9/11

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 31-Sept 6, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

First, because 9/11.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum

The new head of the Ontario Bar Association goes on record about his struggle with depression. The Toronto Star.

Five supplements that may help with depression. IFLS. Please read the whole post, including the very important caution that you not begin any supplemental regimen without first consulting a medical health professional.

What happens when a therapist who’s counselled patients through loss faces the death of his father? Psychiatric Times.

Renewable energy sources now provide 22 percent of the world’s energy. IFLS. C’mon, people! We can do better than that, can’t we?

Fifteen thou a litre? Holy horseshoe crab blood, Batman! Mind you, I still feel sorry for the poor wee things. They really need to work on that whole synthetic thing a little harder, don’t you think? IFLS.

Deep sea life form that resembles a mushroom could mean a new branch on the tree of life. IFLS.

What makes the rocks of Death Valley “slither”? When one researcher decided to put cameras on the rocks, they found out . . . IFLS.

The silent line: photographer Pierre Folk captures images of a 160 year old Parisian rail line. This is Colossal.

What the fugu? Japanese puffer fish create lovely works of underwater art.

And here’s the video of one of the little guys at work:

 

What personal space? Dogs without boundaries from Pet Stuff Web.

30 little-known features of your favourite social media, by Kevan Lee for Buffer.

Isabel Allende’s TED Talk on how to live passionately:

 

Test your Highland IQ with the verra much harder Outlander quiz, from The Daily Record’s Scotland Now.

New Pentatonix video, La La Latch:

 

Kina Grannis, Tyler Ward, and Lindsey Stirling cover Coldplay’s The Scientist:

 

See you Saturday, with more WWC2014 🙂

Thoughty Thursday

On the road again … or managing life’s transitions

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

I don’t mind traveling for work, for all that it puts a cramp in my writing life.

This week, I’m attending the training for trainers on Managing Transitions, the change management course that two of my colleagues developed for staff this year.

My employer has embarked on a business transformation strategy and a lot of our staff are being affected.  Even more are feeling the pinch of budget cuts.

Enter Managing Transitions, a course designed to offer insight into and tools to manage change in your professional life.

A colleague and myself drove to Toronto from Sudbury this morning to attend.  Today was the first half-day of class.

A couple of the critical learnings of the day:

  • change is the event; transition is the process.
  • change is often beyond our control, but our reaction to it and attitude toward it never are.
Deutsch: Viktor Frankl

Deutsch: Viktor Frankl (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s the whole Viktor Frankl thing.  You know Viktor Frankl?  Author of Man’s Search for Meaning?  Essentially, he was a prisoner in a Nazi death camp during WWII.  He survived the horrors, but only by making the critical realization that the only thing he could control in his dire circumstances was himself.

Now that’s a very simplistic take on his philosophy, but if it’s piqued your interest at all, pick up his book and read more about it.  See if you agree.  Don’t take my word for it.

Now few of us these days encounter changes that are so drastic or life-changing as Frankl’s, but it can still happen.  On a day like today, I think back to 9/11, and though it’s been eleven years since the tragedy, it’s one of those defining moments in history.  Everyone remembers where they were when they first heard that dreadful bit of news.

Tribute in Light, 9/11/03

Tribute in Light, 9/11/03 (Photo credit: Brendan Loy)

Me? I was having coffee with my parents before heading off to work.  The morning show that was on the TV was pre-empted by the special news report.  I watched what they would show of it on national TV.  It was surreal.  Disturbing.  Inconceivable.

Another bit of learning from today’s session: it doesn’t matter how relatively big or small the change appears, the effect it has is directly related to how the individual experiencing the change perceives it.

So I’m here for another day and a half, then travel home again Thursday afternoon.

Will likely give you an update on this course when I deliver it at some point in the future.

In other news

Does your CEO tweet?  Does it matter?  Nick Charney calls shenanigans on ‘the 1.3 trillion price of not tweeting at work.’

What ‘open’ means to me.  New on Connecting the Dots.

Just a couple of things of interest in the virtual working world of Mel.

Thanks for stopping by!

The learning mutt needs to sleep if she’s ever going to get up in time for the course tomorrow!

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