RED SKY AT NIGHT

I'm sitting in my consulting room as I write this. I've just started evening surgery and I'm looking out of my window at one of the most beautiful red skies I have ever seen. Enough to delight even the fussiest of shepherds!

In fact it's about a million differnt shades - from orangey pink through to purple and looks incredibly dramatic with the trees silhouetted up against it. I'd put this up against any sky anywhere in the world right now..... and that's saying something!
In 10 minutes it'll be dark but I felt I just had to seize the moment and record it for ever. Absolutely beautiful.

It's been a lovely day all round really, with even a little bit of winter sun earlier on. The snow seems a long way away now although there's still quite a nip in the air.

I felt very privileged yesterday to be able to finally distribute cheques to those people to whom my late grandmother had bequeathed some money. I'm an executor of her will and it felt a bit like that programme "Secret Milionaire". It gave me a great buzz to think how much pleasure the recipients will get when they open their post today. Wonderful. Lovely to be able to bring a smile to someone's face. Wouldn't it be great if that's how we measured success in our society; not by wealth or power, but by the ability to enrich the lives of others? Might make the world a happier place. Keep smiling.

A BUSY START

It's been a hectic start to the new year for me, but a very enjoyable one.
I can't say I'm sorry to see the back of all that snow though. It looks beautiful but the chaos it seems to bring make you realise how much we all take travelling around for granted. My normal 8 mile journey to work took much longer in the bad weather, either a very slow and hair-raising drive or part on foot and part by bus or train. Two hours was the longest it took from door to door..... but I did make it in every day.

I can't say the same for one of my partners who fell on the ice and broke his leg a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad to say he's recovering well, but it makes you realise how easily accidents can happen. Get well soon, we miss you!

A lot of last week was spent preparing for a whole day workshop which I delivered yesterday to a group of 25 local doctors. They are all involved in training newly qualified doctors to become GPs. We had an excellent day. They were a great audience and I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to share my material with them. I absolutely love presenting like this - it gives me a real buzz and yesterday was no exception.
Bringing the message of coaching to a new group of people only goes to increase my enthusiasm for it.

Although it was cool again today there was an almost spring-like feel about the air when I went out on my visiting rounds at lunchtime. i'm back in my consulting room now and can hear the birds singing away outside.....it really is a beautiful world sometimes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you've had a great start to 2010.
Mine has been excellent so far. Although the snow has gone it was absolutely freezing today, well pretty cold anyway, barely above freezing all day. However there was a clear blue sky and bright sunshine.....wonderful.

It was the perfect weather for a run, my first outside for 6 weeks due to my recent calf problem.....and it was lovely. I only ran for half an hour but the leg felt fine and it was great to be back out there. My short-term goal is to take an hour off my London marathon time in April. This shows you how slowly I did it last time. I am also aiming to complete an ultra-marathon later in the year. The injury related disruption to my training has meant that I'm not going to be fit enough to do any of the ultras I had eyed up in Jan, Feb or March so I'll need to look at something after London.

I returned from my run feeling on top of the world. If you run yourself, you'll know the feeling I'm talking about: if you don't, why not make this the year that you start to!

The edge was taken off it very slightly when I got in the shower to find that one of my boys had used all the hot water. Don't you just love it when that happens? Anyway, it was certainly invigorating!

It seems like a day to count your blessings today and I certainly feel that I have many to count. I'm lucky enough to be sat in a nice warm home, fire roaring and roast beef in the oven. Many others in the world aren't so blessed, so as the New Year starts may it be a year for peace and justice in this world. As you think about your resolutions, think about how you can give something back in 2010. You'll be really glad you did.

BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS

It's been a day of mixed emotions today. A day of looking backwards and forwards.

One of my partners retired from the practice today. I've known her for almost 20 years and in that time she has been a role model, a mentor,a friend and a confidante. Losing someone like that from my daily life will take a bit of getting used to but I wish her a long, happy and well-deserved retirement. The mood about the place has been a bit subdued today. I'm now the senior female partner here..... a scary and rather sobering thought.

On the positive side, it is New Year's eve, the traditional time for setting those resolutions for next year.

Ask yourself - what do you want to create in your life that isn't there already?
How are you going to go about doing it? Make your goals really mean something and write them down. Try to focus on the process goals rather than just the end point.
For example - if your goal is to lose two stone in the next 4 months, think about how you are going to do it and make each of those hows a goal in itself. Each day, keep a track of how you did, for example - eating breakfast, not eating a biscuit midmorning, snacking only on fruit, watching your portion size etc. Keep a track of each of these process goals in a success journal. It really makes a difference.

