Corporate Intermittent Fasting

It is known that Intermittent Fasting is good for the body as it reduces blood glucose levels and circulating insulin. It helps move the body toward Ketosis and the burning of fat for energy. It allows the digestive system recovery time and encourages cleaning and detoxification. Could it be that similar benefits could apply in an organisational setting? Breaking the habit of continuously ‘grazing’ is difficult. I used to insist on having a full coffee cup and a pile of biscuits between rounds of toast with marmalade. The quality of the food was poor but it satisfied both habit and craving. I finally weaned myself off the biscuits by substituting them with nuts and very dark chocolate. How might organisations wean themselves off ‘busy work’ so that they could spend their time re-orientating their businesses toward ‘For Benefit’ working? The 20th century Capitalism model has failed. The drive for constant, and unsustainable, growth is threatening our very survival as a species. Sadly it’s already too late for the hundreds that we have driven to extinction before us. For too long the fixation on maximising quarterly profits has dominated business culture. Today’s industry needs to adopt the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ accounting model of People, Planet and Profit recognising that protecting our environment is the only way we can protect our future and respecting people is the only way to create equality and engagement. Millenial workers are not interested in following in the footsteps of Baby Boomers who have trashed their inheritance. They want to know what their organisation’s values are and why they should spend their precious time working for them at all. Perhaps the time has come for greater selection working where unless a job fits with an organisation’s values it just isn’t taken on. Will it strengthen my community? Is it good for the planet? Is it carbon neutral? And of course, is it profitable? Initially it may feel economically suicidal not to maintain the momentum of the operation but our current rate of resource exploitation promises suicide of the species. We need today’s best minds working out how to transition from current business practice to models with meaning and where the wealth created is more fairly shared. Corporate intermittent fasting allows the organisation time to retrain in new skills, better understand their market and to forge a wider collaboration between companies. The aim is less of creating a ‘Lean, mean fighting machine’ and more one of ‘Healthy, happy, harmonious interdependence’. The age of ‘Co-opetition’ has arrived.

Anyone for Foreplay?

I’m guessing that many guys have, at some point, been told by their partners that ‘Foreplay doesn’t begin in the bedroom’. As with colonies of wild bees, there are guards which fly hard into people approaching in warning that to continue on their present course will lead to pain. I’ve experienced this pain; it’s very real. (One day I disturbed a wasps nest). All around us we see the way of nature is one of balance. We’re told that opposites attract. We learn of Yin and Yang, Male and Female, Differentiation and Integration, Fear and Love etc. Unfortunately, our world seems to be dominated at present by fear and differentiation, ‘boys with their toys’ and darkness. The danger is that we will drift for too long and go too far in the wrong direction, ignoring the warnings, until we bring great pain on ourselves. Evidence is all around us and the warnings are clear yet mankind continues on a road to annihilation. Under the label of ‘progress’ we drive developments for financial gain, not because mankind needs them, but because we can and ‘money talks’. We have reduced our concept of God to one of superstition so that respect for others and our environment doesn’t get in the way of ‘wealth creation’. Scientism, the new religion, demands conformance, destroys diversity and imposes a ‘One size fits all’ mentality, which doesn’t work. The idea that ‘Your Health IS Your Wealth’ only makes sense to those who’ve already lost it. Then, to their dismay, they find they cannot buy it back. Imagine instead a world in balance. In such a place everyone has clean water, real food, abundant energy, free education, shelter, music and joy, companionship and love. This is the world I’m living in; it’s great. Come and join me. Let's get the foreplay right so that together we can experience a Divine ecstasy and pass on this beautiful world to our children.

Existential Crisis

The world is watching developments on the Korean Peninsula with trepidation and disbelief. How could we have come so close to a nuclear war? The time has come for an imaginative solution and a massive step forward in human consciousness. Researchers in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee in the 1960s ran a Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) for almost five years before the experiment was terminated. It proved however, that nuclear power could be derived from a Thorium fuel cycle that has many potential advantages over the water cooled reactors which were chosen. • Much higher efficiencies are achievable – approximately 50% fuel burn rather than the 0.7% being achieved by conventional uranium fuel rods. • Operation at high temperature but ambient pressure – so no danger of melt down and explosion as at Fukushima or Chernobyl; a truly fail-safe arrangement. • Relatively low radiation waste products with much lower isolation periods – 300 years rather than 100,000. • Potential for true reprocessing of spent nuclear materials and redundant warheads into isotopes requiring reduced isolation periods. • No easily fissionable products for use in nuclear weapons – which renders the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty obsolete. The availability of Plutonium from the Uranium cycle was a major factor to the US Navy when choosing which technology to fund. So now we have an opportunity to show a world response to a global crisis. Instead of imposing ever tighter sanctions on North Korea, let’s invite the US government to donate engineering expertise to an international MSR research project that will de-escalate military tensions and effectively provide limitless, pollution-free energy to the world. If they wish, the US could limit their expenditure to the sums annually spent on their military exercises in the Pacific. China, as North Korea’s key ally, is well advanced in its MSR research and has a pressing need to lower air pollution in its major cities. We already have a motivated and trusted broker. Let’s strengthen their hand and replace this macho posturing with something of true value to humanity. In addition to avoiding immediate nuclear annihilation, a bonus outcome is an end to power generation from fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases. So we get to keep the polar ice caps, our Pacific islands and the major port cities in every part of the world. Like good health, peace has no downside. Human progress is possible if enough of us want it.

