Does your life have a motto or a theme tune?   When I ask this question in my workshops, students often come up with songs like 'I will survive' or 'I am what I am.'  Until recently, my own was less upbeat.

For 20 years, the hawthorn made me think of a phrase created by the French surrealist poet, Guillaume Apollinaire.  He wrote 'je n'ai jamais cuelli que la fleur d'aubépine', which roughly translates as 'the only flowers I have ever picked have been hawthorn'.  Being of an artistic temperament, I latched onto this saying and made it my motto, albeit a negative one. 

It appears that the word hawthorn is derived from the words 'hedge' and 'thorn' and therein lies the paradox of the May tree.  While it has the most delicate flowers and the brightest red berries, an evil thorn lies lurking.

Over time I realised that I had created a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Whenever things were going well, I'd hold my breath and wait for the bad news to come.  And it did.

For many years the hawthorn instilled in me the unconscious belief that life was bitter sweet.

But about six months ago I realised that my limiting belief was doing me no favours. I know, deep down, that I am a positive person.  I decided it was time to choose a new theme tune that reflected the real, optimistic, me.  My choice was easy.  I'd have the wonderful Gershwin tune that had inspired our first house name in 1995 and my publishing company's name in 1997.  Forget hawthorn, I'd have 'Summertime' from now on. I mentally prepared myself for the change.

Then I found a little book called 'Hawthorn' by Bobby Meyer. I read that 'flowering hawthorn was seen as a compliment,' and that 'In Suffolk, the first person to find a hawthorn branch in full blossom on May Day would be rewarded with a dish of cream.' Now that I had set myself the positive intention to banish my limiting belief, I watched it being crushed before my eyes.

And then, on February 15th this year, I saw an extract from Ben Schott's Miscellanies in the Daily Telegraph:
'The Hawthorn Effect - that any change to an environment (eg a workplace) will bring about a short-term improvement. Since change has the effect of stimulating participants, even a negative change can result in a brief increase in productivity.'

Further research led to me to learn that between 1927 and 1933, in Hawthorn, Illinois, the Western Electric plant conducted an experiment.  They wanted to determine the optimum level of factory-floor lighting and decided to warn their employees that they were about to alter the lighting to see its effect on their work.  They learned that productivity increased whether the lights went up or down.

When people know they are being measured they modify their behaviour and subconsciously create a positive outcome. 

Now my hawthorn was teaching me that change is always beneficial, particularly when you are aware of it. Here was a positive theory that would allow me to ditch Apollinaire's curse forever.

Be prepared for change
Hugo Hamilton, calls himself 'a reluctant accountant' and has been made redundant six times.  His theme tune is 'I'm Still Standing.'
'If the news of redundancy is unexpected the key issue is your self-esteem.  Repeated exposure to redundancy makes you realise that it is not you who is being rejected, but your job which is disappear,' says Hamilton.  'When redundancy is anticipated it comes as a relief because the tension builds up so much in the workplace that you wish it would just hurry up and happen.'

Just as only you can decide whether you see the hawthorn as a flower with thorns, or a thorn with flowers, only you can decide whether to see your own change as a threat or an opportunity.

'The good that has come out of redundancy is principally the frame of mind that lets you believe you can cope whatever. After a while you become proactive again and this is where the fun starts because suddenly the whole situation becomes an opportunity.'

Now that 'Summertime' is my theme tune I can agree that hawthorn teaches us that every cloud has a silver lining, and also that being prepared for change will increase productivity.  Hamilton would agree that these two principles gave him the ability to bounce back from each redundancy.

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