Penciling in Possibilities

No matter where we start in the year, we encounter beginnings and endings, endings and beginnings.  For instance, we are:

• Ending the school year and beginning the summer season;
• Moving from one phase of the pandemic and starting another; and
  
• Finishing one project or assignment and being introduced to another project and team.

It is this latter situation that is happening for me at work: having completed one product redesign and launching another multi-month project with a new set of coworkers.

I guess that is why I am thinking of pencils right now!

Do you enjoy new beginnings?

I remember as a child the magic of a new pencil: unsharpened and eraser unused.  The possibilities of that new pencil!  How long would it stay sharp?  Would the eraser last until the pencil was too short to use? What would be written or drawn with this pencil.... compared to the last one? And finally, letting go of that trusted companion and welcoming another new pencil into my life.

 

As I contemplate pencils and new assignments, I wonder if I face relationships and dialogue the same way?

• How will I sharpen my skills in order to create?
• When will I need to erase missteps and harsh words?
• Will the relationships last beyond this moment?

Beginnings and endings are interconnected: beginning the path toward discovery in order to be discovered.

When do you seek the Light-in-the-Darkness?

Projects -- and sometimes, people -- are like being in the dark.  We can't always see the outcome until we take that first step.  Moments of unseeing and unawareness require us to seek light and understanding.  It asks that we become curious, letting go, and moving forward.

The straight lines that we draw with that pencil -- and with our understanding of others -- sometimes need to bend, making shapes both simple and complex.

Can you envision the balance between
Simplicity and Complexity?

Beginning with a new team, starting a new relationship, and opening a dialogue require that we balance our individual needs with those of the Other.  I must end the myth that "I have all the answers" and "I am right."  We are asked to listen to possibilities, and begin to understand the unity common to each of us: we are human, trying our best to survive.

 

The light comes from walking together through the darkness of misunderstanding, and beginning to trust that each of us brings beauty and truth to our Created Future.

May we be willing to sharpen our dialogue skills by listening.  May we be willing to erase the judgments and conclusions we have made of others.  May we draw on the possibilities that will bring light to our darkened world.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)