Nancy Love’s Weblog

When you hear the letters CPR you most likely associate them with Cardio Pulmonary resuscitation, the lifesaving procedure that is done when someone’s breathing or heartbeat is stopped. The heart and lungs are made to work by compressing the chest and forcing air into the lungs.  CPR is used to maintain circulation when the heart has stopped pumping on its own.

I watched a team of medical professionals perform CPR on my mother in the hospital after she coded last year.  It was not pretty and although they tried for more than 20 minutes to revive her she was gone.  I knew she was.  In many cases where hearts are younger and stronger than hers CPR can be successful at resuscitating the patient … bringing them back to life.  It is miracle work really.

With PULSE we use the acronym to represent Content, Process and Response, the three aspects of conversation.  Content is what we are thinking about.  Process is what we are doing.  Responses is how we are feeling.  Keeping all three balls in the air is complicated in conflict resolution and absolutely necessary if the relationship is to be saved and given new life.

This week, The University of the Virgin Islands revived PULSE. To me it feels like another chance at life for all of the PULSE professionals out there who still use the tried and true skills associated with PULSE conversations for change.  We have been resuscitated.  This new life could be even more exciting and invigorating than we could have imagined.  The Content will be enriched. The Processes revitalized.  The Response felt more deeply.

Affiliated with the Institute for Leadership and organizational Effectiveness at the University of the Virgin Islands, UVI PULSE has a second chance to make good on its promises to change the world one conversation at a time and one conversation after another.  Like many people who are resuscitated, we will look at life differently.  We will see the opportunities and seize them with new energy.  We will be Sharp and Happy and Independent and Fit and Trusting in ways we may not have been before, grateful to be alive and optimistic as never before.

Exciting times for UVI PULSE and for you as the opportunities to learn and work together continue.

Thank you.

Yesterday I attended ANOTHER Dance competition.  I have lost track of how many my two daughters and my two granddaughters and I have danced at this year.  You kind of lose track of time.  Another theatre, another group of dancers and parents, another adjudication, more medals.  At this point it is all a blurr.  Dont get me wrong.  I LOVE watching the girls perform, but we are all tired right now and its almost over.

You know you are tired when it is Monday and as your daughter tries to figure out the quickest way to get to the festival from work on time the next day you chime in with “Well there might be more trafiic tomorrow.  It is Friday.”  Blank looks. Then “Mum… tomorrow is Tuesday!” I had to think.  Then smiles turned into belly laughs and then uncontrollable giggles for the rest of the evening.  Every time she looked at me in the car on the drive home we laughed out loud.  It was comical because the other lady in the conversation thought about it too.  You could see her thinking “Is tomorrow Friday?” but she didn’t say anything to correct me.

I guess we will add this event to the family lore.  The ‘times that Mum made us laugh’ file has a new entry.  Not to worry.  The list is long but so is everyone elses.  Glad I could contribute.  AND glad I found out what day it was.  I might have missed my Tuesday Yoga class.

Have a day full of laughter….

Good Morning.  What are you celebrating this fine Monday morning?  How was your weekend? Did you get a chance to get out of doors in the crisp Alberta air or whereever in the world you are? What do you enjoy doing on the weekends?  How is your family?  Did the baby cut her tooth yet?  Is your mother feeling better?  How was the drive to Saskatchewan?  Did your son win his game?  Did you enjoy the concert?

These are the kind of questions I would ask if you were here.  We could have this great conversation about how you spend your time and that would renew and refresh me for the week ahead.  I miss those kinds of conversations from the world of work.  I miss the connection with people on a daily basis.  I miss the kind of sharing that only really happens between coworkers.

The awesome thing about being in St Albert is that I occasionally run into people I had that kind of relationship with years ago.  It is still the same.  We step right back into the repartee of coworkers and I love that.

As a writer you spend alot of time alone and, although I have my fabulous book coach who works with me from her home in BC, I rarely talk to anyone on a regular basis about the weekend or about my work or theirs.  We email and send documents back and forth and we get lots done but I don’t TALK to people the way I did when I was in a school five days a week.

I wonder how many other people working from home miss the kind of connection you get from sharing a physical space with someone.  Some of those people become your friends and stay with you through out your life but even if they don’t when you see them there is a bond of experience that cannot be ignored.

Hug your coworker today.  You won’t have them forever. One day you will decide to do something else or they will and whether you enjoy their company or not you will miss them.  Appreciate the struggles and the triumphs and the comfort that comes with shared space and experience.

I have a Persian rug in my living room, the kind that takes two people two years to make.  I know that because on trips to Turkey we have visited carpet shops and seen the operation and a demonstration of how they are made.  It is tedious work for sure.  

When I look at my carpet now I see the little flaws in the pattern, the wiggles in the straight lines that tell me the story behind the carpet.  Of course I don’t really know the story but I can guess.  I think that there were days when the weavers were angry or anxious.  On those days the threads are woven tighter together.  Other days might have been more relaxed.  Days when things were going smoothly the tension on the threads was perfect too.  Some days attention was else where and a tiny piece of the pattern was missed.

The overall picture is perfect, whole, complete but on closer examination the carpet reveals human struggle and vulnerability.  That’s why I like it.  It reminds me that people are like that too.  On the outside they look good and they might be smiling but if you look closely you see the flaws in the pattern that make them unique and special. Those flaws are what gives them their signature, what distinquishes them from others.

I love the flaws in my carpet and I also love to see the human side of people when they also reveal a flaw or two, a variation from the perfect pattern or the perfect life.  Flawlessness is overrated. Change it up a bit.  See if anyone notices.  There is something liberating about the vulnerability it takes to show others where we might not be perfect.  We all have flaws, good days and bad days, days when our attention is elsewhere AND THAT’s OKAY.

I would like to thank my carpet weavers for sharing their life with me, for creating this carpet and telling me their story as they did. 

 It makes my carpet very special.