Not About Me

When someone does something
we dislike
we tend to become
self-absorbed.

They hurt
“me.”
They disrespected
“me.”
They don’t appreciate
“me.”

Me.
Me.
Me.

When we realize empathy,
we often see
that the behavior we considered
to be about
“me”
had less to do with
“me”
and more to do with
them
feeling unsupported.

The Personal Supporter Revolution

“Explain to me simply,
What it is
you want.”
he asked.

“I want people to have
not just personal computers,
but also personal supporters.”
I responded.

“I promise you,
just as we ask ourselves now
how did we live
without personal computers,
there will come a day,
when we will ask ourselves
how did we live
without personal supporters?”
I continued.

Getting Lost by Doing Well

When we work hard
we sometimes
lose
our way.

It’s nobody’s
fault.

When we work hard,
we tend to
focus.

When we focus,
we can
obsess.

When we obsess,
we can get
impatient.

When we get impatient,
we can become
myopic.

When we become myopic,
our priorities
can be decided for us
by our myopia,
instead
of our holistic
vision.

When our decisions
are made for us
by our myopia
instead
of our holistic
vision,
we can feel
lost.

It can be exceptionally hard
to be still
when this happens.

Especially so,
when we feel pressured
by external forces
and the fear of failure
looms large.

So we keep going
despite feeling
lost.

Isolation and Shame

When we feel
isolated,
we can also feel
lost.

We think
‘After all,
if I’m the only one
on this path,
who‘s to say
I’m not lost?’

When we feel
lost
traveling a path
of our own choice
we can also feel
ashamed.

We think
‘If I got lost
by going my way
then clearly
it’s my fault
and something
is wrong
with me.

Interrupted Thought Process

“Am I stubborn?”
asked the founder.

“Your thought process
is constantly being
interrupted.”
I responded.

“What do you mean?”
he asked,
looking puzzled.

“For you
to change your mind,
you have to think things through,
right?”
I asked.

“Yes, of course.”
he answered.

“But if people around you
are only telling you
what they think,
your thought process
can constantly get
interrupted.”
I continued.

“Unless a space is created,
where you can think through things
without being interrupted
you will be unlikely
to change your mind.”
I remarked.