Last night I had my first performance review by the Board of Directors. Now, after working for over 20 years, I am not usually anxious about these things. But this is my first one since I joined the field of social services, and I found myself somewhat nervous.
As it turned out, they were extremely generous and gracious in all their comments for me. Just as I was starting to "feel the love" in the room, a small voice from the back of my mind said, "Wait...they used to give you glowing reviews for 17 years too..."
Call it another baby step forward, but I was able to say to myself, "Don't think about that anymore. Don't look back. Learn to enjoy and be thankful for this moment..."
Today, as part of my work with poverty and homelessness, we lent out our meeting room to host a focus group on the reality of poverty among new immigrant seniors from the Iranian community. I had the opportunity to welcome the particpants as they arrived. As I shook their hands and greeted them, I saw in their eyes a sense of thankfulness for the opportunity to voice their struggles, and perhaps a glimmer of hope that this will lead to changes in how we understand homelessness and poverty down the road.
After greeting them, I left them to start their meeting. Again I found myself thinking, "Don't think about the past anymore. This is your work today. Be thankful for the opportunity."
As I look outside my office window, the afternoon sun is setting. Perhaps I need to learn to allow the sun from my yesterday to set, so that the new dawn of my tomorrow can finally come.
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3 comments:
Yes, don't think about yesterday but take hold of today. No one can change the past but we can definitely shape our future by how we treat our present.
Indeed, the past, the present and the future are all related but we can't change the past but we can change how we deal with the past.
Life is not determined by what happened but how we respond to what happened, then we can determine what will happen.
Yes, everyday is a new day because everyday is unique just like everyone of us is unique. Move on!
Hey Alfred,
You did good...you do good and yes, you will do good! Have more confidence in yourself and God is with you. :-)
Hi Alfred,
It's good to see you moving forward and enjoying your work. I know God is cheering you on every step of the way, and holding your hand every time you take your baby step =)
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