Gill Blazey
Activity
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A really useful course - many thanks!
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A really useful course - many thanks!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Hello, I'm a teacher approaching retirement and interested in exploring how diet could help keep me well in mind and body as I get older.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Hello - I teach music at a school in the north of England, concentrating on A level and GCSE listening skills and set works. Doing this all online is a completely new challenge for me - I miss the class room discussions, and no doubt the students do too!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I voted for keeping students active and engaged, in particular because some will find having all instructions in written form a challenge without face to face back up. However I am also daunted by my own limitations regarding using the technology available, and hope to raise my game as quickly as possible.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
It is very interesting and encouraging to hear how methodical and thorough Japan's approach to this issue has been/is. There is clearly a great deal to think about in preparation for old age, and having such examples to consult is helpful. It's worrying how variable levels of care, provision and cost are, so contributing to the debate and making a bit of noise...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
What a lot of great ideas here! It strikes me that access to and knowledge of such technological possibilities is far from universal though - perhaps information spreading is the significant problem to address. Good to see it happening here!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I have really enjoyed week 3, it has given huge amount of food for thought - so many interesting and different perspectives!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Fabulous - what an inspiring man.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I was aware of the wide range of crafts and skills in the background of theatre productions, but it is fascinating to see the detail in these pictures. Especially seeing individuals working on their particular areas of expertise, it made me think of the unimaginable hours they must have put in to learn their craft, and what an enormous job it must be...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I'm particularly enjoying the number of musical examples this week, they are presenting such a wide range of ages and styles - it's good to compare!
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It was very interesting to read the very different details picked up on by the two critics, with the first concentrating more on the sound and the second on the visual impact. I agreed with both that the slow tempo took something from the drama of the moment, with the loss of the character and possible flirtatiousness of the waltz; the descriptions of the...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I enjoyed all three, for very different reasons - the playfulness of Figaro's aria, the tragedy of Mimi and the ambiguous, thoughtful Peter Grimes were all reflected in and supported by their music so artfully. The introductory talks were interesting and useful too, thank you!
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Although I found the second production visually wonderful - appropriately intricate and dizzying - I also enjoyed the contrast between the exhilarating tempo of the aria with the more ordinary everyday actions between the two men in the first.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I think each suits its purpose - Henry James's words paint a detailed picture in the imagination, but the libretto distils the main details of the story much more concisely, allowing space for the music to paint that picture.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Although fundamentally a story told through music, opera tells us so much more - the development of musical style, and of social and political history for example. A very rich seam!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I am a music teacher and musician who greatly enjoys watching opera performances. However I also teach music at GCSE and A Level, and am looking for ways to bring opera-related set works to life for students who, though keen, find opera a very alien and difficult to relate to experience.
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I have loved doing this course, and gained a great deal from it. The gentle humour and wisdom of the course leaders and mentors have opened my eyes to useful ways forward, and on the value of working my way out of bad habits such as multi tasking and not listening with my full attention. Work in progress!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I agree with many of the posts here - it is liberating and refreshing to set aside blocks of time to deal with texts and emails. Otherwise they can really eat up one's time! I also found the article on mindful one-to-one communication a really useful reminder of how easy it is to get into bad habits.
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This has been such a useful and enjoyable course, - tuning in to each week has been something I have looked forward to! I think it has helped me to start to build better way of thinking, and to be more aware of less useful habits. Mindfulness is definitely work in progress for me. Thank you to all of you on the course team.
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This section has been really useful in drawing my attention to how often I am beguiled into thinking I can do a few things at once, but actually end up doing all of them less well as a result. I am finding it helpful to practise more consciously focussing on one thing at a time, even if this means a bit of attention shifting in the process.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I like and am encouraged by the idea that we can develop and strengthen our mindfulness muscle, and aim to practise paying attention more.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Discovering ways of preventing the development of and better treatment of the condition would be wonderful. Meanwhile, however, wider dissemination of the various imaginative ways of helping PD sufferers cope with symptoms would be very helpful. Researchers and PD charities publish clear and helpful guidelines on care - from the usefulness of routines to...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
The content and detail of the videos and articles are great - interesting and helpful. It is also really useful, and often moving, to read other people's thoughts on and experiences of PD.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
So far, great - informative and interesting. I enjoyed reading some of the articles we were directs to, for example about Dr Parkinson himself, and his work.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
It is striking to see that although specific areas of the brain have specific responsibilities, there is a great deal of overlap. This must be potentially very useful to Parkinson's sufferers in terms of finding alternative ways of managing to do what they want to do.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
My mother has had Parkinson's for nearly thirty years, and has become much more frail more quickly over the last five. I feel the more I know about it, the better.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I have become more aware than I was of my tendency to interpret/ prepare a response to someone I am listening to or something I am reading, and how this prevents me from taking their point in as clearly and impartially as I would if I just listened properly, in a more mindful fashion. Something to work on!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I am finding this course extremely useful, and the way it is presented very encouraging. I have had to take a break from it lately due to pressures of work, and was worried that I was quickly reverting to less positive habits of mind. So reading / being reminded of the mind's ability to learn and embed better, more positive habits was timely!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Il mio giorno preferito e Dominica perche alzo piu tardi!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Mio marito e alta e molto gentile il non ha capelli, e ha gli occhi azzuri.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Lots of interesting stuff in the end of week video! It's exciting to think of so many of us working through this course together. Loved the goldfish giggle!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
The stress response is clearly potentially very damaging, and over time I realise it has become increasingly easy to fall into the habit of dwelling on worries unproductively. Practising mindful strategies to counter this makes a great deal of sense!
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I am planning to bring a more curious, mindful attention to two things this week - my environment when out walking, and conversations. The recent excercises have made me realise just how much I do things with my attention elsewhere!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I'm a bit behind, so have only done the body scan once, with Richard's guide. The experience was a very positive one though, and I am looking forward to seeing how doing this more regularly affects me.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
That worked really well - my attention wandered less than I expected. Will certainly try starting and ending the day with it.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
It all makes so much sense!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Whilst it can clearly be generally neutral state, two aspects of default mode that could be problematic really made sense to me: one was how easy it is to get stuck on a negative loop of introspection at times when there are problems to be dealt with, and the other was how very unproductive this can be! Quite the opposite, in fact. I can see how mindfulness...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Ciao a tutti. Io e il mio marito abitiamo a Newcastle. Abbiamo due figli anche a la Nord Est, e uni a una figlia bella. La Mia Madre abitare anche a prossimo.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Piazza Maggiore in Bologna e bellissima!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
What a great first week! Grazie mille, professori. Ciao tutti, sono Gill. Sono Inglese, e faccio l'insegnante.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
The future learn courses are great. I try to walk briskly, regularly, and learn new piano pieces. Singing in a choir is a real joy, and sight-singing new pieces keeps the brain buzzing!
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Gill Blazey made a comment
The move from young to old seems as difficult to define as where signs to "the south" become those to "the north" in England. Sometimes I feel very old and tired, but at others can quite understand my frail, 78 year old mother's remark that inside, she is still 25! I am very interested to see what light this courses will shine on the issues.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I was very interested to read of the deeper significance of this monument. Even though the genius of its construction is Egyptian and its presence in Paris may seem incongruous, discovering the reasons it was so strongly desired by the French, their engineering skills in moving it to France and the importance of the place chosen for it to be displayed...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Over the last 15 years I have had many occasions to visit hospitals with one or other of my parents, and this has often involved considerable anxiety. Various efforts to provide items of visual beauty, whether it be brightly printed curtains, childrens' art work on walls, a vivid stained glass panel in the chapel or a beautiful patch of garden, are present in...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I am a music teacher and musician, and am very interested in how involvement in artistic activity can help to promote health. I don't think the idea of the benefits of a holistic approach to health is anything new, but there seems to be a renewal of interest in the idea of mental and physical health being closely interdependent. I would like to explore how...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Against. In my place of work it would be disastrous if the many and various teams, each with very different purposes and activities, did not liaise with each other. The competition for the same personnel, facilities etc would be self-defeating, and calendar clashes inevitable, if they all competed rather than collaborated.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
A good team, in my experience, thrived on a mix of professional detachment (in terms of setting goals, agreeing methods and the criteria for measuring success) and good interpersonal relationships. This enabled a balance of the excitement generated through "like-mindedness" / singleness of purpose with trust that where approaches or opinions differed,...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
The good team agreed on what the aim was, agreed on possible reasons for discrepancy and used the different expertises of the individuals to explore and analyse the results. Team members also acknowledged and showed appreciation of each other's strengths.
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Gill Blazey replied to Ben Boardwell
This is true, up to a point, but you could also argue that education should help develop the ability to get better at something yourself, rather than have to be told how to do this by someone else.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
From my own experience and from comments submitted here, I would say that common elements of poor appraisal systems are:
Lack of follow-through, and
inconsistencies in the application of the system.
Both of these can leave an employee feeling frustrated. I have, however, had some very helpful summative interviews with a member of senior management where... -
Gill Blazey made a comment
The Internet has certainly transformed job hunting in opening up such a wide field if information, on the institutions, companies etc offering work as well as the actual jobs available. I would still say to face contact and physical experience of a place of work are no less valuable than in the past, however.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
A space on the team may be a good opportunity to re-evaluate the roles of those remaining. A team discussion would allow all to state opinions on the health of the team as a whole, as well as their own roles (and aspirations!) within it, before settling on what the most useful talents are needed ina new member to complement what the team already has. A team...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Don't go to sleep on an argument has always made sense to me - it seems much healthier to sort out disagreements as quickly as possible rather than let them stew and grow over time.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
So much information! I have encountered much that interests me, but will have to come back to it again later to take it in properly.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Two points stand out for me in Maslow's theory: 1: the idea of progression is an important instinct in humans, and M acknowledges that this can, for many reasons, involve regression at times; 2: M's theory applies to life in general, not just work; I feel it is important to acknowledge at this point the danger of a person being defined only by their job.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
As mental illness can take so many forms, I think the most important thing for a patient is that their particular problem is correctly diagnosed, and is responded to appropriately. Interpretations and treatment of mental illness, historically, have varied between the horrific, the profoundly unjust (especially in relation to what qualifies as mental illness -...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
One significant point that jumped out at me as demotivating was that of significant elements of a situation being out of ones own control.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I agree with many of those below who have stressed the importance of both the manager's and the employees' roles in creating a satisfying working environment. I would like to add, though, that it is important for a manager to take responsibility for the team in ensuring they have a good, detailed and accurate knowledge of their workforce and what they do....
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Gill Blazey made a comment
A complex question! Yes, I think a happy worker is likely to work well if that happiness is as a result of the work, but if the happiness is a personal attribute rather than a result of the work, over time lack of challenge or interest at work my erode happiness. Conversely if source of unhappiness is personal and not to do with work, coming to work and doing...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I think that the psychological contract, even if only and unspoken agreement, is very important indeed, and ignoring its importance potentially damaging.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Am working solo so far due to time restraints, but have been very interested in reading others' comments.
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Gill Blazey made a comment
I think it should be the other way round - a manager should aim to recognise individuals' particular strengths and potential, so that they can employ those individuals in positions that allow them to develop their existing strengths and reach their potential. The importance of particular forms (or aspects?) of identity will depend on the type of organisation...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
Two points that are mentioned explicitly or implied within a number of comments stand out to me as significant issues: one is having to deal with/take responsibility for things that are out of ones own making or within ones own control, and the other is not having enough time to give tasks the time they really need. These could be considered equally relevant...
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Gill Blazey made a comment
countless things: conscious, subconscious, practical, creative, emotive - this just touches the surface.