My past week has been filled with events; listening to inspirational speakers with similar messages. Here are two.
Inspirational Conversations at the Library is a series of interviews run by Walter Mason. I attended his interview with Belinda Castles, you can get snippets here. I heard Belinda say twice “We are humans – not robots.” – something her husband reminds her when she dwells on what to do next; having just finished writing her novel Hannah & Emil. The quote that inspires her is Samuel Beckett’s “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
“We are humans – not robots.”
On Saturday, I attended the Healthivate 2.0 Blogging Conference. There were many amazing speakers and I’m sure to blog about their stories later. The last keynote speaker Dr Sam Prince gave an inspiring talk. He too uttered the words “We are humans – not robots.” Message noted!
“We are humans – not robots.”
Dr Prince’s topic was “The Importance of Giving and The Power of Bloggers.” He reflected on a common thread that runs through his life – “I’ve always described my life as a bit of a dog’s breakfast. The roles in my head are divided into three sections. One is my role as a doctor, one my charity work 1disease.org, and the third is my restaurant business.” He said the lessons he learnt in a hospital as a student aged 21, also helped him run a Mexican restaurant, Zambrero.
Starting his restaurant business, Dr Prince had to refurbish the premises and so he went to Bunnings to buy paint. There he came across a Bunnings rep who knew everything about paint and was a great help. In conversation, Dr Prince found out that this man was working part time at Bunnings so as to support his dream of an IVF programme for he and his partner. The doctor then gave the rep his advice. The aisle at Bunnings became a pop up hub for talk on paint and IVF programmes. They were there for hours.
So, as the restaurant began to flourish, someone approached Dr Prince regarding a franchise. This man was interested however when he approached his advisers with the franchise contract they advised him against it, mainly because Dr Prince was too young and inexperienced. However, about six months later, the man returned and bought into the franchise. Dr Prince asked his first franchinsee why the change of mind. The answer: it turns out his best friend is the Bunnings rep who remembered the doctor’s passion for his business and his kindness in sharing his knowledge. Dr Prince ends his personal account with – “… magical thinking of angels – but truth is more fantastic. As you talk about your passion and your dreams people who can help you will turn up everywhere …”
Dr Prince’s keynote speech took me to a video I watched the night before the conference – 2013 Tropfest winner, “We’ve All Been There”. See why.
Share your knowledge. Share your dreams. Pass it on. I suppose we do that as we blog.
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what a great post Diane…. I was reading it with as much fervent as was pulsing through you. And inspiring, indeed! wow, I think I know that ‘angel’… I’ve been experiencing a few of those lately. We suddenly had our electrical connection on one powerpoint not work. Strange. So we got the electrician in and he was feeling chatty that morning and after years of using his services he told us that his son is Autistic and is attending a particular school out of our local area. The week before that our middle son got suspended from school and with the advise of his doctor it would work better for him to attend a conventional school for the sake of routine and structure. So I rang many schools all of which had no space. Eeeekkk! I remembered the electricians story and rang that school too. Our child is not autistic nor aspergers or for that matter falls under no title other than being Oppositional defiant. The receptionist at that school told me there was no room as well however took my number and told me that someone would call me back. I did indeed get a call back and it happened to be a day when all I wanted to do was cry and this poor woman on the other end of the phone (the principal) held my space and at the end of the call invited me to come and enrol him at her school. I just came from there now and it’s truly a gift of a place. They pride themselves of nurturing. It’s one of the few schools in the state that is set with offering classes to mentally challenged kids… what that means for us and in her words ‘we’ve seen it all, and there’s nothing your son can do that will ever shock us’… yep I cried! And if it wasn’t for the electrician we would never have known about that school. And that powerpoint just started to work on it own after the electrician stated he couldn’t see what the problem was. Amazing how it works….
Thank you for sharing your story here A. The essence of Dr Prince’s talk was it’s in the sharing of our dreams, listening to others and that we’re not alone. Of course you know that “angel” and I love how you were drawn to a school which offers the nurturing children need. Definitely amazing how it works! Sending love x PS: Healthivate is a definitely a conference for you to attend next time …
Fabulous post Dianne – I feel our little ‘group’ was formed guided by these principles! xxx
Absolutely Michele! xx
Dianne – so happy you were inspired by Belinda – wasn’t she wonderful? And it is good to be reminded that we are all allowed to have some down time and some periods of inactivity. Most of us need them. I need lots 🙂
Yes, the interview was wonderful Walter.I look forward to more Conversations in the Library. I hope you are getting lots of down time!
First time on your blog. Inspirational! A bientot
Great article! Thank you for sharing the video too. Beautiful and very touching. Just finished reading Love Does by Bob Goff–a similar theme. Blessings!