Change

This past week I accepted a new job which would take me from my current place of employment for the past 5 years and move me to a new location in a supervisory position.  I am excited to start this new position and chapter of life, but I would be lying if I said that I would not miss the people I spent so many years with. However this opportunity is well timed, considering what I'm trying to accomplish. 

At my old job I perhaps said or did somethings that were out of character or unbecoming.  Things said in frustration and anger.  One should not allow this to happen.  Miyamoto Musashi wrote that we should not regret what we have done.  In order to accomplish this we must think about what we do or say before we do it.  We have to seek to better understand ourselves and the actions we take.  If we find that they make us angry or bitter we must seek to understand why and then change ourselves. 

There is a second part to this piece of advice.  Samurai sought to be masters of themselves and in doing so became masters of others.  Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote in Hagakure that “To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not.”   Our words are powerful agents and not only must we watch what we say we must carefully judge when, where, how, and to whom they are spoken.

"Act like a man of thought - Think like a man of action." - Thomas Mann 

Brandt