As I savour its message and prose, it becomes apparent that the same enemy that covertly destroyed many from past generations still haunts us today. Interestingly, although this enemy applies the exact same strategy as it did in the past, for all the knowledge and knowing in this age, I and many people I have encountered, occasionally fall prey to it. The burden of attempting to accomplish so much so soon, if left unchecked, can make the strongest of people so weak that they can barely lift a finger. For this week\u2019s assignment, I have chosen to explore the story entitled, \u201cYou want to gain emotional poise? Remember the hourglass, the grains of sand dropping one by one\u2026 the crowded hours come to you always one moment at a time\u201d. This story was authored by James Gordon Gilkey and presented in Watson\u2019s (1951, pp. 219-222) anthology.<\/p>\n
The story holds key lessons relevant for maintaining emotional balance and inner tranquillity and marshalling one\u2019s inner strength to one\u2019s advantage even in the face of the obvious challenges of keeping up to speed with the demands of modern living. A key lesson in the story is that by mastering the art of living one moment at a time, amidst the immense burden of responsibility hidden in the itinerary of our work schedules, we\u2019ll find the strength to accomplish far more than we could possibly imagine. As I ponder on this lesson, I realize even more so, that all my over 40 years of living have occurred just one day at a time. How come I sometimes allow the thoughts and burdens of tomorrow prevent me from living and enjoying the moment today? How come?<\/p>\n
In my leadership context, it is sometimes a huge undertaken to keep a clear head amidst the plethora of phone calls, text messages, chats, emails, scheduled and unscheduled personal visits, family demands, work schedules, staff meetings, dealing with unforeseen situations and a lot more, which all compete for my undivided attention and mostly require a real-time response. As I savour the message and prose in Gilkey\u2019s story, I realize that the burden of this huge undertaken is only an illusion! Like the hourglass whose grains of sand drop one by one, all of life and all that I have to accomplish, unfolds in separate moments and each task is best handled \u2013 one by one! I also realize that Gilkey\u2019s story is not a clarion call to complacency or slothfulness. While the need to plan ahead is clearly apparent, when it comes to execution, one day at a time, one task at a time, one step at a time; completely immersing myself within each task, shall empower me with ruthless efficiency, a clear head, maintaining my emotional poise, and living free from all the worry and anxiety which the generational enemy continues to bring. I conclude with the declaration of my freedom from the burden of trying to so much so soon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
References<\/strong><\/p>\n Watson, L.E (1953). Light from many lamps<\/em>. Simon and Schuster Inc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I savour its message and prose, it becomes apparent that the same enemy that covertly destroyed many from past generations still haunts us today. Interestingly, although this enemy applies the exact same strategy as it did in the past,… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,33,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-light-from-many-lamps-unit-8","category-unit-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}