Beautiful poem, Finding What You Didn’t Lose by John Fox. More info about his work can be found here: Poetic Medicine

Finding What You Didn't Lose

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you've had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.
When someone deeply listens to you,
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind's eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!
When someone deeply listens to you,
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.

~ John Fox ~

This poem reminds me something written by Rumi, the 13th century Sufi poet:
Why do you search
For a loaf of bread?
When there is an
Enormous bakery

Transitions
I’ve been enjoying reading the book Transitions by William Bridges, written more than 25 years ago.

Bridges presents a simple and useful framework to see that our life transitions consist of three parts: 1) the ending; 2) the neutral zone; and 3) new beginning.

When we look closely, we are often in transition; sometimes in seemingly insignificant ways; sometimes in more major or profound ways. Getting out of bed this morning, signaled the end of sleep – for me, a fairly significant ending. I love (and need) my sleep. This is an interesting transition, worth paying attention to. As my night ends, what is my state of mind? As I get out of bed and set my foot on the floor, am a grateful, or grumpy; rushed or at ease; do I even notice?

One of the greatest (and mysterious) compliments I’ve ever received was from a teacher of mine, more than thirty years ago, who said he thought I had an “intelligence for simplicity.” I’ve been chewing on those words ever since, with both some pride and curiosity.

Lately, in the work I've been doing within organizations, I see the need for both intelligence and simplicity, in how people work together. People are complicated; organizations are complex. The environment of business is changing and mysterious.

A great question to ask yourself is: What is your vision for how you would like your business or organization to function? How can you simplify your business and your life?

In thinking about how to work with intelligence and simplicity, here are a few ideas that come to me about organizational life

- It is clear that each person, and the organization is doing something important, something that matters, something that makes a difference.