Thought for the Week

I have some pages scanned from a design book of unknown origin, and I refer to them once in a while. I find them thought-provoking & have decided to pick a 'thought' to discuss/ think about in the blog. The title of the pages is An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. As cliche as it is, I will start with #1 - this has generated much discussion in our house, and is always worth continued thought or conversation.

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

I love this thought, and agree with it. So many of us walk through life, just letting it happen to us but not allowing ourselves to grow from our experiences. You can be impacted by experiences, but still not grow from them. Growth takes desire and willingness and an open heart/ mind. Impact is more like an undertow - you can have the wave wash over you, and it's easy to get sucked underneath and rolled over and over and over. We've all been guilty of this, but true forward progress can only be made when you are open to growth. I think that growth also takes introspection. Sure, bad things happen to good people, but unless you think about what's going on (not dwell, THINK), you'll just be stuck in the same negative pattern, repeating the same mistakes/ choices over and over.

Sidenote: Contractions are continuing, but very sporadic. I think he's going to make us wait at least another 10 days.