TOOLS OF MASSIVE CONSTRUCTION

We are hearing lots of "news" these days about weapons of mass destruction.  It's not really news, in that humans have been creating and developing such things for centuries.  And we are so bombarded, literally, with news and programs designed to shock and instill fear that we have learned for the survival of our spirits to tune them out.  Attempt to ignore them until we just can't anymore.  There have been decades now of movies that practically bludgeon us about the head, neck and shoulders to get us to feel, to react.  Yet we spend a lot of our time (wittingly or unwittingly) shutting down our feelings to shut down and shut out what is offensive, difficult, even horrifying in the images and sounds broadcast into our homes and cars  -- in an effort to simply pause and breathe and think so as to respond, clearly and meaningfully.

Many of us want even more than that - more than striving to keep our ambitions alive while making so much effort to shut things out.  Are you one of them?  We want to keep alive our ability to choose, to create what we truly want, what is really meaningful to us.  Yet, as we shelter and protect ourselves, we sometimes hold back the unique contributions each of us knows well we can make through our work and otherwise.  Inside of us is that "spark" that makes us who we are, different from everyone else, that defines our true gifts.  We spend a lot of time waiting for the right place and the right moment to let them out, wondering if it will really make any difference.

Well this is the place and now is the time, and yes, it will make a difference.  Like ripples on the pond of life, our small stone of contribution will move outward in waves affecting other people, conversations and events in ways we may never know.

It seems to come as a surprise to hear something that on some level we already truly know:  that our true gifts are those things we do so easily, so well, and even so joyfully, that most of the time we think they are "no big deal."  Yet, somewhere inside, we also know they are contributions no one can make quite like we do.  We want to give them, and deserve to be acknowledged for that because they do make a difference somewhere and to someone, as well as in ways we may never know.  Let them out, and that acknowledgement will come.  Sometimes from the outside, and always from within our hearts where we truly know what's what, what's real.   

Humans have the capacity to take a thought or idea and make it real, give it mass, create something out of "nothing."  The steps in between usually involve communication, language, describing the project in words until it takes shape, actions can be added, and it is completed.  So start with the best Tools of Massive Construction you have:  your ideas, your words and the actions that naturally follow.  How can what you think and what you say be deployed to make something better than it is now?  Cleaner, safer, more pleasant, more productive, simpler, tastier . . .?  Focus on what works.  How can it be made to work even better, for more people?  Look at something that doesn't work well.  Rather than going on about the problem, consider what does work in that instance, program, project, relationship, situation, and focus on how it can be improved so that the things that don't work can fall away and be replaced by something better.  Then take those constructive ideas and speak them, courageously share who you really are -- with good purpose. 

INGENUITY GEM: 

Ideas and words are tools - sometimes our best tools.  They can be constructive or destructive.  What is one thing you can do with something in front of you right now to make it better?  Consider the things you do really well, your innate gifts and talents, the ones the give you the most joy -- and share them with someone else in words or actions.  Chances are it will be just what that person or situation needs, or it will ripple out to one that does.  If each us practices this, consciously, at least once a day and passes it along, we will collectively be utilizing the best Tools of Massive Construction we have available to us on the planet.  How will you practice this simple exercise?  Who do you know that would benefit from hearing this simple message?  Psssst . . . pass it on! 

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