Three for Fifteen
It is rare that I even think about buying anything during my daily trips through the Arab shuk. One day, however I noticed some badly needed shoe polish on a shelf. I didn’t even have to haggle, as the price was a very reasonable three for fifteen shekels.
I learned the hard way that there was a reason the price was so low. It was perhaps the worst polish I had ever bought. From sitting on the seller’s shelf it sat on my shelf. Every Friday it stared down from its high perch and mocked me for buying it. From time to time, I would try to squeeze out a bit of the worthless stuff and I was disappointed every time. Many months later in a moment of inspiration and personal freedom I finally threw them away. Yes!
I was now “able” to by some working polish. My shoes shined like they hadn’t in months.
There is a statement in the business world that “good is the enemy of great”. When you are already good at something you don’t feel the drive to make things great. I would like to coin a new phrase “filled space is the enemy of well filled space”. There are spaces in our life for all types of things. Our habits, attitudes, perceptions and paradigms fill those spaces.
Why did it take me so long to get rid of the polish?
Because it was there. It was filled space. Crazy. I have no doubt that if there had been no polish in the house I would have bought some months earlier.
How many bad habits and negative thinking patterns do we leave on the shelves of our lives just because they are there filling the space. There is a space in our life for speaking to others and ourselves. Another space for viewing life positively or cynically. Another for being trusting or suspicious of others. If we started over again we would most certainly do things in a totally different way. Many of our non-productive patterns developed at a certain point and they became space-fillers. Now they are just there, on the shelf stopping us from really developing ourselves.
Think for a moment about some “space-filler” in your life.
It really was quite easy to throw away those junky polishes. To get rid of bad habits and negative thinking it undoubtedly takes real inspiration and personal freedom. But a lot less than we think.
The first step in changing is to realize you are leaving the negativity in place just because its familiar and you haven’t challenged it. Focus on the “space-filler” you thought about before, would it really be so hard to change and fill that space with something new and helpful?
With a bit of awareness and personal courage we can, b’ezras Hashem, be the people we want to be.
(Please send comments and questions, to rdsvaad@gmail.com.)
If you would like to receive these Avodah thougths every 2 weeks sign up at
http://rdsvaadim.com/subscribe/
It is rare that I even think about buying anything during my daily trips through the Arab shuk. One day, however I noticed some badly needed shoe polish on a shelf. I didn’t even have to haggle, as the price was a very reasonable three for fifteen shekels.
I learned the hard way that there was a reason the price was so low. It was perhaps the worst polish I had ever bought. From sitting on the seller’s shelf it sat on my shelf. Every Friday it stared down from its high perch and mocked me for buying it. From time to time, I would try to squeeze out a bit of the worthless stuff and I was disappointed every time. Many months later in a moment of inspiration and personal freedom I finally threw them away. Yes!
I was now “able” to by some working polish. My shoes shined like they hadn’t in months.
There is a statement in the business world that “good is the enemy of great”. When you are already good at something you don’t feel the drive to make things great. I would like to coin a new phrase “filled space is the enemy of well filled space”. There are spaces in our life for all types of things. Our habits, attitudes, perceptions and paradigms fill those spaces.
Why did it take me so long to get rid of the polish?
Because it was there. It was filled space. Crazy. I have no doubt that if there had been no polish in the house I would have bought some months earlier.
How many bad habits and negative thinking patterns do we leave on the shelves of our lives just because they are there filling the space. There is a space in our life for speaking to others and ourselves. Another space for viewing life positively or cynically. Another for being trusting or suspicious of others. If we started over again we would most certainly do things in a totally different way. Many of our non-productive patterns developed at a certain point and they became space-fillers. Now they are just there, on the shelf stopping us from really developing ourselves.
Think for a moment about some “space-filler” in your life.
It really was quite easy to throw away those junky polishes. To get rid of bad habits and negative thinking it undoubtedly takes real inspiration and personal freedom. But a lot less than we think.
The first step in changing is to realize you are leaving the negativity in place just because its familiar and you haven’t challenged it. Focus on the “space-filler” you thought about before, would it really be so hard to change and fill that space with something new and helpful?
With a bit of awareness and personal courage we can, b’ezras Hashem, be the people we want to be.
(Please send comments and questions, to rdsvaad@gmail.com.)
If you would like to receive these Avodah thougths every 2 weeks sign up at
http://rdsvaadim.com/subscribe/