Lean... away

We're currently doing a rigorous Lean exercise at my workplace and when I look at the concepts, I think how apt and applicable it is to life as well.

In our personal lives, sometimes we fight hard to flog a dead horse, even though we are quite sure it wont do a Lazarus.

Maybe we could use 5 S principles to simplify our lives too?

SORT
STRAIGHTEN
SCRUB
STANDARDIZE
SUSTAIN

Sort - There is so much clutter in our minds, most of our malaise is a selfie, it's something we have created ourselves. If we could invest in some time for ourselves, to mull through the mess, we may be able to discard the unnecessary rather easily.

Straighten - Do we really need the things we believe we can't do without? Or the people? If we can decide which relationships need to be nurtured and which severed, we may find better direction.

Scrub - Honestly, this one is a must. How many negative thoughts pass our mind? The human spirit needs fodder to grow, and only positive thinking provides that salubrious impetus. Jettison the cynicism and shrug off that proverbial chip from the shoulder. Life is meant to be beautiful and not merely a cross to bear.

Standardize - How does one homogenize ones lives? To me it's making peace with all aspects in this journey, even those that we say we don't give a damn about. There are some relationships, specially the ones with parents and siblings if under strife that we need to make peace with. We can sermonize that it doesn't matter, who are we kidding. Let's begin with honesty. Honesty to and with oneself.


Sustain- The hardest. To sustain the above 4 S's and to sustain an interest, a resolution and a promise, above all to yourself. We need reinforcement and re-affirmation that the path we have chosen remains in focus. Maybe write post-it's and paste them or discuss with a trusted aide who will be your support system.


To quote Henry David Thoreau, " In the long run you hit only what you aim at. Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high."

And while it is not as simple, your swan song could read... I tried...

FIM disease...

I need help... Have a serious case of Foot In Mouth disease.

Sigh... Does it ever happen to you that you shoot something off your gob and immediately wish you hadn't said it. I'm sure it's common with many of us but with me its a chronic condition.

The paradox being, I don't say things that need to be said to the people who it should be said to and then shoot off something to an innocent bystander, so it may seem.

Can an apology take away the hurt and the pain caused by indiscriminate spouting? From where I am standing, it is perhaps easy to say that I said sorry, now what? But to the person who has just borne the brunt of your vitriolic tongue may not be as easily healed.

What can I do then to ensure that I bite the bullet and curb the trap? Breathe more deeply, take a moment, spend time with myself, arrange my thoughts and pray hard:

Dear God, Please keep your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth. Amen.

Funny thing.... memory

Read this and liked it so much... People and events are better in memory especially if it is a pleasant one!

We store memories into little compartments and while we subconciously or by choice subdue some, we let others flourish and revel in the joy of reminiscence.

Of moments that brought happiness and those nanoseconds of bliss are in reality magnified in the memory of the event than in its actual occurence.

Similar, an unpleasant and unhappy memory. The injustices we went through are blown out of propotion in our memory and we add color and life into by including things which may not even be connected.

So here I go, close my eyes and take that walk as I find layers of happiness on the asphalt of memory...

Suspend reality for a while... doesn't hurt, walk down the happy lane.

Assumptions... the mother of all eff up's

Why is it easier for people to assume negative intent than it is to assume positive intent.

Most people I know say it's smarter if you are not trusting, always question people's motives. Why?

Whenever someone does something nice or is kind, I can't help but appreciate the thought behind the gesture. But I'm told that it isn't entirely altruistic. That there is a sinister hidden motive.

Methinks such people with warped thinking must have miserable lives. If one is to believe that everything done for you has a deeper reason, how do you let happiness through your door? Aren't you closed to every moment of magic and mystery.


Quote by Charles de Lint :

“I do believe in an everyday sort of magic -- the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone.”

If I didn't have a curiosity and a belief in the good in people... I may as well be dead.