comes from multiple sources. It can be from kicking the dog on the way out of the house, not being able to find the thing you want. Like today, at lunch time I had it in my mind to get a certain pie, chips and beans from a pub. I went in the pub ordered a soft drink then at the food counter found there was no pie. I didn't want anything else, my mind was fixed on this impulsive, irrational need and it could not be satiated. So I went without the pie and got something else after quickly downing the drink. Disappointment on a small but significant scale was what I suffered. Later after work I went to the same pub, sat down with a couple of people I knew and we chatted. I felt exhausted after work. Someone had fed the music machine with coins and it was pumping out crappy electro hip music. Which wasn't even contemporary. I looked around and recognised the individual who would of fed the machine. For it is always the same kind of music they select. The volume was impinging overwhelmingly on my senses. I complained as I sat with my pint. Then decided I'd had enough and walked out, leaving half the pint unfinished. I wanted to relax, to chill. Yet twice in the same place I'd been disappointed. I made the choice and I walked out.
I think it is important to wrestle control, because the things we don't do are just as much by choice as the things we do act on. It is blame which gives the feeling of helplessness and victim status. I spoke to my 25 year old nephew and he tells me about his state of anxiety. About how he is afraid of everything in the world, everything causes him anxiety, he blames everything he can and takes no responsibility for his non action. He has been moulded by his upbringing and no matter how I've tried to coax him into making his own decisions for himself or motivate and raise him up, he always reverts back to the same frame of mind and sets of behaviours. it is sad, I want so much for him but it is his own choice even though he will deny it, he is what he is. Just as a melting ice cream is what it is. In need of some chilly air or a greedy dog to come and lap it up.
So I'll finish with another saying
"you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
A walk and a ukulele help in stress busting
Sometimes peace and quiet is a necessity, especially when noise becomes and assault on the senses, and if it's not noise it's a place, other people, or a situation which is anathema. Like this evening. I got back home after work and am greeted by the TV and some brain numbing, depressive, mind sapping soap was blaring out. An urge came over me to stick a foot through the telly, which meant I had to get out of the house. After a change as quick as Superman in a telephone box, coat was on, earphones plugged into phone and I was off. Like a greyhound, out of the trap and the bunny rabbit had just passed him. I needed badly to get away, and it felt bloody good. It's being in a stressful environment which does it. I believe the mind has to rest, the same happens when cooped up too long in a house and cabin fever gets to you. The need to get out of the house is as great as the need to escape a prison environment. I got back to the house about an hour and twenty minutes later. Now I just feel tired. Walking is a good exercise, an underestimated exercise. It's exercise but at the same time it doesn't strain, but of course whatever route you take it has to be varied, up hills, down hills, over grass, it's got to give you something to see along the way and points which can mark milestones, without actually being real milestones. I guess it must of been just over two miles, taking into account the time, and the pace and some parts were slightly challenging.
As time is now late it means I've missed the opportunity to play Harvey (ukulele). Harvey also brings me relaxation even though I'm still learning to play him. He rings out lovely sounds and I'm learning about music every time I pick him up. My teacher is You-tube, it's amazing what you can find on there. It's approaching 7 months since I've been practising and although I've missed out the odd day I do get to pick up Harvey for a few hours each week. Presently I'm trying to get the hang of a few barre chords. These are chords where more than one string is held down by one finger. When using the finger tip to depress a single string it is as easy but even just doing two strings it can become more difficult. If not done just right plucking the string will make it sound dampened and it'll not ring out correctly. When a bunch of chords are played together in the right sequence you've suddenly got a little song going and it's marvellous. Singing and timing come next and they are a lot harder to do than I'd thought but I think there is a glimmer of hope even in this field. I'm sure there is.
In doing a search on you tube I came across a ukulele playing comedian. Listening to a couple of her songs I didn't particularly think they were that great, her playing the uke was OK but not great either and it has given me a thought about giving it a go. I don't think it can be too difficult throwing a few words together which would be funny, getting them to rhyme and sing along with a tune would be more difficult though. So fifty percent is a good start. This may just be another outlet for me, one which brings together two things of interest. I just hope they don't curdle. However if they do then I suppose Harvey could be useful in turning the TV off, even if he'd only get to do it once and with a little luck the TV might not make much sound afterwards as well.
As time is now late it means I've missed the opportunity to play Harvey (ukulele). Harvey also brings me relaxation even though I'm still learning to play him. He rings out lovely sounds and I'm learning about music every time I pick him up. My teacher is You-tube, it's amazing what you can find on there. It's approaching 7 months since I've been practising and although I've missed out the odd day I do get to pick up Harvey for a few hours each week. Presently I'm trying to get the hang of a few barre chords. These are chords where more than one string is held down by one finger. When using the finger tip to depress a single string it is as easy but even just doing two strings it can become more difficult. If not done just right plucking the string will make it sound dampened and it'll not ring out correctly. When a bunch of chords are played together in the right sequence you've suddenly got a little song going and it's marvellous. Singing and timing come next and they are a lot harder to do than I'd thought but I think there is a glimmer of hope even in this field. I'm sure there is.
In doing a search on you tube I came across a ukulele playing comedian. Listening to a couple of her songs I didn't particularly think they were that great, her playing the uke was OK but not great either and it has given me a thought about giving it a go. I don't think it can be too difficult throwing a few words together which would be funny, getting them to rhyme and sing along with a tune would be more difficult though. So fifty percent is a good start. This may just be another outlet for me, one which brings together two things of interest. I just hope they don't curdle. However if they do then I suppose Harvey could be useful in turning the TV off, even if he'd only get to do it once and with a little luck the TV might not make much sound afterwards as well.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Out of control and crap handling
I have been in a ratty mood this evening, it proves I am only human, but I try to edge it with humour however it may still come out as ratty. It wasn't great news when I was told my 13 year old Monster Boy I looked funny. He said the way I dress made me look funny. The week before he'd likened me to Mr Bean, which he's done a number of times. I try to hold in my moans and let them voice like I'm being droll. Possibly funny, but I don't know how it comes out. So a barely teenage kid has me cringing. I'd of rather been likened to Claude van Dam, but this is highly unlikely in any circumstances.
At the Fish Factory I've got to feeling everything is out of control as well. I can't control the fishes below me and just let them get on with it. Moreover I am resigned to them doing stuff. I don't know if it is a trait which seems like I'm easy going or I just have no influence over anyone. It pisses me off when they pass crap to me they should be able to deal with. I got enough of my own crap yet to deal with theirs. If I owned a dog, I'd probably be trained by the dog. My Big Fish boss is always telling me what to do and I sit there thinking to myself, does this person know how many piles of crap I already have to deal with? Even though I will try and tell them they could be on another planet. Maybe they are, the planet which is called " I Don't Give a Damn" Perhaps if they cared then I'd get less work. Yet more comes my way. I'm getting so much crap thrown at me I'm starting to think I should be called either the crap dodger or the crap handler. I can see my dog now having a great big shit and my picking it up. Which was something I was required to do for Sparkling's dog. I loved him but he was one Olympic champion crapper, like all dogs he ate anything he could, even though he was never starved. In his later days he'd take himself out for a walk. Just wonder down the road to the chip shop and look sad so people would give him chips. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He was sure happy though when he saw me, I guess he was thinking here comes my crap collector.
There has been an explosion in BLOG views. It's a blog I wrote over a year ago where Sparkling was strangling me. It seems to be getting read by a lot of German's. They must have a thing for women who strangle men. Lonely, crap picking, crap dodging, crap dealing, funny looking men. Well at least I'm not German, which would be taking the piss. After all they don't have much in the way of a sense of humour I'm led to believe. I'm sure it can't be true. Maybe there is some kinky thing going on. They put in a search on the web and they get one of my BLOGs. Hell, what a disappointment it must be. Thankfully I'm not German. Mind the worst thing in the world would be German and a crap dodger. Some place in Germany there is a man just like me. Well, at least this thought cheers me up.
At the Fish Factory I've got to feeling everything is out of control as well. I can't control the fishes below me and just let them get on with it. Moreover I am resigned to them doing stuff. I don't know if it is a trait which seems like I'm easy going or I just have no influence over anyone. It pisses me off when they pass crap to me they should be able to deal with. I got enough of my own crap yet to deal with theirs. If I owned a dog, I'd probably be trained by the dog. My Big Fish boss is always telling me what to do and I sit there thinking to myself, does this person know how many piles of crap I already have to deal with? Even though I will try and tell them they could be on another planet. Maybe they are, the planet which is called " I Don't Give a Damn" Perhaps if they cared then I'd get less work. Yet more comes my way. I'm getting so much crap thrown at me I'm starting to think I should be called either the crap dodger or the crap handler. I can see my dog now having a great big shit and my picking it up. Which was something I was required to do for Sparkling's dog. I loved him but he was one Olympic champion crapper, like all dogs he ate anything he could, even though he was never starved. In his later days he'd take himself out for a walk. Just wonder down the road to the chip shop and look sad so people would give him chips. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He was sure happy though when he saw me, I guess he was thinking here comes my crap collector.
There has been an explosion in BLOG views. It's a blog I wrote over a year ago where Sparkling was strangling me. It seems to be getting read by a lot of German's. They must have a thing for women who strangle men. Lonely, crap picking, crap dodging, crap dealing, funny looking men. Well at least I'm not German, which would be taking the piss. After all they don't have much in the way of a sense of humour I'm led to believe. I'm sure it can't be true. Maybe there is some kinky thing going on. They put in a search on the web and they get one of my BLOGs. Hell, what a disappointment it must be. Thankfully I'm not German. Mind the worst thing in the world would be German and a crap dodger. Some place in Germany there is a man just like me. Well, at least this thought cheers me up.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Listening to yourself and balancing on a tight rope
Today at the Fish Factory I was thrown as referee between two parties. It was like a tug of war into one direction and then into the other one. I don't like this aspect of the job especially as one individual was trying to defer their responsibility on me, they were hopping all over the place. From one stone to another and then throwing projectiles at me. Whereas the other individual put up a shield of doubt as to what the first was saying. They were on the defensive but their voice had to be heard as my job role meant this person's interesting was my primary concern. I eventually got to some kind of decision on the matter and will be rang up again in the next few days when yet I'll have to make another decision and do my refereeing role all over again. Right now I know what my decision is going to be, one of these parties is going to have to relent and that's it.
In the meantime, the big fish sits behind me and has overheard the conversations I've been thrown into all afternoon. The big fish already has a set of priorities they want me to get on with yet because of everything else, those priorities are not being met. It is definitely like a rock and a hard place. Whatever happens I'll be knocked from one place to another. Those priorities are unrealistic. It's very much the climate of the UK at the moment. Wring the little fishes out so tightly you do get blood from a stone. Everything is temporary. No matter how much these pressures and stresses are put on me it's really about keeping my own cool head and retaining some kind of control. Something which will retract me back to a calm and relaxed place. It's about getting a grip.
This is where Dave Allen's principle of "recording" everything which has to be done in some way is important. The way it is recorded has to be more reliable than your own brain because your own brain is fallible and liable to forget. I've been trying to do this a lot lately and am finding it is helping. As the IT system in the Fish Factory is unreliable, I've gone backward and use a notepad and mechanical pencil. In fact of all my tools at the fish factory, the most important of all are this mechanical pencil and pad. Without them things would be more difficult. However, this is not all. Others are the use of my own head and listening to what the little fishes say. From LEAN management and engaging management styles solutions are generated from the ground upwards. It is always when big fish make decisions which effect smaller fish things go wrong and problems pop up. Time and time again I always see it. Confering with those involved always raises items of interest. Just as doing a trial run of something. The biggest errors happen when the experts are not listened to, and those are the ones doing the job.
Consequently the exert of me, can only be me. It's always about listening to yourself and how you feel, reasoning and expressing this. A caveat to this is knowing you have to stop and listen. There are things which happen inside my own head I don't know about because it's all a jumble. Then from nowhere a feeling or thought pops up and I don't understand why. It's all in the unconscious. Similar to dreams. Waking up, remembering that strange dream and then trying to interpret it. This same thing happens in conscious waking life as well. To find a happy settled place its a matter of finding the point of balance. I heard on the radio about a man who recently tight rope walked across part of the Grand Canyon. He described the most difficult part was coping with the wind. He had no safety harness when he did this stunt. During the entire walk he concentrated on the wind and the variable effects it had on both his own body and the rope which was a steal cable. Had he not listened with every ounce of will and counteracted appropriately he wouldn't of been around to tell the story.
Maybe what I'm saying is, your own mental well being in a stressful environment is open to checks and balances. To coping strategies which you have to put in place. For at the end of the day a comfortable padded room is very nice, but not if you're locked inside it.
In the meantime, the big fish sits behind me and has overheard the conversations I've been thrown into all afternoon. The big fish already has a set of priorities they want me to get on with yet because of everything else, those priorities are not being met. It is definitely like a rock and a hard place. Whatever happens I'll be knocked from one place to another. Those priorities are unrealistic. It's very much the climate of the UK at the moment. Wring the little fishes out so tightly you do get blood from a stone. Everything is temporary. No matter how much these pressures and stresses are put on me it's really about keeping my own cool head and retaining some kind of control. Something which will retract me back to a calm and relaxed place. It's about getting a grip.
This is where Dave Allen's principle of "recording" everything which has to be done in some way is important. The way it is recorded has to be more reliable than your own brain because your own brain is fallible and liable to forget. I've been trying to do this a lot lately and am finding it is helping. As the IT system in the Fish Factory is unreliable, I've gone backward and use a notepad and mechanical pencil. In fact of all my tools at the fish factory, the most important of all are this mechanical pencil and pad. Without them things would be more difficult. However, this is not all. Others are the use of my own head and listening to what the little fishes say. From LEAN management and engaging management styles solutions are generated from the ground upwards. It is always when big fish make decisions which effect smaller fish things go wrong and problems pop up. Time and time again I always see it. Confering with those involved always raises items of interest. Just as doing a trial run of something. The biggest errors happen when the experts are not listened to, and those are the ones doing the job.
Consequently the exert of me, can only be me. It's always about listening to yourself and how you feel, reasoning and expressing this. A caveat to this is knowing you have to stop and listen. There are things which happen inside my own head I don't know about because it's all a jumble. Then from nowhere a feeling or thought pops up and I don't understand why. It's all in the unconscious. Similar to dreams. Waking up, remembering that strange dream and then trying to interpret it. This same thing happens in conscious waking life as well. To find a happy settled place its a matter of finding the point of balance. I heard on the radio about a man who recently tight rope walked across part of the Grand Canyon. He described the most difficult part was coping with the wind. He had no safety harness when he did this stunt. During the entire walk he concentrated on the wind and the variable effects it had on both his own body and the rope which was a steal cable. Had he not listened with every ounce of will and counteracted appropriately he wouldn't of been around to tell the story.
Maybe what I'm saying is, your own mental well being in a stressful environment is open to checks and balances. To coping strategies which you have to put in place. For at the end of the day a comfortable padded room is very nice, but not if you're locked inside it.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Stress busting
The pressures of working at the Fish Factory have been high, but as though in some kind of anti-hero to the notion of stress I've decided to be even calmer and more relaxed. To accept them and just do what I can. It's like everybody must have a piece of the action and they all think I am the action thing to have a piece off. Little fishes pester me with questions and throw their own stresses at my direction. They pass on problems, called passing the monkey to those in the know. The monkey then clings to my own back rather than their own. When seeing other people react to pressures they are under a different part of personality comes out. How they act, or rather react as the situation takes them over and their nerves go a jingle-jangle like. One Fish came up to me, sat down and was on the edge of a precipice. I kept it calm sat and listened to what they had to say, even though they had interrupted my own flow of work. Something I've learnt is another person's problem is always the most important thing in the world. Much more important than your own. To the extent they are wrapped up in it, just like the outer layer of a deep fried pancake roll. As another monkey was passed to me, I sat an did a Buddha like contemplation. The more I relaxed the easier it was to find a solution to the problem. This attitude in turn had an effect on the Little Fish, they gradually got de-stressed and it was easier to deal with them. Stress is a contagious feeling but equally calmness can be a contagious thing. Besides being calm there is another walnut cracker which works well. One even Witchdoctors keep under their hat, it's powerful magic, very powerful. It is, humour. Whether being droll, sarcastically funny or just plain funny, it will do the trick. Well in most cases it can, it may be difficult with those who have little in the way of a sense of humour. The ones who you speak to and instantly wish today it would of began better had you just stayed in bed.
It is all a matter of personality, some people are able to cope with the pressures of life, others have learnt how to deal with it. Dealing with stress is 99 percent dealing with your own attitude to stress. Learn from others I'd say, but ensure those you learn from are good examples. In my family I have a lot of bad examples of personalities, rather than learn from them I find they can then sap energy from my own reserves. To the point it is worth not even speaking to them or avoiding them. They will get a little of my time and then it is over. In some cases it is not possible to undo what has been a life time of depression, anxiety and emotional vampirism. Not even hard core therapy could dent. Ultimately we are all responsible for our own mental health, learning to relax in even the most confrontive of situations is probably the ultimate in black belt stress busting.
There is a new abbreviation out. It is YOLO (you only live once). If we were to take this to heart in every interaction a lot would change in your own personality. I heard it said Samuri would think about dying everyday. They would consider being killed in a variety of situations, it was a matter of getting used to the thought and confrontation of an inevitability, certainly present in the line of work they had. This was one of the exercises which would make them more able to cope with life, and personally I think they were probably quite light hearted people.
Every evening when I head home after work, I look forward to an important part of the night. It is picking up Bertha (Ukulele) and giving her a strum. OK she can give my finger tips pain, she occasionally goes out of tune when her strings have been changed, but she gives me a weird pleasure. Playing Bertha is like having a hit of some kind of happiness drug. The next step in my progression is learning to sing along with her. Now, my timing is pretty crap, and my singing is pretty crap, and my memory of learning words to songs is also pretty crap. when I put all of these things together and try a verse or two of a song the result is hilarious, well, it's hilarious to me. I sit there and just laugh. The other night I was laughing so much there was tears in my eyes. I rang up Rock Chick and played a verse to her, she thought I was drunk at first, I wasn't, I was plain happy. Rock laughed as well. I said little Baby Fro would love this music, and indeed she will once she hears it. Rock will know Baby Fro has been suitably minded when she's been left to sleep in company of Bertha and myself.
Oh what a wonderful world this can be.
It is all a matter of personality, some people are able to cope with the pressures of life, others have learnt how to deal with it. Dealing with stress is 99 percent dealing with your own attitude to stress. Learn from others I'd say, but ensure those you learn from are good examples. In my family I have a lot of bad examples of personalities, rather than learn from them I find they can then sap energy from my own reserves. To the point it is worth not even speaking to them or avoiding them. They will get a little of my time and then it is over. In some cases it is not possible to undo what has been a life time of depression, anxiety and emotional vampirism. Not even hard core therapy could dent. Ultimately we are all responsible for our own mental health, learning to relax in even the most confrontive of situations is probably the ultimate in black belt stress busting.
There is a new abbreviation out. It is YOLO (you only live once). If we were to take this to heart in every interaction a lot would change in your own personality. I heard it said Samuri would think about dying everyday. They would consider being killed in a variety of situations, it was a matter of getting used to the thought and confrontation of an inevitability, certainly present in the line of work they had. This was one of the exercises which would make them more able to cope with life, and personally I think they were probably quite light hearted people.
Every evening when I head home after work, I look forward to an important part of the night. It is picking up Bertha (Ukulele) and giving her a strum. OK she can give my finger tips pain, she occasionally goes out of tune when her strings have been changed, but she gives me a weird pleasure. Playing Bertha is like having a hit of some kind of happiness drug. The next step in my progression is learning to sing along with her. Now, my timing is pretty crap, and my singing is pretty crap, and my memory of learning words to songs is also pretty crap. when I put all of these things together and try a verse or two of a song the result is hilarious, well, it's hilarious to me. I sit there and just laugh. The other night I was laughing so much there was tears in my eyes. I rang up Rock Chick and played a verse to her, she thought I was drunk at first, I wasn't, I was plain happy. Rock laughed as well. I said little Baby Fro would love this music, and indeed she will once she hears it. Rock will know Baby Fro has been suitably minded when she's been left to sleep in company of Bertha and myself.
Oh what a wonderful world this can be.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Things to do when the shit hits the fan
Whenever I go into the Fish Factory it is like a continuous stream of stress. One thing after another is thrown at me. I dodge to the left, to the right and then straight in the face I'm hit by a custard pie. Not a little one a blooming enormous one, it was thrown by Goliath. The right dodge and left dodge worked but only so far, I should of ducked as well. But sometimes when shits is coming from all directions you get hit. It just happens. So I did a little search on the internet to see if there is anything I can do to try and avoid flying turds. If there are techniques to dodge the bullet, hop, skip, jump and waltz if necessary. Here is a list of them.
1. Avoid stressful situations - This is not going to happen, when you get paid to take stress you can't avoid it. Only an idiot would come up with this idea.
2. Set realistic goals - Hell, everything which is thrown at you has to be done, first it's necessary to work out what is realistic, what is achievable and what the time frames are. Realistic goals is all relative.
3. Set priorities. - Shit, this sounds a bit like realistic goals. Everything is a priority, how can you prioritise the priorities? With extreme bloody difficulty.
4. Change the way you react to stress. - This is an interesting notion. It doesn't say how you change the way you react, just that it is necessary and important to change the way you react. What if that tendency to yell out loud and kill a few cuddly cute giraffes is changed for the tendency to laugh and tell jokes. Well there wont be much stress but then there would probably be no job either by the end of the day. Saying this, changing the way you react is proactive. It just needs a bit more definition.
5. Use different relaxation methods. - This seems an utterly useless suggestion, because anyone in their right mind would of looked up different ways to relax and wouldn't want to read a solution which says find a way to de-stress. It's not rocket science Einstein. Whoever said this was a moron. Come on be bloody constructive. In the meantime I'll try a quick swig from this whisky bottle. It's different.
6. Avoid extremes. - Sometimes it is not at all possible to avoid extremes of anything, because it is other people or outside forces which decide what pressures will be applied. Lets be realistic this is on the unrealistic of solutions.
7. Change how you see the situation. - I like this one. It's like saying you know the situation is difficult but you're not going to let it get to you. It reminds me of Kipling's poem "If" which I have read a few times over in the hope it would help me.
8. Sleep.- Hell, I'm stress, how the earth am I going to sleep? Where's that bottle another swig of this might help.
9. Replace bad habits with good habits. - Easier said than done. Better put the bottle down, nothing yet about double vision and staggering.
10. Take control of the situation. - Kind of useful. If something is running at you like a freight train, step to the side and don't just stand there. But trying to control the uncontrollable might be difficult. Mind nobody said dealing with pressure would be an easy thing to do.
11. Work off stress. - Yep, I'm trying to do that right now, then I'll go to bed and sleep, sleep it off.
12. Listen to music. - Guess what, this is one of mine. I think it helps, slow, funny, whatever it is you like, get jiggy to it baby, coz the jiggy will release natural endorphins.
13. Think slow. - Mine again. In a stressful situation there is usually a requirment to think quickly, but in thinking quickly things are missed, the basics which even a kiddie can see. So, do the opposite. Think slow, think methodically, let the pile of shit line up and take its place one item at a time.
14. Take long lunches. - Mine, taking a lunch breaks the day up. It gives you a chance to temporarily re-charge those batteries or listen to some of that music you were going to get jiggy to, above all you should remove yourself from the place where the stress is being generated. Hence lunch and luncheon out of the workplace.
15. Meditate - I'm always one for meditating, now don't mix this up with another word which starts with the same letter, you'll get arrested.
So when I think about it there are many things which can be done when the shit hits the fan, I forgot to add, buy a helmet and a lottery ticket. Hell you got to have one for protection and the other for something to look forward to, just incase you have to return to the same place tomorrow morning.
