This morning, I attended a committee meeting, not because I had
committed to (on the contrary, I had spent a week consciously NOT
committing to attending or not attending). Two hours later, having
spoken a little and listened a lot, I prepared to return home. As I was
leaving, several people thanked me for my insights and input during the
meeting, and said they were glad I had been there. In two hours, I had
not volunteered to do anything. In fact, when we went around the room
stating what our actions would be before the next event, I said "pass."
Yet, when it was done, people were still glad, at least so they said,
that I had been there.
Often, we are required to have such clear definitions of our usefulness.
Did we accomplish a task? Did we earn a certain amount of money, or
solve a very particular, previously unsolvable problem? What I found out
this morning, two hours after I showed up at a meeting I could just as
easily have skipped, was that sometimes, just showing up and being
ourselves goes as far as doing the most work or solving the most
problems. Sometimes, speaking our mind or our heart, without the
preparation of knowing that we'll have to, is the greatest contribution
we can make. My time could have been spent sleeping, or negotiating kid
conflicts, or preparing my apartment for the coming week. Instead, I
showed up, and a few times, I spoke up. My presence and my words
mattered. And that felt good.
Sometimes, the best present we can give ourselves is just showing up.
No comments:
Post a Comment