Well its been a month of traveling having just returned from speaking in Seattle. Arriving in Vancouver I was reminded how friendly people from North America can be, especially in the service industry. I lived in Vancouver some 20 years ago and it was great to be back. After an interesting experience crossing the US border, we arrived in Seattle to speak to a group of Doctors about Stress, Attitude illness, disability syndrome and of course, Healthy Thinking. Once again it was great to be back in Seattle and the friendliness and hospitality was not confined to the service industry. Nothing was a problem and people went out of their way to make sure you enjoyed your stay. I cant wait to go back. Now in Sydney checking on how the Hilton Healthy Thinking training is going and facilitating a day for Westmead Chidrens Cancer hospital. I ran some seminars in Melbourne and was reminded about the importance of customer service on flying Virgin Blue from Melbourne to Sydney. Sometimes we can confuse great customer service with just being friendly. I can think of the hundreds of friendly check in staff that have assigned my bulky 6 foot 3 frame into a very small seat or right up against the bulkhead, even in Business class. Not so Jimmi from Virgin Blue. Seeing I was 6 foot three and probably a little wide in the hips, traveling in Economy he did the unthinkable, He asked me “SIR, WOULD YOU LIKE AN EXIT ROW? I nearly fell over. Someone seeing my need and asking me if he could help. He wasn’t really really friendly but he gave me great customer service. I was not a member of Velocity, their frequent flyer program or anything else, I was just a big guy that would feel comfortable in a big seat. He then had to ask me “Sir would you be able to assist the crew in the event of an emergency as you are in an exit row?” How could I refuse with such great customer service. I almost offered to hand out the water and biscuits as well! So my point is, Customer service does not stop at just being friendly. Jimmi then went one further, “Sir do you realize you are overweight?” Now being a medical doctor hats normally my question and I thought this may be taking customer service a little to far. Being a medical doctor I replied, “it may look that way, but my BMI (body mass index) is not to bad”

“No sir, your bag is overweight”. It had few clothes but plenty of books for the Children hospital in Sydney. Some repacking and transfer to hand luggage solved the problem. More customer service and more importantly, loyalty to the airline. Customer service is about seeing what people need and giving it to them before they ask. In my case I had given up asking for an exit row or had just forgot. So if you are checking in to Virgin Blue at Melbourne airport and you see a guy called Jimmi, say hi from Dr Tom he had a great attitude. In fact I may tell the airline myself. Well I had better get to reception and get my lift to the Westmead Childrens Cancer Hospital. Happy Healthy Thinking!

It seems that lately I have been speaking at a rash of medical conferences. Recently I spoke to an eminent Professor of Epidemiology which translates to the study of the factors contributing to health and illness. For years he has been saying that mild and moderate amounts of alcohol are protective against disease. I hope I translate him correctly but he recently worked out that it wasn’t actually the alcohol that was protective, it was just that people who drank mild to moderate amounts of alcohol, did everything else mild to moderately. They drove at a mild to moderate pace, ate a mild to moderate amount of crappy food and probably only worried a mild to moderate amount. Which brings me to an important point, we need a bit of stress and anxiety to get out of bed in the morning, to pass exams, to keep the bank balance filled up and to perform at a certain level. However the research show that those who dont have control of their work situation, or at lest dont think they have control of their situation, suffer more blood pressure problems, more heart disease and possibly more cancer. The old adage about worrying yourself to sick or worrying yourself to death appears to be true. Its the distress we feel about not having enough time makes us feel uptight. That uptight feeling comes from increased levels of cortisol and adrenaline. Remember we all have the same amount of time, its just what we do with it that counts. I often tell myself, I have plenty of time, just too many jobs.

This weekend I decided to dedicate a whole day to entertaining my 11 year old son. No chores, no distractions, no phone calls, nothing but fun. I was beginning to worry myself sick that he was growing up too fast and I was too busy cleaning out the shed, going to the supermarket or cooking a meal. So I drew up a list, fishing, kayaking, snorkelling, tennis, movies, bike riding….. the list went on. I could feel my blood pressure rise as he said no to everything, Forget Generation Y, this is Generation Z, I was telling myself, ZZZZZZ for sleepy. Reaching an impasse I convinced him to go for a drive with our dog. At the local park we threw a ball. Then an urge for ice cream, then he buried himself up to the armpits on the beach (no easy feat!). We then wrestled on the beach and threw each other into the water. It was so much fun. We got into the father/son zone simply by cruising. He even came with me at the end of the day to see a documentary on The Clash at the local movie theatre.

Once again I was worrying myself sick about what he wouldn’t do. the answer is so simple, go with the flow and the most exciting thing about life is we dont know what will happen next. How many beaches have you driven by, how many parks? Rushing off to a mission spending a fortune. Often our working week is so scripted we try and do the same with our weekends or time off. Its hard to unwind. Dont blow a valve or a blood vessel, enjoy the flow.

Speaking of flow I am flying from New Zealand to Vancouver then driving to Seattle in a few days. Its 21 years since I have been in Seattle. I am opening up a medical conference on Disability and speaking on Healthy Thinking. I am used to getting into the flow when travelling, enjoying the sudden changes in timetable (within reason), its easy to forget to do it at home. I am speaking to a group of Doctors on Stress and illness. Doctors suffer stress just the same and if not more than anyone else. We run the same faulty software in our minds. We have the same issues with our children, the same traffic problems, the same desire to do everything right and make the most of our life. But we still get stressed. Remember life is not necessarily stressful, its our view of it that is. So I am looking forward to the 13 hour flight to Vancouver, the border crossing to Seattle, the new audience. The trick will be to have a mild level of anxiety about having my passport, of getting to the airport on time. Just a healthy mild to moderate degree amount of desire to have a glass of wine as we hurtle through the night at probably 36 000 feet. After the conference I have a boat trip planned to Vancouver island. The approaching summer of New Zealand will be replaced by the expectant chill of a North American fall.

I think it was St Augustine that said, The world is like a book, but those who do not travel only get to see but a page. I can travel this week knowing that have seen some pages in a park I have not been, or wrestled on a piece of sand I had not trod and be grateful for the ability to remember the fun of going with the flow. It’s easy to forget the simple pleasure of having a blank canvas of a day, to paint with the people that you love.