Tag: empathy

Lows and highs

Fabrizio1 Comment

There is no growth without crisis, and you cannot sow seeds without breaking the ground first.

Every low, no matter how desperate it might look, can be followed by the highest high you have ever experienced. No guarantee on the timing, but if you stay present, if you learn, if you develop, if you continue on the path you have chosen, if you open up, if you extend a hand, if you respect and appreciate, eventually the moment will come.

And when that will happen, you’ll have it confirmed that where you were is more important than where you are now. It is the journey that makes the destination, not the other way around.

Change starts within

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Change is inevitable, constant, and necessary.

And when you think about being an agent of change, there is one simple thing that is worth remembering: start with yourself.

Changing yourself is possible, it is under your control, and chances are that by changing yourself you are also going to change the people and the world around you.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

Rumi

Conversations that connect

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When you walk into a difficult conversation, check expectations, preconceptions, narratives at the door. You will have done 90% of the job.

That does not mean you are supposed to go unprepared. It just means leaving out the natural tendency to focus on things that reinforce negative ideas, and making an intentional effort to notice something positive that might be said, done, experienced.

It’s how you bring your better self into the moment. It’s how you unlock deep listening, sincere curiosity, empathic sharing. It’s how you build the connection that is necessary to talk about serious stuff.

It’s how you move forward.

Not like all others

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Today is not a post like all others.

Because today I was given an award, and an unusual amount of people have turned their attention to my blog.

For a moment there I panicked. What am I going to write about? What can I say that is more meaningful than what I usually say? How can I make sure that I make no mistakes, that I find perfect words, that I give people what they want to read? How bad would it be to skip just one day?

And despite those thoughts still being there, I am happy I did not let them hold me back. I am happy I did not hide. Having a practice you can fall back on is comforting. It helps you fight resistance.

Tomorrow I will still be writing. That’s all that matters.

As little as possible

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We worry about outcomes, about others, about our thoughts, about others’ thoughts. About projects and plans. About the world, the media, and the result of elections thousands of kilometres away. About feelings, about effects. About the presentation we are giving tomorrow. About the email we are about to send. About the future of our kids and of humanity in general. About the pandemic. About our favourite team. About the next job. About not having a job.

We worry about this and much more. And we gradually wear off.

Make worry last as little as possible.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows. It empties today of its strength.

Corrie Ten Boom