Guest Blog Entry by John McDermott

“But the book was so much better than the movie,” my wife said. I agreed. I’ve heard that a lot. Along with it, I’ve heard “I thought the woods were darker”, “David seemed older than that in the book”, and so forth. When we hear or read stories we create mental images of them. When we tell stories we hold our own images of them. Our pictures can be so strong that we think listeners will see the same images. They might not, though, if we don’t share the details of what we see. 

In preparing for a series starting this week, Staying Centered Through Conflict™, I wrote a note to the participants. Part of it read: “For me, conflict tends to arise in two categories: critical needs and inconsequential stuff. Our sessions will provide tools for managing the critical needs. The conflict that we classify as inconsequential stuff is perhaps best managed by recognizing it for what it is – annoying, a nuisance – and ignoring it. Our effort is so much better directed towards other things.”  

Comedian George Carlin has a bit he used to do about driving in which he describes people who drive slower than him as idiots and those who speed past as maniacs.  Perspective is a funny thing. 

I was reminded of that when listening to funny stories being shared by a team during an exercise recently.  Their experiences prompted me to share a story of my own: