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I found a key today on the sidewalk.
Oddly, my first thought wasn’t “Oh, the poor owner is gonna be miffed when s/he realizes this is missing!”
My first thought was “Well, what d’ya know. Who’da thought I’d find a key today.”
Kid you not. It might sound a bit hokey.
But I’ve been sifting my thoughts for a few months now about a certain decision and while the objective of the decision is sound, the way I’ve approached fulfilling the goal is not.
And of late I’ve been thinking much about the willingness and flexibility and spontaneity we’re sometimes invited to express to reshape our view of how to fulfil a goal.
Seeing that key today, I did what was practical for the owner: I jaunted back home, found a sandwich baggie, attached a note and pinned it to a nearby tree. Hopefully the owner will retrace his/her steps and find the item.
But more than this, I pondered the freedom that comes from realizing a shift in approach doesn’t have to mean at all a giving up of the goal.
If you have to get to a certain place, there’s gobs of ways to get there.
But we all know stuff happens that often redirects your coarse.
Take a look at anyone on flights last week and how many of them had to be rerouted or stalled due to poor flying conditions.
That’s more of an obvious redirecting.
A maybe more direct example is when you feel you’ve been beating your head against a wall and there’s little movement–you think–toward the achievement of your goal.
Some will say ‘change your goal.’
But that may not be the need at all.
Instead, for me at least, I’m seeing the rethinking of ‘how to get there’ may be the only thing necessary.
Permission to rethink your strategy may just very well be the unexpected key you didn’t think you’d find that afternoon.
Day to day, especially of late, with so many things we’ve counted on as constants shifting, I find great comfort and peace in realizing that it’s not only okay but oftentimes vital to rethink your strategy, reshape your roadmap if necessary, and open yourself up to alternative means to obtain your goal.
Sure, perhaps the goal itself needs to be rethought too. And that will come if it needs to.
For the now, I deeply value knowing that permission to pause and regroup is a key in and of itself.
What do you think?
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Maurice. I so hear you. You're so right about having to watch and discern if it's fear-speak or truth-speak 😉 I am more and more aware that sometimes just taking one step forward helps make that clarification more clear. Thanks for offerin your thoughts. Where do you blog? Would value reading there….I need to set up a comment system that leaves the commenter's blog addy. Stay tuned.:) Thanks too for your compliments on the progression of the blog. A work in progress :).
Harry….wheeee! a train ride. I love those. Travel A L W A Y S helps me think. Something very preciously metaphoric about physical movement and thoughts movement. Here's to you resolving what you feel you need to. 🙂
Great post again Tresha! I'm going to 'pause and regroup' this Wednesday on a one-day-city-trip out of the country. 🙂 6+ hours on a train will give me some time for rethinking strategy and roadmaps don't you think? 🙂
Thanks for your wonderful blog, Harry
@Maurice I think fear being the reason of rethinking depends on the reason of the need to rethink itself. Though I agree that in some situations one may not see that fear is the actual reason for someone to seek change in rethinking.
Maurice. I so hear you. You're so right about having to watch and discern if it's fear-speak or truth-speak 😉 I am more and more aware that sometimes just taking one step forward helps make that clarification more clear. Thanks for offerin your thoughts. Where do you blog? Would value reading there….I need to set up a comment system that leaves the commenter's blog addy. Stay tuned.:) Thanks too for your compliments on the progression of the blog. A work in progress :).
Harry….wheeee! a train ride. I love those. Travel A L W A Y S helps me think. Something very preciously metaphoric about physical movement and thoughts movement. Here's to you resolving what you feel you need to. 🙂
Great post again Tresha! I'm going to 'pause and regroup' this Wednesday on a one-day-city-trip out of the country. 🙂 6+ hours on a train will give me some time for rethinking strategy and roadmaps don't you think? 🙂
Thanks for your wonderful blog, Harry
@Maurice I think fear being the reason of rethinking depends on the reason of the need to rethink itself. Though I agree that in some situations one may not see that fear is the actual reason for someone to seek change in rethinking.
Great article Tre….Totally agree. However, I think it's important to be careful that in redirecting, we're not actually avoiding “something” that is blocking our progress–and not realizing that's what's going on. Sometimes, I find that “something” is fear.
Fear is a funny thing. Comes up in many different ways. The brighter and more insightful we are, the sneakier that bastard can be. In fact, the brighter we are, the better we are at mentally twisting and turning in a manner that is soooo believable, no one would doubt our reasoning. Except, if we're clear enough and genuinely open enough to ourselves, we can look back and view our history. Do we engage in procrastination, mental gyrations, massive intellectualization—basically avoiding what must occur in order for us to accomplish our goals? Fear is a nasty thing. Many colors. Many shapes.
All this said however, on the whole, course redirection can be a very wise and healthy thing to do; even mandated at times. Sometimes we can get so hooked and attached to our goals in such a manner, that we lose site of the proverbial tree's for the forest (or did I reverse that: is it forest for the tree's?? 🙂 ). Not a good thing. We can at times become so focused that we lose our invaluable perspective and subsequent insights; we can become inflexible. We can lose our balance.
Few of us are free of our minds and therefore to a greater and/or lesser degree, our minds (like it or not) rule us. Thoughts are powerful, and most definitely impact our choices and our behaviors. Our beliefs and perceptions are where the source of our grief–or pleasure–arises from. Asking ourselves such questions as “what's the worse thing that will/would happen,” or when we feel a certain emotion, or an uncomfortable sensation in our body ask ourselves “what am I thinking,” or when we become aware of our self-talk, we could pause and ask ourselves “if this were really true, what would that mean?”
Nice post. I also like how your blog is developing. Nice social networking connections too. Keep up the great work, and have a joyful day! 🙂