My previous blog post – I am Done! (blogpost: I-am-Done) seems to have resonated
with many. I keep getting messages about how much people could relate to
this post and how this particular article challenged them to think about what
they are done with… Thanks for the feedback guys, it means a lot!
In this blog, I want to reflect on one piece of
feedback that I received that made my day. After a particularly long day that ended with a challenging call from someone close to me, offering what
seemed like criticism on something I had done, I put the phone down, only to hear it
ring again. The first thought that ran through my mind was… shew! When is
this going to end? On the other side of the line, I heard an unfamiliar voice
who said – is this Daphna? I’m not sure if you’ll remember me but I’m Bruce, we
met a couple of years ago. Of course I remembered Bruce straight away - we had
met briefly and chatted about coaching more than two years back. Bruce then
went on to tell me that he felt compelled to call me after reading an article I
had written that he really enjoyed. He understood that people often write
without knowing who is reading and what the impact of our writing is and he
felt moved to call me to give me his feedback. I was blown away that
he had made this effort and I asked which article it was that he was referring
to? He immediately said – the one called ‘I am done!’ He continued to say that
this article had caused him to think about his own circumstances and that he
was ready to take up the challenge of ‘what are you done with?’ He said
some beautiful and encouraging words and eventually we ended the call hoping that our paths would cross again in future.
There are two aspects to Bruce’s call that meant so much to me
and caused me to reflect.
The first aspect was that his call came at a real low point in
my day when I felt that I was dealing with a whole lot of nonsense that was
just being thrown at me – one thing after another. When I paused to reflect on
the sequence of events, I truly saw this as a little voice from heaven
reminding me of my own words – I am done! I immediately realised that I could
choose what to take on and what not to. There were elements of my day that were
mine to sort through and there were elements of my day that I was throwing
right back to the thrower! I am done with that! And the message came with
impeccable timing.
Lets all begin to notice those messages that seem to come just at
the right moment to remind us of something important we may have forgotten. Everyone
gets their own little voice from heaven.
The second aspect was that here was Bruce, reading an article
on the internet that he enjoyed but he didn’t stop at that. He went on to make a
call to pay a compliment to the writer – moi! How often do we stop what we’re
doing to pay a compliment to someone else for something that they did really
well? From the way I felt, I can tell you that Bruce’s gesture meant the world
to me – so why don’t we do this more often? And… when someone does pay us a compliment,
how often do we brush it off and think – they don’t really mean it, it wasn’t a
big deal! At the very least we can stop to appreciate the complimentor’s
efforts and intention. A further step would be to give more compliments ourselves. Go out and begin telling people
what you appreciate about them.
Thank you, Bruce, for reminding me of the power of a compliment,
for taking the time and effort to make that call and for being the little voice
from heaven, reminding me of exactly what I needed to remember at that moment!
I am done.
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