Tag: Leadership

Beyond Compassion

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

Sometimes,
it’s not easy to go beyond
compassion.

To accept the challenge
of putting aside our own emotions
of concern.

To lessen our focus
on our good intentions
of wanting to alleviate someone’s suffering
or enhancing their well-being.

Maybe even to suspend
our indignance
and resentment.

So as to make room
for a sense of wonder.

To enhance our focus
on revising our expressions
for greater impact.

Connecting
and staying present with their emotions,
even if we may not like
or want to feel
those emotions.

Validation

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

At first,
I thought I had to do something huge
for my life
to be worth something.

Until I realized
that doing something huge
would still not be enough
unless I could feel
that it was indeed
worth it.

In other words,
what I was after
was a feeling.

…

Once I realized
that validation
was what I was after,
I noticed I lacked clarity
on whose validation I craved
and why.

…

Once I gained clarity
on whose validation I craved
and why,
it turned out
there were only a handful of people
whose validation
I deeply craved.

So I went to them
one by one
to learn how I can provide them
value,
only to learn
how remarkably simple—
not easy, but simple—
it was
to do so.

It was then
that I realized
that at the end of the day,
the most difficult challenge
wasn’t
earning their validation.

The most difficult challenge
was accepting
that my life can have significant worth
without doing something
huge.

Deadline

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

What I learned in art
is that the work gets done
because there’s an exhibition.

Without an exhibition
the artist can work on their piece
until they’re perfect.

Except
compared to perfection
the work
is never be enough.

The role of an exhibition
is to force us to define
what is “good enough.”

Asking for Advice

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

Sometimes,
we need to ask for advice
on how to solve
our problems.

Before asking,
it may be worth getting clear on:

  1. What the current situation is,
  2. Where you’re trying to move to,
  3. What you believe are required
    to make such a move,
  4. What you’ve already done
    to fulfill those requirements,
    and having done them,
  5. What you see
    are the remaining problems.

Same vs Different

Posted on by Seung Chan Lim 0

No two “things”
can ever be
the same.

Especially if we consider
their location
in time
and space.

So when we hear someone say
“it’s the same thing,”
and we disagree,
we have at least
two choices.

We can argue why they’re not
the same.

We can also discover their perspective,
which is focusing on a similarity
between two or more things
that they value enough
to say “it’s the same thing.”

The choice
is ours
and ours only.

May we take responsibility
for our choices.