Traveling brings new perspective, new stimuli, opportunities to read more, and puts you in different environments around people living in divergent communities. I just returned from 5 days away from home, split between Atlanta and NYC. I don't usually read Rolling Stone Magazine, but I bought it to read on the plane. I recommend this frightening article about the Mega Banks.
"How can you live a good life without constantly interrogating it?" (Depending on where you research, a query similar to this goes all the way back to Socrates.) The philosophy behind this quote is at the foundation of my writing and my creation of XOQ. I go through each day observing humans, and I am always trying to fit into the positive spaces created by Elley, my job, family, friends, and the circles and spirals that extend out from there.
Just like Siddhartha, I did not learn from formal teachers and instruction. I learn from the individuals I encounter in my life. I used to be chronically "dissatisfied," but Siddhartha reminded me just enough times that I finally changed, realizing that "too much dissatisfaction obscures the potential for satisfaction." (Herman Hess). I have been listening and growing.
In Atlanta this week, at Home Depot HQ, 19 of my colleagues from around the country and I were presented the "Fish" philosophy. Choose your attitude everyday! It is based on a customer service culture developed by the employees of the world famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. Click on the link I embedded HERE if you want to see the video.
Awareness and "be here now" are at the core of the fish story and are necessary for personal and business success. I have known this and tried to live it since 1980.
The first play of the game was the tell. When you are the hunted, you are frightened. There is no doubt that the aggressive Seahawks were stalking the Broncos from the start.
We enjoyed every moment of the victory while huddled with Casey's friends in North Seattle. The joy and excitement of watching the smack-down put on by the Legion of Boom was so much sweeter arm and arm with hundreds of thousands of 12th men and women in Seattle.
Our trip was a master class in immersing yourself in 48 hours of friendship and fan-dom. We soaked up Pike Place Market in the morning. We drove by the stadium and walked the streets listening to the chants of the morning crowds warming up for the attack. We feasted on wings and Bloody Mary's, warding off the chill of the early afternoon by absorbing the of hugs from old friends and the building heat of the wood burning stove.
I was very confident that the script would go very much like it did. The landslide came early and the outcome only seemed in doubt because our brains told us we have seen comebacks before. But the truth is this game was decided 2 weeks ago, even before the NFC title game. The sore loser 49'er fans would have experienced the same result against Denver if our season series was 1-2 against them. Both NFC finalists can bring this kind of warrior dominance to the final game.
In 2014, it is us! We have waited, cheered, flinched, and wondered if we would finally get our ring. And now that we have it, it is ours forever. Go Hawks!
