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Heroes, Humans, and a Request About this Life I Own

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Lauren Marie, and I had a conversation yesterday. In respect for what LaurenMarie said, and because I have felt the same way, I’ve decided to tell you what I’m thinking, even though I’ve not fully worked it out. It’s my hope you’ll find it useful.

 

I've been thinking . . .

about heroes and humans . . . and the life that I own.

I live to be a hero, but I’m altogether too human.
I could line up in a long, long row the people who would agree with that.

Pendulum learner that I am, I’ve swung from human to hero and back again. No Greek tragic hero has more fatal flaws than I do. — It’s comes with being human to have flaws and imperfections. It’s part of being a hero to admit that you do. If I admit knowing that heroes do that, am I being all too human by saying so?

Thinking too much is one of those imperfect things I do.

The hero in me wants to give myself away, wants to show up and save the world, but like all heroes sometimes I try to live on hope. I give away things of value. Does that teach folks not value them? Is it generous, foolish, or my ego running wild? (Every hero is all too human.) I forget to eat. I don’t sleep. In a strange and sad way, it could be that having my head in the clouds protects me and keeps me safely solitary. No one can hurt me, if I ask nothing in return.

As the stories go, heroes are altruistic folks. Are they all independently wealthy?
I haven’t figured that part out yet.

The human in me needs to care for my friends and family. They so support who I am, and I love them so. Like every human, I have bills and responsibilities. I work to keep my home. It takes human influence to power the hero’s dream. This human has to walk with her feet on the ground. The hero needs the human things to change the world

Heroes think they don’t need things. Humans have trouble asking.

Heroes and humans.
I’m pretty sure that each of us is both.
Still, I can only speak to being me.

Last week, Mike DeWitt said he sees a change coming. He’s genuinely perceptive. I rely on his feedback. I spoke of his comment and other recent experiences to Allan Cox, a gifted author, and he answered with one word, “owning.”

I’ve been thinking of that ever since.
Owning, that’s what the wise man said.

Owning is where the human and the hero meet and become one.

I own my life.
I own who I am and the person I wish to be.
The more of myself I own, the more I can give freely.

I own this request . . . it’s from the human I am to the hero in each of you.
Will send you a relaxed and happy thought to the universe for me and would you pass it on?

I think I could be coming into my own.

Always grateful. Always home.

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Look Around and Enjoy Now

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When Now Is Then

I've been thinking . . .

about the future of the Internet.

I remember when there were only 12 million blogs. Things were a lot quieter then.

It was easy to get around. It was easy to keep up. I could read all of the blog written by all of my friends. I don’t remember blog posts about feeds or declaring feed bankruptcy.

This morning I awoke thinking of how magical it is still. Then my thoughts turned to wondering.

I thought, “Here we are in the 21st century, about to start the best year of our lives. Here we are with a new and exciting way to meet and think with each other, a way that people living right next to us don’t understand yet.”

What will happen when most of the world knows what we enjoy online?
Will they come in huge numbers to have a part of it?
Will the crowds of new people change the way we interact?
Will we find ourselves with new fangled locks on our doors?

What do you think will happen?

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Generosity and Little Boxes with Names

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Putting People in Boxes

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I was thinking about the shopping everyone will be doing today,
and it made me think of Pete Seeger’s song, “little boxes, little boxes all the same.”

Little boxes on a hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky,
little boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same.
—Pete Seeger

Little Boxes with Names

A picture came to me of people who are holiday shopping
Crowds of people vying for gifts, gadgets, and games
They are questing and requesting decorations and prizes
to celebrate by making big and little boxes with names.

How our eyes glaze as we move through the herding hallways
How we don’t see each other as we move through the holidays.

Do we start to think generosity is inside the boxes?
Do we put people inside boxes that have their names?

Gift Box

There’s the people we buy for
and the people who buy for us
There’s the people help us
and the people who get in our way.

It can happen . . .
little boxes, little boxes mentality
It can happen to the kindest soul
in less than a day.

Our feet become transportation
Our eyes become navigation
Our heads and hands are productivity
Lonely hearts overpay.

Yet, smiles don’t come in pretty boxes
Caring touches aren’t delivered second day.
Respect isn’t offered on paper then forgotten
We don’t put corrugated around loving words we say.

Generosity of spirit doesn’t live in little boxes,
little boxes tied with ribbon, little boxes so beautiful,
but in some ways all the same
Generosity of spirit lives in our hearts,
when we see every name tag as a person of wishes and dreams
. . . every person as a person with a name.

How will you be generous today?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Generosity, Gratitude, Wisdom, and Fools

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Wise or Foolish . . . Which am I?

What a fool believes, the wise man has the power to reason away.
—Doobie Brothers

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My dad used to say, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” If time is money, I guess that counts for time too. So when generosity foolish?

Many are the occasions on which people ask, sometimes expect, us to help them. I’m speaking of naked requests from people we don’t know, asked as if we do volunteer work for them. I often wonder at this. I know we’re told it doesn’t hurt to ask. Yet, we’re also told to be generous first. I wonder why they haven’t heard that second part? It sure affects a first impression. Why don’t they see that a person’s time given to them is time that could be spent earning and enjoying family and friends?

Far fewer are the times when special individuals write to ask for help to accomplish a goal. They reach out with gratitude. Yes, the gratitude comes with the request. It’s only natural to respond with generosity. The fairness of this, I understand.

