So Many Gifts We Need a Backhoe to Carry Them, by Nancy Dorrier

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The Gift After the Mistake

Elbow on the back of your chair
Elbow formed in a V with your hands behind your head
You are sitting there curious
You want me to say something
Besides, I made a mistake
Besides, I thought you did the right thing  
Besides some explanation or excuse

I did chop down that cherry tree
Besides wanting credit that I told you I had made a mistake even though
I could have kept it to myself.
Besides not engaging in subterfuge

I give you the gift of trusting
The gift of saying what you need
The gift of seeing that you got it
The gift of being of partnership

The gift of asking for what you want really
The gift of sharing what threatens you
The threat you feel by merely being alive
And taking on this big huge over the top goal for some little girl from the country
Some little girl looking to be the President of a company
And so many balls in the air
And players playing and who is going to do what when
The gift of cleaning up a mistake
The gift of seeking new worlds that open up with mistakes

And
Now the gift of integrity, being true to yourself, the gift of always working on yourself and your own leadership and how to communicate and include people and how to keep things to yourself and how to balance that
And the gift of having a broken heart that one beloved staff member is retiring one you have worked with for years
One you have laughed with and yelled at and gone on trips with over and over again
And the gift of having a broken heart that another staff member you have to let go and you have put it off for your broken heart and
Managed your being pissed off at him and worked on developing him, saving his job and now you can’t do it any longer
And
You said, I just hate this part of the job
I just hate it
And
Now you have the gift of calling it like it is
The gift of telling the truth
The gift of causing the breakdown and then the recovery.

The gift of being generous in the parting
the gift of being satisfied that you did what you could.

I also give you the gift of taking time off, going to the movies
Reading Rumi
And writing a story about this and let’s see what gets revealed
What leadership lesson is here?

What is the universe showing you?
And what is the lesson?


There are so many gifts, we need a backhoe to carry them


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