excellent. how serious are you?

Have you been told you always say something? I have. Evidently, I respond with "excellent" and then ask two questions:

How serious are you? And, what's the vision?

Each could be asked independently of each other or in reverse order, stacked on each other. Answering one leads to the asking and answering of the other. I know, it sounds like a labyrinth conversation.

How serious are you? About a decision, about a change, about a direction or choice? If the answer is some laissez faire something, then nothing will occur. Serious action will not take place, and probably nothing will come of the thought. You see, the degree of seriousness creates movement. Movement, in turn creates a response.

I picture it like the proverbial mousetrap game - the dropped marble starts a chain of events.

What's the vision is directly tied to the serious question. The vision will determine the degree to which we seriously take things. A wishy-washy, obscured view doesn't require much. However, if we clearly see something, well that's another story. Huh? You might say. Let's come out of the ethereal clouds and bring this idea into everyday.

How serious am I about landscaping my blank canvas of a yard this spring? My quick response is, very; it's got weeds and dirt, a couple of lilac bushes and not much more.

But, what's the vision part of my seriousness? I can picture it in my head - lavender here, a dry stream there and a small patch of diamond shaped grass sort of in the middle.

So, if that's the vision, serious needs to sketch up a plan, figure out how many plants are needed and their placement so irrigation can be placed and the nifty concrete stepping paths that I want can be poured.

The same scenario plays out with other decisions as well - jobs, vacations, retirement. You name it.

I often come up with lots of thoughts and possibilities, but don't always put serious to those thoughts. They sit like a pile in the corner, collecting and accumulating, but never becoming.

I meet with a group of ladies, and the other night we were discussing dreams. What dreams for my future have I set aside or completely forgotten about? Do I have any dreams? Heck! That's a hard one, since we too often let things fade and they never see fruition.

An example from my soul of hidden and protected dreams is to be a "cool" writer, who has equally "cool" and thought-provoking things to say. This vision isn't something grandiose like becoming the next Anne Lamott, but that would fall in the "cool" category.

To that end, I have to ask myself the questions I've been waxing on about. I don't have the answers, and I don't have a clear vision of what that looks like. So, for now, I'll keep writing; working to perfect the voice I've been given.

Excellent!

Missy

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