On August 28th, I shared in Facebook that I had spent some time in the wee hours of the morning scribbling notes with some ideas for a blog post. I didn't expect it would take me so long to actually write this post. Time sure has gone fast since then!
I've dug out those scribbles and had a good chuckle just now with myself, because the notes I scribbled on August 28th are actually indecipherable now... They are destined for the recycle bin. However, the key point from that morning is still clear in my mind. I had reflected about something I had heard various times in my past, but that really I had not fully grasped until that moment on August 28th, and I think that realization has led me to a much better mental state, so wish to share in case this helps someone else as well.
I've dug out those scribbles and had a good chuckle just now with myself, because the notes I scribbled on August 28th are actually indecipherable now... They are destined for the recycle bin. However, the key point from that morning is still clear in my mind. I had reflected about something I had heard various times in my past, but that really I had not fully grasped until that moment on August 28th, and I think that realization has led me to a much better mental state, so wish to share in case this helps someone else as well.
The key reflection was that thoughts seem to lead to actions, and those actions put me in a state where my emotions are stronger and more difficult to regulate, but if I work through those actions then that seems to lead to new beliefs where my emotional state becomes more controlled and positive again. With each thought in life, I think a "wave" of emotion seems to occur, and so the key to life seems to be to "ride the waves" that come with thoughts. Ultimately, after thoughts occur, through taking actions with focus on practicing virtues, by practicing patience, persistence, and love, to name a few of those virtues, even the strongest states of negative emotion eventually seem to settle down, leading to new states of being that tend to be quite wonderful, where my beliefs are much more positive. When many such thoughts all occur at once, life can feel like there are too many waves to cope, but it's important to remember that even the stormiest moments in the ocean eventually are followed by times when the waves settle down and there is calm again.
Sadly, I reflect that not everyone is able to "ride those waves"... All too often, people reach states where they cannot cope with the crests of too many waves at once, and so instead of having their thoughts lead to actions that eventually lead to new and positive beliefs, those people end up in a state where their beliefs include the idea that life is not worth living anymore. Too often, this happens with people we know and love, and we do not even know it's happening until it's too late. In fact, this happened to an extended family member just a few short weeks ago, as I was leaving to attend Buildathon, and so I have been reflecting on this quite a lot in the past few weeks. Whenever such events happen, I sadly also think of famous people that I admired, like Robin Williams or Whitney Houston, or the boy my son's age who took his life earlier this year, who clearly struggled to "ride the waves" as well.
Perhaps you have felt like this, too? In early August, it scares me now a bit to think I was close to this state myself. Since then, I feel grateful that the actions that occurred led me to a better state of belief though, where my faith has grown and my outlook on life has improved greatly. Conversations have led me to realize as well, life often makes people feel that way... Often, as humans we are put into situations where those waves of life can put us into negative states of belief, and when many such waves occur simultaneously it can be very difficult to cope. On the other hand, those waves of life can lead to some pretty amazing outcomes as well!
To illustrate, now I'll share some of the "waves" of thoughts, actions and new beliefs from Buildathon. As I tell this story, perhaps you can visualize all the waves that happened at once, and just how "rocky" the experience became.
In early August, I received a message indicating I should get ready to attend Buildathon. At that time, I knew little about what a Buildathon was, so I confess I had a belief that sending me to participate in one with such short notice was not going to be worthwhile. Still, I try to approach life with thoughts that my boss perhaps knows better than I do, and so I chose to take actions to try to achieve positive results even when my beliefs were not aligned in that direction. Even though I was not really clear about what we were going to do at the event, I took actions to get ready to go by doing things like booking flights and hotel and getting vaccinations, and participated in meetings where I did my best to understand what I was meant to do at the event. I had thoughts that if I took actions to get ready as requested, then ultimately something good would come from the experience. I really had little idea about what I was getting myself into!
As I experienced this "getting ready" wave, I was home, so there were personal waves happening as well... This was when I had the thought that I wanted to have some fun, so I took actions to organize and host a family and friends potluck, and that led to belief that indeed we did have some fun. This was when I had the thought that I would help a girl by taking action to allow her to live with us for a while to get back on her feet, and that led to belief that indeed she did get back on her feet as now she is living on her own. This was when I had thought that I would try publicly praying for a cousin who is seriously ill, in hopes this would help him, and I believe now he is doing a bit better as a result of that action. Even before the trip to Buildathon, it seemed like there were "many waves to ride", to point I had serious insomnia before even leaving for the event, so it was hard to believe back then that the event would turn out in the positive way it actually did.
I reflect now that we experienced many waves at Buildathon as well. The event brought together several small teams of people, all kicked off with thoughts about what should be achieved by each team. Each team was expected to learn about Platform DXC and then apply what we learned to achieve some results. Without really understanding Platform DXC, we were directed by architects that we should try to apply what we would learn in order to improve our way of working and develop new solutions that they designed to support DXC Workplace Device Services offering delivery. Belief when we began was that we probably could not achieve much in just two weeks. What I reflect now is really cool is that ultimately the waves at Buildathon became full of turmoil, but also we developed a LOT of new automation by leveraging what Platform DXC has to offer. This automation is getting us started on a path where we can develop, test and deliver our solutions much faster than before, and this automation is also going to transform the end-user experience with our offering in amazing ways as well. Ultimately, the waves have settled down and our beliefs have changed. At the end of this experience, everyone expressed strong feelings of gratitude, despite the intensely "rocky seas" we experienced in the middle of the event! During this event, some people even experienced what I would describe as "near death" experiences... two people were hospitalized and we feared for their lives, and we all got quite worried for a while as a "super typhoon" was in the forecast and eventually passed us by. What is awesome look back is that we all "rode the waves" together, and the results led to belief that we really are "thriving on change" in DXC Technology (as our CEO often says). I believe the changes we are making now at work as we apply what we learned at Buildathon are going to make a dramatic, positive difference in the world as we go forward, and that is very exciting! New waves will continue to form, and eventually those too will calm down.
Hope you are able to "ride the waves" of life, too! When you feel like you may not be able to, please know that you are not alone, and consider reflecting on this story, as I sincerely hope this will help you get to the calm at the end of each storm!
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God bless you all!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider finding my fan page in Facebook as well, to follow me and give me a "Like": https://www.facebook.com/Christine.Marie.MacKenzie/, and this will result in notification in your Facebook feed when I write posts in future.
God bless you all!
