Of stone and water

​Colleagues,

Lesson 2 from Thanksgiving with a fractured family: We choose to be like stone or water.
 
Stones are impermeable. They are great for creating foundations, but if you are building a wall between you and your family, that is not a great thing.
 
Water flows. It is resistant to being blocked. It does not fight or argue, or contend. It simply ignores and goes around.
 
Many people, at home and at work, will put up barriers. Beating on barriers is seldom effective. 
 
Bypassing them works much better.

How?
 
Just show up as your best self. Don’t resist, attack, or build walls of your own. Ignore the barriers and act as if they don’t exist. Care without making your caring conditional on the response.
 
Like way too many families in the United States, mine has been fractured by politics and disagreement. At the same time, we have been reminded by loss and grief how important family is. As members of my extended family sought to find common ground or at least to move forward in a constructive way, I was reminded of five important lessons this week. I hope these lessons find meaning in both your personal and professional lives.

​Today’s intention: Just watch people. Look for evidence of stones, and of water. Reflect on what you see.
 
Photo by Shojol Islam: https://www.pexels.com/photo/rock-in-a-sea-19038953/

Cheers!

Frederick