The ingredients were wonderful, but the meal was awful. That happens sometimes. You make the time to choose the tastiest, freshest, most beautiful ingredients, and then when you combine them, what you get is less than satisfying at best.
This scenario happens in many different ways in life. You can make a date with a very good friend, and then have a horrible time because what you plan is not a good match for your friendship or your collective interests. How do you find the right balance? How do you create good times, positive plans, and terrific results--what do you do?
I thought about this today as I work to include far more happy, satisfying events into my life than arduous, frustrating, uncomfortable events. As a far too obedient person for too long in life, it takes me time to think about what is truly satisfying than what is expected.
As I thought about this balance, I thought a lot about what I like about the people I know. For example, I know a lot of wonderfully creative people, and with those people I like to go to events that offer us inspiration for our creativity. I also know some wonderful deep thinkers who like to ponder life as much as I do. Then there are the friends who enjoy adventure, and those who like to engage in political events. There's a great diversity of connections and when we match what we do with our interests, we have a far better than time than if we mismatch what we have in common and what we do. For example to ponder life's big questions with a friend who would much rather adventure in a carefree way turns out to be a total mismatch.
So in the days ahead, I'll do a lot of questioning asking friends what they'd like to do and where they'd like to go. I'm looking forward to their leadership as I treasure these connections and want to savor our times together. Onward.