….Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver RIP
From “The Summer Day”
Filed under: Blog, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
Perhaps just remove my head from my own backside long enough to engage….
Posted on January 18, 2019 by Alun Rees
“As I begin 2019 I wonder how I might introduce to my own clinical space some of the human warmth I felt among those brave, breathless singers. Bring biscuits? Offer a choice of music from my phone?
Or perhaps just remove my head from my own backside long enough to engage meaningfully for a while with each of my patients, before reaching for the reassuring anonymity of my knife.”
Full article here.
Gabriel Weston writing on the joy of singing and how it is helping patients with COPD.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
The best is yet to come, with edit…
Posted on January 2, 2019 by Alun Rees
My first posting on this blog was on 14th May 2008. To date there have been 1,558 published entries spread over those 3885 days, that works out at one every 2.5 days or thereabouts, (another 3885 days will take us to 22nd August 2029). To quote Andi McDowell that may be “a fair run”, less than many but a lot more than some. I hope to increase the frequency and always strive for quality.
For the most part, this blog has been about my work, thoughts and influences. I have attempted to include links to sources that I hope my readers will find interesting, informative or even entertaining.
There has been some, but less, about the other “stuff” in my life. I’m going to change that to a certain extent to include more of my personal activities, beliefs and influences.
In the opening entry I described myself as:
Alun Rees, Professional Coach, Dentist, Speaker, Writer & Broadcaster.
Dentistry is not a career you can dabble with, so I have not been registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) since the end of 2013, therefore I am forbidden from describing myself as a dentist (so Dentist), my medical contemporaries who have retired from practice are allowed to keep their place on the medical register but marked as “retired”.
The other descriptions still apply and I am more active than ever with all four. Coaching can be something of a fluid activity and certainly takes in elements of Consulting, Mentoring, Advising and Training depending upon what is appropriate for the needs of the individual client or clients. Whilst I work mostly with Dentists I do apply the same principles to other walks of life and to life itself and I am not tied to dentistry.
I went on to say:
In this blog I will include:
- Observations from my working & personal life.
- Links with other sites & blogs that I hope you will find of interest.
- References to my mentors, teachers & other individuals who have inspired me.
- Reviews of books that I have found influential.
I hope that I have fulfilled all those promises to a greater or lesser extent.
I concluded:
I will be delighted to hear from you so please feel free to post.
Alun
That definitely still applies.
I said in the title of this blog, “The Best Is Yet To Come” – it’s pointless feeling any other way. If you feel that your best is behind you it’s time to change something in your professional life. (Perhaps you need a coach?)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
Happy New Year – to continued success and happiness.
Posted on January 1, 2019 by Alun Rees
What does success mean to you?
These wise words from Ralph Waldo Emerson defined success thus:
“To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
“Seasonal Associate’s” Greetings to Amazon.
Posted on December 25, 2018 by Alun Rees
We want the service but we don’t want our children to work there.
A review in the FT of “Seasonal Associate” by Heike Geissler – available from all good bookshops…
“…..This is one of the themes of the book: how it feels to work in a job that has no use for your sparks of humanity, and will certainly be done by a robot as soon as it makes financial sense. The feeling seems to rub off on how people treat each other. Towards the end of her stint at Amazon, Geissler’s protagonist wants to hug a new colleague, Melly, who says hello and offers her name. “Until that moment no one working near you has even introduced themselves.” The same day, a woman in a green security vest appears and rummages in the recycling box, checking that her colleagues haven’t hidden anything in there to smuggle out. She doesn’t even look at them…”
…”For Henry Ford the fact that workers were also consumers was a reason to double his employees pay in 1914, so they could afford the cars they were making. Today, for jobs at the bottom of the economy, it feels like that process has shuddered into reverse.”…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
The Monday Morning Quote #514
Posted on December 24, 2018 by Alun Rees
“Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
Quote of the day
Posted on October 6, 2018 by Alun Rees
“George Harrison once said to me, ‘If we’d known we were going to be the Beatles, we would have tried harder,’ ” (Eric) Idle writes. “I think the same could be said of Monty Python.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »
