From the desk of Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – My son has a cleaning job on the weekends. This past weekend he took the extra time to climb a ladder and vacuum dead flies by the thousands from very high windows. Much to his disappointment and surprise no one noticed. I, however, was not surprised as I know that such oversights are a common occurrence.
I had to reflect – how often do I notice the way my office is cleaned? How much more often do I notice if something is missed in the cleaning? This is the tricky thing about cleaning – when you are the one wielding the broom you see the before and after, but if you just walk in to a well-swept hall how clean it is is not immediately eye catching. It is one of those hard facts of life – what is wrong seems to jump out at us, while great things that are going on splendidly but quietly are missed more often than not.
So often our meetings focus on issue alerts, problem solving, incident reports and challenges. This is all important work to lean into as teams to work to solve, but how often do we celebrate what we do smoothly and talk about what is great? Doing so takes a little shift, effort, some practice and a great deal of presence in our busy days. However noticing IS worth it, because the other side of noticing what is strong and going well is the resulting joy, gratitude and peace that come in knowing just for moment you are on the right track.
So, maybe in the busy-ness we did not take note of the four thousand dead flies clouding the window, but in the sunshine of today we should note that the window shines in clean sparkle, making the whole room just a little brighter.
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com
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