The Hardest Part Of Business - Is Minding Your Own

Right in line with any other German resident in town, I take a usual coffee break. Since coming back from Cologne and embracing the concept that it is ok to take a moment throughout the day to just breathe with cake or coffee, I try to make a habit of walking into town with a good book or piece of writing to translate into German while I sip on coffee. I am pretty sure I will be shouldering the coffee shop business back in North Conway when I return home.

I am planning on institutionalizing this concept in whatever city I end up in the States. Even the siesta business with Spanish citizens is for real. We all took a day trip together a few days ago and after lunch they settled themselves right into the grass claiming that a mid-afternoon nap was extremely neccessary. Just like the Spaniards, every day between 12-2 all the shops in Aalen close down for a lunch break, just to take time to relax. I really think this idea could be the beginning of world peace, if people just started condoning the idea that it is ok to slow down.

Or we could take the more eloquent, yet similar approach written about in the Power Of Kindness written by Piero Ferrucci. I highly recommend this book and it was the feature of my coffee break a few days ago. The last time I turned the pages in this book was in Idaho and the great thing about this paperback is that whenever you open it, the chapter you're on always, in some way relates to your life at the moment. The chapter I opened up to was on humility.

"Humility is linked to learning and to renewing ourselves. We often reach a point in our lives where, rather than remaining open to learning, we want safe and predictable plans. We prefer the prestige of the teacher to the humility of the student."

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"Humility is at times hard, even painful. It is always beneficial however. The gift of humility greets us in our most difficult moments. We often become humbler after a failure. If we manage not to be overwhelmed by our defeats, big and small, they will show us what we can and cannot do. If only success comes our way, we are in trouble. We have lost our yardstick."

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"A humble person does not need to triumph in order to justify his or her existence. They know that some others are better at certain things then they are and they accept it. This elementary fact has huge realizations. If we do not try to be what we are not, we give ourself permission to be what we are."

So as I drank my coffee, I wondered why it is so hard sometimes to be at peace with who we are plain and simple? How come when it comes to accepting ourselves it doesn't just end with the package that we see reflected in the mirror? Do there always have to be conditions such as "I will be perfect when I accomplish this" or I will respect myself more when I achieve this?" What about the idea that it is ok to not be good at everything, but instead really great at a few things?

That sounds a lot like niche marketing and correct me if I am wrong, (which I am not, b/c this very topic is what I got my degree in) but advertising to niche markets is like being Prada or Porsche whereas mass marketing just blurs the lines with generic products and one size fits all concepts, like Wal-Mart. Niche markets pull in billions of dollars a year effortlessly. Aren't we all worth a billion dollars for being our own unique selves?

So I will sit back and slowly knock back my Latte Macchiato because I deserve to based on the sheer facts that I will never rattle off mathematical equations or I may be a poor planner or do not think linearly and I will never have Jennifer Aniston's legs. So for today, that is my small contribution to world peace...becoming more at peace with myself!