A Thin Line

I’ve mentioned before that my personality type on the enneagram is a five, the investigator. No one type on the enneagram is better than another, but I like being a five. It’s an interesting place from which to view the world. Fives are always watching what is going on around them. As my very favorite sports figure Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” The antithesis of that is what Mickey Mantle said. “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about a game you’ve been playing all your life.” I don’t want to live the type of life Mickey describes.

The game of life is a fascinating place. It’s fun to notice different situations and how others choose to navigate life. To paraphrase Yogi, I learn so much by watching. I see the choices people make. I’ve seen some amazing people live terrific lives. I’ve also seen incredibly destructive behaviors.

I would read Aesop’s fables to my daughters when they were little as a bedtime story. One of their favorites was Learning From the Mistakes of Others. Watching the poor behavior of others has been a good education for me. However, it can have a downside. It’s very easy for me to pass judgment on them, which is incredibly destructive for myself. I discussed this in my post, The Winning Move.

Watching life carefully is a big part of who I am. I wouldn’t want to turn that off, even if I could. When I watch less than stellar actions I remind myself that even though I’m learning from it, why they choose to do such things is none of my business. I don’t know what it’s like to live in their shoes. Through biology and conditioning their brains work differently from mine. I walk a thin line between learning from the mistakes of others and judging them. It’s a tricky type of high wire mental acrobatics. I find it worth the effort.

May you have enough today, one moment at a time.