1. Avoid stressful situations - This is not going to happen, when you get paid to take stress you can't avoid it. Only an idiot would come up with this idea.
2. Set realistic goals - Hell, everything which is thrown at you has to be done, first it's necessary to work out what is realistic, what is achievable and what the time frames are. Realistic goals is all relative.
3. Set priorities. - Shit, this sounds a bit like realistic goals. Everything is a priority, how can you prioritise the priorities? With extreme bloody difficulty.
4. Change the way you react to stress. - This is an interesting notion. It doesn't say how you change the way you react, just that it is necessary and important to change the way you react. What if that tendency to yell out loud and kill a few cuddly cute giraffes is changed for the tendency to laugh and tell jokes. Well there wont be much stress but then there would probably be no job either by the end of the day. Saying this, changing the way you react is proactive. It just needs a bit more definition.
5. Use different relaxation methods. - This seems an utterly useless suggestion, because anyone in their right mind would of looked up different ways to relax and wouldn't want to read a solution which says find a way to de-stress. It's not rocket science Einstein. Whoever said this was a moron. Come on be bloody constructive. In the meantime I'll try a quick swig from this whisky bottle. It's different.
6. Avoid extremes. - Sometimes it is not at all possible to avoid extremes of anything, because it is other people or outside forces which decide what pressures will be applied. Lets be realistic this is on the unrealistic of solutions.
7. Change how you see the situation. - I like this one. It's like saying you know the situation is difficult but you're not going to let it get to you. It reminds me of Kipling's poem "If" which I have read a few times over in the hope it would help me.
8. Sleep.- Hell, I'm stress, how the earth am I going to sleep? Where's that bottle another swig of this might help.
9. Replace bad habits with good habits. - Easier said than done. Better put the bottle down, nothing yet about double vision and staggering.
10. Take control of the situation. - Kind of useful. If something is running at you like a freight train, step to the side and don't just stand there. But trying to control the uncontrollable might be difficult. Mind nobody said dealing with pressure would be an easy thing to do.
11. Work off stress. - Yep, I'm trying to do that right now, then I'll go to bed and sleep, sleep it off.
12. Listen to music. - Guess what, this is one of mine. I think it helps, slow, funny, whatever it is you like, get jiggy to it baby, coz the jiggy will release natural endorphins.
13. Think slow. - Mine again. In a stressful situation there is usually a requirment to think quickly, but in thinking quickly things are missed, the basics which even a kiddie can see. So, do the opposite. Think slow, think methodically, let the pile of shit line up and take its place one item at a time.
14. Take long lunches. - Mine, taking a lunch breaks the day up. It gives you a chance to temporarily re-charge those batteries or listen to some of that music you were going to get jiggy to, above all you should remove yourself from the place where the stress is being generated. Hence lunch and luncheon out of the workplace.
15. Meditate - I'm always one for meditating, now don't mix this up with another word which starts with the same letter, you'll get arrested.
So when I think about it there are many things which can be done when the shit hits the fan, I forgot to add, buy a helmet and a lottery ticket. Hell you got to have one for protection and the other for something to look forward to, just incase you have to return to the same place tomorrow morning.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Stress at work...it's all about crap
Stress in the work place is an awful thing. Dealing with it is about realising there is nothing which can be done about the amount of crap hitting the fan. It will just keep hitting the fan. Wearing a helmet may help, ducking under a desk, speaking to a colleague and having a good bitch, getting hypertension, running to the toilet (the only place there is for peace quiet) for a five minute break; working all the hours under the sun, escaping on holiday and then coming back to an even bigger pile of steaming crap which is screaming out for urgent, immediate, deliberate, dependency of attention are all things to think about. Ultimately it doesn't change the situation. It will continues to be like this, feeling unable to cope because of too many environmental demands doesn't help or change the situation. Stuff will inevitably not be dealt with but can be guaranteed to rise like crap to the surface.
Then there are the people, in particular two groups. Those who look up to their boss for guidance but to the point they are so needy they are more like little children than they are adults. Always wanting a bit of attention or help on a problem for which they should be able to work the answer out. They've done the job for years and get paid a handsome salary, yet don't appreciate these salient important features. The unemployed figures are exceedingly high, it's an employers market something else they don't take into account, just as their abilities most certainly should be. The second group are those above. The ones who make the big decisions and get paid the big bucks. They have expectations of how things would run but don't want to get engaged in the finer details, along the lines of snapping fingers and expecting high jumps. There is between these two groups a massive disparity of reality. Being stuck in the middle is like Bob Dylan's song, with cowboys to the left and Indians to the right. If you are stuck in the middle expect your hat to have multiple arrows and bullet holes in it. Trying to talk of reason to either group about the expectations is like backing a snail in a horse raise, with little chance of it every making the finishing line let alone winning. The situation will not change no matter what happens. Cowboys will always want to shoot their guns and Indians ride bare back and shoot arrows.
It's a matter of accepting your own limitations, and fobbing the rest of them off in a diplomatic way. The working like a slave bit just doesn't seem to change the situation. More than anything else it is about understanding your own stress and your own stress reactions. Then knowing how to handle them, how to change behaviours and recognise how to prevent the stress habit from sinking you lower than a world war two sub just hit by a depth charge. There's a line from a poem called Desiderata it is:
This can be taken in many ways, gentle with emotions, thoughts and importantly feelings. Such as the feeling of being unable to cope. The most difficult thing in the world though is to act on this ideal. Not to take on the opposite view, e.g. you are able to cope but rather accept, you will do your best and if there is just too much crap; accept you can not cope but why the hell should you let it harm yourself? It's also about expectations, your own and other people's, even if they demand you do things all the time and there are only so many demands which can be met. Time for human beings is finite. Sometimes it is not even about doing the most urgent pressing things, sometimes it is about giving some of that precious time to the not so urgent or pressing things but are important to other human beings.
