Yesterday afternoon I sat at the kitchen table with my wife Terry for our daily ritual of afternoon tea. Whenever we can, we slow down for a few minutes, brew a pot of strong English tea, and sit and catch up for a few minutes. Tea is wonderful that way; you can't hurry the brewing of a good pot of tea. As we drink a strong cup of PG Tips, we talk. I like to hear what she's thinking and about her experiences of the day. Yesterday, she talked with me about a conversation with one of her health care professionals. She had felt a little something that concerned her, and so she visited with him briefly earlier in the day. She came away relieved and especially pleased when he told her that by his measure she was three years younger than she had been when she last visited him.

Pretty nice, eh?

But that wasn't the thing that struck me the most. That came as she was telling me why she so appreciates him and the way he talks with her. She said, "He never makes me scared or panicy like so many health professionals. They are very arrogant that their way is the only way. They treat me like an idiot. But he never does."

You may not remember, but Terry is no slouch. A valedictorian, a graduate of the oldest college in New York state with a degree in Computer Science, and she wrote code and manuals for IBM for many years. She's a smart lady. And yet, some health professionals treat her like and idiot and scare her.

That makes me think about about ways that you interact with others.

Fear is expediency for a weak person. They use fear to get their way in the short term. Sooner or later, though, they are going to lose their grip and fail.

There's a lot of fear going around right now. Maybe you've noticed. It depends on your focus how you respond. There have been many times in history that have been hard for some. The dark ages. The world wars. The Great Depression. And others. There have been many times of challenge. You know what they all have in common, though, is that things got better. In fact, eventually, things got great.

And that's what's going to happen again.

That's what I'm focused on and thinking about. Moving as quickly as I can towards that great future. Want to come along?

Let's go! ssh