Thursday, May 18, 2006

Nice buzz

Well, I am at our national conference and it has been great. I am feeling inspired and motivated - I am looking forward to implementing strategies I am learning here in the work that we do. I love conferences like this because I see all the great ideas we can implement to make our organization better. I like philosophizing with other key staff on how we can implement various practices and like thinking about how we can make our future - both the organization and the community - better.

However, there are a couple of things I have been thinking about outside of work. The first one is pretty mundane advice to bloggers everywhere...don't post on your blog how you are going to refocus on losing weight the day before you leave for a three day work conference to stay at a hotel that has free wine for happy hour. That's it, you know what I mean.

The second one is that I am realizing there are two kinds of people, especially when it comes to the workplace. There are the kinds of people who are secure in themselves and don't really concern themselves with office gossip or office politics. They might make some snide comments to themselves or there one close confident but they would never disparage another coworker in front of a large group of coworkers. They want others to succeed and do their best to humbly accept their own shortcomings, work on improving those shortcomings and appreciate others for what they bring to the organization - even if those others have an extremely different style, approach and attitude.

And then there are the other kinds of people. They are the gossips and the ones who look to disparage others in order to make themselves feel better. They are the ones who believe work is about power and control and believe winning comes from pure self promotion and belittling others. In some organizations it can be very "out there". Luckily, in our organization, it exists, but it is not a significant issue that is affecting our employees. But it still exists, it is still there and I have observed it this week.

I am unsure why I am blogging on this. I believe, as I hope you could guess, that I am part of the first group. I think each group gets ahead in its own way and therefore, when it comes to success in an organization, I am not trying to say I am better than those who don't gossip. But, I guess I wish it didn't exist at all. Different strokes, right?

I was thinking tonight that every person in our lives is there to teach us a lesson. I am doing my best to understand what the gossips are trying to teach me. Maybe it is reinforcing the idea that I can't worry what others think about me and I can't possibly please everyone. Maybe it is that each of us, in the grand scheme of life, will have coming to us what we put out to the world in energy and intention. Or maybe it is just a challenge to see the gifts that others have.

I might have a better answer if I wasn't buzzing...

...but I am okay with that, I am having fun.

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