It's about looking outside of the moment you are in. Outside of the moment which has become a critical stress crap situation, as these don't last forever. In the middle of my day I like to speak to Sparkling, she is like a rudder and steers me back to the important things in life. Which are usually her and Rock Chick. So thinking about family, and outside of the current situation can bring it to insignificance. Coping is about looking after yourself, changing bad habits, such as eating junk and waiting for a heart attack, it includes exercise, time for self meditation, esoteric and aesthetic things. Listening to music you love and crying with happiness at a fond memory from and old photograph. These are things I have to personally take on a lot more and so hope I can for the sake of my own being.
With a little luck this two day headache will shortly lift. Even a headache goes away, eventually.
Then there are the people, in particular two groups. Those who look up to their boss for guidance but to the point they are so needy they are more like little children than they are adults. Always wanting a bit of attention or help on a problem for which they should be able to work the answer out. They've done the job for years and get paid a handsome salary, yet don't appreciate these salient important features. The unemployed figures are exceedingly high, it's an employers market something else they don't take into account, just as their abilities most certainly should be. The second group are those above. The ones who make the big decisions and get paid the big bucks. They have expectations of how things would run but don't want to get engaged in the finer details, along the lines of snapping fingers and expecting high jumps. There is between these two groups a massive disparity of reality. Being stuck in the middle is like Bob Dylan's song, with cowboys to the left and Indians to the right. If you are stuck in the middle expect your hat to have multiple arrows and bullet holes in it. Trying to talk of reason to either group about the expectations is like backing a snail in a horse raise, with little chance of it every making the finishing line let alone winning. The situation will not change no matter what happens. Cowboys will always want to shoot their guns and Indians ride bare back and shoot arrows.
It's a matter of accepting your own limitations, and fobbing the rest of them off in a diplomatic way. The working like a slave bit just doesn't seem to change the situation. More than anything else it is about understanding your own stress and your own stress reactions. Then knowing how to handle them, how to change behaviours and recognise how to prevent the stress habit from sinking you lower than a world war two sub just hit by a depth charge. There's a line from a poem called Desiderata it is:
"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself"
This can be taken in many ways, gentle with emotions, thoughts and importantly feelings. Such as the feeling of being unable to cope. The most difficult thing in the world though is to act on this ideal. Not to take on the opposite view, e.g. you are able to cope but rather accept, you will do your best and if there is just too much crap; accept you can not cope but why the hell should you let it harm yourself? It's also about expectations, your own and other people's, even if they demand you do things all the time and there are only so many demands which can be met. Time for human beings is finite. Sometimes it is not even about doing the most urgent pressing things, sometimes it is about giving some of that precious time to the not so urgent or pressing things but are important to other human beings.
It's about looking outside of the moment you are in. Outside of the moment which has become a critical stress crap situation, as these don't last forever. In the middle of my day I like to speak to Sparkling, she is like a rudder and steers me back to the important things in life. Which are usually her and Rock Chick. So thinking about family, and outside of the current situation can bring it to insignificance. Coping is about looking after yourself, changing bad habits, such as eating junk and waiting for a heart attack, it includes exercise, time for self meditation, esoteric and aesthetic things. Listening to music you love and crying with happiness at a fond memory from and old photograph. These are things I have to personally take on a lot more and so hope I can for the sake of my own being.
With a little luck this two day headache will shortly lift. Even a headache goes away, eventually.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
What happens on the inside is shown on the outside
There is a saying
"No body can hurt you unless you let them."
I have never really understood what this statement meant. Or I thought I understood it's meaning but only recently think I do understand it. The thing is, the answer is not what you think.
I'm guessing most people will interpret this to mean something along the lines of, "it's no good letting other people take advantage of you, you have to stand up for yourself, stand your ground and fight back." If they did then they are wrong. For this response can mean replying with anger or aggression. It is a fact anger is not good for anyone, most of all the self, the person on the inside who has it pent up. If it's let out, then later there is the period of regret. Or if there is not regret because of a self rationalisation being aggressive can be justified then it may mean other people will react differently. Lets say however there are situations when anger is valid, what is done with it is another question altogether quite different. What this statement is talking about is something much deeper inside. Or rather both the co-ordination of thinking and feeling in a different way. Lets repeat the phrase again:
"No body can hurt you unless you let them."
again
"No body can hurt you unless you let them."
I believe now this is to do with your own internal attitude. The thing is it is not easy to do, to live, to understand and to change in the manner this short succinct phrase puts it. However, like anything else which results in a psychological paradigm of consciousness the effect of understanding what this phrase is going on about are like one of the ripples of a stone plopped into water. Where the first concentric circle is smallest and strongest, then as it spreads outwards rapidly becomes less powerful but still has an effect. The ripple. Ripple is a nice sounding word. Ripple, ripple, ripple, ripple. The ripple effect comes from just thinking what an earth does this phrase mean, but rather than starting at the centre of the concentric circle it is having one of these ripples on the furthest reaches gently lap into thoughts. Lets reduce this phrase into an even smaller phrase used more frequently, heard more often but not quiet as eloquent.
"Am I bothered?"
So the meaning begins internally. It is to do with my own thoughts, it is about understanding this and then acting internally to accept it. The world could come to an end tomorrow, everything may stop in the next half hour. A meteor is about to crash down through the roof of this house and hit me square on the head. It's unlikely to bounce off no matter what some think. I now have four minutes left. I know this is definitely going to happen. I can not escape it. It is an inevitable event, the inkling is so strong it goes without saying. So what do I do?
A) Worry and stress, look out of the window, cry, sweat, palpitate grieve and expire.
B) Completely ignore the clues, the writing on the wall, the inevitability of the even happening, this becomes complete and utter suppression.
C) Accept the event is about to happen, then think of all the people I love all the wonderful things which I have been part of in my existence and if possible leave a message in the four minutes of time. The message would be along the same lines.
If someone says something to me and it is said to hurt my feelings, to annoy, to provoke a response it is only because I let it. Therefore
"No body can hurt you unless you let them."
