Our Challenge: Looking for Good

Do you think that we are wired to find fault in others or to be critical of situations where we are not in control?  Maybe it’s just our human nature to constantly improve our environment:  we need to see what is wrong in order to fix or improve.  What do you think?  It does seem that our world is hypersensitive or overcritical right now.  I wonder why?

Recently, I came across a quote attributed to Joan Chittister:

“Hope is not a matter of waiting for things outside of us to get better.  It is about getting better inside about what is going on outside.”

This shift from outward judgment to inward reflection might be important as we move forward in our lives together.

What is your outward and inward focus?
(Photo credit:  Tiny Buddha)

Maybe it’s a matter of both reflecting backward and hoping forward that allows us to get beyond the barriers that limit us from moving beyond our self-constraints.  It’s like being in a moving vehicle:  looking forward, towards the destination… while at the same time looking in the rear view mirror, seeing where we have been… and what we may have missed.

Using another illustration or image: the waves behind a ship mark the disturbance created when the ship moves forward.  I find it interesting that this disturbance is called a “wake”!

Looking back at the wake, what did you miss?
(Photo:  Looking Beyond Barriers - Larry Gardepie)

As we move forward, it is important that we awaken ourselves to the disturbances created in our relationships.  Noticing any disruption, upheaval, and violence allows us to wonder what happened and how we might move forward in a better way.

Once we notice the “wake” we have created, we have a choice on how best to maneuver forward.

Can you see beauty beyond the darkness?
(Photo: Sunset at Sea - Larry Gardepie)

We have an issue or obstacle, though: moving away from our hypersensitive and critical natures. Similar to the Pay It Forward movement a few years ago, maybe we can encourage one another with a “Looking for Good” Challenge.   That is, how might we:

• Discover the goodness in others rather than their faults?
• Highlight the positive instead of the negative?
• Expect and celebrate successes over failures?

Maybe our challenge is to catch people in sacred moments of Grace and Goodness: the disturbances of the past propel us towards ways to understand and anticipate holiness and wholeness.  Isn’t it time to want, ask, and expect more in our time together on this planet?

What do you think:

• Is it possible to look for goodness? 
• Will you join me during November, our Thanksgiving month, to accept this challenge… to look for goodness in yourself and others?

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

 

A Heart That Listens

Have you heard the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?  Recently, I read  that this saying first appeared in Greek in the 3rd century BC.  The saying did not surface in English in its current form until the 19th century.  There were similar versions as people over the centuries attempted to explain the subjective nature of what we like or don't like.

I wonder:  does Beauty Exist... whether we see it or not... and we have the personal choice to experience it or not?

Are we able to see beauty?
(Photo credit:  Michael Tompkins)

In other words, our seeing and accepting Beauty does not negate its existence.  Rather, our personal and individual choices filter the world:  we accept only a portion of the beauty that exists; there is so much more than what we hold in our limited and time-focused minds.

If this is true about Beauty, is it the same for Truth and Kindness and Goodness?  They exist, but our minds pass over what we do not understand.  Our finite lives experience what we are able to in that Moment of Choice.

Does beauty exist if we don't see it?
(Photo: Sunset at Sea, Larry Gardepie)

Dialogue is one tool that allows us to ask questions, to seek understanding, and to touch briefly another person's world... a world of Truth and Beauty that already existed even before our questions and understanding.  The passing over and resurrecting The Choice to see beauty invites us into opportunities to reconnect with family and friends.  The ability to Be Kind and Listen is the salve that heals our blindness to the Beauty, Truth, and Goodness that already existed in those around us.

When can your kindness heal the hearts of others?
(Quote attributed to:  F. Scott Fitzgerald)

May these Holy Days of Passover, Ramadan and Easter open our minds and eyes to the Holy One that exists in you and your families.

Blessings as faith stories are remembered and dialogue enkindles what is important. 
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)