Was just shared a link by my friend Phillip which reminded me of something I was thinking about only today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-1hOCiwHNA

I have been involved in Community Development for 30 years or so. I have spent my life ‘giving’ if that is the correct term. 

In my current day job I work one-to-one with a lot of very disenfranchised people where hope is is short supply. Many times I have nothing to offer except my energy, my positive attitude and my unwavering belief in hope. All too often I come home so drained that I do not know how I can face another day, yet my belief that even if all I can offer is hope then I MUST keep going.

On other days I have the absolute joy of working with some very motivated and positive people after which I come home so energised that I can’t sleep.

In recent discussion with a friend, we were discussing ‘energy vampires’, those who seek out positivity in others and feed off it yet offer nothing in return. Whereas the other party leave fully recharged, it often leaves one so drained of energy that it is scary.

Watching this video by Paulo Coelho, a hero in the community and personal development world, he discusses Energy Vampires and reminded me of a very important fact that I have neglected.

As I started by saying, I have spent my life ‘giving’. Paulo reminds us that it is so important to receive also. There has to be balance. One cannot commit to either always giving or always taking, if so we define ourselves as either victim or vampire.

My friend and mentor, Pat Slattery put it to me another way. ( I hope I do him justice with my descriptive.)

Pat asked, how does it feel to give?
To see the look in someone’s eyes? 
To see the renewed hope?

Of course the answer was that it felt good, fulfilling and other similar words.

Pat then put it to me that, by not leaving myself open to receive then I am denying someone else of that very joy that I myself feel.

To say it was thought provoking would be an understatement. Pat awoke an awareness within me to which I will always be grateful.

I vowed on that day to accept help, advice, gifts etc. with gratitude, to not make a fuss and just say Thank You.

This video by Paulo Coelho today has built on this awareness and helped me reach an understanding at another level.

I have often wondered why, despite all my efforts and Doing Good, why my life has not reached the highs that I advocate will happen if we think positively and have an attitude of gratitude.

I have just made the connection. By constantly giving and not leaving myself open to receive, I have defined myself, unwittingly, as victim.

Scary stuff.

I vow to be victim no more.

Shane O'Riordan - Success Facilitator

I’m not a person who expresses my political feelings much -they are personal to me.

Hearing the Late Late Show debate tonight it struck me..

I am a pacifist.   I do not advocate murder or the suffering of any human being.

I am not a sympathisor either, however, only a few weeks ago, the whole nation, and the wider community cheered as the people of Libya took arms against the official government and took control of their freedom.

In fact we even joined in the fight – and now they are called HEROES.

We were behind the people of Egypt, Tunisia, the people of Iraq.

Need I go on?

How many INNOCENT people were killed?

Yet we can easily justify it. There were grave human rights issues at stake (by our moral code).

Remember
Our nation was formed in much the same way.
We recount stories of 1916, Pearse and Co. and celebrate their fight on our behalf with pride.

Our independence is because of Sinn Fein and other’s who took arms against an oppressive ruler. 
You could say SF built our Nation.

Peace currently reigns in Northern Ireland, a peace forged between people who also took arms against the official governing power.

People who swore they would never see eye to eye – never sit at the same table etc, are currently bringing a stability to our shores that we have not seen in decades.

They have been able to recognise change, intention and learn acceptance, albeit a tentative one.

They can put the pain of the past behind them in order to forge a brighter future for all.

That future probably could not have even been dared to be dreamed without the actions that had preceded.

Guilt plays no part in progress.
Regret plays no part in progress.

YES learn from it, then move forward.

STOP the hypocracy.
STOP the double standards.

So to my point… (at last)

Who gave Ryan Tubridy the power to speak on my behalf?
Who does he think he is?
What gives him the right to treat Martin McGuinness the way he did?
He made his distain so obvious.
I noticed this at Martin’s last interview on the Late Late.

Let’s not forget, Mr.McGuinness represents people of this nation.  He has a mandate.
He had secured by democratic right the nomination to run for presidency.
By treating him the way he does, Mr. Tubridy is also treating in the same way the people whom he represents.

