100 Days of Wonder – #71
Happy 2nd Advent
Happy 2nd Sunday in Advent. To the Magic Kingdom tree picture I took, I’ve added Disney tree number 2, a tree from Wilderness Lodge. I have seen a few pictures of it online recently and it always looks magnificent. I re-watched a documentary about decorating the Disney parks for the holidays the other day and was again struck by the detail and effort. Christmas decorations are refurbished annually, there are so many individual touches that are perhaps not necessary and so many corners that could be cut… but they are not.
I think for me Disney World is always a reminder that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right, with attention to detail and proper pride in doing good work. I think sometimes we, or certainly I, rush from task to task and am focused on getting it ticked off the list that ‘good enough’ is all that matters. In many ways that is a good thing. I have way too much work to not work on a good enough principle but that should not take away from some things taking more priority than that. Which are the good enough things and which are the doing it right things will vary between us and over time. There is also joy to be found in perfection, sometimes more so than in just getting things done.
100 Days of Wonder – #68
It’s about time I introduced Figment. Here he is. He’s usually more purple than that but here he is in his Disney World 50th Anniversary celebration statue look. It will come as no surprise that I like Figment. (If you are now humming the tune from the ride, you are my people). Figment seems appropriate today because this week I have given two very different papers/talks that have left my little grey cells in overdrive. The good sort of overdrive. The sort that sparks the imagination, the sort that makes you optimistic about all of the possible futures and begins to get to work on ways of making them happen. The events have reminded me to dare to dream and that work which takes us closer to our dreams is always worth doing. Sometimes the idea of changing the world seems too big, too impossible. But as I have said before and Walt Disney reminded us ‘It is kind of fun to do the impossible’. And as Figment puts it:
We all have sparks, imaginations
That’s how our minds, create creations
For they can make, our wildest dreams come true
Those magic sparks, in me and you
100 Days of Wonder – #52
Here’s the Bear of Little Brain. This was taken at Epcot in January 2023 as he was doing his morning exercises. We stood and watched him for ages and got the giggles watching him trying to reach his toes. My anxiety has been sky high today and I have felt very ‘little brained’. I probably could have done with channeling Winnie a little more. Or just the feeling of standing and watching him. In fact I don’t think any of us really take enough time to just stand and stare or watch or just be. It’s all about productivity and that just ends up being counter productive because my work world should be about creativity and thinking and empowerment and inspiring others and none of that works well if my tank is empty. Winnie started his day with some exercise and some waving at crowds and some being silly and just the memory of that starts resetting my system and bringing my heart rate and anxiety levels down. I finished my day today with a Boxercise class at the gym. It felt good – sometimes you just need to punch the crap out of something to release the excess adrenaline – and there were some giggles too over my lack of co-ordination. The fact that I nearly passed out at the end and had to sit on a chair off to one said that felt rather like the naughty chair, is also a reminder to look after myself better during the day. Maybe pause, have lunch, drink water, drink less coffee… I can’t imagine Winnie not having a little smackerel of something at regular intervals!
My Conversations 