“No matter where you go, there you are.”
– Dick Heston (1933-2002)
You can run, but you can’t hide.
Dad typically used this when someone was thinking about changing addresses, careers, girlfriends or boyfriends, spouses — you get the idea. You can change your address, but you’re still taking all of you with you, unless you do a great job of occasionally unpacking.
Unpacking is hard work, unless it is just taking dirty laundry out of the suitcase after vacation. Really unpacking — discarding the parts of us that are no longer additive to the outcomes we seek is really difficult.
We think they’re in us naturally. That “it’s just the way we are.” I contend that we are the way we choose to be, by and large.
Emotional? You can’t really take that out of your DNA, but we can apply it differently than we historically have. Reserved? Same holds true. Angry? Well, not to get all Graf / Freud on ya, but our anger typically has zero effect on others and can, if we’re not careful consume us.
Think of someone that wronged you. Demoted you, fired you, stood you up, cheated on you, failed you — get a picture in your mind.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Now, consciously, overtly — forgive them. Ask for Divine help, whatever it takes, but just cut. Them. Loose. We are called not to judge, not to hold ourselves as Counselor over others. We are called to neither be, nor expect others to be, infallible. So, just — let — them — go.
And now, move on. Make a difference faster, better, more completely, now that your load is lightened and your focus is clearer.
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