I am not political because I cannot abide the hypocracy and double standards that infest the whole system and at this time I am not in a position to change it.

I trust some day I will be in a position of influence to change this.

So, as a citizen of our fair nation, I exercise my right through my vote (which I always exercise) – voting for those I wish to represent me and by not voting for those I do not wish to represent me.

If the people of Ireland don’t want Mr.McGuinness as president, they will let their intention be known throught their vote.
I am quite sure Mr.McGuinness will respect this.

That said, I never nominated Tubridy to speak on my behalf.

No-one did.

I pay my license fee.

So to Tubridy. Keep your personal opinions / attitudes etc. to yourself.

Also, picking on Dana re: the Catholic Church and child abuse.
Yeah right. He only asked the others cause he got caught out.
Fair Play Dana for standing up to him.
Don’t take that shit from man who is so absorbed in his own self importance that thinks he’s my representative.

David Norris – Fair play also.

I will not be voting for the same Mr. McGuinness, Norris or Ms. Scanlon, however, not for reasons of past actions, more because I support Sean Gallagher.

That said, Tubridy has had his day.

Treat all equally or go.

Go Now!

Shane O'Riordan - Success Facilitator

Time to be a TAKER

Have you ever heard the sayings;

“It’s in the giving that we recieve!”

or

“Success is about giving not taking.”

or

“It is better to give then to receive!” 
( a commonly misquoted phrase )

Well here’s a thought.

I believe that in order to give you must first be a taker!

• TAKE account of your situation.
• TAKE responsibility.
• TAKE control of your life.
• TAKE notice of potential opportunities.

and above all…

TAKE ACTION!

Back to the misquoted phrase above.

The correct quote is

“It is better to be in a position to give then to have the need to receive.”

If you truly wish to be a giver then he best way to  give is to be in the best position to be  able to give.

The best way to do this is to be a taker.

So once again

• TAKE account of your situation.
• TAKE responsibility.
• TAKE control of your life.
• TAKE notice of potential opportunities.

TAKE ACTION!

If you can think of any more ‘Takes‘ please let me know  so we can add to the list!

Shane O'Riordan - Success Facilitator

Shane O'Riordan - Success Facilitator

I always considered myself a fairly intelligent person.

I got fairly good grades in college and school.

I’m fairly handy with DIY, tiling, carpentry etc.

I used to be an assistant mechanic at a motor racing school.

I am more then competent in matters IT, computer programming, web design, sound and video engineering etc.

All in all, yes I always believed that I was reasonably intelligent.

That said, I have to state that knowledge without action is USELESS.
Schools do not educate.  They give you knowledge.  They school you!  They condition you to conform, to fit in, to not stand out from the crowd.

Nobody stands out from the crowd by blending in.

They do not tap into the passion, potential and skills that are already within you

The word education is derived from educare (Latin) to “bring forth what is within”, “bring out potential,” and ducere, “to lead”.

And they do not teach you how to apply, act upon the knowledge that they fill your brain with.

Most of which will be irrelevant to you in your life journey and only acts to distract from the real focus.

It is not what you have or what you know – it’s what you do with that knowledge that will determine how intelligent and successful you are.

Having all the knowledge in the world and doing nothing with it does not sound very intelligent to me.

From my experience, people with limited knowledge or skills who act upon them tend to get further in life then those who pride themselves on how great they are, yet do nothing.

Knowledge without action is useless.
Wishful thinking without action is useless.
Prayers without action are useless.

Action Changes Everything.

I have to reassess myself and ask just how intelligent am I really?

There is an old saying that goes, “All good things come to those who wait.”
What a crock.

Good thing come to those who get off there butts and go out and take action.

To those who wait, what we receive is the leftovers that the action takers passed over, and then we convince ourselves that these are good things, just so we can feel happy in our complacency.

Time to STOP being an Action Talker and START becoming an ACTION TAKER!

Shane O'Riordan - Success Facilitator