When someone spends all their time putting out fires, they look very busy, and they have a great sense of purpose.
I think I made this amulet while in Celrà (Catalunya, ES) during a postgraduate research gathering I was part of, after making a presentation for my MA (sometime in March 2010). I think that is why I'm wearing a little "Well Done!" sticker. Looking back, I'm not exactly sure what the intention behind this amulet was now (my memory is far from good enough to stretch back that long) but I do remember wanting to make a series of miniature life preservation devices (following on from Amulet #32). This is a miniature fire blanket.
Since then, I have used this as an amulet to protect against what people who write about project management call 'firefighting' (appearing busy by jumping in to sort out day-to-day problem situations at the expense of achieving larger-scale projects). I think, gradually, I might be getting a little better at saying "No" to things (as advised by the ever-wise Goat Island in A Letter To A Young Practitioner), taking time and not allowing other people's panics and demands to throw me off course. As always, I still have a long way to go and probably need quite a few more amulets to help me get better at mindfulness in general!!
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