This is not about diabetes or obesity in itself but it could be the ‘mind’ equivalent. The quality of thinking determines everything. The problem is too often people think too much.  It drives them crazy with worry thinking about all the ‘what ifs’ and this leads to anxiety and distress.  If people realized that their experience of life is all due to their moment-to-moment thinking they would leave their thoughts alone or let them go.  Processed thinking is like processed sugar – too much of it is bad for you!  Less is more and quality is better than quantity. If you want to be more creative and innovative the busy mind will let you down.   A quiet uncluttered mind will create the space for new insights which could be the difference between between living a fearful or fearless life.

People think a lot, yet how much of their thinking is quality thinking?  Listen to the conversations in the workplace, in a store, in meetings.  What is being said says so much about the quality of thinking and that leads to the quality of decisions and actions being made for businesses.  If you want a different result then first examine your thinking and then the others you work with.

Think differently and see what happens. Thinking is not a fad, it’s here to stay.  We have about 50 – 70,000 thoughts a day and on a bad one it’s probably more like 80,000.  Quantity isn’t necessarily a good thing.  Sometimes Less is More!

I have just heard Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi speak at the National Speakers Australian Convention in Melbourne.  Kevin, well known for his Lovemarks talked about people’s need to be emotionally connected.  He said; “Emotional thinking leads to actions, while rational thinking leads to solutions. Right now we need to inspire people to do great things in order to get the economies moving in the ‘right’direction. We need the ‘unreasonable power of creativity’ and we need revelations.”
I believe we need more Eureka moments for ourselves and businesses. Ideas are important, however it will be insights that will lead to revelations and revolutionary change in the way we think and behave.

That is what I experienced at the Auckland Chapter of  NSANZ (the National Speakers Association of New Zealand) One Night Only Celebration dinner and awards on Wednesday this week.  The winner of the Business Speaker of the Year Hannah Samuel, who is also the President, was so surprised and it was the same for me.  Winning is wonderful but neither did I expect to be a winner.  The competition for both of us was tough.  I thought I knew who would win the “Bright Star” Award so I was literally speechless when my name was read out. Now I know how some people must feel winning an Oscar. I am also mindful that my colleagues are professionals and also deserved to win but there can only be one winner.  Congratulations to everyone who applied for an award.  It isn’t easy and the good news there is always next year.

Today the sun shone on the people of Christchurch.  As I watched and listened to Dame Malvina Major sing this song, at the Memorial Service in Hagley Park for those killed or injured in the February 22nd earthquake, I suddenly had tears streaming down my face. I don’t live in Christchurch and I haven’t lost anyone, yet I felt the pain of those mourning the loss of their loved ones, and the destruction of the city of Christchurch. All faiths came together to grieve and to remember all those who were killed in the earthquake. They came from over 20 nations. It was a beautiful service of remembrance.

Acceptance of the reality. Forgiveness of what has happened and cannot be changed and Gratitude, yes being grateful for what we have had are thoughts that help to heal the past events.
Kia Kaha (be strong) Christchurch. Konnan ni tachi mukatte kudasai (be strong) Japan.
We are all one people.

Honne and Tatemae are the two Japanese words for truth. Honne is what you really think or literally ‘the truth’ while Tatemae means what you really show, what you think people want to hear – or literally a’facade’.

I have been keeping in touch with my friends in Tokyo.  I have an affinity with Japan as it was my home for nearly seven years.  One friend in Tokyo is seriously fearful for his family.  He has sent his wife and twin daughters to Osaka.  He is the gaijin (foreigner) president of a company and he feels duty bound to stay with his staff.  When the earthquake struck he thought his life was going to end.  Now he is very worried about the possible effects of radiation from the Fukushima plant.  He knows the area well as he used to head a company with a large pharmaceutical manufacturing base there.

Another friend who is an adventurer and photographer has a very different story. He was 100 miles west of Tokyo running a programme at the time of the quake. At 14:46 there was some interesting creaking and shaking and after fifteen seconds or so he said ‘out’.  They were in a forest and for the first time he felt the earth moving. After another shake twenty minutes later the course came to an end.

Since all the trains in Tokyo had stopped, the roads jammed, the expressway closed and the streets full of milling people they decide to stay overnight. In his words “We had an excellent evening with curry and excellent cloudy bay (NZ wine). Conversation was upbeat as everyone in the group’s families and company were fine – but it was all a bit surreal.  Around midnight we went to bed – slept well and did not feel the one in Niigata at 04:00 in the morning.  Ever since I came to Tokyo 38 years ago I have been expecting the big one”.

I haven’t heard from him since Monday.  Maybe when he got to Tokyo he too decided to leave.

So what is the ‘truth’?  Panic is not what Japan needs right now, but they know what can happen from radiation.  The Japanese are stoic and very resilient.  My Japanese friend in Auckland said to me her 91 year old Mother is “like a rock”.  She has been through WW11.  The Japanese will re-build their country – again.

Yesterday I met with a manager who has spent the last week in Christchurch helping and supporting the managers and staff of his company’s facility there.  Fortunately everyone is safe as are their families with different degrees of damage to their homes.  He said to me he was surprised by the different behaviours of people.  The company had brought in several containers of water for everyone.  He said that one person who had just a crack in his concrete drive and had water wanted to take all the water he could get, whilst another who had no water and quite a lot of damage to his property was mindful that many others needed water too and would only take one container.

As I sat at a cafe with the manager I picked up a small pot of tea and used it as an analogy.  Let’s say the teapot is the event, in this instance the earthquake.   The only thing that differentiates how a person feels about something is the way they think about it.  Hence the person with water and wanting more water had some insecure thinking and was focused on himself, while the other person was so grateful that all his family were alive and okay and realised that there are others who are much worse off than him.  It is easy to be judgmental; however, people are not conscious of how they create their experience of life through their moment-to-moment thinking.  When they are focused on something important they don’t have time to worry about things.  It’s not the earthquakes that make people feel stressed; it is the thoughts about them and their fears that make it that way.  And it is REAL for them.  We literally think our way through life and hence we all live our lives in separate realities.

It is in times of distress or illness that we turn to our favourite comfort food.  We are seeing and hearing about people in the South Island cooking hot meals for those people who are displaced and without power or water.  Even helicopters are being used to deliver the meals. It is not a time for gourmet cooking but wholesome food that is easy to digest because what has happened, and the journey ahead, is not easy for anyone to digest.  The eyes of the world are upon our small nation and so many of us can donate money, but in some ways we are helpless because the whole of New Zealand cannot descend on Christchurch.  We need to find other ways to contribute especially over the coming months.

All the people of New Zealand, wherever they are in the world, are in deep shock and mourning the loss of people they may or may not know.  It seemed that the wonderful stoic citizens of Christchurch were getting back on their feet again and now this devastaing earthquake has changed lives and the city forever.  I am not a born ‘Kiwi’ but this is my home and I am very proud to belong to this country. 

Over the past two days we have seen incredible leadership and collaboration.  Isn’t it interesting that we need a major crisis for people to come together?   The leaders are demonstrating their calmness and clarity of communication. The Mayor, Bob Parker, just keeps going and as his wife said; “He is a leader , that’s why I married him”.   And she is at his side all the time. 

Business can learn a lot, especially the leaders of a company facing a difficult situation.  Parents can learn too as Nigel Latta, a New Zealand psychologist, and presenter of the “Politically Incorrect Parenting Show” said; “Don’t show your children how worried you are as they need re-assurance.  Step away rather than show them how you are feeling. ”  Wouldn’t that be great if leaders did that rather than losing their cool in front of their staff?  We all can learn a lot from these leaders in Christchurch and the willingness of thousands of people just doing whatever it takes to help people.