Meeting on April Fool’s Day can be quite interesting sometimes! This year, the old English proverb “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” popped up in our meeting unexpectedly. This is another way of saying “once bitten, twice shy.” In other words, people are not always who they seem to be.
When people leave their home, they will often leave a light on to give the impression that someone is still there. I guess it is a security measure of sorts. Interestingly, as individuals, we do a similar thing. We act like we are paying attention to give the impression that we are present and on task, yet we are no longer attentive to what is going on around us. Thus the phrase “the lights are on but nobody is home!”
During our chapter meeting today, one of our members expressed her frustration regarding the number of absences of some members in our group. My leader’s response woke a lot of people up! She said that she could understand the frustration but wanted to know how that was any different from being at meeting…yet not present. (Did I mention she is fearless?) She said that it seemed that there were some who seemed to think that just showing up is the same as actually being engaged in the mission of our chapter. Too often they simply go through the motions, giving the impression they are working hard yet doing little to make a difference. Clearly, the lights appear to be on, but nobody is home, and it is almost like they are fooling themselves!
We spent some serious time discussing how we approach the practices of our lives. Are we completely engaged in the necessary functions, or are we simply going through the motions? In truth, leaving the light on when you go away is probably not going to fool a would-be robber, and it is not going to fool those who are working with you toward your weight-loss goal for long either!
Friendship is a selfless gift of honest acceptance and support. Our leader is our friend and leads us through a meaningful meeting about being real with ourselves and others. We can’t fool ourselves into believing that just going through the motion of showing up is enough.
I Care,
Barb
By Juanita D. Roush December 6, 2013
As a leader, I see this all the time – and I have even been the person who was at the meeting but mentally making my grocery list or thinking about the next day’s work. Since becoming a leader, I have tried to lead by example – being at meetings in body, mind, and spirit. I am blessed to have a wonderful group of people who are quite lively in their responses but occasionally someone zones out. I try to remember that I was once that person and commit myself to do better (as a leader) to engage them – but to also remember once I no longer hold office that I need to be 100% present and a part of all that goes on. Thanks Barb, for your blog.
By Claudia Amador May 29, 2013
Wow, your leader is something. I’ve thought that, but doubt I could say it so tactfully.