I love this story and it says a lot about our desires to always be someone else failing to see the wonder in what we have right in the palm of our hands.

The Stone Cutter

There was once a stonecutter, who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day, he passed a wealthy merchant's house, and through the open gateway, saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stonecutter. He became very envious, and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life of a mere stonecutter.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. But soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around, who had to bow down before him as he passed. It was a hot summer day, and the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, hated and feared by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it — a huge, towering stone. "How powerful that stone is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a stone!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a stone!"

Then he became the stone, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the solid rock, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the stone?" he thought. He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter.

I have talked on this topic extensively. I see that it has resurfaced in the Guardian newspaper yesterday The top five regrets of the dying

The premise for it is still the same. How many of us simply glide through life without being aware of all the wonders we have around us our friends our families and the things we really love in life. We have all experienced that half hour of motorway driving were we can't remember the past 20 miles of our journey.

Well for some people a lot of life is like that. We get to certain stages in our lives realising that our children have grown up and are on there way to university and we didn't get a chance to pay too much attention to what was going on in their lives because we where too busy working or caught up in our own self interest.

Or that even though our hearts kept telling us that all we ever wanted to do was play music, create art or fly planes, we never followed that calling because our teachers or guardians told us constantly to stop dreaming and join the real world.

We never spoke out when we saw wrong or felt hard done by because we preferred the easy life.

We constantly worked at trying to amass more than we ever needed without realising we had all that we could want if we just found the wonder in what we already have. I have just read an article on Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney felt that he was not as successful as Donald Trump even though he had a personal wealth over over $250 million himself. When does the need for more end? For some it ends when they are lying on their death bed with the realization that making money never was the at the root of our happiness and regret takes hold.

It is time to Wake Up!. grasp your life by the bullhorns and start to take control of your future. Do a detox, start finding what it is that makes your heart sing and do more of it. Turn of the TV and start living a life of your own rather than the experiences of the latest soap stars. Start to exercise, fall in love with your partner all over again and get in touch with your kids on an emotional level for a change. Meditate, watch the sun rise or set on a cold spring day. Listen to music, create some if you can!! Spend more time connecting with nature. Spend more time connecting with life and have an appreciation for everything else that shares the planet with us, every action has a consequence make it a good one. From today yes today! decide that it is time for you to................... Wake the F@*k Up!

   Waking up your workplace

Happy New year to all those wonderful companies helping to create happier more dynamic fun-filled workplaces. Happy new year to all those companies deciding to make changes to the way they view happiness in the workplace for the first time.

Four simple questions for your company this year.

What are you going to do this year to increase happiness levels within your company? Have you even tested your staffs levels of happiness?
What are you going to do differently in business that will let you stand out from all your competitors? Why would I want to do business with you?
What are you going to do to make your company a place that people really want to turn up to each day? To the point that you are an organization that is attracting job applications from energetic and passionate people who have heard how good it is to work with you.
Do you want to improve your bottom line?
Ok that was more than four questions but each one of them matters.

The benefits of a happy workforce is outlined here already. Decide to do something different in 2012 and find ways to make your staff feel energized and passionate about working for you. Contact us today for our 2012 Waking up the Workplace programme.

Happy days