In another life I was a Docent at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. One painting that consistently drew me was Jan van Eyck’s St Francis Receiving the Stigmata(1430-1432?). Painted on wood-panel, 7.5”x6.5”.

            “Jan van Eyck was the most celebrated painter in Northern Europe during the fifteenth century, widely hailed for his nearly miraculous ability to depict observed reality with a refinement verging on the microscopic. The effect of such intense realism was to create pictures that seemed at once very sharp yet very far away. Here Saint Francis is receiving on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet the same wounds suffered by the crucified Christ, who appears as an image held aloft by an angel. The saint’s stigmata would never heal and became for many the living proof of his holiness.

            Although Van Eyck’s representation of this legend follows the original Franciscan text quite literally, his one departure from earlier, chiefly Italian depictions is the inclusion of a great, panoramic landscape with a distant view of a bustling city. The scene is thus presented as a miracle being witnessed within the context of the whole sweep of nature and human life, which may seem magically beautiful but is in fact quite oblivious to the sacred action in the foreground.” Joseph J. Rishel, Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 164.

And the point of all this gibberish is… what? Simply this—we are not the first in history who needed to discover the richness, the depth, and healing powers of meditation, of focusing our hearts, minds, & bodies on one singular thought. Moving away from the hustle & bustle of our world is often necessary to re-focus ourselves, to find our place in God’s universe, and to cleanse our souls from way too much grit and grime.

In organizational terms, we often must re-focus our thoughts as well. We need to reexamine our Mission— is everything we are doing focused on fulfilling our stated Mission? Are we still true to our Passion? Does each member of the team, from CEO, COO, CFO, managers, employees (even volunteers), and service staff know their role in achieving our Goals? And do we have a sense that we are all in this together?

We will most definitely encounter problems, road-blocks, and impossible circumstances to overcome. Like St Francis, the Stigmata will wound, piercing our flesh, just as it did to Christ. It is only though suffering and fortitude that we will succeed. We must remain flexible and creative enough to turn these times into adaptive realignments of our methods of achieving our goals. Never! Never, Never give up! Winston Churchill.

Realign your life, and your organization, to focus on what you are designed to do, then do it.

Have a nice week,

Gary

Page Title

Scenario #1  It’s afternoon gridlock on the 405; you’re just trying to get home. You are tired of the tedium of your job in LA. What next?

Scenario #2  You are not looking forward to the presentation you have to give today as in Boston. You are good at what you do, but it’s just not you. You wish you could get out of this rat-race.

Scenario #3  You’re in another relationship; your third this year. The same ol’ patterns are arising. Something’s not right. Trapped…, again?

Scenario #4  Your high school friends are all you have. Then they turn on you. Why? Your parents have no idea. You hate your life.

We all arrive at those dead-end streets many times in our lives. We feel like nothing will ever change. We’re stuck where we are. For some of us this will be our life. Life will never change—because we will never change. But for those who want things to be different, better, there is a way out. We can change.

Start with a pad of paper (Laptop, Tablet, 3×5 card, papyrus). At the top of the page decide on a title for your life—for the life you want to live. Do not focus on the past. You already know what that was like. Create a realistic Page Title that you want to define your life in the future, starting tomorrow. Here are some suggestions— Managing Wisely through Enabling Others, Balancing Mothering with Self-Esteem, 10 Issues I must Resolve this Year, How I will Create My Future, How to Turn Over a New Leaf Without Burning Down the Forrest, Reigning-in My Boisterous Side, Forcing Myself to Take Risks, It’s NOT the Credit Cards- It’s ME, Learning to Love and Trust Again, Saying What I Mean. Write down any number of Page Titles, then pick the one that best describes what you want to work on to be different, to change, to grow.

Now fill the page with what you will DO to reinforce that Page Title. Use a list, write at angles, connect things with lines, group them with circles…, you get the picture. Start to lay out a kind of mental road map of how you will make your Page Title define who you are, who you want to be, or resolve some issues you’ve needed to address for a long, long time. These are the things you will DO to fulfill your Goal!

God didn’t design us to wallow in our misery on this planet. He made us to flourish, to change things, and to make a difference in this universe. So let’s start with ourselves, then help other people, then fly to Mars. Small steps, taken together, become big ones in the end. So there! [Note: You may need to read the instruction manual— the Christian Scriptures. Self-help doesn’t always see things clearly.]

 

Have a nice week,

Gary

forced fit

Square peg in a round hole. We’ve all been there. A job, a relationship, skills not designed for the task, gifts not suited to your present position. Some of us live our entire lives doing something for which we were not designed. As a result, we hate our lives, our jobs, and where everything doesn’t seem to be going. So we force it. We force ourselves to fit the job; we meet its expectations with little inner celebration (unless there is a bonus). We force ourselves in relationships as well. We become what other people want us to be. We want to be accepted, approved, part of IN, and not OUT. Forced fit. Faked fulfillment. Forecast—failure. So how do we deal with square pegs and round holes in life?

There are at least three ways out of this dilemma.

1. The first is to truly change yourself to fit in with your life situation, with your job responsibilities. People do it all the time. Some jobs are worth it; most relationships are worth it. Round peg: round hole. Of course, this course of action might require some painful whittling with a sharp knife to cut away parts of the former you. Most of us need some whittling of our rough edges & splinters. So ask yourself— Is this worth it? Do I really want to change in these ways?
2. The second way to adapt is to change the shape of the hole to fit you. Square peg: square hole. You may need to change professions or career paths to utilize your skills and gifts. This, of course, may involve going back to school, widening your interests and knowledge base; even learning something totally new. What’s the phrase? —You can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Then stop thinking of yourself as an old dog. Maybe it’s time to try something totally new. Not just another job but starting something no one has thought of before. Fun!
3. The third way out of this dilemma is to challenge the whole square peg/round hole metaphor.  Come up with a totally different way of thinking. Maybe parallel alignment of tasks & relationships, or inverse polarity to achieve a desired result, or bunny rabbits out of hats. Alternative metaphors! Image your career, your occupation, from a new perspective. Just because someone gives you a round peg and says you have to force it into a square hole doesn’t mean it will work or that YOU have to do it.

 

The God who made us also designed us to be different from one another. That’s why we need each other (duh). Please don’t try to be like someone else…, especially me.

 

Have a nice week,

Gary