When I was a kid I used to come to Wellington and look up at the big buildings and wonder what it was like from ‘up there’. I still find the view looking up from ‘down here’ fascinating. There are many architectural styles to be found in the CBD. The overall design is anything but a coherent vision of town planning. I love it nevertheless.

I’m inspired to find the little snippets of design – some architect or designer has decided ‘stuff it, let’s have this – or that’. And we find some elegant little piece of applied art almost as an after thought – a tiny window perhaps, or an attractive piece of detailing work. Most of the buildings concerned would have been built when architectural drawings were made by hand – and so the detail work had been deliberate. Sometimes it seems like a private joke and I can image the delight in the designer’s voice as he describes the next subtle piece of work.

Keep looking up – there’s a beauty and an elegance in the functional patterns that surround us.

Manifesto
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
36. Every day be still. Connect to your inner being. Listen and be guided by it.
47. Every day you are responsible.

I’ve been converting our garage into a art studio. It’s already an embassy of creativity, and that’s just in sorting through the clutter, and removing the “handy work” left by the former owners. I’ve learned a number of valuable lessons demolishing the various workbenches and shelving units. The former owner had a two prong approach – use the cheapest, least durable materials available, and then use as many fixing methods as possible, sacrificing strength, practicality, and above all else, beauty, wherever possible.

I have become very focussed on the delights of the well-driven nail, the stainless steel screw, careful measurements, accurate cutting; and above all else, thinking about the project at hand before launching into it. I’ve come to realise that some of the struggles of life have come about from taking short cuts that don’t work out, or using substandard resources. This is not the way to solve a problem or to take advantage of an opportunity. Even if quick and dirty works in the short term, it’s not constructive for your spirit long term.

Instead of putting up with the shabby, wonky shelves or the insect riddled workbenches that draw energy out of our lives I believe it is really worth the effort to throw them out, sweep the floor, and then start from fresh with good materials and apply the best thinking and hand skills possible to the opportunity. Do it once, and do it right.

Manifesto
02. Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
06. Every day you make choices.
15. Every day make a difference to yourself and others.

I wondered about drowning. Drowning is a most unpleasant experience. As a kid I misjudged my swimming abilities in a way that could’ve gone badly wrong. There was definitely more water in the Gonville pool than I could cope with. As an adult I know people not too far away from my desk who say that they are drowning in their work. I always feel uncomfortable when I hear people say that – the choking panic is a very clear memory to me.

But many of us do overload ourselves with work. We either take it on, or willingly allow ourselves to be pushed into ever deeper depths of workload. We want to do a good job, show off our capacities in front of friends and colleagues, and end up choking and gagging. There’s definitely more water in the work pool than you can cope with.

When I finally struggled to the surface, panicking, coughing out the burning chlorinated water, all I could think about was getting out of the water, and on to the sun baked concrete. I can remember flapping my right arm over the edge and feeling the reassuring burn of the concrete. I wanted to hang on to some sort hand grip – anything – but that concrete was the best there was, and at that moment it was the best thing ever. I managed to clamber out of the pool and I sat there feeling sorry for myself (and not a little stupid), taking stock and trying to stop shivering.

After the terror started to fade, I noticed the other people – kids mostly – shouting, giggling, splashing, and having a great time. The water in the pool was this gorgeous, sparkling blue. The sky – a perfect Summer day. The colours, sounds, sensations – everything was magic, beautiful. I’m drowning one moment, drinking in the beauty the next.

The reality is, the beauty was there, surrounding me, all the time. I just needed to almost lose it in order to see it, to experience the precious moment. If you’re drowning in your work, I urge you lift your head up about the surface and suck down some life-giving space into your lungs. Stick your head up like a meerkat, and look around. Look.

Precious moments.

How many do you think you’re going to have?

Manifesto
02. Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
05. Every day is now. The present moment.
19. Every day make time for yourself.

We’re so process driven, so determined to get results, do more with less that anybody seen sitting back and just thinking is a worrying if not disastrous sight. So we pitch on madly, lurching from meeting to meeting, crisis to crisis, and rarely, if ever, stop for just a moment and think. There is no substitution for thinking.

Today I travelled to Christchurch, south of here. To get there we flew north (for a while), and then west (for another short time) and then we headed south. Sometimes we have to pause in our actions to be able to act more vigorously. The pause that refreshes. The silences in music that provides the counterpoint for the beauty of the music.

Manifesto
22. Every day refine, clarify and simplify.
36. Every day be still. Connect to your inner being. Listen and be guided by it.
46. Every day you can change your thoughts.

The car ambulance was late (stuck in traffic). I’m getting agitated and ring in to work. The ambulance arrives. I manage to convince the car into life and we load it up on the ambulance. We drive off into the morning. The change was amazing – just in this relatively straight forward set of actions I was starting to feel better. Less stressed. The frost was thawing.

The ambulance driver was friendly. The car hospital staff were their usual friendly selves. The car is in good hands (even though the day visit has grown into an overnighter). I headed off for work feeling pretty happy – later than I’d planned, but still getting there. Thanks to everyone along the way.

Manifesto
20. Every day say thank you.
27. Every day pain is a sign of growing.
28. Every day you will be tested.

If nothing else, my life has taught me one thing: The mind and body that I have are the only mind and body that I have. They deserve my attention. And when I give it, I receive so much more in return.
– Matthew Sanford

Walking back to work after having lunch with my wonderful husband a photo in a lingerie shop window display caught my eye. I stood there on the pavement starring at the woman’s body in the photo. It was so beautiful – nothing like my over-sized, saggy body.

“Why oh why can’t I look like that,” I asked myself.

“Did I ever look that?” I wondered.

From this point on things went steadily downhill in my mind … How did you become so fat? Why don’t you take better care of your body? When are you going to do something about losing weight instead of just thinking about it? Why don’t you make time for exercise? … on and on went the questions. This unknown woman’s body really struck a raw nerve in me. The negativity that spewed out of my mind was overwhelming and all of it was directed at my body, not anyone elses.

In reality even though my body is full of imperfections it serves me amazingly well but I need to stop neglecting it and give it the respect it deserves. I look after my mind very well, as for the rest of me – well, it could be a lot better.

Then today I read …

You may not realize this, but you are an organic masterpiece. Everything about you exists for a reason. You may not know why you have big square knees or unmanageably curly hair, but your genes do. The story of your body is written by your genes, and every single thing about your body – from the way you gain weight to the way your eye color shifts – is described by them. And when your genes wrote the story of your body, they didn’t want it to be boring or commonplace. They didn’t want you to look like a generic human. They wanted to make you completely unique. So they gave you subplots and surprises, historical references and quirky characters. They made you YOU.

And shifting your appearance, manipulating your muscles, tending your body inside and out are all beneficial activities. They forge your relationship with your physical self, a relationship that should be based on respect, love, and stewardship. Wanting to exert some measure of control over your physical appearance is natural, and doing so with an eye toward self-care is constructive. But never forget that when you succumb to the belief that your body will remain shameful, weird, ugly, or sub-par unless you undergo drastic change or manipulation, you are denying the story of your body. And that story will be told, no matter how you attempt to quiet it. So don’t slog through the story of your body weighed down by manufactured discontent and oppressed by unrealistic expectations. You’re better served to celebrate it, every single day of your life.

… You, with the spare tyre, the graying hair, the apple bottom.
There is nothing wrong with you.
You are beautiful. Right now, today, just as you are.
Just ask your genes.

Source: Already Pretty blog, The Story of Your Body, 19 November 2009

Okay genes, are you with me? Talk to me. Tell me I’m okay. Explain the organic masterpiece that is me so I can accept it and possibly even manage to love it.

I want to feel beautiful. I don’t need to hear it from anyone else but from me. If only I could lose some kilos and keep them off – here I go again, if only this … if only that…

I do realise this is the only mind and body I will ever have. I do treasure it and what it does for me every day even when I make it hard for it to function as it needs to. Maybe if I paid my body the same attention I dedicate to my job things would be different. Or would they? What do I want to be different? My weight – yes, that’s what it all boils down to, my weight!

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
07. Every day making no choice is a choice.
12. Every day love yourself.

Until today I had never heard of a shemozzle. As soon as I read the word in a banner draped across a building – “Hunterville Shepherds’ Shemozzle Today” – I had to say it out loud.

“Shemozzle. Shemozzle. Shemozzle.” Saying it once was not enough. It rolled off the tongue so easily and it sounded like fun.

We were driving through a normally very quiet township, Hunterville – the sort that you blink and you’ve missed it – but today it was bustling with activity and people.

“Do you want to stop?” asked Lynsey.

I was tempted but I was also very keen to reach our destination – a friend’s holiday home on the shores of Lake Taupo. Lynsey and I were both feeling so exhausted and I was harbouring a killer headache.

“No, let’s keep going,” I said. I did however sit there wondering what on earth a shemozzle is.

This gruelling cross country obstacle event is centred around the Shepherds and their Huntaway dogs competing over an endurance and obstacle course. Previous years have seen competitors swallowing raw eggs, munching on dry weetbix washed down with a can of warm beer, huhu bugs with cold cooking oil or a sheep’s eye and cream!

The route and finer details of the Shepherds’ Shemozzle are not revealed to contestants until the Shepherd’s meeting minutes before the race … Who knows where it will start and finish this year? – the only thing that organisers can guarantee is that the Shepherds’ Shemozzle will be just that “A Shemozzle”.

Source: Hunterville Huntaway Festival

We did however stop a bit later for a break and something to eat in Taihape. As we pulled into an angle car park on the main drag I noticed that we were the only ordinary car in sight. All the others were these huge, overbearing four wheel drive beasts. I had to smile as I looked at them. For the first time I saw evidence that the owners of these vehicles were using them for the purpose they were intended – as farm utility vehicles, or as I like to think of them, as beasts of burden. These vehicles we were parked next to were all covered in mud. They looked like they lived a rugged life and were worked hard. I am so used to seeing four wheel drive vehicles in the City primarily being used as vehicles to transport the family around. In many respects they are considered a status symbol but I could never understand this.

As we ordered our lunch we asked the young man serving us why there were so few people around. “They’re all at the shemozzle or they’re heading there,” he said.

I love being in the country. It is so down to earth. The people are different. Their priorities are different. Everything is different. It is all about the earth and our connection to it. It feels great to take in the beauty that is our land and be reminded that there is so much more to life than our jobs and the closeted existence we can so easily live in the city.

Manifesto
09. Every day learn something new.
29. Every day eat, drink, rest, work, exercise, play, love, create for your own good. And the good of others.
49. Every day is a good day.