Who Cares - What Matters
The Conversation was way underway before I got there that morning.
I had already come in late to what THEY were discussing; I had already UNDERheard, maybe too much to piece everything together, but it had something to do with what was her favorite item on the menu.
They continued to smile, I presume back and forth. I could only see her as she brought his breakfast and more coffee. The back of his head nodded often and that seemed to be pretty much IT. . .
Until….
I’m Sorry.
I was wrong.
Forgive me.
Give me another Chance.
Is there anything I can do to make it better?
I love you.
Not bad words at anytime, are they?
They may be classic LAST WORDS…but that’s the problem, isn’t it?
We really don’t know the actual Last Words you we might speak to Someone else.
WOULD IT REALLY CHANGE ANYTHING IF WE DID–If we actually knew that our words, any one we may even be thinking right now, might be the last ones we either spoke, or that another might hear?
Of course we say, “A B S O L U T E L Y,” but Hypothesizing or even Knowing, is not really
DOING, is it?
But…but does that mean we shouldn’t try?
I complimented a hostess at McDonald’s yesterday. I told her that she has a real gift in dealing with people and how much I appreciated her not just taking care of me, but being most excellent at what she does. I went on to tell her that her cheery outlook made my morning brighter and because of her enthusiasm I was absolutely going to make sure that I would do the same with the people I was going to meet today.
She smiled and thanked me for being so nice. And then proved it by giving me three coupons, one for what I had just ordered and two more for future orders!
No big deal, huh? But, but, what if it were the last thing she ever did? Wonder if it was the literal last thing that someone ever did for me?
What if the last word you spoke before reading this was YOUR LAST? Satisfied? Room for improvement?
I’m sorry.
I was wrong.
Forgive me.
Give me another chance.
Is there anything I can do to make it better?
I love you.
Twenty-years ago.
A blink of the eye, huh?
Well, then again, the eye doesn’t blink quite the same way as it did some twenty-years ago. . . .
The eye rarely meets another eye, at least for any real significant moments or for any length of time.
It’s ALL Changed, hasn’t it?
Don’t believe me?
WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW AT THIS VERY MOMENT?
ON WHAT DEVICE ARE YOU ACTUALLY READING?
Hmmmmm…Living Proof, huh?
Just like the video, of which you might not have even watched the entire clip, makes a powerful point:
WE ARE JUST TOO FOCUSED ON WHAT NEEDS NOT OUR ENTIRE FOCUS–Almost every waking moment.
Can you do it?
Can you go a morning? An afternoon? Can you go out and sit through an entire meal, desert, a whole cup of coffee without texting or emailing or checking Face Book, Tweeting?
Again, what are you doing right now at this very moment–R E A D I N G–from what, where, how?
Here’s the deal…this is an emptied can of Shaving Cream that’s never going to be put back into the can from which it’s been drained.
So? Is that it? Are we just to deal with it? What can change, alter, make the best of it?
C O M P A S S I O N
Compassionate listening. Compassionate presence makes you LOOK UP more quickly, more sincerely, most assuredly than your next Text.
C O M P A S S I O N
It’s the Universal, most full proof, least evasive, most effective, non-pharmaicutical, non-addictive, all inclusive way of COMMUNICATING still known…just not always or in ALL WAYS practiced and even more sadly EXPERIENCED; that’s the Bad News.
GOOD NEWS?
YOU. . .you have the power to Change THAT!
How?
LOOK UP!
Pssssst: Don’t be surprised if you meet the eyes of SOMEONE who’s done the exact same thing as you have at the exact same time.
REPEAT OFTEN!
Sometimes, down is really up!
Interesting, huh?
Actually, it’s much more than THAT…much, much more than just interesting.
Anyone can play around with words.
Anyone can make words say or work for them in any particular way seen fit.
Anyone can say what they mean but often not mean what they say.
S E M A N T I C S. . . .
Hmmmmmm…THE STUDY OF MEANING IN LANGUAGE. IT CAN BE APPLIED TO ENTIRE TEXTS OR TO SINGLE WORDS….
or just a fancy way to say we can make words say what we want them to whether or not you take them that way or not. . .
or just a fancy way to say, “I DIDN’T MEAN THAT–YOU TOOK IT THE WRONG WAY!”
Sometimes, down is really up.
When you JUST hear with your ears. . .
When you Just hear with your eyes. . .
You just don’t hear everything that’s being said or meant; THAT just doesn’t make for a LOST GENERATION…it just makes for plain out being L O S T.
