Giving Thanks
Sitting on some cliffs above the Stones River
There are many different ways to approach a challenge, issue, problem, or opportunity, but one of the common ones is taught in life guarding:
- Survey the scene – you need to grasp what is going on, the status quo, and what resources are available.
- Check the individuals – the general question is “Are you OK?” – gathering more information on more specific parts of a scene that you cannot get from a distance.
- Call for help – contact 9-1-1 or Emergency responders, or the appropriate professionals who are better equipped to help long term.
- Preform additional evaluation & take action
Going into the Thanksgiving holiday, third weekend in November in my part of the world, I try to do a similar approach as if I was an outsider approaching the scene of my current life. It is vitally important that on a regular basis I take time to reflect on a deeper level then I normally do. It is necessary for me to review my days, weeks and months soon after they happen, but mostly to keep account of what happened, this period of time is different. It’s to force me into looking at longer periods of time, comparing to the goals I had set, and seeing not the individual threads in the rug of my life, but the big picture the best I can.
The goal: To reflect on this past year, find the good parts [the wins], and be thankful for it all.
First I take time to look at the past year and the major changes that occurred over the last 12 to 16 months. Then I look closer at the seven areas I view my life. By the time I celebrate Thanksgiving I should have a good list of accomplishments, treasures, moments, and praises both for me and for others. After Thanksgiving I typically go to work on steps 3 and 4 with goal setting, education planning, and targeted networking, but this writing is focused on just the first two: Surveying the Scene & Checking the Individual parts of a life.
Over the next 20 days or so, the plan is to write about what I am focusing on, maybe not at the exact time, but on a regular basis releasing a new item or area. To get started, the seven areas of life are:
- physical – taking care of your body is important
- mental – your mind determines much of your abilities and how far you will go
- spiritual – deep inside you, you know there is something you don’t observe in the physical
- production – career, jobs, it all comes down to providing or producing value to someone else
- personal finances – inflows and outflows of money, dealing with giving, spending, and saving
- family – the closest people around you, no matter if they are biologically related or not
- social & community – the broader group of people you interact with on a regular basis
life and issues
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
~ Wiston Churchill
good idea?
Almost any idea is good if a man has ability and is willing to work hard. The best idea is worthless if the creator is a loafer and ineffective.
~ William Feather
what do you see?
Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.
~ Stephen Covey
are we there yet?
Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete.
If you’re alive, it isn’t.~ Richard Bach
random quotations
a quotation
For a long time I have collected quotations that I like. I have them in notebooks, books of them, old blogs, and other locations.
I am slowly bringing them over and throwing them into the Quotations Category, but a few days ago I had added the most recent one to the standard article page.
Today I sat down to make instead of showing the most recent, I wanted a random one to show.
Now that is what is shows.
I expect to add the quotations other places too, especially as I add more and more over time.
change you should believe in
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
More Giving Thanks
Originally I was intending to go through each area and talk about them a little, things I think about when I am reflecting, yet as I was working on my system, my plan, it just was not flowing. Then this morning I sat down to write some and went to Weather.gov. Here is the forecast for my area over the next few days.
Forcast 2008-11-11
Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain.
Yet when I look outside, it could rain, yet the sky is wonderful blue gray with streaks of white and other shades of blue.
Outside now 2008-11-11
If you keep hearing over and over about positive or negative opinions, feedback, and views of your life, it’s like looking at a distant website and not really evaluating your true situation.
Focusing Too Much?
One of my issues with this series, I believe, is that I was too focused on my writing and not just letting whatever flow in the moment. It’s like a shooter getting tunnel vision, or not seeing the big picture due to the individual tree that captivates you, or not taking the time to individually consider all the moving parts that are involved in creating that great song that moved your soul, or any other product for that matter.
Going to either extreme, being too ridged or focused, or being too surface level, are both not good for this process. Even as I am working on this, as I do most of the time I write, I am listening to a talk based show and going to some other things from time to time, it’s just part of how my best writing happens. I know I could sit here and have no other inputs, not read a website, or email ever. Yet, finding not the right balance, but the right method that works for me is what helps me to write … and I know I am not a great traditional writer. I have to focus; when my train of thought gets going, I just have to write. This applies to any situation. Sometimes I get up from sleeping to get some thoughts down. Most of my life I have keep pen and paper close by – all the time. However, that is just how I work, and you might be different.
Not That Great
One other tendency that I, and people who grew up in a similar culture, have is the tendency to downplay what we do. We overlook *wins* that should be counted, celebrated, and remembered in rough times, yet they are so common that all that is left is a combination of the present situation & the new.
That is not Good.
Yes, living in the past is not good, yet, keeping a good perspective and learning from the past can help.
The Farm Perspective
This is a story I heard at some point, and carry with me. It is set in the past, somewhere in the country of a state like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, or Tennessee.
One day a traveling businessman was walking down a country road and came to a nice farmhouse with a white plank fence, the farmer standing inside the yard leaning against the fence looking at a beautiful fruit tree.
This tree had great looking fruit just ready to pick and eat. It was big and full, and had fallen over and smashed to the ground sometime in the recent past.
The businessman stood there on one side of the fence, with the farmer on the other; both looking at the fallen tree. After a couple moments, the businessman turned towards the farmer and asked “Wow, that is tragic, your beautiful tree … So, what are you going to do?”
The farmer glances at him over his shoulder, and then looks back at his tree. Pauses a moment and then simply says “Pick the fruit & burn the rest.”
There are many good points and ideas that can be drawn from this story, and I will leave you to think through this for yourself.
Box 1 vs Box 2
The other thought, and comment people sometimes bring up when I present the 7 areas of life concept:
Some stuff fits in multiple areas. Yeah it really does. Issues with your family will affect your physical, in the same way wins in your production, job, or career have been affected by your social & communities, family, and other areas.
Stressing over what box a *win* fits in is not nearly as important as counting the win, celebrating, and being thankful in this process.
Next
The plan is to write on the different areas, yet who knows, it could be more along the lines of this post.
the mind
In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.
~Michael Korda
fear and greed
If necessity is the mother of invention, discontent is the father of progress.
~ David Rockerfeller
