Thursday, August 16, 2007
delicious inconvenience - Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007
today’s Musing written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park
10C/50F (high 24C), brilliant sunshine bathes everything, the lagoon like glass albeit down more than a quart – water crews reduced the level to a point ducks must be feeling like their mud-hen cousins, Gusta denied her desire to play in the muck seemed just happy I finally got up to take her out; a late start an inconvenience following delicious sleep, my body decided a silly thing like an alarm was for ignoring
new website initial traffic volume delights me, though that alone will not drive hordes of eager customers to my door - I’ll need to knock on theirs and wear out some shoe leather; to those eagle-eyed musers who caught typos, word tangles and errant punctuation that 18 of us missed – many thanks
I wonder sometimes, how important it is to be relevant; whether I am writing a piece, helping a client find the ‘just right’ business premises, writing a proposal, giving a speech, or having a conversation – I want to be relevant; the feedback comes in many ways when least expected and when it does, it is on occasion inconvenient – but it is always delicious; case(s) in point – feedback comments from JH received yesterday and my speech evaluator last night; he does not see the world in any way like I see it, I know it now, his vision of things and people not necessarily radical departure from mine – I likely never would have known if not for those comments last night
an acquaintance and I each took an interesting step last night – perhaps an enriched friendship, perhaps not – too soon to tell what impact it might have, but I know I grew – this morning I’m feeling a little grown; I love feedback, I hate it too – actually I don’t hate it, but thinking it produces sometimes makes me feel discomforted (good, I think), it is at the very least, inconvenient - it opens up new avenues of seeing my experiences and seeing others, a delicious inconvenience
ability to hear, to see, to listen, to absorb, to analyze - is not about quality of our skill or nuances of our ways of enunciating feelings and ideas, but the lens through which we view others, view ourselves, view the world
mulling it over last night and coffee stirring me this morning – I feel the value and meaning is becoming clear; someone thinking conflict, perhaps very significant conflict, would have been an expected experience made me wonder about several thing; my evaluator’s experiences being, quite likely, very different from mine; while I think his points made were excellent in terms of how I might tweak that speech to achieve more dramatic impact for an audience, I think it taught me a lot about something I know is always there – always – in any group dynamic, in every one on one encounter
I’m not worried that I missed some critical development of my relationship with my daughters because of ‘absence of conflict’ but I am appreciating something warm and different about my relationship with them in a different light than before
at Toastmasters, we give and get lots of feedback; last night, when I gave a speech I have been working on for potential use in future competition I was keenly interested in verbal and written feedback – I was not disappointed; helpful, supportive, constructive – yet one comment has me pondering something I know will lead somewhere important, not sure where it will lead, but I know it has value to be unlocked
well meaning thoughtful person, I know that - he felt my speech (the story involved expectations and experiences between a father, me, and children, mine, demonstrating examples of how I got so much more than I expected, far in excess of my lofty expectations, unexpected spectacular value in terms of who they became and how they changed my view of them and, perhaps, my view of myself) was weak and lacked punch, lacked drama, because of absence of conflict; having not slept for 36 hours might have reduced my energy level to be sure, but his point was about substance, not about energy lacking in my presentation
as for my evaluator – I think we have lots to talk about, opportunity to learn about each other from a new vantage point; as important, I think my ability to deal with conflict with others as participant and as observer changed yesterday
Mark Kolke
341,660
199.8
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
10C/50F (high 24C), brilliant sunshine bathes everything, the lagoon like glass albeit down more than a quart – water crews reduced the level to a point ducks must be feeling like their mud-hen cousins, Gusta denied her desire to play in the muck seemed just happy I finally got up to take her out; a late start an inconvenience following delicious sleep, my body decided a silly thing like an alarm was for ignoring
new website initial traffic volume delights me, though that alone will not drive hordes of eager customers to my door - I’ll need to knock on theirs and wear out some shoe leather; to those eagle-eyed musers who caught typos, word tangles and errant punctuation that 18 of us missed – many thanks
I wonder sometimes, how important it is to be relevant; whether I am writing a piece, helping a client find the ‘just right’ business premises, writing a proposal, giving a speech, or having a conversation – I want to be relevant; the feedback comes in many ways when least expected and when it does, it is on occasion inconvenient – but it is always delicious; case(s) in point – feedback comments from JH received yesterday and my speech evaluator last night; he does not see the world in any way like I see it, I know it now, his vision of things and people not necessarily radical departure from mine – I likely never would have known if not for those comments last night
an acquaintance and I each took an interesting step last night – perhaps an enriched friendship, perhaps not – too soon to tell what impact it might have, but I know I grew – this morning I’m feeling a little grown; I love feedback, I hate it too – actually I don’t hate it, but thinking it produces sometimes makes me feel discomforted (good, I think), it is at the very least, inconvenient - it opens up new avenues of seeing my experiences and seeing others, a delicious inconvenience
ability to hear, to see, to listen, to absorb, to analyze - is not about quality of our skill or nuances of our ways of enunciating feelings and ideas, but the lens through which we view others, view ourselves, view the world
mulling it over last night and coffee stirring me this morning – I feel the value and meaning is becoming clear; someone thinking conflict, perhaps very significant conflict, would have been an expected experience made me wonder about several thing; my evaluator’s experiences being, quite likely, very different from mine; while I think his points made were excellent in terms of how I might tweak that speech to achieve more dramatic impact for an audience, I think it taught me a lot about something I know is always there – always – in any group dynamic, in every one on one encounter
I’m not worried that I missed some critical development of my relationship with my daughters because of ‘absence of conflict’ but I am appreciating something warm and different about my relationship with them in a different light than before
at Toastmasters, we give and get lots of feedback; last night, when I gave a speech I have been working on for potential use in future competition I was keenly interested in verbal and written feedback – I was not disappointed; helpful, supportive, constructive – yet one comment has me pondering something I know will lead somewhere important, not sure where it will lead, but I know it has value to be unlocked
well meaning thoughtful person, I know that - he felt my speech (the story involved expectations and experiences between a father, me, and children, mine, demonstrating examples of how I got so much more than I expected, far in excess of my lofty expectations, unexpected spectacular value in terms of who they became and how they changed my view of them and, perhaps, my view of myself) was weak and lacked punch, lacked drama, because of absence of conflict; having not slept for 36 hours might have reduced my energy level to be sure, but his point was about substance, not about energy lacking in my presentation
as for my evaluator – I think we have lots to talk about, opportunity to learn about each other from a new vantage point; as important, I think my ability to deal with conflict with others as participant and as observer changed yesterday
Mark Kolke
341,660
199.8
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
