Choosing to Be Curious When It’s Easier to Be Everything Else
Does our ego ever stop feeling insecure? I was walking in the city yesterday, trying to shake off that slimy, entangling emotions creeping up. And I remembered what I needed.
When you’re faced with an emotional trigger, find yourself slowly dipping into a muddy quagmire, needing something to grab onto…
Take six good deep breaths and read the below. I’m with you.
“I just listen. Listen till I understand what it is that they’re seeing and I’m not being able to see”
The sixth lineage of Kaikado tea caddy maker, Takahiro Yagi says.
It’s a usual practice of GO-ON, the collective of six craftsmen from different fields of expertise; each member brings a new piece of work at a meeting.
“And usually I get roasted quite harshly and go home with a broken heart”
So, what is it that you do to stay open to criticism?
“I just listen”
“I try to bring myself up to their horizon. The world I’m seeing is tiny and I want to know what it is that they’re seeing and I’m not”
Shuji Nakagawa, another member of GO-ON, continues;
“It’s an everyday practice. If we keep doing that, it becomes natural after a while. I used to take 10 days to make a champagne cooler, but I can now make two in one day. The adaptability of human is pretty amazing.”
I remember how I used to dread reading feedback from an editor. I used to take every constructive criticism personally.
After repeated practices of facing it, and seeing the actual work getting better through the editing process, I only dread it for a minute or less now. May I call it a success in life? 😉
Trust that there will be better you and your work after the emotional storm and that you’ll be able to come out of the quagmire quicker next time.
Photo Courtesy of Gianfranco Chicco
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