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Speaker 1:
Hello friend, welcome to the audiovisual version of the advice column newsletter. If you prefer to listen or watch things over reading, like I do, I wanted to tell you about a man who walked along a dusty construction site and saw three reggae men who were all laboring hard at the same task. Sweat dripped from their foreheads and soaked into their shirts and they were just toiling away in the heat. As he came to the first one, he asked what are you doing? And the man replied I'm laying bricks. He continued on to this and found the second man, posed the same question and said what are you doing? The second man said I'm constructing a wall. Then he continued on to the third worker and he asked again what are you doing? The last man gestured up toward the heavens and said I'm building a magnificent cathedral. When we were just kids, my dad sat, my brother, my sister and me down by the fireplace and told us that story to explain to us that the frame that we choose matters In the vignette. All three men were doing the exact same task, but the way that they were looking at it was different, or the way that they were holding the situation was different. They were all, in fact, building a magnificent cathedral, but each successive man had the broader context for what he was doing and you could see how much more motivating it would be for the man who was holding it or framing it as building a magnificent cathedral to honor the Almighty versus the person who thought he was just laying brick.
Speaker 1:
Many times I forget that I can choose how I view something. For example, I could look at what I'm doing right now in this moment as writing or reading a newsletter, or I can see it as endeavoring to influence you in a positive way in your life and have an impact a little bit of one on how your life goes, and that choice affects my motivation and also my sense of purpose and how gratified I am by doing the work. Or, for example, for a busy mom or dad, driving kids around when it's really hectic after school and getting them to their activities could be viewed as just getting them from A to B, or it could be seen as investing in the human beings that they're becoming and investing in well-rounded kids. So again, the frame makes such a difference. My question for you as well as for myself, is how can we be very intentional about the frames that we choose? Can we think about how we're holding a particular situation and is there a place that opening our aperture and viewing a broader context could enrich our experience and bring us more fulfillment? You're building beautiful, magnificent cathedrals in your life and my hope is that you have the opportunity to see it that way and to step back and realize what you're creating and how splendid it is.
Speaker 1:
That's the newsletter for today. If you'd like to subscribe to the print version, you can go to AdviceColumncom. Forward slash, subscribe or email me anytime at Lisa at AdviceColumncom, and I'd love to hear from you what you're learning, what I can learn from you, and we can continue enjoying this journey of life together. I'll see you in the next episode.