Sense and Sensivity

Do I share this suggestion -- or don't I?  Am I breaking confidences when talking about a situation that involves me and others?  I am not sure how to handle this -- I need advice.  Which is the best path to take and still maintain relationships with others?

Do any of these questions or thoughts sound familiar?  This whole week has been filled with these moments! 

Like Jane Austen's book, Sense and Sensibility, where people learned to balance common sense and emotionality, we are invited to be sensitive.

When have you been involved in a fragile situation?
(Photo credit:  The Uplifting Science of
How Dandelion Seeds Stay Aloft, Nova)

From the moment we are born, we need the love and comfort of a core group of people.  This social unit can take many shapes and sizes.  No matter how it looks, we tend to grasp at places of safety that allow us to grow and nurture.

In this fractured world, many people are seeking love, comfort, and safety.  What happens when we deny others these nurturing components of what it means to be human?  What happens when we are denied one of these?

Where do you grasp for comfort and safety?
(Photo credit:  Complete Guide on
Your Baby's Hands, FirstCry Parenting)

Social, moral and spiritual threads weave into what it means to be human.  What would it be like if we encouraged love, provided care and comfort, and created safe environments when we connect with others over our human similarities and gently discuss our differences?

An expression that I heard in the 1980s might apply here, loosely adapted:  we are part of  a seamless garment of life -- we cannot warm others without respecting every aspect of that garment.  You are important to me!

What do we do with the wisdom we have gained?
(Photo credit:  What are Some of the Best
Qualities of Elderly People?, Slate)

Questions for us to consider:

• Do we ask questions when someone's idea or suggestion doesn't make sense?
• Have we approached a situation with curiosity and wonder?
• Can we create opportunities to discover another way of thinking or being?
  

Life is full of moments when we can balance common sense, sensibility (emotion intelligence), and sensitivity.

Let's seek out these moments this week!  Let's strengthen the social fabric that is seamless with possibilities.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Seek and Build Together

What do E-G-B-D-F, F-A-C-E, and Do-Re-Mi have in common?  As I was growing up, I remember learning the music scales of Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine and FACE, but when Sound of Music introduced us to Do-Re-Mi, I was totally lost!  I never understood how the music scale mnemonics and this catchy tune worked together.

In fact, after all these years of my musical confusion, I still resist reading music and I can't sing a note correctly without standing next to someone who reads music and sings with confidence.  It is as if my childhood music lessons are on separate tracks that never converged.

Are there ideas that never intersect for you?
(Photo:  train tracks outside Santa Barbara, CA,
Larry Gardepie)

This memory came to mind last week while in church.  I was leafing through the worship guide to check which songs I knew.  The song for the Preparation of Gifts was "This is My Song" sung to the Finlandia tune.  I don't recall seeing or hearing this hymn before, so I read through the lyrics and tried to walk myself through the notes (A-G-A-B...).  I noticed that I was becoming frustrated:  I could figure out the notes but I still didn't know what they meant vocally.  When the Cantor stepped up and began practicing some of the songs and responses, I relaxed:  someone would be guiding us through the liturgy;  I didn't have to figure it out myself!

In that moment I was reminded that each of us has gifts and talents which open us to unique possibilities and potential.  We don't all have to be the same.  We don't have to do it alone!

Do you assume that you have to do everything well?
(Photo credit:  Unknown)

When it was time to sing "This is My Song" I was ready:

• I may not understand all of the notes in my life, but I have gifts to offer.
• I may not be confident when new situations arise, but there have been mentors to guide me along the way.
• I may not be strong in all things, but as the song suggests, we must seek and build together.

 

What gifts do you share with the world?
~~ Click on photo credit link to view video and listen to song ~~
(Photo credit:  A Tribute to All Nations, YouTube)

Through confusion, frustration, and feeling inadequate, I am learning humility -- that quality to see myself in perspective and in relationship with others.  Each person has worth and value.  Every neighborhood, city, state, region, and country adds to the whole.  We must get beyond the myths of individualism and nationalism to understand that we need to listen to and accept the diversity that already exists.  Negating others and their truths actually diminishes who we are... individually and collectively.

I would invite you to click on the YouTube link, A Tribute to Nations, and consider the beauty that each country offers... that we offer one another.

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)