Good words to live by. Allowing others to take up space in
your head is OK, but not if they do damage to who you are, who you are striving
to be. Negative people grow their toxicity and spread it to others. They are
afraid of something and think you ought to be too. If not, you are flawed in
their mind’s eye. Yet when the mirror is poised for sight, it is they who are
flawed. Don’t let them build a nest in your mind. Push their resentments and
poison out to the rest of the world where they will be diluted and eliminated.
Robert Tew also said, “Don’t live your life with anger and hate in your
heart. You’ll only be hurting yourself more than the people you hate.” But first make sure you haven’t leased space
in your head to them!
One more quote from Robert Tew: “If you don’t value yourself,
you’re not going to draw valuable things into your life.” Attract the worthwhile by thinking of
them, seeking them and making them happen. Such will enhance our appreciation
of life, of others, and of self. All three are necessary to create value in the
space outside of ourselves.
I don’t know why I’m on this kick today. But I am profoundly
aware of how negative our surroundings have become. The radio and TV news
programs and news magazines, and newspapers, all have volume-building tag lines
and headlines. All are designed to attract your attention. The sky is falling!
No it is not! Not really! And you know that. You don’t need someone to tell you
that with the tag line, “news at 11.”
I wonder why we cave in by such cheap tricks. But we are. I
am too. But I know those tactics are
directed at the gullible. And I don’t want to be in that category! So maybe I
will seek balanced news elsewhere. Perhaps from the makers of news in the first
place. The educators, researchers, care givers, businesses, inventors….you get
the idea. Their messages are out there on the Internet. Your power of
discernment has to rise to the challenge of determining which items are
factual, which are not. But the first step may be to turn off the news and the
mere sound bites they scatter to the wind. They contain so little information
that conclusions are impossible. Clear thinking makes for conclusions that
matter. And that takes patience and hard work.
I think our culture has made people lazy. They want others
to think for them. They want others to do the work they ought to do. It is by
doing this work that we learn. And discern. Being spoon fed packaged data and
conclusions is not healthy for an open and free democracy.
I was in a public meeting the other day and we were
struggling with developing strategies for broader public understanding. We had
determined which demographic groupings needed the information for their own
good but couldn’t figure out how to get at these groups.
Actually it was quite simple. It took us awhile to get it,
but the solution was simple: go to the internet; Google the desired
demographics, associations dealing with the subset topics, and see where it
leads us. Sometimes getting at the grass roots requires us to return to the big
picture. Once there, follow the trail back to the grass roots. Connection made!
Logical and clean. Simple and direct. The goal once set
requires action plans. Those are not as difficult to draw up as they first
appear. We must allow logic and simplicity to re-enter or personal space; else
we are trapped by the overly complex world we perceive it to be.
Another way of saying this: The world may be complex but
only if we don’t think about it and understand its basics. Then simplicity
returns and pathways to the future become much clearer.
I think it begins with goal clarification. What is it you wish accomplished? The end
result? Once clear on this, clarify who needs to know and support these goals?
They are the stakeholders, the ones who will find value in achieving the goals.
Next, identify who these stakeholders routinely deal with; these are the arenas
of influence from which work gets done.
Now work up some meaningful action plans that directly
address the goals. Don’t stray from them. Those are the focal points of your
efforts.
Trouble comes when we allow ourselves to be distracted by
others, stray thoughts, and old wounds and resentments. The things that can
easily take up space in your head. Rent free. Don’t let them. Dump them. Focus
on the goals. And get to work. Do your own thinking.
May 8, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment