Archives for October 2018

It’s easy to hide in a crowd. A teacher may be challenged to track the journey of each student in a 30 person class, let alone a 500 person lecture hall. Looking out into an audience of 1000s has the same issue. It’s nearly impossible to truly see every person.

This also works from the opposite perspective. The larger the work group, performance ensemble, or city, the easier it is for members to hide in the collective.

There is a way to design for exposure. Smaller groups, ensembles, and cities, highlight the members. There’s no place to hide on a stage that only has five performers. There’s no place to hide in a gathering of ten or fifteen people. Small town life is known for everyone knowing everything about everyone.

Exposure does two things. It teaches us about others, of course, but also teaches us about ourselves.

In a world where we trend towards digital anonymity, maybe we need more situations in which we have no opportunity to hide.

One of the worst feelings to have is that of being used. It’s worse if the outcome of the situation is something that we don’t believe in, is harmful to those involved, or becomes a tool that hurts others.

Exploitation happens all the time. People in positions of power and institutions of power often use others for their own benefit. This is a consequence of the power dynamic. For those of us in a position of being asked to be involved in the promotion of goods or services these may be important questions to ask:

Does the content I am asked to present align with my values?

Deeper still…

Do the values of the person or institution I am partnering with align with my own values?

In asking these question at least we can become aware of the potential situation we will be getting into. It’s a first step to prevent that feeling of being used from being a reality.

Here’s the thing about work, especially the personal work of the heart. It’s a little different for everyone. Someone might be working on releasing unwarranted guilt, while someone else might be fighting a lie that’s affecting how they see their value. Someone might be learning how to listen to the still small voice, while someone else is discovering what it means to have a generous spirit.

As we’re doing our work we rightfully think it to be the most important thing. Maybe even that everyone else should be doing same the work, too. We might be right, but the imposition on others may not be timely. They might be in the middle of their own important work.

Maybe the better ethic is to share the experience of our journeys. Then those who take to them are the ones already prepared. And we continue to support each other until we have all completed our work.