Taking Care of Yourself

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Sun Oct 15 14:44:41 PDT 2006


One of the sub themes in the "Market Place" item is all about taking care of
yourself. At least that was one of my themes. :-) And I think it is real
important. There is something about us "do-gooders" (and I think most of us
qualify) that says if you are not suffering and sacrificing, you are not
doing a good job. And God forbid you should ever think about taking care of
yourself, and even for a moment - and certainly not at the "expense" of the
client, if only because they are paying you (or might be).

I think this dog does not hunt - sorry for the "Americanism" - but the
translation is - Rubbish! If you don't take care of yourself, you surely
can't take care of anybody else. That doesn't mean you should not go the
"extra mile,"  make the best effort, and/or all that sort of stuff. But I
think we also have the responsibility to keep a careful eye on our "fuel
tanks" (physical, mental, and emotional). When you are running on empty -
you don't run. 

Everybody has to deal with this in their own way. And with a 70 year old
body/mind/whatever I will deal with it quite differently than some younger
folks. But we all (I think) have the responsibility to pace ourselves and
keep a careful eye on the territory. There is a pattern and flow in every
OS. You can not calculate it by the minute, but the ebb and flow of energy
and need are very real and rather predictable. In the "Opening" you are IT.
No place to run, no place to hide - you are the one. And in a lot of
situations people's lives (if not their livelihood) hang in the balance. It
is not stretching a point to say that you have their lives in your hands.
But only briefly, and you do not "own" the lives. So turn them loose and let
them go. And then, for goodness sake - take care of yourself. Maybe you are
not the napping sort, but a short walk can be wonderful. And the time will
come when your presence/focus will be critical. Ready?

Just a thought.

Harrison



Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>

Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
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