Being Part of the Human Puzzle

“Differing points of view.”

Being Part of the Human Puzzle

You know what a puzzle is.  I think most of us have put a puzzle together at one time or another.  When my children were young they loved going to visit their grandparents and would sit for hours putting puzzles together.  It wasn’t that their “Grands” had a large assortment of puzzles, but my kids liked taking the pieces and forming a picture with them; even if they had completed the puzzle hundreds of times they still felt a sense of satisfaction from taking small pieces and placing them in a position to create a beautiful picture.  Now that my children are grown they face the same puzzle of being human that all of us face.

All people exist as individual pieces of the great Human Being Puzzle.  I am one and I am also always one of many.  This creates some very interesting conflicts of interest in our lives.  It forces us to make decisions; we constantly have to weigh the benefits to us personally against the benefits to those we share our lives with.  These choices are often mutually exclusive; what is good for me isn’t necessarily good for the other.  This can cause anxiety and can weigh heavily upon our individual consciences as we make decisions.  Such was the case for me in dealing with one of my neighbors recently.

I live in a community governed by restrictive covenants.  These are rules that all of the property owners in the community have agreed to uphold and live by when they purchase their property.  I have a new neighbor who recently purchased the home next to me.  They bought the property for a particular purpose not allowed by the covenants and began to work with the County to get a “conditional use” approval to do so.  Since their purpose is opposed to what is allowed in the covenants, and my best interest, I had a choice to make.

If I did not voice my opposition I would remain on friendly terms with them.  If I became a voice of resistance to their plan I would most likely destroy our good relations forever.  It was a very difficult choice for me!  I finally had to break down the problem into small “puzzle” pieces so I could see what the whole picture would look like with each decision.  In the end, I learned that there are lots of ways to put individual pieces together and that the larger picture can be changed based on the pieces we select!

That’s much different from being able to look at the outside of a box and then finding the pieces that fit together to form that picture!  It is a much more challenging process and, it also offers a wonderful opportunity.

It means that as each person learns and grows in the process of putting their Human Being Puzzle together they can create differing and ever changing outcomes!  In the challenge faced with my neighbor I learned that I could look out for my own best interest as well as the best interest of lots of other people.  In the end, lots of people aligned their personal pieces for a similarly shared vision.  It’s true that there is one piece missing, but in a huge picture one small piece won’t ruin the whole depiction!  Sad to be sure, but as I’ve lived, I’ve learned that everyone will not always agree about everything.

Disagreement doesn’t have to be a bad thing.  If you use it as a way to expand our view of the world it will be a great benefit to us; we will see things we would never otherwise see and become more than we would have been.  I like to think of disagreement as a mechanism for creating a never-ending supply of puzzle pieces that will help me create new masterpieces with others.  Viewing it in this way removes lots of conscience stretching stress.  It doesn’t mean I have to believe or accept every other point of view offered to me.  But, it does mean that I give others the chance to deliver their message to me.  In the end, you and I get to choose what pieces of the puzzle we keep and use and which ones we will throw away.

You and I have completed hundreds of puzzles during our lives and we can still feel joy and satisfaction from taking small pieces and placing them in a position to create a beautiful picture.  There are millions of new masterpieces yet to be created.  Use your piece in combination with others to build lives of beauty.

Choosing a Filter for Your Lens on Life

“I’ve made it a practice to take time each day to contemplate what I’ve done well.” – Jessi Butterfield

Choosing a Filter for Your Lens on Life

My wife is a sports photographer.  She understands things such as when to use a different lens in order to get just the right picture for her purposes.  She also knows how to use a filter to create different looks for her finished product.  Her knowledge and application pave the way for her success.

Our daughter Jessi recently talked with me about using a carefully applied filter to the lens of life to in order to simplify personal success.  “I’ve made it a practice to take time each day to contemplate what I’ve done well.  It allows me to focus on what I’ve accomplished rather than feeling as if I never do anything well enough” She explained.

As I listened to what she was saying I remembered my friend Henry and what he once told me.  “I made it a practice to focus on the little miracles that happened for me and my family at the end of each week.  When I did so, I soon began to see wonder at every turn.  It allowed me to show my children that if they looked at the world in this way, they would have confidence that good things would happen to and for them on a daily basis.  It is this confidence that has helped us to face challenges together and personally, knowing that good will prevail in the end.”

Do you have a firm belief that good will prevail in your life?  Here are some small steps you can take to foster such a belief for yourself.

First, determine what you want to see in the world.  Jessi wants to see the things she has done well every day.  Henry wants to see the little miracles that have made a difference for him and his family each week.  What lens and filter would have the biggest impact on you?

