Agile Thinking Makes Connections

No procedure is complicated if  allowed to draw itself from the boundaries which were once considered appropriate to it.  And any change necessary will be accommodated when proper procedures are instituted.

I wonder the comment a friend made when I said I learned a philosophical principle during my woodworking that stands as valid in relationships as well.  She could not see the connection.   When a wound is suspected in the wood,  it is best to clean it off and out or eventually it will mar the wood and destroy much work.  To try to cover the error means that too much time will be spent in working around it.  Far better to start with another clean piece or dig out the offense.   In any creative endeavor,  it is necessary to assess the problem and remedy the work.  It applies to human relations also.

One can deny or dismiss, or simply not discuss a problem,  in the hope that by not talking or giving it a name it will resolve itself and simply go away.  What happens it is that it will fester and smolder and erupt or implode the individual.  What could have been resolved at the time and talked through the hurt now, like the wound in the wood,  will at some time bleed through and cause untold damage.  Perhaps not in the same generation it occurred,  but generations later when excessive damage makes the wound irreparable.

It has taken me all these years to see how genetic and emotional connections can  be used by and of themselves.    The way things we feel are stifling us can be the very ones we draw strength from.   There is a continuity in all life,  not only in who we are but in what we do  and to draw on what we choose to be good for us takes a great deal of maturity.   We are apt to discard everything before we realize there are things of worth needing to be held onto.

The Victor

I would give you
a drink to sip,
ever so gingerly
but you would
gulp it down.

You would
in one fell swoop,
gargle your throat
and swallow
the liquid, unthinkingly,
I think.

But you don’t.
You take the worn cliches
and give them to an Other
as gems to be worn,
as diamonds turned to catch
the light on every facet.

This is what
I’ve learned from you;
that you have taken my best
and made it yours
and I am more
than what I Am.
And by doing this,

you are the victor.