November 25, 2011

Go Again.


I have been thinking recently about this whole idea of how I give up on people too quickly (typically in a conflict or difficult conversations).

I don't choose to stay in the conversation long enough to connect with the person I are talking with.

And isn't it all about connection anyways?

Often, the conversation and the other person don't show up the way I'd like them to, and so I get frustrated, judgmental, start complaining (maybe even whining) and want to quit (on myself and the other person).

Rather than connecting.

Rather than realizing my perception isn't the only perception out there (yes, I know!), and being able to set  my "reality" aside, shifting my way of being, and focusing on connecting with the person I am conflicting/seeking to connect with.

What would it cost? Me caring enough about the other person to connect to them At All Costs.

Next time you feel yourself frustrated at someone, ask yourself on a scale from 1-10: How connected are you to the person in that moment. Then go again. Try something new. Go again until you connect.





November 17, 2011

Poem about seeing

So much remains unseen
Complexities come our way
Some we see
Some we are blinded to

At times I am saddened by what I cannot see
To know I comprehend a small percentage of what is truly going on around me.
I wish I were able to see it all.
Alas, I cannot.

Dependence is a vulnerable place to reside
To choose a heart of flesh over one of stone
To choose a life well lived over one unknown
We cannot see so we cannot hide

November 15, 2011

Essential Blindness

Kenneth Burke wrote "A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing."

I am not sure what you thought when you first read that quote.

For me, at first I didn't get it. Then I thought about it more, and thought maybe I am getting it (but there is even still likely a portion of it that has not yet occurred for me).

We all have a way that we "see" the world. And if we are honest, we realize there are other people who "see" the world in a perpective that is unique from ours.

There are things we don't see; things that don't occur to us; things unseen; things we are essentially blind to.

I'm wondering how to best access those things that are unseen in order to bring them into view so that I can add them to my "unseen" realm.

For me, it is beginning with realizing there are other insightful perspectives out there.

How willing am I to tap into the sheer brilliance all around me?