Friday, August 14, 2009

BE BRAVE, JUST HIT THAT 'SEND' BUTTON

Well, the good news is that John Friend has started a blog. Many of you know that and are probably reading it. For some of you, this may be news. The other good news is that he's only made 3 entries, so you can get in on the ground floor of reading and following it.

To find the blog, go to the Anusara® website, and look at the 'Community' menu. Click on 'John's Blog'.

Yesterday's entry was about offering and accepting feedback. The message explained the mechanics of feedback and was directed towards the appropriate manner in which to accept feedback. (I was pleased to have him write that not all feedback is accurate or written in stone; but we do need to listen to it, absorb it, and contemplate it anyway. There is probably a part of even an inaccurate statement that we can learn from.)

So, I offered a comment to that blog entry. Sundari, my mentor, used a tool -- write down 5 positives from a feedback session and 5 areas to be improved. This - as I review it to make sure I'm doing (or trying to do) what she suggested - is valuable to remind me of what needs to happen AND what I am doing well. My tendency would be to focus only on the 'needing improvement' areas and forget about the positive.

As I typed the comment, I felt a bit nervous. I read, adjusted, re-read, adjusted again, re-read, and read again.

Why was I nervous? That age-old thought that what I have to say or ask may be viewed as 'not so intelligent' or 'doesn't she know that already'.

Not so. Several times I've asked questions and people thank me for asking. We're all a bit fearful of putting ourselves out there, of exposing our bare underbellies. Mine is just a bit more calloused than others, and I don't worry about it so much anymore. I need to know the stuff, or to comment on it, and therefore I will usually go for it.

Except when it's John Friend's blog entry I'm commenting on -- for that, the old nervous, self-conscious Leslie returned. But, in the end, I HIT that 'send' button.

Enjoy your day and your weekend. Off to Spokane (see previous post for details).

1 comment:

Doc Savage said...

So I've been reading your Blog for a while and tonight I heard John say, via DVD, to write down what your learn to help internalize it. So I've decided to start blogging my journey in Anusara. Thanks for the motivation.