Why do we get stressed?

I have been pretty stressed and wound up about work for the last two or three weeks.

This is because I have a pressing deadline for an important piece of work and I have not been motivated to crack and get the work done.

With my deadline approaching fast I have finally got my motivation and enthusiasm back and I am confident I will hit the deadline with a good piece of work.

I feel so much better today.

So …..

I would love to hear from Simplicity readers the answers to 3 questions:

1 Do you sometimes feel that way too?

2 If yes, why do you think we feel that way?

3 If yes, where do you get your inspiration from to ‘knuckle down’ and get back on track?

I will share with you after our discussion where my own ‘solutions’ come from.

I look forward to your comments.

Patients know best.

I was invited to the official launch of the National Centre for Involvement yesterday in London.

This new organisation based in Warwick University will be responsible for collecting examples of how patients and the public have been involved in achieving change to healthcare services.

The new centre aims to provide help to the whole NHS by cascading examples of good practice. It is felt that learning how to effectively involve patients will spread so that patients and the public become more influential in driving change.

The team at the new centre is full of optimism but also realism and I wish them well.

My view has always been that involving patients in change is a hearts and minds issue. Many healthcare managers seem more intent on balancing their budget than finding a way of involving their customers (patients) in everything they do.

I genuinely hope that the new centre will help to change the culture in the NHS to one where there is no ‘separation’ between the service and the patients.

The NHS is owned by patients so they are not ‘on the outside’ looking in – they are indeed the purpose of it.

'Cock up' or Conspiracy?

I have always been suspicious of suggestions of conspiracy. I have often been accused of seeing the world through rose tinted glasses.

My personal experience has always led me to believe that ‘cock up’ rather than ‘conspiracy’ is usually the correct answer.

But somehow I feel worried about the story of the Russian ex spy Alexander Litvinenko who died last Friday.

Do I need to remove my rose tinted glasses?

Martin Luther King on Humility

I have always believed humility is the greatest quality of great leaders.

I recently came across this piece. It was written by Martin Luther King Junior before he was brutally murdered in 1968.

I can remember his assassination very well and I can hardly believe is it nearly 40 years ago the world lost one of its greatest leaders. The following words of Dr King sum up perfectly everything I believe about humility.

"If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral.

And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain."