Grateful, Graciousness, Perspective
Three words that pack a punch. The past weeks and months, for the team I am honored to work with, myself, and practically everyone I know, life is really taking a toll. Physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically. This is the understatement of the year.
Living through this slow-motion apocalypse is beyond what most can handle. There is a rash of new commercials, work studies, warnings about mental health awareness in the communication streams of late. No wonder. Stress, health, finance, emergencies, and any unplanned or disturbing events people might be experiencing on top of the pandemic, end of democracy, and the collapse of our economy, is likely to hike the suicide rates and degradation of the collective mental health.
Zen is not new. It’s ancient. It was just new to me during the teenage years when I was searching to fit in. Zen raised my awareness. Decades ago, there was a book written about Zen and Business. For the life of me, I cannot remember the exact title, author, or time frame. I do remember it was my first foray into calming the mind. Not really a Buddhist, but many of the ideals of Zen resonated with my internal compass. I practice meditation and try never to let material things grab hold of my soul. The lessons taken from Zen have, for over 50 years, helped me to survive the sociopath-y of Corporate America.
Watching the news and reading some posts from friends today, for some unknown reason, prompted this damaged brain to remember three things that are so important:
Gratitude — Have you noticed that those who have nothing are the first to give something? They are an excellent example of living a life of gratitude. The act of kindness they perform and received by those in need, continue to cultivate and perpetuate a culture of gratitude.
Graciousness — John Lewis died yesterday. This man is an example of the graciousness we should all set our sights to achieve. Being gracious is something that most folks think they do, but often falls short of the mark. There are certain people you meet that just exude graciousness. Mr. Lewis was one of those people. I so admire people for which this comes naturally.
Perspective — This is the key. Incredibly important. This is the area, in my opinion, where behavioral response begins. The judgement. The bias. The anger. All these emotional triggers that shape our behavior can often be calmed by simply changing our perspective.
Scrolling through social media connections, someone who I consider to be a great example of these three gifts, wrote she had enough. Enough with the name-calling and hate-filled conversations. Enough of anything negative. Hear! Hear!
She put her finger on how everyone is probably feeling. Her one action spurred me to write this article. She is one person, who by standing up, spurred another person to act.
So where am I going with this? Each of us can control only our own behavior. We can start to move the needle when we speak out. We can start to regain hope when we no longer sit on the side lines. Get active with other like-minded people. If you are not a joiner, which I completely understand, write an article. Put out signs with your behaviors and deeds, you are not doing this negative thing anymore.
I am grateful for whatever triggered my brain to revitalize these thoughts, temporarily lost but important. I am grateful for my friend’s post, causing action. I am in total agreement with her resolution: She’s only going to post pictures of animals and happy things.
Right on!
