Knowing and Doing Aren’t Always the Same Thing

by on August 1, 2012

Knowing and Doing Aren’t Always the Same Thing

It has taken me awhile to sit down to compose this first blog post of August.  As regular readers to the website know, the first post of each month focuses on the quote of the month.  This month’s quote is as inspiring as many of the past.  I completely believe in what it conveys and in fact look to put it into practice often whether it is working with my clients or in my own life.  Yet as it came time to sit down and begin composing my writings for the month, I hit a bit of a wall.  The quote staring at me was about ATTITUDE, and the picture supporting it was of a beautiful rock garden with pools of waterfalls between the rocks.  The quote of the month simply says “The right outlook keeps us going through the rockiest of times”.

Sometimes, even as a coach, I don’t always find myself remembering the lessons I have been taught.  The last couple of weeks have been one of those times.  I was finding myself frequently feeling frustrated with my surroundings while away from home.  There were times I felt I was living based on the timetable of others as opposed to the one with which I felt most comfortable.  One thing not quite right led me to letting other surrounding occurrences also make my mood more negative.  While I certainly know and agree only I can be accountable for the way I feel, it was a struggle to avoid falling back into the trap of putting the blame on others or just the circumstances in which I found myself.

It is somewhat ironic in a way.  I often find I actually adapt better in some of the worst times a person can experience, than in others that I consider more trivial.  For example, a coaching colleague of mine asked me to speak about the major transition steps I had gone through in my life over the last several years that have led to my present coaching career.  In recounting that journey I had survived the caring for and passing of a terminally ill wife, leaving a corporate career, moving from my long time home to a new place of residence, dating and remarrying, studying for a new career and starting up my own business.  In each of those instances, it was obvious that my focus was more on learning and experiencing the new situations being put in front of me as opposed to lamenting the changes and the impact they were having on me.  It was much like I learned in my Energy Leadership studies, we have several energy levels through which we can experience the things which happen to us in our life.  While only two of those levels are negative, they can be very draining if you allow yourself to experience things from their perspective.  The remaining energy levels all have some degree of positive approach to them with the higher energy levels being ones that allow you to enjoy each experience for itself and not to look to judge the impact that experience is having on your life.

Fortunately, I am in a much better place than where I have been emotionally these past couple of weeks.  As summer continues and we start a new month, I invite you to put yourself in a better place also.  If you have been feeling out of sorts or have been feeling that everything has been working against you, take a step back to examine your attitude.  Are you only looking at what you are experiencing as a victim or through the lenses of anger and conflict?   Try to rationalize what is happening to you.  Are there opportunities in the situations that are coming before you where you may be able to help those around you and in turn help yourself?  Do you have the opportunity to just experience something which you have never experienced before and to enjoy it just for the experience and not the result?  If you truly don’t like what you are experiencing, can you view it from a different perspective or even look to enjoy in a way that works best for you?

None of us goes through continually good times.  Bad things will happen.  Whether they continue to dominate our thoughts and ultimately our actions we can influence through our way of viewing them.  And, even if this is a concept that you believe you know very well already, even the most seasoned of us can use a refresher from time to time that only we choose the “outlook” through which we view that which we experience.

 

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