Sit Down. Be Quiet. Listen.

And, don’t be a goat

A while ago, my friend Leslie shared a great Rumi quote with me: "Sit down, be quiet, and listen, because you are drunk and we are on the edge of the roof."

Anyone else feel drunk on the edge lately?

In times of massive uncertainty - and I think we can safely say that few people and even fewer societies (or organizations, or groups, or cultures) have experienced the kind of uncertainty the current pandemic and the responses to it have created - our brains take a while to adapt.  The ways we are used to moving through life are upended; most of our touchstone ways of dealing with change are gone. We are as individuals, as groups, and communities….drunk and on the edge of a roof. 

Now that we are (knock wood) coming out of The Great Distancing, there seems to be so much pressure to "figure out how to go “back-to-normal."  What will the new normal look like?  What's the path to get there?  And, the biggie: what will my role in all this look like?  But, all of the coping skills for answering that are deactivated - like being a little drunk.

Sit down, be quiet and listen.

Especially since beyond the distraction of a totally new world, I have a propensity to be this goat. 

Even with deadlines, structure, needing to meet other people's needs, it can be a challenge for me to focus from beginning to end.  Sometimes it's most challenging for me to get something over the finish line.

Sit down, be quiet, and listen.

To be fair, usually that distraction comes from a strong drive to want to understand - everything. I have such a strong need to know, to probe, to ask to dive into the deeper meaning.  This is all great when I'm researching a new program or designing programs to spark learning in other people.  But when we are all drunk and on the edge of the roof, the last thing we need is someone jumping up and saying, “explain all this – and how to fix it right now.”

Sit down, be quiet and listen.(and don’t be the goat.)

Since I'm not great at sitting still, how about throwing questions out into the wind and then sitting still and listening to the answers that come ack - if for not other reason than as a distraction?

• What would it look like if we took the best of The Great Distancing and made it part of our lives from here forward?

• What from The Great Distancing are you enjoying the most?

• What is most important from your life before that you want to reclaim?

• What do you find yourself pulled to or focusing on?  Does that focus bring stress or comfort to you?  Does that focus distract or help guide you?

Comment here. Or better yet, connect with me on @leadfromwhereveryouare.  I promise.  I’ll just listen.