Breast Screening Services

Yesterday I attended a public meeting of the HSCNI Local Commissioning Group, which was presenting a ‘Pre-consultation, consultation’ on the provision of breast screening services in Northern Ireland. The presentation included a slide showing a >30% increase in breast cancer deaths since 2011 yet the presenter made it clear that the intention was to address only how increased numbers of people seeking screening services were to be provided for. This struck me as a wonderful problem for a manager tasked with planning how to increase the capacity of a railway network but completely inappropriate for a branch of the National Health Service whose central function is to protect our citizens, not to ignore the reasons for their illness and the ineffectiveness of the treatment protocols provided. She then explained the complexity of the clinical teams that are assembled to support the screening programmes and how services can be disrupted when team members, with multiple commitments, are unable to attend. One possible solution being tabled was to reduce the number of specialist centres in Northern Ireland where breast screening services are provided, from the current five, so that larger numbers of staff can be trained to increase flexibility for the clinics. Cancer cells produce energy through the inefficient fermentation of glucose in the mitochondria rather than the normal process of ‘fuel and air combustion’ used by healthy cells. One of the observable hallmarks of cancer is that of ever-increasing demands for the limited resources available to the body. Metastasis in Stage 4 cancers spreads the malignancy through the body and is generally regarded as terminal. The NHS might choose to revisit the proposed concentration of ever more of their activities in fewer hospital centres as this appears to mirror the cancer process itself. An alternative proposal could be to actually increase the number of centres providing breast screening services and to lower clinical costs by simplifying the service provided. This could be done using relatively low-cost Thermograhic imaging to search for temperature differences between the breasts. Temperature differences arise as the network of blood vessels grows to support tumour development and such changes can be observed several years before a tumour has become visible on conventional mammograms. On detecting a temperature difference the patient can be presented with evidence of the need to adopt lifestyle changes that improve the capacity of the body’s immune system to prevent disease. This reinforces the understanding that we are individually responsible for our health and that it should not be abdicated to others. Our National Health Service could then engage proactively in Health Protection rather than limiting its concerns to disease management.

Dieting is Dead, Long Live the Diet

Millions of people around the world have endured the frustration of yoyo weight gains. Often extreme methods are used to achieve some target weight, but once attained the dieter relaxes and the pounds are quickly packed back on – usually with a few extra for good measure. After years of weight losses and gains self-esteem plummets and the towel is thrown in. “I’m just big-boned”. Dieting has failed again. Yet every living creature on the planet has a diet and those animals that eat their natural foods are generally healthy; obesity is certainly rare. Why is it so difficult for humans, supposedly clever and with highly developed brains, to match the natural health of other species? The answer is multifactorial and any sustainable solution addresses the issue Holistically in Body, Mind and Spirit. Will Power is certainly important to initiate change and to achieve a target but in itself is unsustainable. We want our efforts to provide lasting benefits without fear of regression and threat of disease. So let’s get clever about it and change our approach. As they say – ‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’. So this is where we go ‘Back to the Future’ and look instead at how humans lived in antiquity; what they ate, what they thought and what higher purpose they chose to serve. From our dental construction and our digestive tract it is clear that humans are omnivores. Consuming animal proteins through wild game and fish probably gave us the evolutionary advantage of a relatively large brain mass. Sadly we have not yet learned to use it properly. We can eat meat, though we eat too much of it and we are certainly intended to eat vegetables but don’t eat nearly enough. In the last century we have drifted still further from our natural diet with the introduction of an entire industry serving us with edible products carefully formulated to create addiction and repeat purchase. Mentally we are controlled more than ever by media influences that effectively ‘dumb us down’ with a diet of soap TV and advertising that tells us what to think. We’re targeted as different market sectors yet encouraged to collectively ‘race to the bottom’ where only our most basic human instincts are held in common. Free thinking is viewed as subversive to the status quo. A fundamental curiosity pervades humanity. We have an innate desire for growth in understanding of our place in the universe and are driven to ask the big questions in life like ‘Why are we here?’. There are as many answers to that question as there are people on the planet yet there is a common reason that is revealed to us in unique ways; we are here to serve one another. In his 7 habits model Steven Covey described the journey of maturation from Dependence to Independence and finally Interdependence. It seems that Independence is only tolerated as far as it allows us to pay taxes, but true Interdependence is discouraged. It's too challenging to seek true harmony among mankind rather than divide into 'Them and Us' and seek to dominate. It’s too challenging to admit interdependence with our environment and to respect nature rather than simply exploiting it. This indifference is now causing mass species extinction as natural habitats are poisoned or destroyed. The coalmine canaries have died already. We’re just listening to recordings of how it used to be. So dieting to squeeze into tight jeans, a business suit or a black party dress can provide only temporary results and frustrating relapses. Only an honest appraisal of our behaviour, our patterns of thinking and our true vocations can provide an integrated and sustainable diet that will deliver lasting health – to ourselves, our families, our communities, our environment and ultimately our world.

