The "OOO" tree.

Hi,

Recently my work is taking me into a space that is truly between the ears. As the podcast audience, readers of this blog and my website will know I examine the "things that make people tick" and to some degree help them keep time with the world.

This has taken me toward the works of Erving Goffman and Anthony Giddens. Sociological analogies of performance and narrative in creating the internal (and projecting the external) views of self.

But I've been compelled to jot down these few Scribbles not because of that, but something slightly different.

It's odd how one can find oneself at times almost inexplicably drawn to certain people. Perhaps this is mere illusion born of the retrospective lens, but it does seem when I sit back and consider where this journey of self discovery has taken me, and the questions it has posited, that life has somehow managed to ensure that those with answers to those questions cross my path.

Perhaps this supposed coincidence is an act of wilful creation, since often one only "see's" what one is looking for, but I am not entirely convinced by that argument since one can look and still never find.

It is tempting at times like these to look for a theological answer... people point to "God" working in mysterious ways" or "ancestors having put in a good word with the big guy" etc.

Perhaps, But I prefer a more secular thought path. I recently coined the term "Optimisticality" to explain what it is that I "do". Optimisticality, I would say is "The art of being stubbornly optimistic"
Of seeing the oak inside the acorn.

But it is more than that. There are, at time of writing three "O" s that are central to my philosophy of optimisticality.

Optimism?
Sure... that's there. In the roots. Without planting yourself in the soil of "possible" you won't grow. .

Optimisation.
The trunk. The process and routines by which we build resilience and strength, raising the branches out to a height and spread where they can reach...

Opportunities.
Which will present themselves regardless of whether your branches reach or not.

So, water your tree (or acorn) regularly with belief and curiosity, build a strong trunk. And maybe when opportunity presents itself, your branches might just reach far enough to enable you to grasp it. Allowing leaves to sprout and the tree to grow yet stronger.

If so, you'll marvel that "luck" brought you into contact with those opportunity. But really was it luck?

or something else?

Seneca the Younger

Sarah.
xx

Christmas and New year is upon us!

Hello again! Well well here we are. 2018 almost at a close and just a few short days away from another Christmas.

It's usual in these periods for people to sit back and reflect on the year that has been and consider their hopes for the year to come. I am no different, and It occurred to me this morning that I perhaps should share some of that on this here blog.

Over the years since starting this blog I've commented on trans issues, politics, my growing love of philosophy and a bunch of other stuff. so lets deal with those big three.

Trans issues.

I've taken a proactive approach to my own life,  and decided to learn about this and related issues. it's meant I've ended up wandering down some intriguing and sometimes hurtful paths, some lead me to "lightbulb moments" and others anguish and heart ache. Yet others have lead me back round towards an ever intriguing point. Trans issues are at their heart relating to some fundamental question about the human experience.

Existential questions can be problematic, especially for one such as I who is prone to over thinking, But they are also useful, since the very essence of our perception of existence is "awareness" and also awareness of our own levels of awareness. (Socrates "didn't" know this - or did he?)

I've watched from the sidelines. This year I've ran some training sessions and given some talks, (I'd hesitate to call them lectures at this stage) It's interesting to meet people and gain insight into their own perspective on trans gender as a phenomenon. especially in the light of its recent reclassification by the WHO. (ICD -11)

Which leads me neatly on the the politics.

Trump and May are working out as predicted, i.e., not. I really think 2019 may see the impeachment of 45, and don't get me started on Brexit.

All this "individualism" and cultural push by the current ruling parties to focus on the person as the ultimate bearer of responsibility puts me in mind of Thatcher suggesting "society doesn't exist"

Society is an evolutionary mechanism observed by anthropologists and Attenborough's alike. It's not some pseudo political frame work one just puts aside. As a species we are a social animal and therefore we have a structure within which that functions.

It becomes even more interesting when you turn your attention to watching what the current political pinnacles tend to do with the institutions of education. Trump and Devos dont seem to value it, other than as a tool to deny knowledge to those who would oppose them at the polls, or as a whip to punish.

In the UK university fee's go up, loans get bigger, the cost of accommodation for students is now astronomical. In 93 to 97 my student digs were 45 quid a week and I lived in a big old town house with 7 others, self catering. Now its like walking into a hotel lobby, with Vita student, and other large business feeding off the ecosystem of loans that has built up around an institution that is supposed to be about knowledge. £8,700 per year in loans of which £170 per week goes back into a private company purse for accommodation.

