April 13, 2007
Two little thoughts:
I read a quote by Ellen Degeneres yesterday which made me laugh. After I got through my laughing fit, the significance of her words made me sit back and re-evaluate some things. She said:
“I gotta work out. I keep saying it all the time. I keep saying I gotta start working out. It's been about two months since I've worked out. And I just don't have the time. Which uh..is odd. Because I have the time to go out to dinner. And uh..and watch tv. And get a bone density test. And uh.. try to figure out what my phone number spells in words.”
As much as I hate to admit it, this has been the definition of my life these last few months. And not just with working out but with many different facets of my existence. I complain about not having enough time, but it’s my own fault. I need to pause and take a moment and re-evaluate what I am doing with my time. Where do my priorities really lie?
“We realize our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. We confess, we have left undone those things that ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” - Charles E. Hummel
“Success is only another form of failure if we forget what our priorities should be.” - Harry Lloyd
As for my other, completely un-related and random thought process….Two men with hearing disabilities came into my office today. They were lost and needed to know how to get to the landscaping building. The first thought that came to my mind was “dang, how are we going to communicate with these guys?” I was grateful that as soon as they let us know they were deaf, Karla quickly grabbed a pad of paper so that they could communicate with us. (kudos to Karla).
The second thought that came to mind was that of regret in not actively cultivating a talent I once developed in high school – American Sign Language. I guess that I’ve always wanted so much in my life to make everyone I come in contact with feel comfortable, loved, accepted, understood, etc. etc. etc. and I felt like I couldn’t quite do that this afternoon. I felt helpless (although I know that our attempts were not totally in vain as we were able to be of some help through writing and hand signals). But I just know how important it is for people like these two men to be able to communicate with others in the manner in which they are able to communicate.
It reminds me of my mission to Spain. Especially in those first weeks and months, I couldn’t speak Spanish perfectly. But I tried. I made very feeble attempts to speak to the people in their native tongue. They knew I was NOT native (it’s not hard to tell) and I often stumbled over words and made many grammatical errors, but I knew that it made them feel so good just knowing that I cared enough to try to communicate with them in the only way they knew how to communicate.
I guess what I need to remember is that as long as I’m trying to make others feel that sincerity and desire to make them feel good or understood or whatever it may be, then that is all I can do sometimes.
Two little thoughts:
I read a quote by Ellen Degeneres yesterday which made me laugh. After I got through my laughing fit, the significance of her words made me sit back and re-evaluate some things. She said:
“I gotta work out. I keep saying it all the time. I keep saying I gotta start working out. It's been about two months since I've worked out. And I just don't have the time. Which uh..is odd. Because I have the time to go out to dinner. And uh..and watch tv. And get a bone density test. And uh.. try to figure out what my phone number spells in words.”
As much as I hate to admit it, this has been the definition of my life these last few months. And not just with working out but with many different facets of my existence. I complain about not having enough time, but it’s my own fault. I need to pause and take a moment and re-evaluate what I am doing with my time. Where do my priorities really lie?
“We realize our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. We confess, we have left undone those things that ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” - Charles E. Hummel
“Success is only another form of failure if we forget what our priorities should be.” - Harry Lloyd
As for my other, completely un-related and random thought process….Two men with hearing disabilities came into my office today. They were lost and needed to know how to get to the landscaping building. The first thought that came to my mind was “dang, how are we going to communicate with these guys?” I was grateful that as soon as they let us know they were deaf, Karla quickly grabbed a pad of paper so that they could communicate with us. (kudos to Karla).
The second thought that came to mind was that of regret in not actively cultivating a talent I once developed in high school – American Sign Language. I guess that I’ve always wanted so much in my life to make everyone I come in contact with feel comfortable, loved, accepted, understood, etc. etc. etc. and I felt like I couldn’t quite do that this afternoon. I felt helpless (although I know that our attempts were not totally in vain as we were able to be of some help through writing and hand signals). But I just know how important it is for people like these two men to be able to communicate with others in the manner in which they are able to communicate.
It reminds me of my mission to Spain. Especially in those first weeks and months, I couldn’t speak Spanish perfectly. But I tried. I made very feeble attempts to speak to the people in their native tongue. They knew I was NOT native (it’s not hard to tell) and I often stumbled over words and made many grammatical errors, but I knew that it made them feel so good just knowing that I cared enough to try to communicate with them in the only way they knew how to communicate.
I guess what I need to remember is that as long as I’m trying to make others feel that sincerity and desire to make them feel good or understood or whatever it may be, then that is all I can do sometimes.
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