When I close my eyes tightly it snows and I can stay at home, even in bed; but when I open them the snow is gone and the roads are clear and I can get up and go to work. Once in a while Axel questions my getting up so early – as if to talk me out of it. And I explain, once more, that getting up early is way more preferable for me than getting up late and having to rush. Rushing in the morning is inauspicious; I would forget things like my wallet, the magnetic card that lets me into work or my cell phone. At any time, but especially this time of the year, I would pay a price for such neglectfulness that far outweighs the price of getting up a little earlier. So there!
Yesterday was maybe the shortest day in terms of daylight but it was surely the longest day away from home (while not traveling). Halfway through 10-miles-per-hour commute home I called Tessa to commiserate, expecting her to be stuck in traffic somewhere near. She did not answer and I left a message. I then called home where Tessa cheerfully answered that she was already home; no one wanted to commiserate with me and my whining fell on deaf ears. Axel gave me some of my own lines about not being a victim and pull up to get something to eat if I was hungry and all that crap that I give others about ‘being an agent of change!’ Ha! This is to remind me that timing is everything and that there can be a great disconnect between the message giver and the message receiver. I know this intellectually but it is good to experience it in the gut from time to time. In Holland we call this ‘giving someone a cookie of one’s own dough.’
At work it was a day of nonstop meetings. This is the Monday I am supposed to work at home but as soon as people got wind that I was in the office the meetings started piling up. I had printed out my Outlook calendar which directed me from one meeting place to the next, all day long.
At noontime Margaret came over to talk with us about her latest book and how to preserve ‘soul’ in the middle of a lot of soullessness at work. I was surprised to see how many people showed up. There appears to be a real hunger to talk about matters of spirituality at work. We are after all working in a nonprofit and people could earn a lot more by working for a profit-driven company. But most of us choose to come here which gets us something money can’t buy.
The final part of the day was a video presentation to our funders in DC. I was asked to talk about our Ghana leadership program that is unfolding slowly and not always visible to our eyes. Nevertheless, a last minute email from Ghana was encouraging – a few people are stepping up to the leadership plate and making the changes that were needed. Today I will be exploring with the man in charge how we can support this further and show, compellingly, how better (a) better management and leadership makes a difference, and (b) how this can be ‘engineered.’
Sylvia's Journal 
I will commiserate with you, Sylvia! Commuting in the ice and snow is hell.
“Eating a cookie of your own dough” is here called “Eating your own dogfood.” Somewhere, proverbially, factory owners were told that, of course, they wouldn’t like the taste of the dogfood they make, but if they were so sure it was pure and healthful, certainly they wouldn’t mind eating some of it to show they believed.
Hi Larry, never heard the dogfood story and will add it to my repertoire. I am often met with a blank stare when I translate Dutch sayings literally. Here are some that get the blankest stares: ‘Ah, that’s the ham question,’ or ‘Now my wooden shoe breaks,’ or ‘I am left sitting with the baked pears.’ Can you guess what they mean?
As a fellow Dutchwoman living in the U.S. I can certainly relate to being met with a blank stare when translating Dutch sayings literally. For years I told people a story about my ‘getting under a car’ at age 14. Frequently it surprised me that I did not receive more of a response to that statement. Last year, when someone asked me what I was doing under that car, it finally dawned on me that ‘getting under a car’ does not mean the same as ‘ik ben onder een auto gekomen.’
By the way, I’m one of your fellow schoolmates from Het Stedelijk Gymnasium. Thanks to all the research by my classmate Olivier van Oort I discovered your blog and have been reading it off and on for the past couple of months. That’s quite the harrowing experience you went through!
I don’t think we ever talked at school (I was one or two years behind you; did know your brother, though), but I have a recollection of you as running for the student council in 1965 or 1966. Accurate memory?
Groeten and Merry Christmas,
Annette v.d. Zee
Hoi Annette, je naam komt me bekend voor maar er is geen gezicht bij. Waar woon je? Je kunt me op facebook vinden – dan kunnen we verder doorpraten in een minder publiek forum.
Ja dat verhaal van onder een auto komen is prachtig – er zijn zoveel voorbeelden. Na 27 jaar in de VS te hebben gewoond haal ik nog steeds ‘salad’ en ‘lettuce’ door elkaar, kennelijk vertaal ik nog steeds een beetje.
Hello Sylvia –
you said: “There appears to be a real hunger to talk about matters of spirituality at work”. I attended the presentation. I do not think the hunger is for spirituality at work, could it be hunger for spirituality – no matter where/how you apply it? Is it a hunger to expand, to live inspired life, to see who is like-minded in your workplace?
I figure this matter might require separate post 🙂
Regards from your colleague,
-Nina
Hi Nina, a spiritual life is not bounded by work hours as you say. We just happen to spend many of our waking hours either at work or thinking about work. When confounded with religiosity, and living in a secular state, many of us are led to believe a spiritual life should be practiced in our non working hours. In addition, we are so rushed and busy that we leave no room for such conversations.