Some of the brightest students may well be "managed out" of this system by circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with their aspiration or academic ability.

And third, My growing love of Philosophy, which hasn't wained at all.

In taking an observational and interested academic view of the twists and turns of my own life, like I say I became intrigued by existential questions of life itself.

As Tim Minchin says, "theres nothing better to be done with this one meaningless life of ours but fill it".

So I endeavour to do so. Fill it with hope for the future through my two wonderful girls that I look after, who are both growing into beautiful and considered young ladies day after day.

Fill it with thought, considered learning and enquiry, applied curiosity if you will. I am currently laying foundations for what I hope will be a successful research project and some future collaborations in the years to come.

I ask my guests on the podcast (did I mention I've podcast now ?) "what is it that makes you tick - and keeps you wound up" because I truly am intrigued by humanity's best attribute, it's tenacity in the face of adversity. The will to keep going.

Stubbornly Optimistic started a mantra for me, an affirmation if you will that my "spirit"  will not give in to external pressures. (very Stoic)

It seems it resonates with others too. and that is a good thing. You can find the podcasts on iTunes and Anchor, `Spotify on others... just hit the link.

Optimisticality on iTunes - listen here

So, it's been an interesting year, with lots of changes, like any other. But although I haven't been posting in here anywhere near as much as I once did, (because the facebook group and website get more attention, I remain as stubbornly optimistic as ever.

Have a great Christmas, and a Wonderfull new year. See you all in 2019. ;-)

Sarah.
xxx

Welcome to a brand new day, and Updates from 364 others!

Well hello... a long time since I last posted any metaphorical musings in here isn't it?

In fact if you look it up, as I just did, you might be blown away by the shear coincidence that it is exactly 365 days. The last post being Sept the 11th 2017.

Wow. serendipity and synchronicity playing their parts I guess. Freaky how the mind works, since that was entirely NOT planned I promise.

(I'm discounting the youtube video for project back in black since that was more link than a post)

So Hi! I'm 356 days older than I was, and now it's 3 years to the date since I had what people might call a "proper job" Since that point I've been building this self employment gig after my last job ended in 2016.

What drove me to post up on here after all this time? Well a few things but before we get to that lets give you guys a background on what I've been doing since that time.

1. I took up running! and got really slim, and probably close to being in the best shape of my life. 
2. My daughter asked to move in with me, which was and is AWESOME! 
3. Then another young relative has also moved in for an open ended period of time, also AWESOME! 
4. My left knee decided it doesn't much like running any more so now I am awaiting physio on that and am switching to swimming as my endurance sport of choice. 
5. Recently I've sold the bike, since I cant make use of it any more to any appreciable level due to knee pain
6. I have discovered through a long term friend a guy called Tim Ferriss. and as a result am embarking on a study of Stoicism. 
7. I started and completed the first year of teacher training, building confidence and technique in front of a class, and have as of yesterday deferred the second year until 2019. 
8. The business has morphed a little, and continues to evolve along with it's owner. 
9. No I didn't manage to get the car back, yet. 
10. I reconnected with few old army buddies and some of the wounds of the past are beginning to heal. 

So what of now? 

Well I've started a podcast.  a few weeks back we launched the optimisticality channel on anchor where myself,  friends colleagues and mentors all chat over what it means to motivate ones self and others to greater and better things. We look at how that is achieved personally, professionally, individually and societally. 

You can find the podcast on iTunes here 

Theres a website too, with accompanying blog posts that lives here at "Optimisticality.works" 

I've discovered green tea with honey... really rather refreshing if one doesn't want to overload with caffeine throughout the day.

We continue to have galactic battles in those far far away places on the x wing table and our D&D game is strong with my two main characters being up at level 13 and 14 respectively.

(For those not up on this story I play a rogue elven princess and a large blue dragon born - you can find our adventures on the obsidian portal here)

Actually phill and I completed an epic battle with the huge x wing ships recently and we filmed some of it with audio so that may well surface at some point too.. particularly ahead of the x wing 2.0 re release of the game.

As I write this little update here I can't help but remember a quote from T.S Elliot which I used many times before

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time"

So it is with Stubbornly Optimistic. I have returned to this blog with a new found knowledge of the founding principles of the affirmation that got me through some very dark times, and no doubt will continue to do so in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

It seems fitting therefore to close this little update with a quote from Seneca himself:

Keep it real people, and remember:

"change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change"