Tonight I attended a classical music concert at a local church as part of a neighbourhood festival called Islington Proms. Even though there was not a big group of audience, the two young talented musicians performed as if they were at the Royal Albert Hall (a major concert hall in London), doing their very best. There is a good example to demonstrate that we should always do our best regardless of the importance of the task at hand.

At the presentation, Mr. Alastair Campbell also emphasized the importance of support network in preventing the emotional downward spiral and facilitating the recovery from low point in life. Similarly, in the journey of learning and personal development, having support and “a pat on the shoulder” can make a big difference in the outcome (success or failure).

Continuing on the presentation from Alastair Campbell on mental health, one key element he identified among great leaders is resilience.
In short, it is the ability to rebound from adversity and become stronger. He added that it is at those moments of one’s life that one is really tested and leaped into greatness.
Excellent point indeed!

Last week I attended a presentation by Alastair Campbell, the former head of communication when Tony Blair was the Prime Minister in the U.K. He candidly shared his experience of overcoming alcoholism and depression. He mentioned that we all have mental health like our physical health. Similarly, some have better mental health than others. In addition, mental problems don’t just affect homeless and poor people. We all, to a certain extent, are exposed and faced with issues (big or small) with our mental health.

I finished my 6-month physiotherapy treatment 2 weeks ago. At the last session, the principal therapist told me that there was a dispute among the therapists at the clinic over my case. She explained to me that she did not believe I had a case of a frozen shoulder suggested by her colleague and required to check my date of birth in my record. She did not believe a person of my “age” would have a frozen shoulder before checking my record. I quickly changed the topic and told her that I am confident that I am on the right path of a full recovery.

Yesterday morning I returned to my weekly Pilates class for the first time after going through physiotherapy for the past few months. I was a bit anxious as I felt quite rusty. However, with the help of muscle memory (“Consistency and maintenance”, p.30-31 of my book), I actually managed to keep up. All the hard work in the past 8 years to build up the muscle memory did pay off.

This morning, when I dropped off my shirts at the dry-cleaner, the staff told me that the price is higher in the summer. Out of curiosity, I asked her why. She said it appeared that the volume always goes up every summer for some unknown reason and thus they can charge more. With some pondering, I suggest the following possible reasons:
1) Perhaps people can’t hide their “dirty” shirts under the sweaters/jumpers in the summer.
2) For personal hygienic reason (sweat and such), there is more of a need to change your shirt more often.
3) It is vacation time in the summer. People tend to have less time to take care of their own shirt cleaning.

Another point from the presentation of Dr. Gail Davies which I agreed 100%. It is to easier to start a new difficult task with a small and realistic step. She gave an example that people training for marathon usually start slowly with a much shorter distance than 26.2 miles and build it up gradually. One main reason is to avoid frustration and giving up immediately if we don’t build it up. I think it is logical and sensible as mentioned in my book (Section “Invest the time to work on the basics” p.34-35).

According to Dr. Gail Davies, she said there is no real multi-tasking meaning doing more than one task simultaneously with 100% attention allocated to each of them.  She said it is actually Multi-switching, i.e., switching between different tasks quickly with the exception of some daily habits such as eating and talking as well as walking and talking.  She also suggested that when doing multiple tasks in the same period of time is a necessity, we should be aware and mindful of the task-switching that is going on instead of thinking that it is automatic.

Today I attended to a mindfulness presentation given by Dr. Gail Davies, the founder of MindLab.  She pointed out that mindfulness is more than the ability to focus and concentrate.  It also helps us cope with emotional strains and/or avoid being judgemental.  In addition, it enhances the chance of getting into flow.