Some folks who call us a friend, love us like they “love” their favorite doctor. They value us while they’re feeling in need or unwell. Later they forget to say “thanks” in the way cured patients forget to pay hospital bills.

Other folks go out of their way to make sure that we know our generosity didn’t go unnoticed. These friends are always here with a smile and a kind word, even when they’re gone.

The fool in me believes that all generosity finds a way back eventually.
The wise person I am knows that could be a foolish view.

This week my son asked for advice. At the end of the call, he said a quiet, “thank you.”

The fool in me was grateful.
Gratitude is wise.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Have You Forgotten What Makes You Magical?

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I've been thinking . . .

about the magical parts of ourselves.

I read once about a truck driver who would drive for hours to sit by a river to reflect on his problems. When they were solved he would drive home again. I solve my problems when I write, when I listen to music, when I talk long walks in my head and wonder what I should be doing next.

But I learn the most about who I really am when I am with people I care about, especially those whom I haven’t seen for a long, long time. In a funny way, it’s like watching grass grow or your own child get taller, you don’t notice changes in yourself until you have large spaces of time in between two points to compare.

When I went to the UK, I looked forward to seeing friends that I hadn’t seen for nearly 5 years. I knew that I would discover, uncover, or trip over something about my life that I hadn’t figured out because I was “too here.”

And it happened just that way.

Being in the company of people who knew me “in the olden days” brought my thoughts back to the person I used to be. They asked questions, and I answered them. It was curious to see which events, which ideas, of 5 years time passing I chose to mention. It was revealing to realize that 5 years ago I might have responded to their stories and updates differently.

I liked the new me.

Yet, tiny things that I valued about who I was 5 years ago started showing up on my radar screen. They were tiny good differences in the way my friends related to and remembered me. These were hopes, dreams, and deep heart things that new friends would have no reason to know.

I suppose it happens that way for most all of us. We’re so busy living; we don’t see how we’ve grown. We don’t see how our growing means we might accidentally leave behind bits of ourselves.

It’s a smile, the kind you get when you hear favorite old music, to meet up with parts of yourself that you didn’t value enough then.

Rainbow of flowers

Dear friends, in whose care we’ve left our well being, hand back to us a piece of our hearts and our history, so that we can make it our own again. They’re a lifelong mirror who can reflect back all the marvelous colors.

They’re a gift because they see what we’ve forgotten — the truly magical things that are part of who we’ve been all along.

Have you forgotten what makes you magical?
The people who love you still know.

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The Most Powerful Force in the Universe

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In Business and in Life

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It’s been said that only two things motivate us — fear and love.

Every cause, every effect, every random act of kindness, every apparent generosity can be traced back to a fear that something will be lost or love that wants to be shared. It seems reasonable and in keeping with humans as I know us.

Through my life, I’ve found other pairs of words to describe this same concept.
In his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey talked about deprivation and abundance. Allan Cox, in his new book, Your Inner CEO, describes the looming threat and the guardian presence. I’ve often spoken of dealing from a point of weakness or a point of strength.

Each pair of words really points to the same thing. We can be motivated by a need to protect ourselves or by a feeling of open participation.

We Get to Pick

Even with our best effort and imaginings, we have no control over many things that happen around us. (Maybe we could, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s quite that evolved.) We have total control over how we respond to all of that input. It’s in that response that our motivation most counts. Here’s what I mean.

Living in Fear, Deprivation, and Weakness

  • When I respond with fear, people sense that I’m holding back. I know it too. I can’t bring all of my potential to a situation. Part of my brain is taken up with strategizing how I’ll respond when something goes wrong. If a friend has offered help, fear makes it easy to believe that friend thinks of me as someone in need. Life is about self-preservation.
  • When I respond from deprivation, I can’t enjoy a success of my own or of that of someone I admire. I’m always looking for what I’m lacking. If a friend gets a promotion, I think that could have been, should have been, never will be me. Life is about whether I get my piece.
  • When I respond from a place of weakness, I look for the slight in the words or the actions of the people around me. I’m protective and defensive, and I often find what I seek. Life is about whether people care about me.

Living in Love, Abundance, and Strength

  • When I respond with love, people sense I’m fully present. By definition, all of my potential is focused on the moment and the people I see. If a friend has offered help, I can answer with gratitude and partnership, believing in the good intentions that fuel the gift. Life is about enjoying the people I’m with and what we’re doing.
  • When I respond from abundance, I can enjoy every success I see, because I know that the universe has plenty for everyone. I can give what I know, because I know more will come back to me. If a friend gets a windfall, I can celebrate, knowing that my turn is still available, and my time will come. Life is about sharing good things with everyone.
  • When I respond from a place of strength, I overlook a slight misstep, and I forgive the signs that we’re all human. I know that most unkind events are merely how I interpret them and not really about me. Life is about understanding people, not them understanding me.

That last sentence of that last point is the key.

When we live in a world of fear, deprivation, and weakness, our world shrinks. We become the center. When we live in a world of love, abundance, and strength, the world expands and our lives revolve around other people.

It’s such a lonely existence to be the center of the universe. It’s an unhappy state to always be protecting things from what we imagine could be. Holding tight to one place means we never move forward.

Peak performance in business and life requires from love, abundance, and strength.

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer . . . — Emmett Fox

Love is the most powerful force in the universe.

How will you use it to change your business and your life?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz to reach your potential.