Meeting Binary

Once again, you are showing up to the usual weekly business meeting for your group.

The meeting where the leader always drags the group through topic after topic that nobody really cares about. And there is the one person who always over-talks, they showed up and…they are over-talking. A few people are trying to discreetly be on their phones, but are still nodding, grunting, and laughing when appropriate. And they they are not really that discreet.

The meeting that slowly eats away at your soul no matter how hard you try to keep your mouth shut, keep the meeting focused, and ‘use the bathroom’ when certain topics come up.

The meeting is missing something.

The meeting is missing you.

The meeting where your input would make it better. Your preparation would help the meeting leader prepare better topics. Your input during the meeting would help resolve issues faster.

You can add in to the meeting rather than take away. Everyone in the room is either adding in or taking away. The people on their phones are taking away from the meeting. You, sitting silently, are taking away from the meeting. At least the over-talking guy is contributing something to the meeting.

You can add in rather than take away. Move the meeting forward and escape the mind numbing pain of another thousand hours of painful meetings.

Where can you contribute to make a meeting better? What other avenue in life can you be a more active participant in? Where else can you join in rather than riding along?

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Contributing

Whenever I look at ancient architecture, I have to almost physically stop my self and remember someone built this building. Someone sat down, laid out a plan and decided to build this building. They decided it best for this series of bricks, carved stone, or pour blocks to go where they are.

I can look at the modern civilization around the ancient architecture and see this building is completely out of place. It no longer belongs, but once upon a time, it was exactly where it needed to be for the purpose it was made.

It was made where it was made for a reason.

For the construction no longer standing, it had a purpose but it did not stand the test of time. Whether the materials gave out, mother nature had her way, or war took its toll. The building is no more.

Today, I can see modern society, government, and the culture. They have all been placed where they are for a reason. They were all created with a purpose. I use all of them regularly.

However, I have to be prepared to contribute to them if I expect to ever see them change for the better. I have to be willing to throw in my two cents or I will forever be a silent victim of their demise.

How are you working to make the structures you are a part of better? What are you doing to add to positive forward progress? How are you making the people around you better?

Contributing,

–JT

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Value In Scale Part 2

My value cannot exceed the value of my neighbor. Not in the sense of dollars and cents; but in the sense of intrinsic value. However, I cannot deny my value in the sense of contributing to the whole. 

I am a part of the whole.

The whole does not exist without all of the parts. 

My part is important.

My part contributes to the whole.

Much like a recipe, my part is not the most important ingredient, but it is important when I reference the recipe. If I were baking an apple pie, for instance, I could not leave out the cinnamon. The recipe may only call for a teaspoon of cinnamon; but, how would the pie taste without it? Or the crust? It is almost absurd to think of a true blue homemade American apple pie without a crust. There may be derivations for certain allergies or dietary needs, but truly. When I am talking apple pie, I am talking about a bottom crust, a top crust with a basketweave, and everything amazing in between. 

How can the world be the world without me? It would continue to spin, churn, orbit, and time would go on. However, for me not to contribute to the whole of the world and to lock myself in my room and ignore the rest of the world is to say me meeting my own needs makes me more important than anyone else in the world. 

There may be seasons to back off and healing; but as a rule, I can say that I should be contributing to the world at large. The world at large should also be a better place because of my contributions. I am a needed ingredient to the flavor of the recipe. The cinnamon contributes as a spice, so I should contribute as a participant in the world’s turning. 

What are your contributions? What contributions are you holding back from the world?

Spicy,

–JT