My goal at the end of last year was to write 100 words (or more) per day. Today, I am thinking about understanding.
The first thing about understanding today came from my thirteen year old. He made an interesting observation this evening. He pointed out that he understood how I felt the other morning when I came home and proclaimed how good my bagels were after a run. I was very excited because I had run 5+ miles for the first time in more than a week. I was also very excited because it was the best bagel recipe I had made. I felt energy and excitement and shared it with everyone in the house. No one else was sharing either my energy or my excitement. My thirteen year old acknowledged that this evening and pointed out that his excitement comes from gardening. He ended up saying that if everyone just understood that everyone else gets excited about different things it would help to show appreciation for each other and each other's interests and help each of us in the family to be supportive of others. Quite a nice perception for a thirteen year old.
Understanding also was part of my day in three other ways.
First, I ran with just one fellow runner rather than our usual large track/tempo group. I appreciated the company and it gave us a chance to chat and catch up more than we had in a while. It was nice to get an understanding of issues each faces coming up and to deal with one fitness issue--Charlie horses. Increasing understanding of that will be helpful for me.
Second, I met with an undergraduate to discuss her interests in health promotion and public health. It was fun to share my knowledge and to gain an understanding of the student's interests. Understanding here will hopefully lead the student to a more informed choice about graduate school and career choices and gave me a great chance to understand what issues undergrads are dealing with these days.
Third, I had an opportunity to look over a colleague's list of accomplishments from last year. As someone I am mentoring, it is important to me to understand what this colleague is doing and what this colleague plans to do in the future for future success.
So many different ways of understanding. Each is critical to relating to people. Each is critical to being part of a family or being a friend or being a mentor. Each is critical to working with others--which is one of the most important parts of what I do.
The first thing about understanding today came from my thirteen year old. He made an interesting observation this evening. He pointed out that he understood how I felt the other morning when I came home and proclaimed how good my bagels were after a run. I was very excited because I had run 5+ miles for the first time in more than a week. I was also very excited because it was the best bagel recipe I had made. I felt energy and excitement and shared it with everyone in the house. No one else was sharing either my energy or my excitement. My thirteen year old acknowledged that this evening and pointed out that his excitement comes from gardening. He ended up saying that if everyone just understood that everyone else gets excited about different things it would help to show appreciation for each other and each other's interests and help each of us in the family to be supportive of others. Quite a nice perception for a thirteen year old.
Understanding also was part of my day in three other ways.
First, I ran with just one fellow runner rather than our usual large track/tempo group. I appreciated the company and it gave us a chance to chat and catch up more than we had in a while. It was nice to get an understanding of issues each faces coming up and to deal with one fitness issue--Charlie horses. Increasing understanding of that will be helpful for me.
Second, I met with an undergraduate to discuss her interests in health promotion and public health. It was fun to share my knowledge and to gain an understanding of the student's interests. Understanding here will hopefully lead the student to a more informed choice about graduate school and career choices and gave me a great chance to understand what issues undergrads are dealing with these days.
Third, I had an opportunity to look over a colleague's list of accomplishments from last year. As someone I am mentoring, it is important to me to understand what this colleague is doing and what this colleague plans to do in the future for future success.
So many different ways of understanding. Each is critical to relating to people. Each is critical to being part of a family or being a friend or being a mentor. Each is critical to working with others--which is one of the most important parts of what I do.
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