Middlefocus

At a training session today, I was surprised and very pleased to get a chair with a writing frame for left-handed people of which I am one.  It was just as surprising to find that of the five people selected at random for my group, three of us were left-handed and there were plenty of lefty chairs to go round. Thanks to the organisers for their kind consideration - nothing was left to chance.

The National Gallery of Art in Dublin is a place I like to visit regularly. Even when it is undergoing refurbishment its curators find ways to engage visitors. I'll be adding some thoughts on this below shortly. Meantime this quote, alongside the statue of George Bernard Shaw, caught my attention and has remained in mind.  Thought I'd share.  Link to the gallery here .

This month's audiobook: So you have been publicly shamed Jon Ronson Picador, 2015 ISBN: 9780330492287 Audiobook version by: Audible Inc. This is an audiobook that I will listen to again or get a hard copy version. That's because I found it so interesting and intend to make notes next time. Written and voiced by journalist Jon Ronson I found it "unpausible" - which I am assuming to be the auditory equivalent of an "unputdownable" book.   It is a relatively short listen as audiobooks go, around 7 hours, and I very much liked its delivery style. The message of 'shamed' is definitely one for the times we live in.  I had no sooner finished listening than I noticed that the airwaves were full of calls for the resignation of the chief executive of a major national company, coupled with shouts for boycotting the company's products.  Name and shame seems to be the "stock" phrase these days.... and the prevalence of social medi...

It was a treat last weekend to meet up with some friends to dine in a really classy restaurant in Belfast. It's the kind of place you go to for that special occasion because you just know that the food will be superb and you are going to be treated very well. It's the epitome of great service and attention to detail: table tops, crockery and silverware all gleaming. The restaurant popped into mind today while reading a newspaper article setting out five tips for would-be writers.  Here's why.... The article's #1 tip was that "If you want to shine, you have to polish". As a blogger, I'm one of those  'would-be writers' so it's advice that I'll be taking to heart and acting on in future. Then it struck me that there was plenty of polishing going on in that restaurant and its shine shows. That sparkled my thinking about things that we might do in our personal and professional lives to polish up our act and shine more brightly. Tim...

Back in my old language teaching days, one of the guiding beliefs was that communication had not occured unless the message sent had been received and understood.  So often it can be taken for granted that just because something has been said that desired action automatically follows. It's a fallacy. Your message may get heard but may not have been really listened to much less acted upon. I'm interested in the process of how messages are transmitted and how best to avoid interference on our signals so that the point we want to get across is not distorted.  There will be more of that in future but for this post I would like to focus on highlighting the subject matter of the communication. One of my former bosses, who had to manage several staff across literally dozens of disciplines, taught me a technique which he insisted I use and which many years later I still find effective.  When I would approach him for advice on dealing with a particular aspect of my ...

Sometimes it can be hard to organise thoughts against the pressure of deadlines. Think of that report that's due. You've several options to consider and time is short, what one to go for? Or you have an upcoming presentation and you want to be sure you are in command of the facts. Maybe you are a student preparing for an exam. How best to assimilate all the information and still be ready to pick out the salient points and organise them for your argument? At times like this it can be hard to hear yourself think. In preparing for such eventualities I like to take some time to myself and most often play some music to help me concentrate. I am a regular listener to the radio station ClassicFM and it has suggested a playlist for students as an aid to concentration. Take a moment and check it out here . If you've checked out the playlist you will see that the station recommends starting at the Pachelbel Canon. It's one of my favourite pieces for helping me organise...

This past few weeks I've been challenging myself to lose a few kilos, get a little fitter and consume more wisely.  It's a sort of advance New Year's resolution and maybe by getting ahead of time there is a chance of avoiding the over indulgence that seems to go hand to mouth with the festive season.  Along with the physical challenges, I've been keen to exercise my brain more in a bid to get sharper on that front too. One of the ways I've been doing that is through word puzzles. We're keen fans of crosswords in our house and, although we sometimes share answers to clues, each of us likes to treat the crossword as a personal challenge. Respecting that individual approach we've even taken to photocopying the crossword so that we can each have a clean copy. Over the past weeks of this fitness regime I've begun to notice that the solutions are coming much more quickly and so I've started to keep a record of how long each puzzle has taken to com...

What has happened to the tasks and dares that used to be printed on Starburst Wrappers? They weren't included in two recent purchases. As explained in this earlier post  I use the sweets in icebreaker sessions for meetings I facilitate. The tasks are fun and lift energy in the room. Hope they are brought back, meantime: Mental note to call their marketing team!