Comic Heroes

Last week I watched the movie ‘King Arthur, Legend of the Sword’ in 3D. I love the ‘larger than life’ effects that 3D filming allows; they challenge our concept of reality. But, as the film progresses we quickly forget that we’re wearing the glasses; 3D becomes the norm. Also. I recently re-watched the Batman series and saw the new ‘Wonder-woman’ movie – escapism at its best. There is a common theme through all these movies – good triumphs over evil as in all Hollywood blockbusters but there’s more. Each of the heroes is on a mission in which they must fearlessly deploy their unique gifts to achieve their goals. Their mission is usually unknown to them at the outset but emerges in response to events. There is an important metaphysical interpretation of all these stories. We are all individual manifestations of the Divine, possessing infinite power, which is directed by our thoughts and beliefs. This same power, by which we are formed in the womb, by which the stars of the universe were created, by which nature has been brought to perfection, far surpasses the limitations of our mortal existence – the 2D version. Our challenge is to master our skills and be channelled by a higher purpose so that we can deploy them for the benefit of all. This is the stuff that makes really good organisations stand out. There is an inspired leadership which draws the best efforts of every employee in the service of the business as a whole. We’ve all heard of the NASA janitor who viewed his role as ‘helping to put a man on the moon’ How many of us are able to see the bigger picture in our daily toils? As a Health Coach I have come to understand that there are two essential components required for client success – - They have to want their health badly enough to rise to the challenge of lifestyle change - They have to believe that improved health is possible The manner of their discovery differs but the underlying themes are consistent. When we each become our own comic hero what appears magical and fantastic becomes our reality. We have the innate power to live inspired lives and to build a world which we’ll be proud to leave to future generations.

Drain the Swamp

Tonight I watched Leonardo Di Caprio’s 2016 documentary ‘Before The Flood’ about climate change. If it had been chilling it may have been useful but it was truly terrifying as it showed the gathering pace of global warming destruction to low lying regions across the planet. This evening we learn of President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate change accord with the claim that he must put the interests of the American people first. He wants to renegotiate an agreement that is fair to American businesses, citizens and tax-payers. Interestingly, his Rose Garden address did not deny that Climate change is happening, nor did he challenge the scientific consensus that our problems are man-made through excessive emissions of greenhouse gases. Without doubt, President Trump’s campaign slogan drew popular support, but the millions of American people who elected him to office could not have understood how deep the swamp is nor how many personnel of his administration are swimming in it. On this side of the Atlantic we struggle to understand how so many people can be duped and systematically poisoned through poor air quality, poor water and food quality while all the time believing that fortress America needs to increase military spending and to send its youth to die abroad. Quite literally these ‘Smoke Screen’ politics serve to distract attention from the practical steps that ordinary citizens can take to protect themselves, their families and societies by modifying their buying decisions at the supermarket each week and by campaigning against the erosion of civil liberties. As Di Caprio illustrated, individual health and global health are interlinked. Choosing to reduce our meat consumption by half would save us from excessive release of the Greenhouse Gas methane from livestock. It would also help to reduce rates of bowel cancer. Reducing our consumption of cooking oil could prevent continued destruction of rainforests in preparation for Palm Oil plantations. I enjoy breathing and I want that our planet can also breathe; but it’s easier with lungs. As ever, we elect politicians and abdicate our responsibility to them. Their shiny policies woo voters long enough to win office from where they can serve their own agendas and those who finance them. When their activities have fallen from favour we wring our hands and file our problems in the ‘too difficult’ bin. This belief in our helplessness is just as much an illusion as what we were sold during the election campaigns. When we live consciously with regard to our health, and that of the environment, we change our buying decisions. When enough of us do it we realise that we can drain the swamp for ourselves. Indeed, we’re the only ones who can.