Being On Purpose
When we are rigidly attached to an outcome we set ourselves up for failure. Events are just neutral; they have meaning only when we assign meaning to the event. We can choose responses, rather than being attached to an expectation of others’ behavior or an event.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles is the classic movie reference I make in this episode!
In the midst of a blizzard, traffic lights still blink red to green, pausing momentarily on yellow.
Yet there are no vehicles to pay attention, to slow down, to stop or to go. And if there were, the snowy conditions would most certainly impact the capability of those vehicles’ performance.
Are we sometimes like blizzard-bound signals — rotating through our three indicators assuming the traffic around us will heed our signals without question?
Do we keep flashing directions when there’s a blizzard swirling?
Stop.
Notice the blizzard.
Consider what messages you’re sending out on repeat.
Review your messages’ purpose and content in context of the current situation.
Ask for whom those messages are intended, and whether they’re being received.
Reinvent yourself from a blinking lamp that’s become irrelevant in the storm into the maker of snow angels, the spontaneous thrower of playful snowballs, the shoveler of new paths, the clearer of slippery stairways, the Zamboni of all icy surfaces.