The Woodshed

I'm off to New Zealand on Sunday. I don't think the idea of international travel has really sunk in yet. We had the usual trouble with booking flight tickets this week ... first we were set to leave Sunday ... then we weren't and the flights had changed to Thursday ... then 12 hours later we were on a different Airline and it was back to Sunday. But I'm not complaining. It's tremendously exciting. I owe all this excitment to Mandy. She did so well meeting her targets at the office that every year we're treated to an International flight somewhere exotic on the house. Last year was Cape Town (a bit close to home but boy what a beautiful place). The year before Mexico. But on Tuesday I should be sipping XXX lager in Auckland, New Zealand. The City of Sails. One of the more important things on my growing itinerary list of 'Things We Must Do!' is to take a 2 hour trip south and sit down amongst the rolling hills of the Shire where Bilbo Baggins celebrated hi

I love the notion of being open-minded. Very often we tend to seek specific results ... and in our desire to achieve these results we fail to investigate surprises that present themselves along the way. This is a mistake. Follow your planning, but be prepared to off-road when something unexpected catches your attention. To honour this thinking, and to end this week off, here's a Top 10 list of the best accidental discoveries. 1. Viagra 
Men being treated for erectile dysfunction should salute the working stiffs of Merthyr Tydfil, the Welsh hamlet where, in 1992 trials, the gravity-defying side effects of a new angina drug first popped up. Previously, the blue-collar town was known for producing a different kind of iron. 2. LSD 
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the world's first acid hit in 1943, when he touched a smidge of lysergic acid diethylamide, a chemical he had researched for inducing childbirth. He later tried a bigger dose and made another discovery: the bad trip. 3.

She smiled at a sorrowful stranger. The smile seemed to make him feel better. He remembered past kindness' of a friend And wrote him a thank you letter. The friend was so pleased with the thank you That he left a large tip after lunch. The waitress, surprised by the size of the tip, Bet the whole thing on a hunch. The next day she picked up her winnings, And gave part to a man on the street. The man on the street was grateful; For two days he'd had nothing to eat. After he finished his dinner, He left for his small dingy room. He didn't know at that moment that he might be facing his doom. On the way he picked up a shivering puppy And took him home to get warm. The puppy was very grateful To be in out of the storm. That night the house caught on fire. The puppy barked the alarm. He barked till he woke the whole household And saved everybody from harm. One of the boys that he rescued Grew up to be President. All this because of a simple smile That hadn't cost a cen

Granted. This blog doesn't have many readers. That may change in the future ... or it may not. I haven't published the URL or spammed my address book. That's not my intention. A few family members, colleagues and lovecats are part of the network. That's it. And that's just dandy. So ... being this early in the game, you can image my delight (and surprise) to receive an eMail from an old friend (now residing in the U.K.) that had somewhat of a success story he related back to a previous posting here on The Woodshed. Truth be told, he decided to 'get back to where he needed to be' after reading 'The Great Thing About Cleaning Up'. So he went out and applied for his dream job. The fact that the position offered less than his current earnings didn't deter him from pursuing his personal goals. Lo and behold ... he was made the offer! Open yourself up to the opportunity and the opportunity will find you. Adopt a creative mindset and believe that the u

It's been a while since my last post. 14 days. And in those 14 days the new moon that fell on February 27 seemed to force all sorts of unexpected developments - anything could ... and did happen. This was challenging to say the least. In situations like this most of us tend to adopt a knee-jerk attitude and behave in a reactionary manner. Exactly what I did. It took a weekend away for something that I believe in to slowly re-awaken: The point of power is always in the present moment*. Let me elaborate. The past has no power over us. But it often clouds our thinking. We become very judgmental of past situations. Of others. And of ourselves. We enjoy playing the victim. But that's so stupid. There's no fun at all in being a victim, but it grants us the excuses we look for because we're unhappy with our current situation. But what we should realise is that it doesn't matter how long we have had a negative pattern ... the point of power is always in the present moment.