It’s not very often that I lose a friend, create a deeper connection with another friend, and assist with the finalization of the acquisition of a company that I’ve worked at for 18 years and 7 months. But that has been my last 4 days. How would you feel if this happened to you?
Here’s what I see
Tuesday (Day 1) – Loss of a friend: Don has been a close friend and electronics equipment recycler for me for over a decade. I was informed on Tuesday by his brother that they wouldn’t be coming on Wednesday to pick up the electronics because Don had passed away on Monday.
The perspective points I see in this: Don is gone, I will never be able to talk, laugh, work with, or shake his hand ever again. His leaving has created a hole in so many ways. But he’s no longer suffering and is hopefully in a place of peace and understanding now.
How I feel: I choose to grieve some. It feels right to mourn the loss of such a wonderful person. I choose to be grateful for having known him. He has enriched my life’s journey in ways I understand and appreciate, and probably in ways I don’t even know yet.
Friday (Day 4) – A deeper connection with another friend: An Instagram friend of mine asked how my gratitude practice has changed my life. I felt compelled to go into detail because they were a fellow biohacker. I was authentic and gave the brutally honest truth and details with a signoff letting them know I would completely understand if they wanted to block the weirdo.
Quite the opposite happened. They opened up back to me and I found out that there’s a life and death struggle going on and a person who is more deeply spiritual and has connections to things I cannot currently understand. They may or may not even still be in this realm as I write this blog, I don’t know.
The perspective points I see in this: I went way out on a limb and laid out personal information on a strong feeling of intuition and opened up myself to very possible ridicule. I got in return a viewpoint that I cannot fully understand.
How I feel: I choose to feel very grateful for the spirituality, communication and friendship. I’m excited and scared about the things I don’t understand. I could run away and close the mental and emotional doors, but I will continue to meditate on them and welcome as much as I can. I have also appreciated every moment of communication and will continue to appreciate any moments that I can. I will also do the level best that I can to help my friend with their condition if possible.
Friday PM (Day 4) – Goodbye OMNNI, hello Westwood: This is an acquisition that I was given to work on with the understanding that secrecy from all employees had to be maintained.
The perspective points I see in this: I’ve kept a life altering truth hidden from my fellow employees, my adopted work family that I have taken care of for over 18 years. Did I betray them? I am not sure I’m an essential employee, so this may cost me my job, or it could lead to greater resources being made available to me and even better projects and being able to help more people going forward.
How I feel: I choose to feel excited, happy, and peaceful about all of this. OMNNI’s management is getting close to retirement age with no younger employees being groomed to take over. Loss of a few key players could have closed down OMNNI and left families without jobs. As for my job, I’m going to make sure I take good care of the merging of the 2 companies from an IT standpoint. As usual, I have a lot of what I think are cool ideas for technologies and am looking forward to learning about the new IT department I’ll be a part of. If I lose this job, I am confident that it will be because something even better is coming.
The takeaway from this
We may not have control over what happens in our lives, but we DO have influence and we do have RESPONSIBILITY about how we feel about it. I will always strive to see all the sides of everything, good/bad, dark/light, positive/negative, etc. and make the choice that serves me.
That’s it for now. Thank you for reading. Make it a magnificent week. If you have an idea for an article or want to engage my consulting or research services, please contact me.
Wishing you happiness, health, and success!
-Gregg
