Monday Motivation: Pomegranates

My sister  is looking for Pomegranates. If you live in Adelaide and have a pomegranate tree or access to such a tree or know someone who has a Pomegranate tree, can, you please drop me a line?

Today's Monday Motivation is therefore a Pomegranate  story from Kerry Spackman is found at http://www.best-motivation-articles.com/articles/2010/4/3/pomegranates.html

Pomegranates

SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010 AT 11:22PM

Though many things are “correct”, they might also need time to be absorbed. Time needs to pass before they can be of value or can work. Sometimes the timing also has to be right. Remember this as you read through the below motivation article. This is a story I have heard from Kerry Spackman, consultant who specializes in performance optimization.

Many years ago there was a young man apprenticed to a wise, old doctor. After watching his master heal many people he became relentless to begin seeing his own patients. So one day he said to his master “Master, I have watched you for many years and now I am ready to heal my own patients.”

The master replied “My son, you have learned much but still you are not yet ready to treat your own patients.” But the young doctor persisted and badgered his master. Finally the master relented “Very well my son. Standing outside the tent is a patient who has a liver problem. The cure for this man is pomegranates. You may see him.”

The young doctor was very excited and ushered his first patient in. He quickly looked his patient over and proudly proclaimed “You have a liver disease. What you need is pomegranates.” On hearing this, the patient threw up his arms and stormed out of the tent shouting “Pomegranates my ass! You’re a useless doctor.” Understandably the young doctor was shaken and upset. He turned to his companion “Master, master, you told me he had a liver disease and he needed pomegranates. What went wrong?”

The master replied “As fate would have it, there is another patient outside the tent and he too has a liver problem. Please show him in and learn.”

The second patient came in and the old master examined him thoroughly before sitting down quietly in deep thought. Two or three minutes passed and still the master had said nothing. Finally he looked up and said “I have examined you and it is clear you have a liver disease.” He paused for some time in deep thought. “What you need is something fleshy…not too sweet…” He looked into the patient’s eyes and said “Ah…what you need is pomegranates.”

The patient stood up, hugged the master and thanked him profusely before leaving with a happy smile on his face.

The young doctor was now even more perplexed than ever.

“Master, I don’t understand. Both patients had a liver disease and I too prescribed pomegranates.”

The master replied “My son, that is where you’re mistaken. What they needed was pomegranates…and time.”

Volunteering for tangible rewards

Volunteer Center/Centre
Needing access to a Council House in Barnet, UK?

Speed up the process! Volunteer

Rob Jackson notes that a  Borough (local) Council plans to fast-track people into council housing if they volunteer (Reference: pages 26 & 27 of http://bit.ly/mHajaV.)


What do you think?

Highlighting heroes

What was I doing in this photograph? Doing my best Mr Bean impression during a speech to launch Volunteer Marlborough's New Book: Every Minute Counts. Marlborough, located at the North of  New Zealand's South Island is where the world's best Sauvignon Blanc comes from -but that another blog post!

The book highlights contributions from a diverse group of 18 volunteers in the region including:

• a female firefighter
• an ambulance driver
• a family who volunteer together
• an immigrant to New Zealand who volunteers for 10 hours a week
• a new resident who serves at PAMS (Presbyterian and Methodist Shop)
• a lawyer who provides free legal advice through a community law centre

Each story is both interesting and genuine and reminded me how many services across the globe are delivered in  At the function many of the people in the book were present so was good to actually meet and mingle.  Here I am with the Mayor of Marlborough Council who was very welcoming and supportive of the work of the volunteers in his council area (and beyond). 

One Orange County

I really like the re branding that the Volunteer Centre Orange County, USA have done. They are now: One OC.

Its very clever.

Their tagline: Accelerating NonProfit Success. How cool is that?

Their goal: With volunteer, training, consulting and business services, we help Orange County’s nonprofits become as effective and efficient as they are passionate about their missions.

Good luck guys

I felt safe

I facilitated a workshop on Tuesday for Volunteering Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The workshop was held at St Mark's Avonhead, Presbyterian Church Community Centre.  Nice facility.

The building has come through all the quakes unscathed.

On my evaluation sheet, we aks a question: What did you feel about the venue and the location?

