Moon Cards, the Mirror, and self reflection.

I like astrology.  I was very into it when I was younger and even now that I'm older I still like to check astrology stuff from time to time.

My moon sign is Capricorn and I decided to have a look at some moon card astrology! When I did have a look at what moon card I drew today, it was the Mirror and the Mirror represents self-reflection.

Now, regardless of the moon card I picked, self-reflection is a good thing to think about anyway because it helps you think upon what you are and it also helps you reflect upon the potential for what you can become.

One has to be brave to develop the mind and grow and learn from life lessons, and I have had many life lessons, a multitude of experiences and a lot of hard knocks in my life so far. Resilience is an inherent part of who I have had to become...

It is only now that I feel more confident in who I am, in what I want to do and in what I want my future to be, and I'm happier in myself now than I used to be. 

I don't need external validation to know what decision to make, and I rely on my own integrity and my own intuition to figure out what to do going forward.

I believe everyone should reflect on who they are and how they can grow but on the other hand, I can understand it's hard to come out of that bubble of what you think your personality is.  There is a certain security in being what you think you are because you know what's going to happen and it is a safe space. I don't judge others for that because what they decide to do is their own decision at the end of the day, and all I can do is advise, not force.

I just hope humankind, in general, learns to reflect for the better of all society and not what it is leaning towards aka a society akin to that shown in the movie 'Idiocracy'!

 

It is the People that work for a company that make it great.

 A previous managing director of Wahaca, Jo Fleet (2010-2017) had a good influence on me when I started working in November 2014, and when we had brief chats, she used to emphasize it is the people who work for a company great

Hiring and retaining great people. Communicating with them so everyone knows what is expected of them. Train and develop people and promote from within. Create an environment where everyone feels part of a team and create a culture where people actually want to come to work and have fun. Keep questioning how we can improve. Focus on quality openings rather than quantity and, above all else, make sure as you grow you are still as good as your first restaurant.

What do you see as key trends for the casual dining sector in the coming year? 

Customers wanting value for money. Loyalty from customers not through discounting but offering consistency, quality and, above all else, a great experience. 

(This was an incomplete entry written in 20 September 2021 that I forgot to publish. Better late then never. Plus I still believe that if one looks after and looks out for their teammates and always gives their best, then life will note it accordingly and smile back at ya!

Morgan Freeman once said in an interview 'Your work is your word. If you show up and give less than everything, you've broken that word'.

I try to stick to my word.)

Nana Korobi Ya Oki

The title of this entry is a japanese phrase that someone told me about.

It means 'Fall Seven times, Stand up Eight'.

It shows what it means to be resilient, and to bounce back from adversity.

I have had plenty of situations that have made me highly resilient in life, and it inspired me to make this poem, which I call:

'I Can Be...'

I can be happy

I won't be sad

I can feel crappy

I can be mad

As long as I remember

To always be me

To love myself

Let my mind be free...

I will be happy

I won't be sad

And life won't be crappy

And I won't be mad

I will carry on

Bounce up when I fall

I am myself

And I stand tall.

Declining populations and reactions to it

The remote Japanese village of Nagoro is known around the world for its population of life-size dolls- approx. 350 dolls to the approx. 37 residents left.

One craftswoman is responsible for their creation, and for the last decade, she's made them to represent those who left and those who passed.

You can read an article about it at the link below:

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/08/26/490687505/a-dying-japanese-village-brought-back-to-life-by-scarecrows

What struck me about the entire thing is that she did it because the population of Japan is declining, and this can be seen in the more rural areas, one of which is where her village is located, nestled deeply amongst the mountains. 

In general, however, the world is gaining a longer living population, with less babies being born, and the young migrating to more densely populated cities in search of jobs.

It happens everywhere! That is why in the UK, the pensionable age is rising, and why there's been arguments about whether to retain or keep the travel and TV licenses free for the elderly.

Now, due to the covid pandemic, the argument is whether to raise NI for the young to ensure better resources for the old. That is only one example amongst many  arguments going on within the political realm, and you know, with arguments, there are never any winners.

I accept that my idealistic view of the world will never come to be, but all I can do is contribute and create my own type of legacy so even when I pass to the other side, I am somewhat immortal. This blog will probably exist longer than I am alive and that isn't a bad thing! 

Best to make the most of what I have now, eh?! With a couple of frozen margaritas to start me off!

How to defuse a culture war in the right way

I read an article today in the Evening Standard, page 12, by Tom Newton Dunn. It's called 'How to defuse a culture war: a group of London schools found a way', and it basically talks about how the benefactor, Robert Aske, started the Haberdashers' Aske's set of private educational institutions from a request he made when he died in 1689.

The issue with the benefactor was found out recently, in March 2021- that he partially funded the Royal African Company, which, apart from obtaining gold and other valuables from Africa, also extracted people and made them slaves.

Due to this, the Haberdashers school  governors had to decide: should they cancel Aske as a benefactor, or defend him? They decided to do neither, and consulted with all students, parents, alumni and school staff, the numbers of which exceeded 800+, for 6 months.

In the end, they decided to remove his name from school titles but not from the formal legal name of the federation, and they used his statue as an educational tool to teach Aske's history and explain it, both good and bad.

They found a third way that was almost universally accepted by all people associated with the schools, which can be summed up in the following excerpt: 'Undoctrinal, built with intelligence and sensitivity. Peaceful resolution and consensus has been found to an extremely sensitive cultural divide by painstaking consultation and debate'.

I read somewhere that each person is the sum of every person that they have ever met. If every person could be exposed to variations of such a 'third way', and realise that making a choice is not just either one- right, or two- wrong, perhaps our society would be much calmer.

It's nice to hope.

(A picture of the article is below, which you can read in its entirety.)

Self Mastery (Poem for Myself)

 

(Not drawn by me- screenshot taken via internet surfing)

Tamp sadness down

Push the negative out

With a whisper 

And not a shout

Understand that time

Will take its pace 

Patience is a virtue

Life ain't a race

A tidy place

Gives a tidy mind

An organised body

With goals assigned...

Stops emotion from getting

Too low or too high

Aim for stability

Or the end is nigh!

Remember that goals

Are long term not short

Remember the locus

The world is your court

What you do and feel

Affects all those around you

So keep it on lock

It's not just about you.

Compose yourself fully

You are in control

Let go of any sadness

Then you'll be on a role

To proceed forward rightly

One foot, two feet, three

Chill out and be strong

Be firm like a tree.

Don't lose your focus

Be mindful of others

Be less selfish and yield-

think of pressed flowers!

The time it takes to make them

Is long and you await

moisture to leave petals

But it's worth the wait.

Life is a journey

You go through many doors

When one closes, another opens

So make your life YOURS!

 

Limited Word Scifi Stories

I had a little hiatus from my blog due to work-related issues, but now I am back again! Thought I'd test myself with a brain exercise that tests my fiction-making capabilities using a limited word sci-fi story format from 1 to 20 words, so here goes:

1 word

Space.

2 words

Corporeal Energy.

3 words

Light speed cruising.

4 words

We're all just stardust.

5 words

Implosion of dwarf star imminent!

Virtual reality superceded physical reality.

6 words

The corporeal evolved into the spiritual.

Haptic feedback: now, the new normal.

Groking the new world: peacefully prospering.

7 words

Switching through virtual planes of existence nowadays.

The cosmos mourned the lack of light.

8 words

Groaning, she went back into her physical form.

9 words

Stuck within the nebula, he debated his last actions.

10 words

Instant transportation- to die and be reconstructed; he'd rather not!

11 words

The new frontier was no longer space: it was now multidimensions.

Big Brother- our overseer- our man-made god: had eyes everywhere. 

12 words

Colonisation beyond earth is now a goal and no longer a dream.

Real money no longer existed. Bartering no longer existed.  Cryptocurrency was all.

13 words

Moving from one robotic artifice to another prolonged her lifetime but caused dichotomies.

14 words

Space tourism became a massive industry and assuaged the ennui of the very rich.

15 words

Cracking under burnout, she switched on her VR and relaxed upon a sunny white beach.

16 words

Cyborgs, androids, automatons, humanoids, droids, virtual brains- whatever they were called, they were everywhere offering assistance.

17 words

The future was now littered with idiots and was no longer a democracy- it was an idiocracy!

18 words

Polished metal skeletons encapsulated by sleek metal skins was the new fad as humans seeked to live longer.

19 words

Cracking under the weight of information overload, she pressed her eyes and compressed the info within her positronic matrix.

20 words

Lack of privacy was no longer frowned upon. If you didn't use social media at all times, you were backward.

Augmentation of the artificial to flesh and bone woke them up to the advantages of never being tired or weary.

I enjoyed that exercise. What do you do to stretch your mental capabilities?

This was one of the few sci-fi books that made a big impression on me. If you can, have a read of it- it will definitely stretch your mental horizons!