Psssst: Maybe the new DOWN actually is UP?
Try Listening with your heart!
If you speak from THAT PLACE, Semantics go out the door that is suddenly Hinge-LESS and Meaning is never MIS-understood.
You choose!
Sometimes Down is really UP. . . .
Shhhhhhh….
Huh? What’s that?
L I S T E N
More often than the day comes after the night we LISTEN to REPLY!
We have excuses and opinions on “the matter,” but it still is a true statement that becomes more and more true with each passing conversation.
LISTENING for REPLYING sake–not for understanding, not for sympathy, not for empathy, not for compassion, and not for love–for Replying sake.
Even now as you’ve seen the short video and are reading these few fleeting words, good or bad, you’re formulating a response and defend it by thinking, “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.”
Shhhhhhh. . .LISTEN.
It’s amazing what you’ll hear being said and intimated when your ears are open–fully–and your mouth is closed except for an occasional, “Hmmmm,” “Uhhh-huh,” “Really? Can you tell me more about that,” and actually MEAN IT!
It’s not about The Nail…Especially if Someone Else needs it not be.
Now, That’s Communication!
Dare to Hear what’s NOT being Said…even if it’s NOT the way you would actually say it or preferred it to be said to you.
It’s amazing just what will be communicated–both ways–on a road that was never even fully ONE WAY let alone a two or four-laner.
Hear it OUT!
When you Speak with your Ears, you might have Shouted the Loudest and Heard the most. . . .
What was the worst job you ever had?
Is it your current one? Was it the very first job you had while in school, or just out of school?
Who was the worst Boss or Supervisor you’ve ever had?
Was your worst job connected in any way to the worst Boss?
Can you for a few moments, just pull out that Mirror you look into…you know, the one that doesn’t hang in your bathroom or on the back of the door or maybe on the wall in front of the door you walk out of every day?
No, pull out the mirror that doesn’t exist anywhere else, in any place in your home, except in your mind. It’s that mirror that you see yourself in honest-to-God-full-living-vivid-color which never distorts or dims your truest self.
The only thing constant is Change, isn’t it?
8:54 isn’t a very long time to change is it?
Neither is a Second or a Trillion years…
If the Change is really a Change that doesn’t jingle, in your pocket, a tin can or, or even your Soul!
No matter how long Change takes, the Eight plus minutes to watch Sharon Wright’s amazing film, Change For A Dollar, or a lifetime or a Million Years, it really means nothing, if Change doesn’t happen in you.
When I contacted Sharon last week to ask her if I could use/promote her film, she was gracious in permitting the honor of possibly sharing SOMEthing that could not only cause Change, but ripple it out so that it could do it many times over–if you too would SHARE!
I knew after seeing this over a couple of years ago that I would not only be changed by it, but also have the responsibility of sharing it so that YOU may be changed, so that others, too might be
changed. . . .
I just didn’t want you to receive it–see it–experience it–I wanted you to S H A R E it as I have with you.
The only thing constant is change. . .when it doesn’t jingle in your pocket or in a tin can.
You’ll know it’s real, authentic, long lasting…uhh, yeah, even the Life-CHANGing Kind when it rattles around in your Soul like it can’t in any other way, in any other place.
Let that Jangle around in your Soul until it becomes the most glorious symphony the World begs to hear, Maestro.
Tap that Baton.
Start Directing.
Bring IT.
The Music of CHANGE never really Ends…we just stop Hearing IT!
A Simple game, huh?
But why, why is it we take the Simple and make it so complicated?
To make it more important? For it to be taken seriously? To take it more seriously?
Would it make the Checkers Plan inconceivable?
The plan can be implemented in any area of your life, especially the most troublesome ones.
Hit the Rewind button and go back with me for a little bit. When, exactly, was the the last time you actually played a spirited game of Checkers?
Yesterday or yesteryear?
Hard to believe isn’t it?
GREATNESS meets us face to face and we Recognized it N O T more times than we actually ever do!
In fact, by now you actually know The Story:
A man sat a metro station in Washington, DC and started playing the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. No one actually stopped. A few slowed their paces; some children paused and had to be pulled away by their parents but no one really stopped, lingered, L I S T E N E D.
Seriously. . .Whatever it is that causes you to break out, to Flash Mob in Song, may it happen unexpectedly and repeatedly and more, May you BE the Cause of IT to happen Unexpectedly and Repeatedly (For) to Others.
Discover your very best is so much more than a Season or an event, or an occurrence–a Happening!