I don't know about you, but I've been feeling unsettled during the past couple months. The world is shifting in unexpected ways.
I'm trying to discern What is Mine to Do. Are you?
As I listen within, I'm reminded of some things I have learned about What is Mine to Do.
In a state where I used to live and work, a new governor barraged the legislature with new initiatives as soon as he took office.
Many people disagreed with what the new governor was trying to force through the legislature.
Every day on my way to work, I walked through thousands of protestors surrounding the capitol building, and I wondered if and when I should protest too. But if I did, and if I were arrested, who would take care of my child? Would I be fired? Trying to figure it out only paralyzed me.
About 3 weeks into that mileau, I went on a weekend retreat. I came home KNOWING What was Mine to Do. It was to start remodeling my basement (!). In retrospect, it turned out to be the right thing, but that's another story.
My takeaway: Rest can create real clarity without effort.
Meanwhile, the protests continued and spilled into our government offices.
One day, I was walking down the hall and heard someone crying.
I poked my head into a dark conference room and found one of my coworkers (I'll call her Darlene).
Darlene, through sobs, explained that the governor was going to move all the supposedly segregated funding that paid for programs serving over 1000 municipalities and countless small businesses, to fund something mostly to benefit big business.
Millions of dollars, folks, diverted just like that.
I listened to Darlene pull her thoughts together. When she seemed calmer, we left the conference room. I turned left to go back to my cubicle. Darlene turned right and took the elevator down to the cafeteria.
Here's the "rest of the story"
In the elevator was the newly appointed head ("Secretary") of our agency, a business woman determined to run our agency like a business, headed off to the capitol. (Note: in my many years at that agency, I NEVER met a Secretary in the elevator.)
To her credit, Ms. Secretary noticed Darlene's tear-streaked face and asked her what she was upset about.
By then, Darlene was calm enough to explain succinctly about how the shift of funding would impact our state's communities and businesses. A true elevator speech.
"Oh!" Ms. Secretary exclaimed. "We didn't realize that! I'll go talk with the governor and see what can be done."
To make a long story shorter, about 2/3 of the funding was restored to the segregated fund to be used as the legislature originally intended.
What I learned
Now, in this remarkable series of events, What was Mine to Do was a humble act of listening, although I didn't know it until Darlene shared the rest of the story with me months later.
And, even now, I may not ever know What is Mine to Do in The Big Picture. But I do know that even small acts of listening can make a real difference to one person.
How might your listening make a difference? And, what within you needs to be heard?
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Photo credit: Georg Ijevic from Getty Images, accessed through Canva Pro
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