I had no idea...

There's this 'thing' going on in my life right now that's kind of cool--I mean, there are several 'cool things' going on but this one in particular is getting some very interesting feedback.

Take today for example.  I was seeing my Dentist.  I've been his patient since I was a young teen--like for fifteen years or something.  He's had a chance to watch me grow up, get married, have kids, and discover what I'm 'meant' to do with my life.

He's always been very encouraging and interested in what's happening in and around my life.

So today, he asks me how things are going, and I fill him in and he's glad to hear it.  Then, near the end of our time together I mention the 'cool thing' to him.

And he gets all teary-eyed.

He pulls me into the next room, asks for details, listens intently and basically tells me that 'this' is what I'm 'meant' to be doing and seems to indicate that he's been waiting for me to come to this.

Then he grabs my hand and prays with me, right there in his office.

And I'm thinking, 'Man, if even my Dentist 'knows' this 'thing' about me, how is it that I'm the last to know?"

Weird right?

'Course it'd be one thing if you totally lacked introspection and didn't spend any time examining your life or thinking about what you're doing, the value of it, and what you've been put on the planet to do.

But with me, that kind of reflection has always been a big part of my process.

And yet, here I am, going through this very interesting season in my life--at the culmination of three years of real struggle and some neat advances capped off by three months of intense near-despair and personal struggle--and I'm the 'last' to know.

Very interesting and humbling at the same time.

What I'm getting from this today is a reminder to be in even closer communication with the people around you re: getting their 'take' on where you're at and where you're headed.  Truth is most people won't offer their opinion unless you ask and once you do they'll be pretty free with it.  I've had another friend's marriage run off the rails this week and that got met thinking about openness.  I said to my wife that I wondered if they didn't really sit down to talk with us beforehand 'cause they were worried we'd flag some of the issues that have now really taken hold of them.

Fair enough right?

I mean, nobody likes a bummer, but I think (in their case) it's now safe to say that it would have been much better to get the 'bummer opinion' before they were married rather than after.

Let that be a lesson to me, and perhaps you.

Seek strong advice.

Even if you fear the result, go ahead and ask away.  Ask the wise, strong, accomplished people you know what they think about your trajectory.  Take their thoughts seriously.

Act on them.

Which in my case ('act on them') means that I keep pursuing the 'cool thing' that's happening in my life even though--from a couple different perspectives on it--it's a plain crazy thing to be doing.

(and if the wise folk around you suggest action opposite to what you've been thinking don't jump off the rails just yet, but slow the train down a bit so you can think carefully for a minute or two...)

What's your 'crazy-cool thing'?  You pursuing it?  

What does your Dentist think?

Or better yet, your wife...

T