Dan – Page 7 – Finding the Better Way

March 17, 2021March 17, 2021

Hope Springs Eternal

The old proverb, ‘Hope springs eternal in the Human Breast,’ has been with us for so long, because it is human nature to find new ways to be optimistic. Especially when things seem dark and bleak in our lives. We may have been ill for a longer time than we expected, or a loved one has lost a job, or we watch out child go through a very difficult period. It is during these frustrating times that we search for other ways to see and understand what is happening. A good friend refers to these trials as ‘a little inconvenience’ in her life, and treats them as such. It is also during these times that we can easily assume the mantle of ‘victim’ and collapse into a sea of misery and blame, pulling down others in our despair, largely because, to use another old proverb, ‘misery loves company.’

The world has countless stories of suffering, difficulties, and tragedies. The stories themselves are lessons in ‘what went wrong’ in a particular case, but the ones that really resonate with us are of triumph in the face of disaster. The stories of Anne Frank and her family hiding from the Nazi’s during World War II, or Olympian Louis Zamperini captured and tortured in the Pacific by the Japanese. Anne Frank’s story did not end with a triumph, but the story resonates still due to the hope kept by she and her family that they would ultimately be able to escape the horrors of the concentration camps that interred so many other in Europe. Zamperini was,indeed, finally liberated, coming home to the USA very broken and disillusioned. It was his journey from that low point, to becoming an inspiration and a role model that keeps us fascinated by his transformation. And at the base of both of these stories is hope, that tiny thing that makes troubling times a little less difficult, simply by creating a story that ends well, if only in your mind, while you’re enduring these trials.

Hope takes so many forms it would be impossible to try and list them with anything resembling a final list. Hope can be the plan of ‘if I just keep doing my best, working to improve, things will get better.’ Hope can also mean ‘we’ve done everything we can think of to help this, and just need to keep going until it gets better.’ Hope can also go into wishing or praying for some new inspiration to manifest to improve things. Or of a ‘guardian angel’ to help us out. These last two may sound like fantasy, but sometimes putting the thoughts out there into the Universe can make a difference: something or someone comes along and helps us see our plight in a different way that changes how we think about it. Of the Food Bank—supplying children with weekend backpacks of food to help them and their families with food insecurity—finding themselves with empty cupboards on Friday morning, only to have a high school senior deliver them 2,000 pounds of food on Friday afternoon: his Senior Project dedicated to helping Food Insecurity in his area.

Hope invites wishes, and prayers, and thoughts of unexpected help to get us through tough times. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. It is then that we begin to realize what we are capable of enduring, and that we will get through our troubles if we keep our heads up, looking upward and outward, and just keep going.

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021

Leaping in Baby Steps

Many times, we tend to overlook small, seemingly insignificant things that pass our way. Subtle gestures of friends and strangers that can communicate so much, if only we were aware of them. Tiny little flowers hiding in the shadow of a larger plant. Delicate grace-notes in a piano concerto. Great ideas coming from the shy person. So many of us barrel headlong through life with a set agenda, preconceived ideas, and a big goal in mind, that these things get lost and we move on without them, having no idea of what we may have missed. And does it matter? Perhaps not in the big picture. After all, we have work to be done, people to take care of, and responsibilities to fulfill. So, why do we even need to pay attention to these things? The answer, if such a term can even be used, is that sometimes the smallest step in the right direction, the unexpected kind words, the unsolicited help with a rough situation, can end up being one of the most significant actions that help us to see our way through, and can affect the rest of our life in ways we never expected.

In trying to control the things I can control in my life, and letting the rest go, there is, of course, confusion about what is what and which is which. Some things I think I am able to handle, I find are out of my control, and I find others, which seemed nearly insurmountable, to be much easier to navigate. Case in point: I tend of have ‘conversations’ and ‘arguments’ with myself, reliving old confrontations, or preparing for situations I may need to face sooner than later. Of course, rehashing talks that have past adds nothing to them or to my knowledge of how I might have better dealt with that occasion. Reaching into the future of yet-to-be spoken words can, indeed, allow us to see what counterpoints we may face and then be ready to deal with that when and if it comes up. In both cases, however, I find myself stressed-out, and angry—meaning fearful—about something I cannot control. Recently, I decided to let go of these things, and it has not been easy. The old conversation starts in my mind, and I find myself right there again, before realizing what I’m doing, and reminding myself, ‘Let it go.’ And I may need to remind myself again, before telling myself to breathe deeply several times and let go. At first, this seemed a ridiculous exercise, and I contemplated abandoning it. It, and the affect it was having seemed insignificant and not worth the effort. I did, however, decide it needed to be done, however my ego was feeling about the so-called results I experience. So I kept going. And the next situation that popped up made me feel silly. As did the one after that. To my surprise, however, as I continued to breathe deeply, telling myself to let go, and so on, I reached a point, months after I began this, when I realized I was just letting it go, and not letting the situation affect me personally or how I felt. The ego in the situation had vanished, and I realized that so many of these things I faced were not, indeed, about me, and there was no reason I needed to let them bother me. The situations, at work or elsewhere, were simply bumps in the road, to be navigated as best I could at the moment, and then forgotten.