Means to understand with the deepest possible mind, to feel with the deepest possible feelings, this thing which is said will have no effect on me. POW. This is an easily said thing, the reality is difficult, the reality is challenging, the reality is mature and leads to personal growth. It is something which has to be lived every day, it is not a religion. It is a mindful self conscious act, it is powerful beyond anything any person can ever do or say to another. It is self driven, self motivated and self understanding. It is probably the highest and most difficult attribute humanly possible to achieve. Take this and throw in a sprinkle of what is important then a human being becomes a super human being. It is not unachievable, but then all the best things in life are those which are difficult to attain. If they were easy to get everyone would have them. I may be made redundant in the next year, this is a reality. However, how I choose to tackle this is a wilful decision. To mope would be unproductive. Which leaves working on those things which can be worked on and not those beyond my control. This last paragraph I have made personal, but it applies equally to you.
Now, is this a meteorite I see before me, or is it something else?
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Block out chatter - be an astronaut
Today my Amazon order arrived. I had a feeling it would and had taken the day off so I could receive it. The postman appreciated it because it was a small box taken out of his bag then and made it a little easier to carry. It is a pair of ear muffs. I said I'd get them, and I have. They snugly fit over my ears and pin my ears against my head, but my expectations of what they do are probably a little high. I can still hear stuff with them on. What they do achieve is a reduction in the level of external noises but I can still hear the keys depress on the keyboard as I type. However, I can barely hear the TV on downstairs. They are better than nothing. The idea is to help concentration a bit more. What I would really like is a set of ear muffs which give nearly full sound dampening. The sort which would equate to being profoundly deaf. But I don't think they exist. I am now wearing two sets of ear dampening items. Some soft inner ear foam plugs and these larger ear muffs. This gives a double auditory shield. Maybe I am hyper sensitive to sound, maybe there is a name for it as well? I'm special. Yep, I can hear Sparkling now calling me a Spesh, as Rock Chick already has. It's odd how people are judged. Mind we all do it.
In a quest to try and find out about dampening materials and sound I did a little search on the Internet, to understand the phenomenon a little more. If I can understand something then I can understand the ways to deal with it.
Firstly the human ear is very sensitive to sound, sound travels through the ear canal, then hits the outer ear and then is converted by the inner ear into electrical signals the brain can interpret. By plugging a piece of foam inside the canal this it will automatically interrupt the path sound has to take. But because the ear is a delicate thing you have to be pretty careful what you stuff down it. This goes without saying. Not just physical objects but also from sounds made outside. Ears apparently wear out over time, like shoe leather, even though most shoes nowadays have rubber soles. Essentially your greatest ability to hear is as a child and not so good the older you get, depending on noise exposure over a lifetime. Not just booms and bangs, even music will do it, loud music for instance. Every time I have been to a concert I've walked out with my ears ringing. The audience seem to take this as a natural event. But it isn't natural to have two days of ringing ears after a gig. Your ears have been damaged, as small hair like follicles in your inner ear have died. You might as well sit down and pay someone to explode fireworks next to your head. Hoping they don't ignite your and the furniture in the process. It makes me wonder how all those concert organisers have not been taken to court for the hearing damage they have inflicted on millions of people over time. Because you pay for a ticket it shouldn't mean you also sign up for auditory torture. Well, I certainly haven't been to many concerts in my life which is an advantage. Except for the occasional tinnitus which I can't explain at all. So the ear is sensitive and is one of our five senses, once lost it's gone forever, bloody daunting when you think about it. In my work environment the most annoying sound is of other people around me when they are talking and I need to concentrate. If they talked in a language I could not understand it may not be so bad. I'll have to try that, concentrating while Swedish is being spoken all around me. All I need is a dozen Swedes and I'm not talking about the vegetable.
Going on. Sound is measured in two ways noise and frequency (variety). Loudness is measured in decibels (dB). A whisper is 15 dB whilst the sound of a voice is 60 dB, and a rock concert in the region of 120 plus dB. The frequencies of sound or the different varieties of sound are measured in hertz (Hz). Simply sound is the air vibrating and the frequency of these vibrations is measured by Hz. The human voice has a range between 60 and 7000 Hz or 7 kHz whilst the human ear is able to detect the range of about 10 Hz to 20 kHz. This is pretty incredible. The sensitivity to sound is three times greater than which the vocal range can create it. Ear muffs are designed to reduce these levels. But as I said there is no 100 percent way to stop all sound. There are two ways to reduce sound. One is to dampen it the other is to reduce it at source. Dampening involves the use of materials which absorb sound and do not allow it to reflect. To reduce noise levels you have to turn the radio or TV down, to dampen you put as many layers as materials between the ear and the outside world. Or live in a vacuum. Which would be OK if an astronaut, but not so good at sea level. I certainly wouldn't be too happy being 100 miles up in the air, I mean vacuum, it's too far down. I'd get dizzy.
There is probably a third way, which is not so much mentioned. This is by psychologically changing your perception of sound. Which we all do, just go to sleep. I've done it in front of the TV and barely heard what was happening. However, in a workplace, snoring might be frowned upon.
In a quest to try and find out about dampening materials and sound I did a little search on the Internet, to understand the phenomenon a little more. If I can understand something then I can understand the ways to deal with it.
Firstly the human ear is very sensitive to sound, sound travels through the ear canal, then hits the outer ear and then is converted by the inner ear into electrical signals the brain can interpret. By plugging a piece of foam inside the canal this it will automatically interrupt the path sound has to take. But because the ear is a delicate thing you have to be pretty careful what you stuff down it. This goes without saying. Not just physical objects but also from sounds made outside. Ears apparently wear out over time, like shoe leather, even though most shoes nowadays have rubber soles. Essentially your greatest ability to hear is as a child and not so good the older you get, depending on noise exposure over a lifetime. Not just booms and bangs, even music will do it, loud music for instance. Every time I have been to a concert I've walked out with my ears ringing. The audience seem to take this as a natural event. But it isn't natural to have two days of ringing ears after a gig. Your ears have been damaged, as small hair like follicles in your inner ear have died. You might as well sit down and pay someone to explode fireworks next to your head. Hoping they don't ignite your and the furniture in the process. It makes me wonder how all those concert organisers have not been taken to court for the hearing damage they have inflicted on millions of people over time. Because you pay for a ticket it shouldn't mean you also sign up for auditory torture. Well, I certainly haven't been to many concerts in my life which is an advantage. Except for the occasional tinnitus which I can't explain at all. So the ear is sensitive and is one of our five senses, once lost it's gone forever, bloody daunting when you think about it. In my work environment the most annoying sound is of other people around me when they are talking and I need to concentrate. If they talked in a language I could not understand it may not be so bad. I'll have to try that, concentrating while Swedish is being spoken all around me. All I need is a dozen Swedes and I'm not talking about the vegetable.
Going on. Sound is measured in two ways noise and frequency (variety). Loudness is measured in decibels (dB). A whisper is 15 dB whilst the sound of a voice is 60 dB, and a rock concert in the region of 120 plus dB. The frequencies of sound or the different varieties of sound are measured in hertz (Hz). Simply sound is the air vibrating and the frequency of these vibrations is measured by Hz. The human voice has a range between 60 and 7000 Hz or 7 kHz whilst the human ear is able to detect the range of about 10 Hz to 20 kHz. This is pretty incredible. The sensitivity to sound is three times greater than which the vocal range can create it. Ear muffs are designed to reduce these levels. But as I said there is no 100 percent way to stop all sound. There are two ways to reduce sound. One is to dampen it the other is to reduce it at source. Dampening involves the use of materials which absorb sound and do not allow it to reflect. To reduce noise levels you have to turn the radio or TV down, to dampen you put as many layers as materials between the ear and the outside world. Or live in a vacuum. Which would be OK if an astronaut, but not so good at sea level. I certainly wouldn't be too happy being 100 miles up in the air, I mean vacuum, it's too far down. I'd get dizzy.
There is probably a third way, which is not so much mentioned. This is by psychologically changing your perception of sound. Which we all do, just go to sleep. I've done it in front of the TV and barely heard what was happening. However, in a workplace, snoring might be frowned upon.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Humour and bull shit
I don't know if it is a mistake writing a BLOG when I am slightly intoxicated. But a little alcohol does help to drop down the guard and helps me to talk more bull shit than usual. The only thing is trying to remember what happened during the day so I can report it to all two of my lucky readers. I say two, particularly in desperation after all who wants to read about the life of a middle aged fat man. Have I told you I like rum? Probably. Anyway I'll just sit here and slap my head trying to think. Oh yes here it comes. The little grey cells are beginning to work, just as Agatha Christies Poirot might say.
There I was sitting in the pub with a few drinking companions when I thought to check in on my phone to see if Sparkling had been in contact. On account of her tonsils going on strike. To my surprise, shock and delight she had sent me a text message. In it was asked when I next intended to come up. Awwwe. However, she also stated she had a double shift at her Fish Factory. It must of been the Guinness hitting my brain. For a moment a pain of annoyance hit me, but then within a split second enlightenment, I chuckled as I began to compose my response. This was to the effect, "Darling I am due up on the 15th, don't worry I'll bring up my blow up doll". This must of bought a wry smile to Sparkles as she responded with "Cheeky Bugger." I know she would of laughed. But seriously I could see myself cuddling up to a blow up dolly for the company. At least if I gave it a squeeze it would fart in reply, whereas Sparkles can hardly say anything.
I am finding how much humour is a great destressor of situations. Especially when those situations are tense as they are at the moment in the Fish Factory. Maybe I am being seen as too much the clown, however saying this I take my fish sorting very seriously and just love it as a job. I can hardly believe it has taken twenty years of hard work to get where I am. Blimey, talk about slow starter. I am now finding after reaching this level of the pyramid, there will be times when it feels I am constantly having to deal with fires. Stamping them out, pissing on them here and there. A waft of steam rises upwards as each has been dampened down. I try and keep as calm as I can, even when I feel about to lose it and go crazy. It seems many people are reluctant to sort out their own problems. Being calm though at least doesn't allow a situation to escalate, because the reactions of one person in turn dictate the actions of another. It's a Catch 22, vicious cycle of stimulus response schedules of reinforcement. I now have to refine my technique on how not to answer questions, or answer questions with questions and humour.
In any situation I am put in, there is one thing I can choose, this is how I respond. And although my first response may be one of frustration this is of no use to anyone, so I try and throw it out the window sit back and deliberate. Yep, you got it, talk bull shit.
There I was sitting in the pub with a few drinking companions when I thought to check in on my phone to see if Sparkling had been in contact. On account of her tonsils going on strike. To my surprise, shock and delight she had sent me a text message. In it was asked when I next intended to come up. Awwwe. However, she also stated she had a double shift at her Fish Factory. It must of been the Guinness hitting my brain. For a moment a pain of annoyance hit me, but then within a split second enlightenment, I chuckled as I began to compose my response. This was to the effect, "Darling I am due up on the 15th, don't worry I'll bring up my blow up doll". This must of bought a wry smile to Sparkles as she responded with "Cheeky Bugger." I know she would of laughed. But seriously I could see myself cuddling up to a blow up dolly for the company. At least if I gave it a squeeze it would fart in reply, whereas Sparkles can hardly say anything.
I am finding how much humour is a great destressor of situations. Especially when those situations are tense as they are at the moment in the Fish Factory. Maybe I am being seen as too much the clown, however saying this I take my fish sorting very seriously and just love it as a job. I can hardly believe it has taken twenty years of hard work to get where I am. Blimey, talk about slow starter. I am now finding after reaching this level of the pyramid, there will be times when it feels I am constantly having to deal with fires. Stamping them out, pissing on them here and there. A waft of steam rises upwards as each has been dampened down. I try and keep as calm as I can, even when I feel about to lose it and go crazy. It seems many people are reluctant to sort out their own problems. Being calm though at least doesn't allow a situation to escalate, because the reactions of one person in turn dictate the actions of another. It's a Catch 22, vicious cycle of stimulus response schedules of reinforcement. I now have to refine my technique on how not to answer questions, or answer questions with questions and humour.
In any situation I am put in, there is one thing I can choose, this is how I respond. And although my first response may be one of frustration this is of no use to anyone, so I try and throw it out the window sit back and deliberate. Yep, you got it, talk bull shit.
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