There were some complaints it was cold (it was a wintery Christchurch day) but overwhelmingly people wrote something I have never seen on an evaluation form before:

It was safe


This is a very telling commentary on how the citizens of Christchurch feel after 3(some would say 4 and some 5) major quakes and 14 000 tremors since September, 2010.
Thoughts are with you guys.


(the workshop went well... 40% of the participants rated it 10 out of 10 30% gave a 9 out of ten 20% 8 out of ten and a got  10% 7 out of ten). Thank you to Ruth, Jan and the team at Vol Can for facilitating it.

Sobering Christchurch Realities

First time in Christchurch since the September earthquake (which was followed by Boxing Day, February and now June quakes).

Landing in Christchurch, things at the airport looked normal. Driving in, the first signs were in fact signs..many street signs and bus stop signs are now leaning over. Every now and then a fence is down, a window shattered.

Getting closer to downtown, the destruction intensifies. Entire shops and houses are gone. Instead empty sections or piles of rubble sit there in their place. In some suburbs entire streets are wiped out. 12 000 homes are gone.

Every hotel I have ever stayed at in Christchurch is closed or destroyed:

• Hotel Grand Chancellor- the lean on the 26 story building is extraordinary
• Hotel off the Square - has been closed since February as its right in the centre of the off limits Red Zone. While closed the hotel was ransacked systematically 
• I saw the  Latimer Hotel and Conference Centre which has had extensive damage
• The Crowne Plaza which was designed to be earthquake proof has had some damage but is expected to reopen in 2012
• Terrace on the Park  is on a lean and there are shipping containers stacked against it to stop them collapsing into the street. Whats weird is that there are apartment doors and windows open
  -clearly people had them open on the day of the quake and no ones been able to go back in
  the building

The Christchurch Convention Centre, New Zealand's largest purpose-built convention venue where I spoke one year ago has severe structural damage and may not open again.

The Oxford Terrace Baptist Church  (right) where I spoke for the first time ever in a public forum in New Zealand is a ruin.

I went into a bottle shop to buy wine  to take to dinner at my friends' house. The first thing that struck me was the smell of alcohol. Then I noticed the alcohol soaked carpet. The shelves of the store were almost empty.  It didn't take long to realise the bottles came crashing down in Monday's earthqauke.

We walked around the cordon which hugs the heavily hit CBD area. It is eerie and quiet.  The question on many people's minds is when the city re opens fully, will people bother to come back to the city to shop and eat?

Monday Motivation 20 JUNE 2011

 "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." -

Aristotle

Greek Philosopher, Scientist and Physician, 384 BC-322 BC)

Volunteering Week

Its Volunteering Week in New Zealand. Hope it goes well everybody!
I am presenting this week in

• Christchurch Tuesday- first time I have been since the quakes
• Blenheim Wednesday- the Volunteer Centre there is a launching an exciting new Publicatiion
• Dunedin Friday
• Kapati Monday week
• Wanganui Tuesday week
• Gisborne Thursday week

Free stuff for NZ Volunteers

BP New Zealand is linking its 2011 BP Vouchers for Volunteers programme with Volunteer Awareness Week and is opening its invitation to apply for vouchers from Monday 20 June.

Applications from community organisations who meet the criteria set by BP may be made from 20 June through to 15 July.  To find out if your organisation is eligible visit www.bp.co.nz. and click on Vouchers for Volunteers 2011. 

The link for making applications will be there from Monday next 20 June.

Loving my newsletter

Photo from June People First e-News

Each month, Melody Lord my editor and I work on getting what we aim to be the most relevant and useful electronic newsletter about volunteerism and not for profits.

It features:

• Bite size articles
• handy information that people working in the sector need to know
• links relevant to the sector
• commentary from myself
• upcoming training dates

This month (the June 2011) can be found here.

I have taken our e-News for granted but have been gratified by how much positive information we get. I recently joked that I should charge $100 for it and someone reached for their Credit Card.

At this stage, not planning to charge for it. We love serving our clients and friends with the news.

Can I ask you three favours:

• please send $100--  kidding!
• please read our e-News
• please feedback to us
• please like it on Facebook and or Tweet about it and or forward it to others to read (its easy)

We would love to significantly boost our readership to another level and we need tour help to do that

Thank you