Baby Steps. We take them as children learning to walk because we are developing and growing and our bodies are teaching us how to do this, slowly and carefully, because we are not physically ready to handle actually walking without this. The very small steps we are capable of taking are precisely what helps us to grow stronger and stronger, until we begin to walk on our own. Somehow, though, as adults we don’t often give ourselves the benefit of this subtle way of learning, thinking we need to do it all and know it all without ever taking the time to learn to fall, to learn to be helped by others, and to revel in the baby steps themselves. And that’s okay, too. But it’s also okay to spot the baby rabbit in the shadows, to hear a child singing joyfully to themselves, and to let ourselves be fully human…faults and all, and to be okay with that.

February 24, 2021February 24, 2021

Lost in the Wonder

When was the last time you got completely lost in an activity? Probably not at work, even if you love what you do. And probably not in checking off those boxes on your ‘to-do’ list, either. ‘Lost’ as in the kind of focus you see in small children building a sandcastle on the beach, or the sort of concentration you see on the faces of athletes giving their all to accomplish their goal. Many times, life today allows us to pay attention to the things that bring immediate rewards, such as our livelihood, bringing us the paycheck that fuels our lives, or perhaps attention we give to a report at work that moves our business forward. Each of those have their ‘rewards’ in one form or another, but do our lives have room for those things that may not make money for us, but provides us the joy of creativity. In my case, time spent at the piano, practicing scales, and then the pieces I’m working on right now, gives me that opportunity to get totally lost in the activity of playing the piano, sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on when I last practiced, but allows me to get up from the instrument, feeling that ‘flow’ state of creative energy. Even if I’ve practiced to the point that I am quite mentally tired—and with tired fingers, as well—I leave the keyboard with a euphoria that goes with me into the rest of my life, and lasts for quite a while.

Whatever it is that gives each of us that state of mind is so vitally important, even if, and maybe particularly if it doesn’t make us a nickel. Times spent focused on something we love to do, be it music, or sports, or sewing, or building things, is time spent refreshing our minds, taking us away from the spectre of mortgages, bills, deadlines, and so forth, and simply allows us to play, if you will, taking us into another world, another plane of existence, where only the focus on the activity itself counts for anything. Why? Because it gives us license to mentally step away from whatever responsibilities that demand our attention, and allows us to give ourselves the attention we were able to give ourselves when we were much younger. ‘Living,’ or getting lost in that space frees our mind, and allows so many things and ideas to enter our heads, sometimes sparking other creative ideas, and sometimes things we think about momentarily and then later forget. And either way, it doesn’t matter. Because this time is how we keep ourselves fresh and vital, and not preoccupied with matter that will only cause us stress. There is always time in our lives for the responsibilities we have taken on, as well as thought for what ‘needs’ to be done in our lives. ‘Getting lost’ is a complement to that, and allows us the down time we all desperately need in order to navigate those more stressful pieces of our lives, because we have allowed ourselves to do something that gives us a sense of meaning the minute we finish doing it. Bringing this balance into our lives also allows us to be more in the present moment as we move through what life presents to us at any given moment, and allows us to see that we can have that wonderful, yet imperfect life that too few manage to create.

February 16, 2021

Love and Grace beats Strength and Power

Currently, we are facing the effects of living through a pandemic; eager for facts and knowledge, and hopefully, treatments and cures. In the United States, where our society has already been fragmented by political and social tension, we are now somewhat removed from the day-to-day activities by the self-isolation of quarantine, in hopes of lessening some of the vectors of virus transmission. We spend time with our families, maybe for the first time in a long time, and spend time watching the news, movies, social media, looking for some messages of hope and an end to this. Amidst this, however, we still see evidence of blame, disagreement, hatred—which is fear—and looking for scapegoats. There are still families separated from their children at our country’s borders, and hate crimes are reported as too many choose to lash out at others, hoping to assuage their fears by terrorizing and humiliating those they feel are ‘responsible’ for this, or any current situation. It is, however, a true measure of our empathy and humanity, to welcome the most vulnerable and powerless members of society—our own or others—and treating them with love and grace, as we want to be treated ourselves.

