Our business is about connecting with those that are important to you and appreciating what you have in front of you..i.e. your spouse, partner, child, parent, etc. Over the course of the weekend, we had several different experiences that illustrate how important it is to connect with not only people, but being in the moment and recognizing how to connect with your immediate situation.
First off, if you can catch the current tour of “A NIGHT OF IMPROV FEATURING RYAN STILES, JEFF DAVIS, GREG PROOPS & CHIP ESTEN,” I highly recommend it. For those of you not familiar with “Whose Line is it Anyway”, this tour includes the above named comics (who should be familiar to “Whose Line” viewers). A quick search didn’t uncover any single tour list, but the local story in the San Luis Obispo Tribune is here. Watching an improv performance is akin to a watching a rugby match . There is no scripting…just taking what is thrown at you and running with it. As quoted in this great article titled: The art of improv: How to make decisions without a script” by Tom Yorton, the President of Second City; there are some lessons here that are useful for your own relationship. Be in the moment, take what she gives you and go with it.
On Saturday, we had a great day at Windrose Farm with our friend Bill Spencer. Windrose is a small family farm located east of Paso Robles, near Creston, in San Luis Obispo County, run by Bill and his wife Barbara. The farm has been registered as organic since 1993 and they produce the most amazing array of unbelievable produce and nursery plants. The farm is lush and productive primarily because of the relationship and connection Bill and Barbara have with the land. The benefit is more than just nice tomatoes…it is a much larger picture ranging from their own well-being to the well-being of those who partake in the fruits of their labor. Compare this to the positive energy a couple emanates, simply because they are connected. Come on…you can’t tell me that you didn’t notice how nice things were some weekend morning when your parents wandered into the kitchen after “sleeping late.” Same thing.
Lastly, one of our favorite Blogs is by Guy Kawasaki. There is always something relevant, super-cool or insightful here. But today, we like his recap of a Washington Post story about how the paper convinced a world-class violinist named Joshua Bell to act like a street musician in a DC Metro station to see how many people would stop to listen to him play and how many would donate money. So here is a guy playing a $3 million+ violin and over 1,000 commuters passed him by without recognizing him (although he did make $32). The last line of Guy’s blog sums it up: “Don’t pass by life; much less let life pass you by”.
So kiss your wife, hug your daughter and pay attention to the things that are important.–Curt
www.lifeelements.com
