Wow, what an amazing book! I’m not even finished reading it and already I’ve been inspired more than I ever thought I would!! I knew that this was a great book for reading purposes, but I didn’t know just what Dale had in store for me. I feel like I was given a little treasure chest, and was delighted like a child to discover all the sparkly gems and jewels it had inside!
I think the most profound thing for me so far has been the following quote:
“I shall pass this way but once. If there is any good I can do anyone, let it be done…for I shall NOT pass this way again.”
My fiancée, Bryan, has been working very hard at his job this past year, putting in so many hours of overtime, at sometimes very grueling times of the day. Go to work early in the morning, work until late, go back in around midnight, get home around 4am, get on a 4:30am conference call, and then get up and start all over again the next morning. That has been his schedule, thus it has been our daily life. I have been so very impressed by his ability to do this willingly and not only take on MORE responsibility all the time, but continue to enjoy what he does! There has been barely a complaint heard from him (just what any of us would be unhappy with), but the stress is usually visible on him by the time he gets home. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I have started to take this for granted as “just the same as always” instead of recognizing just how difficult this schedule is on him. Usually his stress and pent-up frustration was met with my own day’s stress and worry…the empty words of “how was your day today?” “fine, and how was yours?” “fine” just wasn’t working to diffuse the stress of the day for either of us.
The day that I started listening to DC’s wonderful words of wisdom I was inspired to try a little “DC Medicine” because nothing else I’d tried up to that point had helped. I didn’t really believe it would work but...well let me just tell you what happened…
As always, Bryan worked late that night, and I managed to catch him on the phone just as he was leaving the office. Just as I have for so many nights before, I heard exhaustion in his voice from all the “fires” he had been putting out all day. This night was different for me, however, as I had JUST been listening intently to the book. I asked him softly with sincerity, in a way I don’t remember doing before (this time I realized I honestly wanted to know) “How was your day honey? Tell me all about what you did today!” and I quietly waited. There was a pause, and then a tired sigh…and he then proceeded to go into all the details of his day. From each new “fire” that came up, to conference calls, to lunch, to meetings…and then it started turning towards things that made him laugh, and good conversations he’d had. During all of this I just listened, commented where necessary, but mostly said nothing and didn’t interrupt him even once. For the first time I had just allowed him to immediately let out the “steam” that had been building all day. He spoke calmly, even about the negative things that had happened, and by the time he was done he actually sounded happy. Immediately after finishing his final sentence it was like he had a realization…and then he did something I did not expect: he asked ME with excitement “how was YOUR day? Tell me about everything happening in your Omnikron world!” I had been listening so intently to his story that I never took the time to think about “what I would say next” to such a degree that I couldn’t think of what to say!
The rest of our evening was like a brand new experience for us both! We had dinner, we laughed, and we talked about everything and anything that came up - but work never came up again. And afterwards I had my awakening; I need to sincerely ask Bryan about work and then listen every day! If something seemingly so simple as a sincere question followed by a sympathetic ear can change an evening; just imagine what other little “sparkly gems” can be discovered by the rest of the book! It has the power to change the way you think about life, people, and the world…not just while reading it, but every moment of every day!!
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