One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels
I was really struggling with something at work this week.
So it felt good to leave town and clear my head.
Smell and listen to the ocean.
Feel the winter sun on my face.
Enjoy half term family time in beautiful Dorset.
Hiking on precarious cliff tops, beside sun dappled sea, frolicking among ancient ruins at Corfe Castle…
You know what it’s like when you can’t see the wood for the trees?
Two steps forward, two steps back.
It seems arduous. Not simple or clear cut.
You question it: is this meant to be? If it was authentic, or right, it should be effortless.
Shouldn’t it?
But I know this feeling, at other times in my life I’ve felt this – leaving NZ to go to Boston to learn to sing, setting up Incognito Artists, creating Amici forever with Sim, helping Sim find answers for treating autism…
It was all grey, not black and white. Unsure which way to go.
A fork in the road, tough decisions to make.
However…
One step in front of the other and trusting the Universe, and my gut…
and sometimes you’ve just got to choose: chocolate or vanilla.
There will be good reasons for and against!
So I know I’ll get through this too.
It’s just my thinking, not the situation I’m in. If I listen to my gut when I’m calm, not stressed or angry or uptight
the way will then be revealed to me…
Just like hiking on the coastal paths of Dorset, with my family, chilled out, anticipating the twists and turns in the path, sometimes muddy and a chaotic mess, other times clean and pristine, looking ahead to where I wanted to go and appreciating the view in front of me and yet being very present to the beauty around me every step of the way. It’s all about the journey, not just the destination.
(And, as much as you can do as a parent, I was negotiating pre-teens and mediating arguments and offering hugs when ‘stinking thinking’ overcame said offspring – then when it disappeared, as it always does for all of us, and clarity re-appeared, more hugs all round. And then they did it for me when the quality of my thinking went down, vice versa!)
Anyway, we can’t always leave town to get a different perspective to solve a problem. I don’t mean that’s what’s important, I just happened to have a few days half term family fun scheduled. (I love holidays! Although I know my wellbeing is not determined by my circumstances – sun, sand, sea but man, it feels good! But I’m digressing).
What I mean is, I know that when I realised my ‘suffering’ was my thinking and not the situation and I accepted that, and trusted instead, then it would be possible for the solution to pop into my mind once I felt calm and listened to my inner wisdom / God / the Universe … and the way would be revealed to me. Sometimes it helps shake off the distorted thinking by getting out of the office, going to the gym or just going for a walk, even along our own very familiar street, to clear our head and feel calm and grounded… but even if we can’t go for a good healthy walk, when we’re calm, the answers will still come to the problem we face.
‘One cool judgement is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat‘ – Woodrow T. Wilson
Hope you’re having a great week?!
Geoff
