This blog is Chris’ opportunity to share thoughts, observations, ideas, and inspirations as they come, in a more frequent and informal way than the Strengths Ezine.
You can receive new blog entries by email. More technically inclined users may wish to subscribe to our RSS feed.
I hope you will forgive - and enjoy - a blog from December 2007. I thought it was a message worth repeating.
Listening to an NPR piece called "Student Reflections in Santa Claus Revelations" (from the youth radio project at Curie High School in Chicago), it was so sad to hear kids talk about when they found out Santa wasn't "real. What they had lost wasn't Santa, it was the wonder and magic of believing!
We never did have to deal with this dilemma at our house. In fact, I love the way we did it. When each child got to the age of questioning, we simply asked, "What do you want to believe?" We explained the consequences of saying out loud what others inferred. We asked if it mattered what was "real" as long as the magic was there. Each child considered the options, often for some time, before they came back and said, "I want the magic."
So Santa, along with the spirit of generosity and giving and magic, lives bright and strong in our house. We talk about it with a twinkle in our eyes, as if we share a secret that is ours alone. When our kids' friends asked if they believe, they'd say, "Well, yea. Don't you?" as they flashed that same knowing smile that invited their friends into the magic. We know the "truth" of course, but there's no way anyone here is going to break the spell. Where would we be without this little bit of magic?
Warning: This reflection contains the oh-so-politically-incorrect word "dumb." But let's call a spade a spade, huh?
I'm one of those cheapskates who still has an analog TV and no cable service. In preparation for the US shift to digital-only TV signals, there is now a black "converter box" next to the TV.
The problem is, when I use the remote to turn on the TV, I turn on the converter box, too (though it won't turn off the same way). Right now, I don't want the converter box on, so I've either got to get up off my duff and turn the TV on by hand (horrors!) or leave it off. (Oh, don't get all judgmental on me.)
A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that if I bounced the signal off the wall, it turned on only the TV. Great, right? So there I am, pointing the remote at the wall thinking, "This is so dumb, the TVs over there!" Every time, I'm thinking this. Two weeks later, I'm still thinking this… every time. Now how dumb is that?
Are you following this? I discovered what works, I don't have to get up off my duff, and no small animals were harmed in the making of this solution. But I'm still judging it! It's still an irritation! Is this sounding familiar to any of you?
Then it dawned on me that this is exactly what I do in other parts of my life, especially with the people I am closest to. I'll know what works, what makes me (and them) happy, what is healthy and valuable. I can see that it produces better results. Yet that that little voice inside can still be standing there like a spoiled child saying, "I shouldn't have to see it a new way!" And before I know it, I'm back doing what never worked in the first place. To extend the metaphor, I'm back to pointing the remote directly at the TV and grumbling as I get up to turn off the converter box. Amazing.
So the big challenge may not be so much how we see or what we understand, but quieting the old voices inside long enough to allow the rest of our system to catch up. How do you do it?
Yesterday's email had a subject line that read, "Abundance in Tight Times." I felt such elation as I wrote it in the midst of all the economic doom and gloom.
It doesn't take more than a few minutes of listening to the commentary to conclude that this is "what is," reality, the truth of the matter. And every day I hear from another client who's spending has been frozen, whose organization can no longer afford to do more than the basics.
Yet, as I walk through the day, I am awed by the beauty and abundance that surrounds me everywhere I go: people caring for each other, generosity - of spirit and of money, kind gestures, hope…
Could it be that we have begun to learn that events do not determine our feelings, but rather our response to those events? Could it be that more and more people are choosing joy? Could it be that so many people are living with intention that you can actually feel it on the street.
Maybe I'm making it up. Maybe not. But I'm going to keep paying attention to the joy. I think it's better for me… and you… and our kids… and this remarkable world we live in.
To joy.
When I was 12 years old, I had two political heroes: Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Both filled me up, excited me and made me want to be more than I imagined I was. When Dr. King had a dream, my dreams grew. When "Bobby" spoke, it felt like anything was possible. The world was an exciting place, full of hope and full of possibility.
OK. So the US presidential election is just a day away and it's time to be straight. (That's what the blog if for, right?)
I think this is the most important and, quite frankly, the most potentially transformative election in my 52 years on this earth. Here is a candidate for president whose values, character and beliefs are aligned with my own. He speaks and acts from a strong strengths perspective. He genuinely values others and knows how to convey that respect, even when he disagrees. He believes that it is possible to live, both personally and as a country, with integrity and respect for others. He looks for what is right and seeks to grow it. He inspires hope. Barack Obama has all the qualities of a transformative person in the right place at the right time.
If elected, young people across this country, especially those of color, not to mention those with funny names or bodies or mismatched personalities, will be filled with hope, with a new belief that they can. Disenfranchised people sense that they just might be heard, that they just might have power. That they can. They look and see that he did it his way, with quiet confidence and constancy.
If elected, people all over the world will marvel at our ability to self-right, to change our minds, to learn, to grow. As a citizen of this country and of the world, I am excited in a way that I have never before experienced, and you can feel that electricity in the air.
Whatever happens on Tuesday, we will move forward and continue to grow and evolve and transform our lives. But it sure would be fun to do it with leadership and inspiration and an almost unbearable sense of hope and promise.
All content © Chris Trout
Some rights reserved
Site designed in Maine by Andrew Shuttleworth
Powered by ExpressionEngine 1.6.0