Nancy Love’s Weblog

It seems strange to see snow today.  It is April and it is supposed to be spring but here we are wondering why the snow is falling again.  “It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter” as Paul McCartney might say … “It seems like years since its been here.”

I welcome snow in the winter.  It provides the base for a lot of wonderful outdoor activites.  Right now though, it is just interfering with the opportunities to get outside and do SPRING things.  It does not hold the same promise as it does earlier in the year.  The shoulder season as some refer to it, weakens the snow and ice cover we do have with warm sunny days and fools us with a fresh fall of snow to draw us to the moutains for spring skiing known best for icy, often treacherous conditions or to the lake to skate on thinning ice.

It is a dangerous time of year.  Ice covered sidewalks and roads, unpredictable conditions on a daily basis, below “normal” temperatures.  

Sir Paul adds “Here comes the sun.  Here comes the sun.  It’s alright.”  I hope he is right.

We are all waiting, Mother Nature, for renewal and recreation.  Bring on the rains and the green. Bring on the warm sunny days and the flowers that are already blooming in other parts of the world.  Have you fogotten us? Please let the evidence of a glorious spring day arrive soon.

From St Albert….

I have always said that it is important to fall in love every spring.  I still believe that even though this year it may not be true for me.  The spring brings out the best in us … the part we like to share with others.  It signals a new start for all of those living things that have been hibernating and hiding over the winter … including people.

Falling in love is different from loving.  Loving is important.  It helps us maintain our emotional health. It keeps us even and happy on the SHIFT scale.  We value our loving relationships with friends and family for sure.  Being in love or falling there is different.  We kind of loose control with this ache to be with and for someone outside of ourselves … someone who completes us or compliments us or provides us with that sense of significance just with a look.  It is always best when that someone is also feeling that way about you. When it is the same person as you fell in love with last year or for the past 60 years that is so special.

I have been watching schmaltzy romances about older people lately which is probably where this is coming from.  One in particular attracted my attention.  It’s a British TV show called “Last Tango in Halifax.”  Halifax, England of course not my Halifax, Nova Scotia but it was the name than caught my interest.  It’s a great story about high school sweethearts reunited.  I like possibility stories … especially in spring because it is the season of possibilities.

Here’s hoping you have a great spring filled with love and affection from those you love and those you are in love with again this year.

“Nothing really …”  is what you often get from people you haven’t seen for a while when you ask them what they have been up to….  Once they start to talk you realize of course that they have been up to LOTS of different things.  They have been dealing with family and friends and working at their careers.  They have spent many days changing their corner of the world but still answer with “Nothing really…” when you ask.

People are weird.  I have said that often.  I love that about people.  Even though they have been on the planet for a while, they still aren’t great communicators and definitely the ones I know are not into self promotion or refecting on their own impact.

HUMBLE.  That is what they are.  Great change happens in small steps and everyone I meet is involved in the great changes that are happening all around them.  Congratulations on making a difference in the world.  Take some credit when you can.  It boost your ego and your reputation as someone who cares and helps when they can.

Take good care today.

I am sure you are all familiar with the excitement and frustration associated with setting up a new computer. For me it is always a test of my patience and my translation skills. You need to be able to speak the language of the program you are working with if you hope to successfully bring the new computer to a place where you are comfortable working with it.

You have to be Gentle and Honest, especially when you are asking for help. You have to be Open to new ways to doing things and new language for old processes and more steps to achieve the same outcomes. You have to get past the advertising websites to the REAL ones, the Specific ones for downloads and you have to patiently wait for your changes to “populate” something or other so you can get to the next step. And you must keep Talking to get where you need to be and accomplish your mutual goals.( GHOST )

I love what computers do FOR us. I am not as fond of what they have done TO us. My head hurts when I am trying to figure out why a program won’t do what I am asking. I deauthorized two other computers so that I could authorize the new one on itunes. The message I get every time I try to authorize is that I have five authorized machine and I need to deauthorize one. I did that. My account says ” You have three authorized machines.” What am I missing? I really hate those logic loops that you can’t get out of or past.

And then the minute I get the new machine operational, my iPad freezes and needs to be restored. URRGGHHH.

Days like yesterday are frustrating but I like to balance that with remembering how difficult it used to be for the world to receive messages like this from me. Thank you for teaching me persistence and patience and peculiar ways to think about things. Thank you for teaching me a new language and making it possible for me to share my thoughts with others.

I do love my new computer. I am going to call her Constance. I know we will have a long and mutually beneficial relationship. I have friends with that name who are reliable and hard working and that is what I want from my new Constance. In return I will take good care not to over load or treat her in anyway that might lead to break down of any kind.

Cheers to Constance and a new lease on communication and conversation with the world.

You will never guess where I am now. I am in Charlotte Amalie at the University of the Virgin Islands on St Thomas. This morning I presented PULSE to the President and his cabinet. The decision was made only ten days ago and yet here I am having given a three hour version of the five day PULSE course.

I am going to stay until Sunday and make the trek back through Miami and Toronto. Coming here I was routed through Las Vegas and Newark, New Jersey. Of course the threat of the Blizzard of 2015 created quite a stir as we made contingency plans to make sure I actually made it here. Six cities in four days and lots of air time. I had forgotten how tiring it can be to travel for business and how exciting it can be. Anticipating what the client wants and needs to hear can drive you crazy if you let it.

Many of you will know that I have worked with UVI before. I have trained about 75 people between here and Tortola and another 25 or so at St Croix in their Department of Labour. It has been almost 7 years since I was in ST Thomas for work. I was here at the start and finish of a cruise in 2012 and met with my friends and colleagues from the Islands then but I haven’t done any training for a long time … not just here but anywhere.

I enjoyed this mornings session. Right now I am only remembering what I forgot to say and not what I was able to get across. They are nice people and I wanted to give them the tools they need to deal with conflict in their lives. We went through GHOST and POWER and PULSE very quickly. We didn’t do BEACH or SHIFT, both of which I had planned to do. At least those things are in their handouts and everyone did have one thing to take away and work on.

Leave them looking for more.

So from “Aloha” to “Good Afternoon” and back home in one short week. Seems like a dream … Life is like a dream …. Isn’t that a song?