Our life is what our thoughts make it. –Marcus Aurelius
Good morning Gentle Reader. If you have been following my blog these past 7+ years you will, I hope, remember that I write not in order to convince, coerce nor convert you. My intention is to invite you to ‘Consider’ what I offer you. My desire is that you do not automatically accept what I offer nor reject what I have to offer because what I offer does not resonate with you.
For me ‘Consider’ involves taking time to reflect upon what has been offered me. It involves emerging questions that might help me reflect more broadly and deeply. It involves suspending ‘surety’ and embracing ‘doubt’ – if I embrace ‘surety’ then I find that I am not open to searching and seeking and I am certainly not open to holding an attitude that I might be influenced by the other.
This morning I am going to offer us a number of what I call ‘Guiding Questions’ to ‘Consider.’ Hopefully, you will find one or more of them worth your time and energy ‘to Consider.’ They are listed in no particular order.
CONSIDER: Guiding Questions
- When I am at my best as a_____ I_______. [fill in the blank, for example: parent, teacher, leader, friend, etc.] When I am at my worst as a_____I_____.
- What are my favorite ways to nurture each of my P.I.E.S.S.? [NOTE: P.I.E.S.S. are the five dimensions that combine to help make up who I am; they include my Physical Dimension, my Intellectual Dimension, my Emotional Dimension, my Spiritual/Spirit Dimension and my Social-Relational Dimension]. What are my favorite ways to deplete each of my five dimensions? [NOTE: To up the ante, consider that our ‘favorite’ ways to deplete our dimensions involves ‘self-violence.’ For example, one of my favorite ways to deplete my Physical Dimension is to not exercise enough – by choosing not to exercise I do violence to myself.]
- Does the way you_____ get you what you want? What do you want? After you fill in the blank, emerge a response to the second question first and then emerge a response to the first question. For example: Does the way you listen get you what you want? What do you want? You would reflect upon and respond to the second question first – your response could be quite complex if you were to consider a number of listening-contexts (think: listening to your child or to your adolescent or to your direct report or to your ‘boss’ or to your minister, etc.). My experience is that if a person tells me that they are clear as to what they want and the way they do it gets them what they want then the possibility that the person is open to change is nearly zero – no motivation to change. A person is more open to changing if the person does not know what they want or is not sure that the way they______ gets them what they want or knows that the way they do it does not, or seldom, gets them what they want.
Well, Gentle Reader, that’s enough for this morning.
‘…he forces consideration upon the mind’ –said of Abe Lincoln [D.H. Donal
Searcher-Seeker 