Hello hello everyone. I’m back again with another message relating to one of my greatest lessons learned, ever. I hope things are exceptional in your world. I’ve been battling a lot of the flu lately and at present don’t feel so well. This will pass, and I’m looking forward to the time that it does. I am having trouble figuring out whether my constant flus are a sign telling me to slow down, or if they are just another challenge in my path. I would suggest they are a little of both! Today’s message is one of my favourites that I will share with you throughout my 3-month collection, as writing it a couple of weeks ago was really a discovery for me. A great discovery, which often happens for me when I write to you all. I would again suggest printing this off, as it may be a little long-winded for workplace reading. As always, questions and thoughts are welcomed and encouraged. Have a great week!
Open Yourself to Life
I have a very specific thought in relation to my message title of today. The thought was given to me by a friend of mine quite a while ago, actually it was given to me on November 25th, 1998. I remember it very well. Here it is:
“The determinant of my growth is the degree to which I’m willing to be truly open.”
I remember vividly reading that line, and pondering it for a while. I have since repeated it many, many times and have consistently made the effort to keep it near the top of my consciousness. Here is what it means to me.
I have learned, throughout my 25-plus years here, that life is pretty amazing. It offers experiences everyday, some of which you work very hard for, some of which fall right at your feet, some you love, others you don’t, some are “challenges,” some are “opportunities,” but I feel they all have a purpose or reason. I have learned that life, everyday life, is pretty exceptional if you open yourself to it.
We have all heard, or perhaps even talked about, stopping to smell the roses or watching the sun rise. Essentially we are saying take notice of life, or “open yourself to life.” And I have learned that everyday is amazing when you take those steps, and make the effort to open your doors.
I really look at the opening process as two-sided: the receiving and the sending. By that I mean on one side there is openness in relation to what others are sending you, or that which you are receiving. And on the other side there is the sharing or sending from you to others.
When I first heard the “determinant” thought from my friend I seemed to default to thinking about my openness towards others, and their perspectives. So I focused much of my energy on opening myself to differing points of view regarding anything and everything that crossed my path in the run of a day. I do believe that there is a reason or purpose behind every experience, and I also feel that they are reasons for people’s behaviour. The reason or purpose may not always be obvious, in fact many times it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean a purpose isn’t present or having influence. I find that keeping that thought in mind helps when attempting to open myself to other’s behaviour, whether it is someone I interact with consistently or an event that is happening on the other side of the world. I make the effort to open my mind, eliminate judgment of the situation, and attempt to understand what is happening and why.
I am a big fan of having more brains than mine working in a similar direction, most specifically in business strategy development. I have begun to look at life much the same. And I have found that by opening yourself to other perspectives, your own brain can provide you with many more thoughts and points of view. It has allowed me to think about the effects of my actions on others with a more well-rounded approach. Granted, I will inevitably have my screw-ups, but by making the effort to open myself I feel my success in having other people “receive” my gifts has been dramatically increased.
That leads me to the other component of “opening” that I want to discuss, “sending,” or giving. Giving has become one of the major elements of my life. It has begun to consume me, in a loving fashion, and my 25 years have shown me that there is no greater experience we can hope to have while living this life. However when I first encountered the “determinant” thought I didn’t immediately associate it with my “giving,” but instead more my “receiving.” What I mean is that I defaulted to thinking about opening in relation to my “receiving” other people’s thoughts, feelings and actions. At first I didn’t consciously think about the openness component of my “giving,” of my sharing my thoughts, feelings and actions with others. So when I say that I am referring to the effort associated with opening, I am referring to the “receiving” as the openness on the “receiving” end definitely took much more effort for me.
I have explained that I feel there are reasons for everything, and I feel this is a great example of that. Why did I think about the receiving as opposed to the giving component first when presented with the “determinant” thought?
I feel the answer lies in my personality and my experiences to that point in my life. I can look most specifically at my parents, and the environments I was raised in, and say that they formed the foundation for my openness to giving. My experiences have lead me to view giving myself as something natural, and thus I didn’t view it as effort. I have learned that it is an extremely rewarding experience, and this was a lesson that I feel was subliminally reinforced consistently throughout my upbringing.
After some thought, it did occur to me that openness does indeed have another side, one that is the opposite of the “receiving,” of course it’s the “sending/giving.” I have been extremely open throughout my past 28 months with respect to my series and my thoughts and feelings as a cancer patient. I made that commitment to share my experience very early, and I made the best effort to keep it always. After some thinking, it has become obvious to me why it was so natural for me to make that commitment. Just as it seems natural when I review my present life direction, I am a product of my environment. And I would argue that we all are, and at this stage in my life I do favour the nurture side in the nature vs. nurture debate.
While I do feel I have been very open with you, and the many people I have interacted with throughout my Series, I do consider myself a private person. I do value my privacy very much, and there are parts of my thoughts and feelings that I haven’t shared with you all, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t and don’t share them. I just pick my places, and that is where I go with my gut, and I decide what works for me, where my comfort levels are, and I then act accordingly. I have been fairly forthcoming and very open when asked specific questions, which I still invite you to ask, but somethings I don’t automatically share with you all. The list isn’t long, but there is a list. And I don’t feel that is unusual, as I’m sure we all share our thoughts and feelings in different ways and in different situations with different people.
I can say with great confidence that opening yourself to life, on both the sending and receiving fronts, will help you to realize just how amazing life, and each and every day of it, is.
Life is pretty amazing when you are open to it.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