Strength and power are so very seductive, and way too many people pursue them as their only goal in life. On the surface, they are quite attractive: being able to make things happen, able to buy anything you want, having sway over decisions, distancing yourself from hunger, poverty, and so many difficult situations that might affect how we are able to navigate life. In a certain sense, they seem to ‘guarantee’ a life devoid of unpleasant things. Their pursuit can also make us more self-conscious, rather than self-aware, miserly rather than sharing with others, and paranoid, as we begin to question others’ interest in us, perhaps thinking that they just ‘want something’.

Most of the world’s religions and philosophies address this sort of thinking in one way or another, which can help us see the folly of pursuing strength and power for the purpose of distancing, or perhaps protecting ourselves from others or the vagaries of life. This current epidemic shows us that the strong, the powerful are susceptible, just like the weak, the vulnerable, and those unable to ‘protect’ themselves otherwise. The way we see and look at children is often a metaphor used to guide us to a better way of seeing people in the world. Children, particularly young children, are truly vulnerable, powerless, and rely on the adults in their lives for their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter, as well as the love and nurturing they need to grow up to be healthy adults. While any parent can tell you that these young, innocent children can also be trying, and really test their patience, it is the time, the love, and the grace shown to these children that helps them grow as humans, and learn how to navigate life—the good and the bad—and how to treat others as well. It is this time spent that we all need so much of right now, and that we need to reach out, and show others—those we know, those we don’t know, and those we are meeting right now—that the path of love and grace, of treating everyone with kindness, will guide us to be better people ourselves.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021

The Speck in Your Eye

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

Matthew 7, Verse 3

It’s so very easy to see fault in others, isn’t it? Seeing what others are doing wrong, or judging their choice by how we feel about a particular subject is part-and-parcel of being human. When we point out something wrong with another, how does it make us feel? At times, a bit superior, and at other times, like the grim reaper, when we see the look in their eyes. If they are complicit in choosing to do something hurtful or destructive, they may be defensive about their actions or words, and that is usually obvious in their response. If they are unaware, however, they may feel confused, embarrassed, or ashamed that their actions are wrong, incorrect, or perhaps hurtful to another. There is an old saying that when you point at someone else, three fingers point back at you, which is such a fantastic reminder that no one is perfect, we all make mistakes, and making mistakes is the way we learn.

There exists, though, the extremes of ‘tearing down,’ as opposed to ‘building up’ or ‘hurting,’ vs ‘healing’ and so forth. Remembering that we now have three of our own fingers pointing back at us, and to our own faults, what difference would it make in the way we think if we ‘pointed out’ good, praiseworthy things? ‘Building up’ instead of ‘tearing down?’ Emphasizing the potential good instead of the disastrous outcome of a difficult situation? Of simply looking, first, for the good in people and things? How would we feel? How would that work, even? Even the best people we know are prone to see the faults in a situation because someone will need to deal with correcting someone or something in order to make the situation ‘right.’ But, it begs the question of what is ‘right’ and who gets to make that judgement. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the piece with lacquer mixed with powdered gold and making the piece whole and usable again. The gold can clearly be seen along the crack-lines, so it is not as if the piece was repaired and now looks exactly how it did before it was broken. It has been transformed and is now something entirely new. Certainly, a Kintsugi-repaired bowl is still a bowl, but it is now unique in all the world, with a spectacular display of how it was ‘healed.’ If this can be done to a simple bowl, how can we take this same idea into how we judge others?

‘Right’ is usually the provenance of the ‘winner’ when it applies to any type of combat, from the battlefield to the soccer field. While war and sport do, indeed, draw definitive lines about many things, our lives on this planet need not do so as well. Good things can come from bad, and lives and situations can change their course with thoughtful words and ideas. It is up to us, though, to navigate those changes in how we move through life, offering hope and love, rather than despair and fear. If we can all begin simply, little by little, becoming used to healing rather than destroying, what will be capable of doing? And what kind of world will we create?

