For once it is not a James Clear principle I am quoting, though I do reckon I will be referring to something he has written sooner rather than later.
This time it is something I heard recently that got me thinking, “yeah, way to go.” Something like, “so often we ask ourselves the wrong question” was said. They went on to say instead of asking “can I now do what is being asked?” I should be asking, “can I learn and do what is being asked.” There is a huge difference. To me the first question is asking can I do what is being asked right now. Invariably the answer is no. Yet if I ask can I learn and do what is being asked, the response may be different. So often it is commitment, application and patience that is required. Previous jobs have shown me that given the right environment, I can do what is being asked even though I may not have the knowledge required at the point in time. Really though it is just a matter of time. I saw this firsthand where I worked. I employed someone who did not possess the knowledge needed at the time. But what we were after was commitment, application and patience. If those elements were present, we knew the knowledge was just a matter of time. That was the way it turned out. Really that was one of the best decisions made. Initially it may not have looked like it, but given the right environment the commitment, application and patience would yield the results we needed. The whole point for me is that so often I can write myself off based on something that is only partly true, and if I look at the whole picture it is a different picture. One volunteer job I am doing now I really thought I was not cut out for. I knew I had certain skill sets required but I knew I lacked others. Yet I really got excited about the opportunity, so I took on the job. I am so glad I did. I am using and growing in the skill sets I had and learning and growing in new ones. Those skill sets were only dormant not non existing. So to me where possible I try to see beyond what is, to what can be. It is not wishful thinking, but it is not selling myself short either. I figure after all, the way of personal growth is to be stretched doing something I know I am cut out to do.
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I asked a question last night of people who had come around. I did not expect to get answered the way I did.
It was what different has happened this week for you? It was based on the fact that heaps different ha happened to Merril and I this week. By different I mean something that the week does not normally contain. I mentioned how Merril and I went for a walk. It is months since we have done that. I did not want to get carried away walking and was not disappointed. We took about half an hour and according to Merril’s watch we walked 2.2 kms. I also mentioned how the garage roller door needed fixing. We got good and bad news. The good news was it could be gotten going again by adding a couple of weights. The bad news was we will need another door. Merril mentioned hitting a bird in her travels. There was much sympathy as she described the event. I felt it was almost getting out of hand when she described looking in her rear-view mirror and seeing its mate next to it dead. What I heard from others blew me away, even if the events occurr in most lives. One person said, I bought a car. In another town. A broker found it for me. I need to go get it in the next few weeks. To me getting another car is a biggy. That in my life only happens rarely. The picking up of the car will tie in with a relative’s birthday celebration. Then someone else said, I sold a block of land. I so did not expect that. They then described where it was, and the circumstances surrounding the sale. What stood out to me is lives generally unfold in a certain manner. Many things are repetitious. Other things happen occasional. No matter what, how I react in those situations matters. I have a choice. Some things end well and some don’t. I just know I want to end well no matter the situation. Things are nothing if not interesting.
I decided this was dictionary day. I did the usual shutting my eyes and turning the dictionary this way and that till I was totally unaware if the dictionary was up or down, or I was pointing at the back or front. When I opened my eyes I found my finger was pointing not to the word before which was ensemble or the one after which was enshroud but to enshrine. It’s meaning was, “enclose in shrine; serve as shrine for (precious thing: lit. or fig.)”. The Collins dictionary said, “to place or enclose something in or as if in a shrine, or to hold it as sacred or cherish it.” Fair dinkum I do not remember ever having considered that word. But I am now. When I think about it, I have heard it in relation to laws as in “enshrined in law.” I do have a bit of a problem with shrines. For me I don’t mind mementos. I have kept a few as reminders of visits. I have a few evidences of my mum and dad and brother. They are reminders of them. But I am unsure of enshrining something. I do think things need to be written and form the basis of societies actions. But to me often the writing down of something is the complication of something. It needs to be done, yet I personally feel that obedience to laws is an attitude rather than an intellectual issue. For me what I need to do is summed up by loving God and others. If I do those, I will not be inclined to do what hurts me or others. Something I hold to is that truth is ancient and not dependant on the “latest discovery.” In other words, someone living in the 4th century does not lack essentials. Now is better in that discoveries have made life easier, but nothing has changed to now make life meaningful where in times past, it was not. To me loving God and others stands through the ages. So I guess to me enshrining stuff is an internal thing. |