Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

May 17, 2007

On Connecting: Friends, Ideas, and Words

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 7:12 am

I've been thinking . . .

It seems like everyone, it’s not, but it seems so. People tell me I’m a connector. That’s a good thing. Some folks offer that observation with some awe.

I see the outcomes they see that happen because of me. For them, that’s the end. For me that’s a point on a continuous timeline. I see the before and the after. I know the future of where such things go. It’s a curious thing that has been with me all of my life.

It’s the same with the people.
It’s the same with the ideas.
It’s the same with the words.

When I meet new people, unique and intriguing — as they all are. My mind finds their mind; my heart finds their heart; my hand finds their hand. We become friends. It transcends understanding because of the unconditional part. A contract is made that true friends carry tacitly.

Maybe that’s why, even now, I don’t understand, the concept of “best friend.” I don’t have a best sentence, though I’ve written many musical, meaninful ones. How could I choose one as the “best”? It would seem even more wrong to do so with people. People are so valuable, each alone. No comparison to be made there.

As with words and ideas. I find people with whom my friends make grand ideas, laughter, music, and color. I’m not sure how I know they will. Maybe it’s the size of their hearts, maybe it’s their hearts and brains working together. Either way, they sure enough do. They find each other and become living art. I watch. They smile. They talk. They become part of each other’s life.

I opened a door. They walked through. To get the credit for that is like getting the credit for making a flower bloom.

Friends, ideas, and words — the answer is always to let them be, let them go. Enjoy what they do.

Like these words, my friends stand on their own. They are not me, except for that part they will always take along.

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19 Comments to “On Connecting: Friends, Ideas, and Words”

  1. May 17th, 2007 at 7:44 am
    Jesse Petersen said

    What you need to get the credit for is opening the door in the first place. How many people nowadays don’t know their neighbors, let alone what they do for a living or where they are from originally?

  2. May 17th, 2007 at 7:52 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jesse!
    Leave it to you for finding that. :)

  3. May 17th, 2007 at 9:17 am
    Steve Olson said

    Thanks for opening the door.

  4. May 17th, 2007 at 9:18 am
    ME Strauss said

    Thanks for coming by to be there when I did. :)

  5. May 17th, 2007 at 9:42 am
    Dawud Miracle said

    The beautiful thing I see about us is that we’re just beginning to dance.

  6. May 17th, 2007 at 10:36 am
    Karin H. said

    Liz,

    Amen

  7. May 17th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Karin,
    Amen.

    Dawud, I do so like dancing. :)

  8. May 17th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
    GP said

    Life’s a dance you learn as you go…. I keep being returned to that :)

    GP in Montana

  9. May 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
    Vernon Lun said

    I’ve been thinking too.

    I’ve pondered the very same things ever since I met you Liz. There’s a magic in this community that’s hard to describe. Here are my thoughts as to why you have been able to make it so special.

    You stepped off the podium. You learnt to step out of the way to let it bloom. In your words, you made space for the community. There is no thinking out the box, because there is no box, no ceiling, no preconceived ideas or expectations. Just letting it be.

    Generosity. You never finish a conversation, prefering to let others to take it beyond where you left it. Preferring to be sow than to harvest.

    And in the end, they come, because they want to come. Because each interaction, each connection, brings learning, energy, inspiration and the promise of more tomorrow.

  10. May 18th, 2007 at 7:40 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi GP!
    I’ll be dancing in Montana one day — watching you and my friend, NE, riding. :)

  11. May 18th, 2007 at 7:46 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Vernon,
    Thank you. I heard every word you said . . . the feelings behind the words are mutual and deep.

    I need to get well — something that’s proving easier to say than do — so that I can give everyone reasons to want to come again. :)

  12. May 18th, 2007 at 9:09 am
    Vernon Lun said

    I finally figured it out. Come see who is Liz? at http://www.theideadude.com/2007/05/who-is-liz.html

  13. May 18th, 2007 at 10:33 am
    Dawud Miracle said

    As do I. Thanks for being my partner.

  14. May 18th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Thank you, Vernon, for answering that question. I’ve been wondering for years. :)

  15. May 18th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Dawud,
    Only one more in a million things to love about you! One two three, one two three . . . Yes, of course, I picked a waltz on purpose. :)

  16. May 19th, 2007 at 10:19 am
    Dawud Miracle said

    Funny, when I was writing about dancing yesterday I was thinking waltz. Isn’t the polka 1-2-3 also…

  17. May 19th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Dawud,
    A polka with you would be more than fun . . . I think it’s 6/8, but I’m not sure.

  18. May 21st, 2007 at 10:31 pm
    Dawud Miracle said

    Is it? I can’t remember. I learned to polka a long time ago.

  19. May 21st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Heck if I know for sure. I’m just thinking it’s too fast for a waltz. :)

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