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Welcome
to the May "Riding the Wave - The Wave Riders™ "
Newsletter.
Stop
the presses!
by Indigo Irwin Kennedy
I remember a story once told
of a group of students taking a tour of a successful business.
The CEO was kind enough to show the college students around
to the various offices. He took the time to explain the important
duties of each position held within the company.
The students observed the rush
of heavy production and felt the pressure in the room from
deadlines the employees where trying to meet. At the end of
the tour they observed, but were not introduced to, a man
in his office. The man was reclined back in his chair with
his hands behind his head as if sleeping. His feet were up
on the window sill behind his desk as he faced the large window
looking over the city. The fellow did not move. The students
were confused.
Finally, one student felt the
need to know and asked, "Excuse me sir, there was one
fellow that you did not introduce us to, and he appeared to
be sleeping." "I wonder, sir, why such a man has
not been fired?".
The CEO, smiled, and replied.
"Yes, you are right, he did appear to be sleeping and
many corporations would have fired him, but you see, last
month that man came up with an idea that saved this corporation
1 million dollars this year and that same idea will save us
another 10 million dollars over the next 5 years".
Fire him? No, I try to leave
him completely alone.
The moral of this story is for
us to remember that our quiet time, our time alone to ponder,
does have high value. We so often think that as long as we
are producing, learning, doing, running, walking, talking,
that we are moving forward. Rarely, do we stop and allow ourselves
time to simple be. We do not respect the time to ponder and
the time to reorganize our thoughts, yet it is in this time
that our real advances are made.
Every time you learn something
new, your brain must implement that knowledge into your current
bank of facts. the brain needs to find the best way to use
that new knowledge and then your brain needs time to rewire
some of its' hardware.
Until, you have "stopped
the presses" of your mind long enough to properly enter
the most recent "news breaking story" your newly
acquired knowledge will simply be information and not the
wisdom that it can become.
Let's take this opportunity
to hard code into our schedule, an hour, a day or maybe even
two days, that will allow us time to simple be with ourselves
in quiet solitude. To simple allow our thoughts to wander.
Fantasy, is how great engineering feats and masterful inventions,
are first created. Let's not rob ourselves of those precious
gems that may be waiting in the closets of our minds.
I have recently taken some courses
and have acquired a lot of new information. I have not, however,
had the time to really think about what I have learned. So,
over the next month I plan to walk and think, to sit and think,
to ponder and play and to release within me the tightly wound
buds of information that are urging me to stop long enough,
to allow them to flourish into the blossoms of new insights
that I know they will become. It feels like such a waste to
gather great information and then to push it into the storage
bins for future consideration rather than to stop for a few
minutes and really enjoy the precise moment that these treasures
are gathered. In one of these recent classes, the instructor
taught us to stop after someone has said something to really
allow what that person has said to sink in with us"to
engage us fully", before pushing forth "our agenda
to move on". It is a great tool for really listening
and for learning. It is also a tool that takes time to practice....just
one of the beautiful bits that I am excited to be giving myself
time to ponder.
Have a wonderful month
Indigo
Indigo Irwin Kennedy
Author: The Wave Riders
http://www.thewaveriders.com
Respond to this article by emailing Indigo E-mail
info@thewaveriders.com
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