[2023-06-17] Saturday Synopsis #48
This morning, my daughter and I went to the City of Ottawa's Richcraft Recreation Complex in Kanata for an hour of table tennis. It was so much fun. I'll have more on that in a future post. In the meantime, here are some entries on love, mentoring, friendship, outdoors, safety and the impact of our activities.
3 Ideas From Me
First, love is not merely what we feel, but also how we act. Second, it's okay—even imperative—that we have healthy expectations for what we will get back from the ones we love. Third, at the end of our days, we will be remembered for how and whom we loved, not what we achieved and amassed.
Recognize that mentors are all around you. I used to think that I had never had a mentor. That’s because I was using the same definition of a mentor as many employees: an individual with whom I had a formal, long-term relationship resulting from my asking that person to be my mentor. In reality, I have had many mentors: bosses, colleagues, subject-matter experts. They have included invisible mentors, people I observed and whose example I followed.
I would sum up [Julie] Beck's advice [about friendship] in these six tips:
- Spend time with your friends and the people you hope will become friends.
- Pay attention to opportunities for new, expanded or rekindled friendships.
- Be intentional in your interactions by taking steps to nurture a friendship even if that means being vulnerable.
- Establish rituals that make spending time together automatic and effortless.
- Imagine friendships that fit your needs, however you may define them.
- Be gracious and flexible with your friends, accepting the ebb and flow of your relationships.
2 Ideas From Others
It is never a waste of time to be outdoors, and never a waste of time to rest, even for a few hours.
~ May Sarton
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
~ Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
1 Question For You
Examine your task list. Take a look at everything on your list and ask yourself the following questions about each one: Will this have an impact that will last beyond this week or this month? How will it change my job, my career, my life? How will this further a long-term goal of mine? How important is that goal?...
~ Leo Babauta, The Power of Less
