Experience Necessary

I attended a fundraising dinner last night for a local non-profit.  It was a beautiful dinner and clearly a thoughtfully planned event.  Yet, in the last fifteen years of which I have been a part of this organization, this dinner has been dreadfully predictable.  I was sad to learn that the services they are able to provide have been cut and many families must be turned away due to a lack of funding.  I was waiting for an engaging presentation by the executive director and a couple of  live, personal stories from friends of the organization.  These were not to be, and so I waited for the big draw, the one thing that really drives people to these events...not the food, not the silent auction, not the opportunity to write a check on their behalf, but the KEYNOTE SPEAKER!

This particular speaker spoke with the cadence and force of a former trial lawyer.  I don't know anything about law, but perhaps in the context of a courtroom scenario it is beneficial to jump all over the place in the notes.  Maybe the technique confuses the jury and so sways them toward a more favorable verdict.  At any rate, this woman obviously lived a fascinating life and out of her mouth her heart spilled the stories of some of the amazing things she has seen and done.  Captivating and entertaining were these stories, to say the least, but I really wanted her to share with me the answer to these two basic questions:

1.  How have your life experiences affected your life both negatively and positively?
2.  How have your responses to your life experiences shaped who you are today?

If she had answered those two questions, then I could have answered two for myself.

1.  Based on what I heard today, what can I learn from you?
2.  How will I behave differently?

In the end, I think her speech had something to do with setting goals and being a hero.  Her impassioned words, however, meant nothing in light of these unanswered questions.  Contemplating this tonight, I was thinking of my own life experiences.  Based on a recent interview by our life insurance underwriter, both my husband and I lead pretty boring lives.  Yet every singe time a choice is presented to me, every single person I meet and engage in conversation, every single book I read and reflect on its truths, every time I make a choice between two opportunities, I am shaping my unique future.  If I view every single decision I make in light of the outcome of my choices,  the potential for personal growth is unstoppable.  It's time to be more intentional.