Smile

“I overreacted today.”
said the CEO.

I waited.

“They think
I’m a bad leader.” he continued.

I waited.

“They think
I’m toxic.” he continued.

“I don’t know
why I cannot control this.”
he lamented.

“How could others support you
so that you won’t overreact?”
I asked
finally.

“I don’t know.”
he replied.

“What do you not
want?”
I asked again.

“I want them
to stop saying why my ideas
are bad.”
he said.

“Do you want them
to say your ideas
are good?”
I asked.

“No,
of course not.”
he said.

“What do you want?”
I asked again.

“I…
I just want them
to listen.”
he said,
finally.

Survival, Byproduct, and Focus

What we do for our survival
isn’t selfish
it’s natural
and normal.

Others might not like it
but it doesn’t make it
selfish

When we help,
we don’t realize we’re focused
on our own pain and discomfort
but it is when and only when
we can relieve ourselves of tension
and be present enough with our pain and discomfort
to have room in our being
to be with another person’s pain and discomfort
that we can serve
and the byproduct of that is we feel fulfilled
but our fulfillment is not the focus

Having vs Being

We have
a past,
but we are not
our past.

We have
a future,
but we are not
our future.

We are
who we are

This
may sound obvious.

Yet,
I invite you to monitor
what you say
and count the times
you ignore the obvious
and how that impacts the quality
of your life,
the quality
of your decision making,
and the quality
of your relationships.