Are you doing what you have to now?

Hello, I’d like to talk to you about three cases that I’ve dealt with this week.

A woman said to me during a visit with me in my consultancy that she couldn’t continue and she didn’t know what to do, she had the sensation of being lost in a sea of doubt. After talking with her, she said she had been unemployed for 3 months and was claiming the equivalent of JSA (Job Seekers Allowance) and she was waiting for both a job to come up and that things change. I asked her why she was waiting and she answered with another question: what else can I do? As it turns out, this woman knew over 2 years ago that things were not going well for the company she was working for and they finished up letting everyone go, including her. During those two years, the only thing she did was wait for something to happen and for someone to offer her a job. And now she continues waiting for the situation to change. .

In the next case, a businessman came to my consultancy and complained about the situation right now, the Crisis, that the Spanish government isn’t doing anything, that people aren’t buying anything or spending any money etc. My question to him was: And what are you doing? Again the answer was similar: “I can’t do anything; the only thing I can do is wait for it all to pass”.

The third case went like this: I was in a shop with the idea of buying some things that I needed for my work. One of the shop assistants was occupied with some boxes and the other was doing nothing except looking out of the window. I went up to her and asked her if she had what I wanted. She looked at me and she said that what I wanted was in the part of the shop that the other girl dealt with and that I should ask her.

These three people were not doing what they had to do. Two were waiting for things to happen and the third thought that the shop wasn’t anything to do with her.

This reminds me of the story of Taisen Deshimaru, a Japanese monk who introduced Zen to Europe.

Taisen Deshimaru travelled all over China to find a Zen master who would teach him and help him to find enlightenment. After many years of study in varius monastries without discovering what he wanted, he decided to return to Japan.

During the return journey, he met a very old monk who was working drying mushrooms in the scorching sun. Taisen Deshimaru asked him why he didn’t leave that work for the younger monks.

The monk replied, “It’s what I have to do.”

Taisen Deshimaru made the observation that the monk was indeed very old to be working in such heat and that if he didn’t want the younger monks to do the work that at least he wait until the heat from the sun was less intense.

The old monk looked at him and said, “I am not the others and I can’t wait for others to do my work nor can I wait until tomorrow to do it. Maybe the sun won’t be hot enough tomorrow to dry the mushrooms and today, now, is the moment.”

Taisen Deshimaru stopped dead and then suddenly understood the meaning behind the words and that old monk had shown him what he’d been looking for all this time.

So, I always ask myself:

“Am I doing what I have to do?”

Regards

Alejandro

www.Alejandrocuellar.com
www.Mensvenilia.com
www.ume-coaching.co.uk