January 26, 2021

The ‘Other’ Perspective

We know what we know. We like what we like. We make decisions and live our lives based on the knowledge these perspectives give us. When we drive a certain type of car, for example, it tends to inform us of that car’s quality, reliability, maneuverability, performance for quite a long time. If we did not find that car to our liking, we tend to hold on to that initial feeling for quite some time, and we tend to be hesitant to give it another chance. Our loss, because most companies try to improve their products as new technology becomes available or new designs eclipse the old ones for the better. The known in our lives is always a comfort zone; a place we know well enough to rely on it to help us through life without us needing to weigh decisions about each and every thing we encounter.

The known can also be a stumbling block because even when we are familiar with something or someone, we forget that other people and things change, just as we do. How many adults have attended a High School Reunion to find the ‘perfect person’ has struggled since we last saw them? That the star athlete everyone thought would ‘go pro’ and make millions of dollars has found that road closed to him, but has fallen in love with coaching his sport? Or the wallflower who found her niche in life and has prospered by taking advantage of her quiet determination? The known has become the other, and it is time to learn about their journey. When we first encountered these people, they were perceived as ‘other,’ or different, perhaps strange, and we did not understand them. Anyone who has traveled to a foreign country where they did not speak the language or understand the culture knows how this feels, and there is a certain fear that comes with those feelings. Fear of looking foolish, of saying the wrong thing, of accidentally offending someone. This is the root of prejudice, and only knowledge can stop it.

While other can, indeed, mean ‘different,’ it does not need to also be exclusive, keeping people apart. ‘Other’ can also mean a person or thing which is the counterpart of someone or something else. In this case, this person could allow us to grow in different ways, teaching us things that we never knew, and opening their minds to the things we experienced and they have not. A counterpoint at work is a great asset to anyone really wanting to grow, as suddenly, we begin to think of the ‘old familiar things’ in new ways, and perhaps creating better ways to use or improve them. If you are the manager of the Men’s department in a clothing store, you may know very little about what goes on in the Women’s department, how things are done there, or what their goals might be. Reaching out to your counterpart, in this case the Women’s manager—because, after all, many of your male clients have wives, girlfriends, daughters—and beginning to learn about the other business, will only make you stronger as you run your own, now armed with a more complete knowledge of the apparel world, and of the people who support your business. Your counterpart, formerly the other you did now know, can now be a supporting partner for you, and you for them, just by taking the time to learn about that world.

‘Other’ can be friendly, it can be scary, and sometimes we become a bit too comfortable in our own world, and rely too much on the rubrics we know to get us through everything. While reaching out to others can be intimidating, just letting someone else know that you are interested in what they do can open doors that seem closed, and allow real communication and learning to continue. After all, we have all been the ‘other’ at one point in time, and finding a friend was the thing we most wanted.

January 20, 2021

Planting Seeds

You’ve made the decision. To write a novel. To compose a song. To learn how to cook. To run a marathon. When you came to that conclusion, it was so exciting, so enticing, so life-changing. To think that you, no, YOU were going to do something you had never done before, that sounded like the thing you’ve been looking for to start life in a new direction. And now that you’ve slept on that idea, all of a sudden, you’re not so sure. Whatever action you’ve decided to take is not only a next step in doing something that fascinates you, but you just know it is the thing that will begin the next phase of life, of getting you unstuck, of giving purpose to your existence. The big question floating in front of you, though, is ‘Where do I begin? I’ve finally realized what I need to do, but I don’t know where to start.’

All of a sudden this idea now seems scary, and we feel a bit alone. The initial enthusiasm is gone, but the idea still burns brightly in our mind. This song or this book means something to us because we love music or literature, and we so want to be a part of this wonderful-seeming world of being one of the creators of pieces that speak to others. And left to our own devices, it is daunting. As any actor will tell you, a play or a movie is the work of many people, not one. Even solo shows have many people involved, though we may see just one person on stage. Playwrights or screenwriters may write their play or movie by themselves, but when the writing stops, the editing begins, the readings begin, in order for the writer to hear their own words spoken out loud, to see if they really do work for the story being told. Largely, the writer then takes the screenplay back to the drawing board, editing this out, inserting a new idea, deleting a character and adding two others, all in the name of making the story work in the best way possible. Given how this was done, with many other people involved, his ‘solo’ work, when finally finished, will be the result of others helping him through the process.

