Christmas 2.0

I still send a Christmas letter to my friends and I haven't gone completely Christmas 2.0. I'm not broadcasting or podcasting our Christmas practices (decorating, baking, cleaning) and I'm not sending the letter through my blog. But why not? It could be cheaper and wonderfully multimodal. But on the other hand who would have time to stare at, read and listen to my Christmas instead of constructing their own?

Last Saturday I listened to a short lecture where Marika Borg talked about the importance of connecting with yourself and finding harmony in this hectic time. You just had to close your eyes and think and feel your breathing for three minutes. For those who practice Yoga or Pilate's or sing a lot know how awareness of breathing gives energy and help to relax. So instead of trying to create and share a virtual Christmas I think that we should have Christmas practices in the physical space and even more than usually. And feel our breathing. Getting together and feeling how the real meetings in opposite to virtual ones make you grow and makes it easier to connect with yourself. Have a peaceful, breathable Christmas time!

Service euphoria

The other day I read professor Magnus Söderlund's interesting thoughts about customer satisfaction. He convinced the reader, including me, that customer satisfaction is not enough. Instead the customer should experience stronger positive emotions during a service encounter. One emotional state could be joy. If the baseline today is that services are okay, smooth and provided by a talented personnel how should we move to the next level? One example from service encounters I had recently and which wasn't just satisfying but something more:

Last Thursday I had to go to the dentist and reluctantly so. I know the dentist from earlier visits so nothing was new in that sense. At first I had to wait for 20 minutes because of a delay. So I was in a bad mood as I could have done something productive at the same time. Anyway, my dentist came and apologized for the delay and asked how I was. Okay, I answered, but I don't like waiting. He explained politely why he was delayed (because of the patient before) and I understood all that...But if he hadn't listened to my suggestions for improvement of the service in a way that opened up a good dialogue, I would have been just a satisfied customer but nothing more. As our discussions went on (discussing my doctoral thesis and dissertation) until I had to give up my talking because of the drilling, I felt somehow relaxed and in a good mood. It wasn't euphoria but an encouraging moment of energizing dialogue. Maybe, if I wouldn't have anyone to talk to, these encounters as a customer would be the ones that would make life worthwhile.

As I was in Vienna last week I had lunch in a small restaurant the customers of which were elderly and obviously loyal customers. The service included a warm friendliness and especially a helpful attitude. On top of that the personnel wanted to know about their customers. There was nothing manipulative about it but instead authenticity ruled...I think that this will be the future...We will have to go back to the small-scale service providers. They are the only ones who can stay true and authentic and connect. It could be a way of creating euphoria and fight the feeling of loneliness and meaninglessness. After all what we really need is to be seen and that our existence makes a difference.

6-word-play

I read about the 6-word-memoir on a friends blog (bajde.net) and surfing around I found more information here www.smithmag.net/sixwords. So today when we haven't time to read as much as we have time for writing we could start compressing our life, our job, our week, our day, our love story in six words...Here are my examples:

My doctoral theses: Catching the ageless, anonymous senior consumer
My life so far: Inspired by words, music and love
My ideal workday: Creativity born in action and reflection
My Christmas: Connecting, Caroling, Caking, Cooking, Consuming, Conviviality

How about your examples?