Читать книгу Getting Unstuck - Timothy Butler - Страница 7

This is a book about how impasse, like the Greek god Hermes, often appears in our lives as a herald, to let us know we must change. But it is also about vision. It is about how we find our way, again and again, from impasse to renewed meaning—at work, at home, with colleagues, and with family—and how we find a renewed sense of self in those aspects of our lives that bring both passion and satisfaction.

Vision, as I use the word here, is not merely a plan for the future, it also is a renewed sense of purpose in our day-to-day work. It entails stopping, reflecting, imagining, and then acting—stepping anew into the creative flow. It requires building, over time, a clearer and more immediate awareness of the activities, people, and environments we are most likely to find rewarding. Vision allows us to tap into what is already moving within us at a deeper level, already asking for fuller expression. With vision, we are better able to recognize what resources, behavior changes, and relationships we will need in order to reconnect with what is most important to us.

When we have a clear vision, we feel more connected to the world, more alive. The gap between our thought and action, our internal world and external world, vanishes, and we more fully occupy our “self.” Our everyday choices feed off our vision the way a lantern flame feeds off kerosene.

Just as important as vision is re-vision, because the process of seeing anew happens time and again throughout our lives. Sometimes re-vision leads to a relatively minor decision, as when we plan carefully for an important event or change the priorities of certain tasks. At other times, re-vision leads us to major change, as when we marry or pursue a radically new career path. There are times of great epiphanies, when our awareness opens and we gain insight into what big things we want and which big things we must do. And then there are times when a slight shift makes a dramatic difference in how we feel about something smaller—the arc of our workday or our time with our children.