Left to our own devices, we tend to lose patience with ourselves, and we are often the hardest on ourselves. To be patient with ourselves is vital. It is also difficult. We have a particular view on what we ‘should’ be able to do given our education, our knowledge, our experience, but we often have trouble seeing ourselves as others see us, or how we see others. The idea, whatever it is, is wonderful. It is a seed to be planted, nourished, cared-for, and like a seed, we need to be patient waiting for it to bloom and grow to fruition. We can cultivate it.

We now have our seed. If you don’t know how to ‘plant’ this particular seed, ask someone who has done it already. A songwriter. An author. Listen, ask questions, seek others who can also help. Patiently, and with love, cultivate your seed.

January 13, 2021

Seeing The Opportunity

It is said that people see what they want to see, and know what they want to know. And whatever may fall on the outside of that paradigm goes unnoticed. If that is the case, how much do we miss because we have created our own little universe, where we learn it’s means and ways, how it operates, and know what to expect of it? Where is the wonder and excitement of exploring something new, be it a place or learning a foreign language? How does this world engage our thoughts and imagination, or does it at all? Small children experience this wonder all the time as literally everything they encounter is unknown, and they delight in taking in all of these new things. As we get older, and life becomes more complex, with more demands on our time and our resources, do we continue to seek the unique, the foreign, the unusual, or do we begin to stabilize things so that the demands can be more easily handled? While our lives are usually a mix of these two, far too often we begin arranging things so that we are creating time to enjoy…what? Is the time spent ‘arranging things’ time we could be planting flowers or trees, or taking a walk through the autumn leaves, or simply enjoying a cup of coffee as we watch the early morning mist clear? Probably. But which do we choose? By choosing to concentrate only on those things our society deems important—work, finances—we have chosen to put our mental, spiritual life on the back burner, and our lives become unbalanced. This creeps in surreptitiously, and we seldom notice it. What we notice is the feeling that there is ‘something more’ out there that we could be experiencing, but we’re not quite sure what it is that we seek.

Stillness of the mind is one of the things we all desperately need, and seek, to a certain degree, but how to do it is the question. Anyone who has tried meditation, journaling, or yoga has had those feelings of ‘this is a waste of time’ or ‘will this ever end’ or perhaps ‘why am I doing this, because I don’t get it.’ Each of these disciplines—meditation, journaling, and yoga—is, indeed a practice. It is a ritual in our day, and no matter how long or short the practice, it is time well spent. Why? What happens when we do this, and what are the long-term benefits of continuing to do so? Quite simply, our mind becomes quiet as we write the random thoughts that enter our heads, be they brilliant, or simply unconnected, extraneous thoughts, simply getting them out of our head and onto the paper when we journal. They may bring up new, good ideas, or they may make us think twice about how we are moving through a particular situation. The simple act of putting pen to paper and recording our thoughts allows us to get these out in the larger world, and in a form we can go back to, if we choose, to analyze or contemplate, as we need. We can also simply leave them alone, as they have stimulated us to a certain degree, and, having expressed them in writing, we are able to leave them and move on to other things. Meditation and yoga, while quite different in form and practice, also allow us to bring us closer to where we need to be, where we need to focus, and parse through the thoughts that sometimes overwhelm us, and leave us confused. In each case, with whatever practice we choose, we have given our mind the opportunity to express what intrigues us intellectually, spiritually, and have given ourselves the opportunity to mentally ‘vent’, but more accurately, to explore our thoughts within the context of our physical beings as well. It has been noted, from the ancient philosophy of ‘Mens sana in Corpore Sano’—a healthy mind in a healthy body—that the body/mind connection is so very close, which is why the physical act of writing, meditation, and yoga, to name a few of the possibilities available, of bringing the mind and the body together for the same purpose, of releasing that which does not build us up, is so vital, if only we see it. While we all see what we want to see, there is also that five-year-old, perhaps hiding deeply inside us, that wants to discover new worlds, or see the familiar in a different way, and so remain engaged with traveling forward on this planet, marveling in its wonders, and staying open to the new and exciting things it presents.

January 5, 2021

Light in the Darkness

It’s always the darkest before the dawn.

This old aphorism is literally true: the dark of the pre-dawn is so very intense, and it makes the first few rays of light on the horizon that much more welcome. Generally though, we use this old phrase to cheer up someone going through a rough time in their life. Job hunting, sick child, a death, and so much more that tries us has humans, and tests us and what we are capable of doing. Going through that blackness—figuratively, in this case—is never easy. And it is particularly difficult over long periods of time; time during which we may feel that there really is no end to this time of trial. We feel our way through the dark, hoping our ‘sunrise’ is nearly upon us.

As we go through this period of time, always scanning the horizon for hints of the coming dawn, it can be really difficult to keep focus, and even more difficult not to dwell on the difficulty itself while searching for solutions. And when solutions, or what we thought were solutions, did not work for us, what then? Albert Einstein once said that his failures were simply another way that did not work as he went about trying to answer questions most of us wouldn’t even think to ask. Sometimes it’s easy to dismiss that philosophy, as Einstein’s work itself was groundbreaking, and we are not searching for universal answers to mind-boggling questions, as he was. His philosophy, however, is correct. Whether you are learning to drive a car, or drive a golf ball, certain things work, and certain things do not. It is the frustration we may feel after yet another failed attempt at something—driving the golf ball straight down the fairway, for example—that can cause us to give up, or challenge us to do something different this time. Was my form correct, or did it waver? This is where, in the golf example, a coach or teacher is so much help, as they are able to see things you cannot see, and can then guide you to a better way to move through the stroke and put the ball in the center of the fairway. All great athletes, whether involved in individual sports like tennis or golf, or participating with others in team sports like football and baseball, have said that without the help of others, they could not have done what they did, and play to the levels at which they play. They recognize that though they may indeed have a unique, astonishing talent for the sport they play, without others in their past, urging them on, keeping them on board with practice, and so forth, that they would not be where they are now, having pushed on in darker times, hoping for that sunrise.

As humans, we are social beings, even we introverts, still need the company, the words, the actions of others to keep moving forward. Even those of us who do our best work in a more solitary environment still need the encouragement, the camaraderie, of our fellow humans to keep us going, to remind us that it’s okay to fail, and to celebrate our victories, however large or small, with us.

December 29, 2020

Open Your Eyes

Open your eyes! As a child, I heard this more than once from my parents, as many of us did. When looking for something, or hoping for a desired snack to magically appear before us, we were urged to look at what is in front of us, and not for what we were searching or hoping to find. As adults, how often do we do this same thing at work, at home, as we have an idea of what it is that we ‘need’ at that moment, and if it isn’t immediately in front of us, we dismiss what we do find? Often. Way too often. When we’re looking for our favorite shirt in the closet, and our spouse, tired of our complaining, walks over and instantly puts his or her hands on said shirt, and hands it to us, we feel a bit silly, and try to joke our way out of our embarrassment. Not a big deal in this case. It becomes more consequential, though when we do the same thing with people. Evolution and nature made sure we knew certain things were dangerous and to be avoided if we were going to survive as a species. Big, barking dogs are probably to be avoided, as is standing too close to the railroad track. But what of people who don’t look like us, behave like us, or speak our language? Yes, they are strange to us, but how do we view these differences, and how do those decisions affect the way we interact with them?

In life and in work, we often need to open our eyes; they are not technically closed, but we are not seeing things that might be helpful; to us and those around us. This ‘closed’ stance can be a result of our upbringing, experience, and things like being told what someone was like. Little prejudices, like, ‘boys are better at sports,’ ‘girls are better cooks,’ begin to solidify and close off options when we take them as truth.

In reality, good athletes are both men and women, and while each may excel at different disciplines, there are, indeed, female boxers and football players, just as there are fine male cooks and dancers. Opening our eyes allows for this possibility, but it also requires a trust in ourselves that what we thought we ‘knew’ is not the case, being okay with that, and then exploring the newness in front of us. Why is this even important? We all recognize that people seek out the new because they are curious, and want to learn about things they have not experienced. Others prefer to stick to the tried-and-true, better able to respond to life’s challenges most efficiently when the situation is at least somewhat familiar. Both are valuable and balance us as a society, as we learn from interacting with each other.

As we start to experience and learn about other points-of-view without judgement, and to understand other ways of thinking about a problem or navigating a tough situation, we develop the capacity to see other people, other thoughts and ideas, and other situations for what they are. This is the beginning, that tiny thought-change that allow us to better understand one another, allows the adventurers to see why having knowledge of something before leaping into it might be useful, as well as letting those more discreet in nature to see that while a certain amount of knowledge about something is a good baseline, sometimes one just needs to take action. Are you bold and adventurous, or are you thoughtful and discreet? Or perhaps it depends on the situation? With so much happening in our world right now that demands thought and action, what little steps are you able to take to bring yourself to your next level? To open your eyes to things you might have overlooked? Whatever it may be for each of us, now, while the planet is taking a deep breath, might be the time to act…