Mental Meanderings
I’m visiting a part of the world right now where the air I breathe is pure, the land I walk on is unpolluted, and the view on the horizon is breathtaking. I find myself staring constantly as I try to take it all in, and I find myself staggered by the magnificence of God’s marvelous creation.
At times like these you can’t help but let the mind wander, and in those wanderings (better characterized as meanderings) all sorts of things come to mind as the chaos of my mind gets nestled into the serenity of my surroundings. My biggest challenges seem much more manageable here; my biggest frustrations seem just a bit less irritating here; and my biggest hopes and dreams seem just a bit more achievable here. I’m not sure why. But I am sure that something magical happens each time I head North for revival and rejuvenation (some business gets done too).
In my mental meanderings, I think about the enormous issues we face in our business today as we position and re-position for new growth and new value creation. I also think about the distress that some of our team is feeling as they wonder (legitimately) about their future and whether or not our company is a secure job for them going forward. I think about the strain caused to our families by the seemingly always increasing separations, and I wonder when that becomes too much. And I wonder about our nation as we undergo some great change in our government and our politics and as we deal with what seems like a never ending string of natural disasters that are considered “historic events”.
When I’m in this state, I’m in no rush to get to closure and I’m in no hurry to plot my way ahead. I am keenly interested though in properly characterizing the issues and thus prioritizing those issues for future thinking and resolution.  In that process of characterizing and prioritizing, when your mind is free of the clutter of what has unfortunately become an all too normal routine, then new ideas are introduced and new ways of overcoming the challenges and the burdens seem to come from the deepest recesses of the mind.
I have one more day of serenity and a day and a half of staring at God’s magnificent creation. I plan on using every minute possible to mentally meander, and when my time in revival is passed, I plan to once again jump right back into making every single interaction I have something of meaning to every individual I come in contact with.