If the Floor's Dirty, Don't Call a Meeting, Pick Up a Broom
Mother Theresa. How would you describe her? Compassionate? Kind?
That�s not what people who knew her said. In my Strengths course, I ask the learners to name the major strength of different well-known people. Here�s what Pamela Sheppard replied: �The standard is compassion, but, having had the chance to actually see her in action, I have to add mental toughness, clarity of intention and economy of action. She was Holy Hell on Wheels, and thank God for that! --- and anyone else pales beside her.�
Another anecdote from someone who worked with Mother T. for 6 months and described herself as �the typical Trophy Wife looking for enrichment and meaning.� She was also a self-proclaimed fixer.
When she got on-site and saw people in the hospitals and hospice areas cleaning the floors with rags and cloths, she became excited. She told Mother Theresa�and this was a month after getting there when she felt she could actually speak to her and not just gaze at her in awe and feel woefully inadequate�that she could get brooms and mops sent to her. For FREE.
�Mops?� said Mother Theresa, in that lilting voice of hers. �Yes,� she replied, �they�ll save time and energy.� �Labor saving devices?� replied Mother Theresa. �But the point is to labor,� and smiled and walked off.
APPLICATION
In one list I belong to, someone has experienced identity theft. Someone has erected a website about him, as if by him, that�s damaging to his reputation.
He has requested help from the others and the replies have been coming in. How sorry they are for him this has happened � how impossible it is to clean up identity theft, it takes years, it happened to them � check out whoisit.com to see who owns the site � check with the server�what a mess, it�s impossible.
One clear voice came through with, �Call the FBI. This has happened to me. They will have the site down in
10 minutes and the name of the perpetrator in 20.�
I read that and considered the case closed. How fortunate someone who�d been there knew what to do. But there was no response and the sympathy cards kept flowing in. Two days later another e-note: �I�ll repeat. Let your tax dollars do something for you for a change. Call the FBI. It�s what they do.�
But the list is still talking about what to do.
BACK TO MOTHER THERESA
Pamela continued, �Mother Theresa was unmistakably in command. I will NEVER forget it. Everything I read about her since that time has more resonance, more depth, more meaning in the light of her as this Commander-in-Chief.�
When I had proposed Mother Theresa to the class, what I was after was Intentionality. It�s one of the highest-level EQ competencies - meaning what you say and saying what you mean, getting it done, and being accountable to yourself for your motives.
There�s nothing ^soft^ about compassion, or Intentionality, or emotional intelligence. EQ is what drives it all.
"There should be less talk,� said Mother Theresa. �A preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough."
Work on your Intentionality. It will make your life work better for you.
�Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . Individual and executive coaching, the Don�t Disappoint Her Again� EQ program for men, the Strengths Course�, The EQ Foundation Course�, The EQ Learning Lab�, and The EQ eBook Library � http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html . Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine. Call 1-210-496-0678 for immediate service. Increasing your Emotional Intelligence makes your life work better.
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