As a coach, i don't believe we have to wait for New Year to make the changes we want to make, but now it's here let's grab it by the scruff of the neck and make the most of it!

Here's to wonderful 2010 to all my readers.
May you have a peaceful, happy, healthy and fulfilling New Year.
Make it your best one yet!

GARETH THOMAS COMES OUT

This weekend saw the announcement by Gareth Thomas, Welsh rugby's most capped player and former captain of the British Lions, that he is gay. He is the highest profile British sportsman to openly discuss his homosexuality and in the 21st century, the question I most want to ask is.... why? There are plenty of gay sportsmen and women out there. When I played club level football and briefly rugby too, there were plenty of lesbians in the team...... but so what? None of us cared, they were just team mates.

It seems amazing to me that it matters to anyone else what his sexuality is. He's a great sportsman, a fantastic example of a truly dedicated, professional player. This holds whether he is gay or straight. It seems incredibly sad that society has forced him to keep his real self under wraps until now. His interview in yesterday's Sunday Times talks about his despair and suicidal ideas. What kind of world are we living in? We like to think of ourselves as an advanced society and yet people like Gareth feel the need to live a lie for fear of suffering prejudice, disadvantage or worse; blind, ignorant hatred.

Homosexuality remains illegal in many states of the USA, another fact that I find staggering. As we reach the end of the decade we tend to look back over past events. How long before we look back over outdated attitudes such as homophobia with the disbelief and disgust that they deserve?

For what it's worth, I say, good on you Gareth, you're a brave man. May your example ease the pain and suffering of others in a similar position and may one day may openess like yours be the norm rather than the exception.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

This weekend will see millions of us tune in to see the final of X Factor.
Whatever you think of the show, and it certainly polarises opinion, I think that there is a lot that we can learn from it.

Those that do best seem to be really driven. They've had their goal for a very long time, have strived to achieve it and have often made a lot of sacrifices along the way. They've also had to take a lot of criticism. The most successful have learned that "There is no failure, only feedback". They take the judges comments on board, learn from them and use them to their advantage.

Now for sure there's an enormous amount of media hype about the whole thing, much of it entirely unjustified, but if it encourages just one person to believe in themselves and chase their dream, then to me it is worth it. If kids look at people on TV and think "if they can do it, then so can I" - then great. I'd prefer it if they wanted to achieve something more then just being famous, but seeing other people be confident is part of how we learn to be confident too.

Nathaniel Branden, the famous psychologist once said "Self concept is destiny".
I love that quote and really try and apply it in my daily life. How you feel about yourself really does affect how other people see and treat you. If you're looking for an example of a confident, successful man, look no further than X Factor's own, Simon Cowell.

EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION

A real winter's day today but a great chance to catch up with some indoor work. I got my business accounts up to date and have made great strides into writing some new material for my upcoming workshops.

I'm excited to be starting up some new free weight management workshops for my patients in January. These will incorporate some of the skills I picked up from Paul McKenna on my recent training day with him. They will focus on the mental aspects of weight loss rather than on the mechanics of what to eat or not eat. I'm a firm believer in getting your head right before doing anything and losing weight is no exception.

I've also been working on material for a workshop I'm running in January for a group of local GP trainers. This is a great chance for me to convey my passion for NLP and coaching to the local medical community - and I'm determined to make the most of it.

My calf seems to be on the mend but it'll be Wednesday now before I get the chance to try it out on the roads. Tomorrow's combination of early morning commuter surgery, afternoon on-call and evening french lesson means I have a 15 hour day which doesn't leave any time for running.

The dark evenings are great for reading though don't you think? I'm currently re-reading one of Richard Bandler's early books, "Using Your Brain For a Change". For anyone looking for a great introduction to NLP, it's a very good place to start. As usual with great books, there is always more to get out of them on subsequent reads. Education is for life, you never stop learning. As I tell my kids, education gives you choices. I've just looked on their school website and saw that a lad who used to go to their primary school was awarded the top student prize in the 6th form and a prize of £ 3000 this week. Wow look at that I said to them, as they played Playstation, doesn't that make you want to go and start your homework? No replied one of them -you have to spend it on education!

As a psychiatrist once said about Basil Fawlty in a classic episode of Fawlty Towers...... there's enough material there for a whole conference!