Conscious competence, running and cultural differences

I ran 14 k yesterday.  Mindfully. 

I’m training for a half marathon, which is approaching way too quickly.  Two weeks ago I ran in the City to Surf, a Sydney event with over 85,000 competitors running and walking 14k to Bondi Beach.  In that event I developed back pain and last week visited a physiotherapist for advice.  She showed me how tight the muscles were around my ribs and how immobile I held my upper body while running.  In addition to some nifty stretches and a good massage she encouraged me to move my arms more freely and rotate through my upper body while running.

And so to yesterday’s mindful running with each step and arm movement something I was consciously observing.  It feels weird to try to change something you’ve been doing for years.  Something that has become natural and second nature.

Click to read more ...

On queuing, deodorant and cultural intelligence

In January, just as I was preparing to leave on my camping / kayaking holiday, the Federal Parliament representative for Brisbane, Julie Gambera made some statements about migrant assistance and in particular that migrants need to better adapt to Australia. Her initial recommendations were that employers who sponsor migrants into Australia on temporary visas (such as the 457) should be required to provide mandatory cultural awareness training.    

She gave examples of what the cultural awareness training could include and specified teaching migrants to “wear deodorant and wait patiently in queues”.  To be fair it appears

Click to read more ...