See People

"See people not for who they are but for who they can become."  This is a great quote from an unknown author.  Two topics of interest come to mind when I ready this quote – optimism and empathy. 

Optimism - defined as an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.

Empathy - defined as the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. 

     No matter whom you are or where you work you have to interact with people every day.  Some of those interactions are from afar and some of those interactions are very close.  Based on those interactions you have seen that we are all a little different from each other.  We are all at different stages of our careers, our relationships, our health, our knowledge, so and so on. 

     Some of those differences are small in nature and some are drastic.  The small ones usually are barely noticed or hardly thought about.  However, the drastic ones have the possibility to have an impact on how we see that other person.  How we see that person can have an impact on the actions we take both positive and negative.  Negative actions produce negative results and positive actions produce positive results.

      Since we have the ability to choose, I am a big proponent of choosing the positive.  That is where the optimism kicks in.  However, in order to see the positive you are going to have to have the ability to be empathetic.  That often is a much harder task.  It takes a certain skill to show empathy.  Those of us who master it are much more successful than those of us who do not.

     The potential to be great is within us all.  Once you acknowledge that fact it becomes much easier to see.  You will do the work to see the world through someone else’s eyes and then be optimistic that if they haven’t achieved greatness, they still have the opportunity to do so.  We all do.  Those positive thoughts will lead to positive actions and ultimately positive results.  That collective thinking will lead to many positive results and ultimately a better life for us all. 

    For the rest of the week do me a favor and explore how you are seeing other people.  If you don’t see them as great, think about their own unique situation and how they ultimately could be great.  See them as they could be and not as they currently are.  You may be surprised how beneficial those positive thoughts will be to both you and them.

Have a good week and as always enjoy the journey!

With gratitude,

Drew