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Personal Identity: Forgiveness

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Can we talk about . . .

forgiveness.

I’ll take a risk and say something revealing.
All of my life, I’ve been, next to my dad, the most forgiving person.
And then I think my father had a little extra forgiveness tucked away for me.

That’s not to say. I can’t be nasty, or blind, or even selfish. I suffer from every distinctly human trait. Some more than most.

I just can’t keep an angry state. I have this overwhelming sense of hope. I can’t help but see another side besides my own.

melting heart

I don’t know that all of this giving and forgiving is a good thing. I know it’s come back to bite me. I’ve the marks to prove that’s so.

Can one person be too forgiving? My head tells me that it could be a fact.

My heart tells me “no.”
I like my heart’s answer best.

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Change the World: Imagine You’re a Kid Playing Grownup

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Play Grownups

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My son, at age 5, used to sit at a little table on landing that overlooked our dining room. He called it his office, and his office had rules. Like any good office manager, he wrote them down, so that people would know what to do.

Visitors to my son’s office could read each rule in big printing on a separate signs. One had a misspelling that was too charming to correct. These are a few that I remember: Be nice to each other. . . . Don’t take stuff you don’t need. . . . Tell mean people to stop. . . . Write neatly.. . . Do things in order. . . . Don’t yell. . . . . and Water the planets.

(Maybe it wasn’t a misspelling. He sure liked the planets when he was five.)

The signs were so marvelous, I asked to borrow them. I took them to work, and at our next team meeting, we discussed what they might mean. How much fun was that?!!! We got to remember how kids view the world. We got to apply our kid-like reasoning to the complex issues that grown-up work brings.

Throughout that week and for weeks later, when we problem solved issues, we would use the vocabulary of my son’s office rules. We would say, “Do things in order,” when we meant follow the plan. We would say, “Water the planets.” when we meant pay attention to people, or details, or the conversation at hand. Every time we would laugh.

We were a bunch of grownups pretending we were kids playing grownups. It made the whole thing a delicious conspiracy of getting things done.

We can change the world, just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Wonderful Dots

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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I’m on vacation, or rather I’m recuperating from the frenetic run-up to the vacation. The word vacation made me think of footprints in the sand. Who made them and where. Blogs are like footprints, they are made everywhere. I wanted to take you on journey beyond my North American shores to show how dots from all over can reach us when it is so unexpected.

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It all started with Grigor. From afar as Croatia, he inspired me today. He only needed one sentence…

We must not require from our customers to be heroes.

So simply and so profound… a dose of wisdom for the day.

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Head over to the United Kingdom. How can you not read about DozeyMagz and her life with DopeyDaddy, Dustbunny and Mophead. It has the universality of being a mom with a heartwarming local twist from the land that beget Harry Potter. Her post on British weather made me smile…

There’s a big bright yellow thingie in the sky. The sky has changed from bland grey to a strange blue. It feels warm outside. I’m a bit scared.

A cup of tea with that dose of wisdom. I think I’ll read her blog with my daughter tonight.

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To finish our trilogy today, Bhaswati shares with us from India. Through her translation, she’s given us a gift, a beautiful piece of writing that now transcends language.

One doesn’t find the time to grasp that which remains unsaid within.

A lingering thought after the cup of tea is done.

For me, they are all some kind of wonderful…

How many posts on your blog does it take to move me?
just ONE

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Just one minute . . .

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imagine

what we might say if we only had 60 seconds to say so.

I love you.

I’m sorry.

I want you to be safe.

I’ll miss you so much.

Be happy.

I was wrong.

You are the best part of my life.

Thank you.

Please talk to me.

I’m so grateful.

You make it all worthwhile.

You are unforgettable.

I have faith in you.

I’ll always be by your side.

Why not say it anyway?

Liz's Signature

Change the World: Take a Challenge

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How-cool-is-this!!!
Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings sent out an email to a few close friends about a series he writes monthly.

Robert’s been thinking, and he’s decided to make a challenge. He said he wouldn’t mind if I shared that challenge with you. So, here’s an excerpt from that email.

Over the last couple of days I’ve posted a two-part series at Middle Zone Musings on the subject of change, and got so inspired it prompted me to do something crazy (I mean, more than usual). So, go ahead and call me crazy if you like, but here it is: I’ve decided to change the world!

OK, I can hear it now; a chorus of, “Well, that’s just crazy!” (See; told ya!) But I don’t mind; I’m still goin’ for it! But, I really need your help (sound of stampede to the door).

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been inspired by Liz Strauss’s Change The World series of posts. It always amazed me to realize just how much a single person can change the world, given the right circumstances. So I said to myself, “Self, why don’t you change the world?” Amazingly enough, me, myself and I agreed to quit talking about it and actually do something! (After all, it’s so rare that we all agree on something! I mean, besides ice cream; ice cream is always good.)

With that audacious goal in mind, I’ve just kicked off a Special Edition of our usual monthly What I Learned From… writing project with a two part post (yesterday’s and today’s) on the topic of Change. Yes, I know it’s a bit early – usually it starts on the first Monday of every month, but this time we’re going to need a few more days.

Please do me a favor and drop by the Zone, read these posts, and consider the challenge. Then, if you’d like to change the world with me, then by all means, let’s do it!

So, what do you think? Are you up to a challenge?

Will you change the world?

You, me, Robert . . . we can change the world, just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

A Whole New Day

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What Are You Waiting for?

It’s a whole new day.
Look at the sky.
We’ve never seen that exact sky before, nope, not that one. It’s brand new today.
What will you do to celebrate it?

What whole new thought will you bring to the whole new you that woke up this whole new morning? Will you take a whole new minute to savor an idea?

Will you have a whole new cup of coffee or your favorite tea, while you while away some time just looking out the window on a whole new day that’s just beginning?

Might you plan a whole new way of doing something? Take a whole new walk around a whole new block outside your building. Say a “hello” to a whole new someone you might like to meet.

Will you take a chance at finding a whole new side to someone who you’ve known for what seems like forever? Could you start a whole new habit of smiling for no good reason?

You have a whole new day to think of something.

It’s your life and the coolest part is tomorrow will be a whole new day all over again.

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Holy cow! Can you believe a blue, blue sky like that? It’s a whole new way of seeing.

Liz's Signature