Peter Slattery

I am always interested in what helps us flourish…and having older people in the family, and looking at getting older myself as we all will do, (if healthy and lucky), I am interested in the social research as well as the neurophysiological stuff. So…

There is much research about just what it is that helps us as humans, grow and develop, sustain ourselves and flourish. And the research just keeps adding up, and these are the elements I keep talking about. And while you might use different words to describe these elements, they keep on looking something like these four:
- A sense of belonging and security
- Good loving relationships
- Feeling like you are in charge of your life, being in control or having personal power
- A strong and positive sense of self

And not far behind them are these three:
- Having a sense of meaning in life
- Other’s positive expectations. If people expect the best of someone, they may well see it emerge. The reverse is also true
- Hope. A sense of being able to survive, get through, continue.

On this favourite topic of mine, I continue to say that I think these ingredients are relevant both in people’s lives as well as having a place in group work, therapy, social contact groups, schools, sports clubs, communities; indeed all aspects of the welfare and health systems. Actually, they make sense in terms of people generally.

The latest brain research
We are finding out stuff we just never knew because of new technology like MRI’s. And we are discovering that sayings like: ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks…..may just not be true.

REAL YOUNG: The first three years of life are REALLY important…this is when we develop neural pathways….
ADOLESCENCE is REALLY important…there is a new development of grey matter and as always, it becomes a case of ‘use it or lose it’
GETTING OLDER. As we get older, if we wish to retain interest and vigour in life, it is REALLY important to ‘…learn something new, rather than simply replaying already-mastered skills.’ (P253 Norman Doidge. ‘The Brain that Changes Itself.’
I may be wrong here, but I think the message is: ‘DO STUFF!’ (Interesting stuff, fun stuff, new stuff, challening stuff…)

And so with resilience and ageing in mind, here is an (almost) gratuitous pic of my family at one of our ‘five generations’ gatherings.

I really thought that GFC meant ‘Go find carrots’. Yet while I was seeking vegetables I discovered my error, and that in fact GFC makes reference to our globe, to finance and to, apparently, a crisis. So I got in touch with a financial advisor I know and asked if I should be worried or doing something, because I was just about to have a coffee. He sent me this reply:

‘Pete
Have a double shot!!!
Nothing you can do except to sit tight and watch your super go back up
and interest rates drop!!!!
Regards’

And I was relieved because I really was about to buy a diamond mine in South Africa.

On the front page of this morning’s paper I read a description of the GFC (see how fast I learn!) that said:

‘This is the calm before the storm.’ And: ‘The point is that the bad stuff hasn’t really started happening yet.’

I am really interested in these views because:
1. I am intrigued that we still have people who are regarded as financial experts when it seems to be the very same people who were experts before the GFC and unable to do anything to avoid it. Handy having experts who can do nothing.
2. While noticing that we do indeed seem to have a problem, some (reasonably realistic) views and expressions of hope, optimism and positivism (is that a word?) seem much more useful and certainly much more welcome.

So I think I will attend to the advice that says: ‘Sit tight and watch your super go back up
and interest rates drop!!!!’

And while I am sitting around..and possibly having a coffee, here is a video that I found heart-breakingly beautiful and uplifting. I know I am a big sook but I think it might just be lovely anyway. I hope yous enjoy it too.

On the topic of happiness again. And why the heck not! As I am about to head north for a week to spend time with young people, carers, elders, community members, youth workers and artists…it’s worth thinking about. So here is a vid from Martin Seligman who seems to be leading the charge in terms of the happiness discussion. Take a look and see what you think.

As is often the case, my source is Radio National ‘Life Matters’ 27th October 2008. A great story about Barry Dickins, writer and artist. Barry found himself with clinical depression. He more than survived it and more than returned to the land of the brave and joyful.

He says of himself, prior to his depression that:

‘I was full of unstoppable life’

And then unexpectedly:

‘I suddenly couldn’t speak…I had no idea who I was or where I was…
I could only lie in bed…There was no point to being animate…’

‘I wasn’t me….I lost all sense of identity.’

He was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. And he had electro-convulsive therapy, of which he is not a fan. He says also that his treatment was scheduled for 6.30 am. He asked if the treatments could be moved a little later and also the same for his interviews and Barry says he was told: ‘That’s about all the time we have for you today Mr. Dick1ns.’

I have no idea what happened nor what, in the end, was useful for Barry. But he says a significant moment came when he won a literary prize. And of that moment he says:

‘When I got that letter, it was time to check out’

And in a most delightful way Barry says:

‘And now I’m 59 and I’m reading to my 13 year old son in a double-decker bus.
I mean that’s incredible when you think about it…here I am I with a long white beard and baggy eyes, I mean I look like a stood-on apricot…and there’s my little boy listening until he goes to sleep…’

And:

‘The peace that I obtain from that is untellable or unshareable. It’s just heaven.’

When asked about the future, Barry says:

‘What I want to do now is what I’ve always wanted to do, which is to live every second.’

This is a pretty good story Barry. Congratulations.