Notepad

As I grabbed my notepad in the car this morning to make a quick note from a mobile phone call, I noticed that one of my daughters had scribbled on some of the pages. My immediate thought was anger: "She has no right to do that, I need that notepad for my work!"

Then I stopped to think about my feelings for a minute. Why did I feel angry? I felt that she had violated something that was in some way "holy"; reserved for work. I guessed that behind this was a pattern of thought that work was not only separate to family, but in some way more important.

I then attempted to justify my feelings in this case by extending the situation - what if she had scribbled on a document that I needed to present to a customer? I would embarrass myself and my company!

But the same thought returned - what is most important in my life? Most of my customers have children, too. I often say how proud I am of my family, do I mean it enough to tell my customers?

I won't always be working, but I am planning to always have my family. I am quite capable of treating them as being most important to me, and now I am more aware of some areas of my thoughts that I will bring into line with this.

Updated: 30 May 2000

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