Understanding

Good Morning,

Recently I have felt a little overloaded and overwhelmed at work. One particular client seems to run the entire studio through the ringer at least once a week. Despite my best efforts to maintain some sense of balance and understanding, they always seem to push the buttons that cause me to spiral into old habits and ways of reacting.

The predicament reminds me of a story told about Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famous nineteenth-century poet and essayist. Seems he was out one day trying to get a calf into the barn, but he made the common mistake of thinking only of what he wanted: Emerson pushed and his son pulled.. but the calf stiffened his legs and stubbornly refused to leave the pasture.

The housemaid saw their predicament. She couldn't write essays and books; but on this occasion at least, she had more horse sense, or calf sense, than Emerson. She put her maternal finger in the calf's mouth, and let the calf suck her finger as she gently led him into the barn.

The lesson is simple but profound: The best way to help and influence others is by considering their desires, not just our own.

Have a beautiful day!

Peace and Love, Jim