Second, schedule a regular time to ponder what you’ve seen.  Henry and I have found that a weekly self-appointment works well for us.  Jessi has found that a daily appointment keeps her focused and feeling good.  You might want to try a couple of different intervals to see what works best for you.

Third, make sure to write down what you’ve seen.  Not taking the time to write has the same effect as a photographer taking time to set up her shot, looking through the lens as if she is going to record the event and then not clicking the button on the camera to memorialize the picture.  If you do this, you will never have your life’s art to look back to for strength and admiration.  My friend Kristin talked with me a couple of days ago about her review of just such a piece.  It brought everything right back to the present for her and allowed her to feel the warmth of it again, as if it had just occurred.

Finally.  Make sure you put your experiences in a place where others can learn from you.  You may not think it will make a difference for anyone else, but what if you could change the life of just one person?

I walk through my house and see the changes in my life and the lives of our children and furry family too.  My wife’s photographs are everywhere. Now you and I can use the same techniques to choose a filter on the lens of our lives.  We can begin to look for what ever we want to focus on so we can record the power, wonder and majesty of our lives.

Choose your lens and filter today. See what kind of beautiful art your life is and will become.

Casting Your Web

“It is the company we keep, the people around us, who will determine where we invest our energy.  The more we trust that the people to the left of us and the people to the right of us have our backs, the better equipped we are to face the constant threats from the outside together.” – Simon Sinek

Casting Your Web

The sun was hanging toward the Western sky.  It was bright and angled in a particular way.  And, that particular way allowed me to see something I had never seen before as I mowed my lawn.

My eyes caught the glimmer of thousands of shining strings stretching out across all the uncut grass.  The intricate pattern extended over acres of blades reaching toward the sun.  It was the perfect picture of network web casting.

One spider could not have possibly completed all of the strands I saw.  They were completed in one week’s time. 

When I cut the grass the webs disappeared.   But, the spiders that created them did not.  The strands, while appearing to be a network, were not the network.  They were simply the expression, evidence, of the work completed by the cooperative spiders.

Over the next few days I took a little bit of time each evening to watch for strands to reappear.  And they did!  The network was still in place casting its web so its expression continued. 

The hundreds of spiders living and working together in my lawn are tiny things; so tiny in fact they can’t be seen without getting down on hands and knees while carefully observing the spaces between blades of grass.  From one perspective they are so small as to be insignificant, unable to accomplish much at all.  But when viewed from the right perspective, when the sun is angled from the Western sky, the true extent of their ingenuity, individual significance and the majesty of their network are revealed.  They create a massive body of work that encompasses both beauty and function, something of significance!

You and I can learn from them.  Simon Sinek says, “It is the company we keep, the people around us, who will determine where we invest our energy.  The more we trust that the people to the left of us and the people to the right of us have our backs, the better equipped we are to face the constant threats from the outside together.”

He’s right!  There are times when you and I feel small, tiny, and as if we are so individually insignificant that we can’t make a difference.  But, if we will simply connect to like-purposed individuals we can accomplish impactful work that will encompass beauty, function and consequence.  Cast your web in cooperation with others today and find increased companionship, health, happiness and fulfillment.

Being a Hero From Inside, Out

“Matt Speers & India Company, 3^rd Battalion, 7^th Marine Regiment”

Being a Hero From Inside, Out

I now have a photo sitting on my desk.  There are almost two hundred men in the photo and I don’t know any of them, except one.  It is there to remind me.

It is a photo of heroes and it reminds me of what a hero is on the inside. If you were to ask any one of them if they are a hero, they would respond just as my friend, Captain Matt Speers does. 

“I’m not a hero.  But, I know some.  I can tell you about them!”

Matt and I sat in a small Starbucks this week in Park City so we could catch up.  We hadn’t seen each other for a little over one year.  He had been deployed to Afghanistan again! It was a huge relief for me to hear from him and to see that he was as fit as ever.

Matt holds his responsibility to keep his men fit and safe, India Company, as a solemn duty.

“I loved being able to train them in 29 Palms.”  He said.  “There isn’t anything else for them to do, so they just focus on training.”

I listened to Matt tell me of his work and how he works with his men.  Then I asked him a hard question, a question I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to.

“Did you lose any men this time?”

“No.  We were blessed.  But I’ve lost men before.  I tell my men that the best way to thank their brother for sacrificing a body part or their life for them is to go forward and live a life of honor!”

That’s why I have the picture on my desk!  These are men who don’t even know me and yet they are willing to sacrifice parts of their body or even their lives for my benefit; for your benefit.  So, I am taking my hero’s advice.

I am concentrating on moving forward and living a life of honor so I can honor all my heroes of India Company, 3^rd Battalion, 7^th Marine Regiment.

What token will you use to inspire you to live the life of a hero from the inside?