I am feeling like a beagle today! (and not Snoopy Damn It!)

The advantage of being human, and not a computer is the ability to make decisions on incomplete information.  Instead of having to know every chess move on the table to make a choice, we humans can make a choice based on not just the facts but instincts, experience, and feelings.  Sometimes you just have to pick up the pawn and move it and it is is a stroke of genius and sometimes it is checkmate but humans tend to make choices.

The advantage as I get older and as a human is I realize these decisions are not just possible, they are required.  If we wait for all possible input, and facts to decide most of us would become hermits and society would come to a stand still.  So, as I age, I tend to make decisions quicker.  I was trained for speed in the corporate world of IBM as a race horse is trained to run, make choices, or be guided and try every time to come out of the gate quickly and win the race.  Maturity is about realizing you can't always come first, and frankly you can't always be right, but you can decide to do your best every time.  This doesn't mean slowing down the decision making process for me.  It just helps me speed up even quicker, at times.  If I can accept that I will be wrong on occasion then why not proceed quickly.  Maybe, I am overly confident at times, but I am right most of the time.

My tendency, and weakness, is to not just see the logic of a moment but to experience feelings along with the logic.  When I am working with people, and situations I need to respect and like them as well admire them for their competence,abilities and trust to be able to pull that all together.  The right combination leads me to be confident in the moment, trust in my relationships and this all leads to being able to move as quickly as my mind wants and not just be right but make it to the finish line first and successful more often than not.

I have recently mentioned in my blog that I felt this year was a crossroads.  A time for making some decisions, but I didn't know what they are.   I am starting to see them come clear around my career, my mind, and my and need identify, respect and appreciate those changes.  I was just speaking with a good friend, the Lioness below, and she said I need to look at all sides of an opportunity before I can proceed even if I know in my gut what the right answer is.

All of this has caused me to start to think of people, myself, people close to me, and people I observe every day in context of animals.

Some people are sharks.  Their actions and approach to life and work is that each moment is a hunt.  There is the smell of blood being action that results in them moving forward in their minds.  This maybe money, maybe power, maybe a sense and a need to prove their value to the world.  That said, they have to be in constant motion or to their own peril in their minds.  Sharks don't appreciate the hunt.  Don't typically hunt with other sharks.  Only if there is the smell of blood in the water, or victory at work or a cause are they content.  What does it mean to be in that world, and I have seen them worked with them, witnessed them and decided that I didn't want to be a shark.  So many years ago I decided to head in the other direction.  If you look at the Devil Wears Prada, and Miranda, she is a shark.  She needs to be on the hunt constantly and has not need or desire to show concern of others unless it correlates back to her own success and work.   She is not working less, she is working more than her crew and expects even more from them.  The hardest thing for a shark is they expect to only be around other sharks, and don't know how to gain value from the diversity of the sea of animals around them.

Some, like a special lady I know in North Carolina, is a Lioness.  She not only takes care of her family, and makes sure that her family and home are secured.  But just like a Lioness she is a huntress.  She knows how to find the best opportunities, and enjoys the hunt.  She wants to do all she can to make sure that what she catches what she needs for her family, the best catch available for her career and her life.  While a shark may just enjoy the kill.  As a Lioness, she enjoys the hunt and all that life brings around her as she proceeds forward and the kill is necessary to support her life and values.   Another example would be Erin Brockovich or at least how Julia Roberts portrayed her.  She enjoys the hunt, the cause, the care of the plaintiffs around her while never losing sight of the hunt.  She expects to be rewarded, and rewarded well but the hunt is as important as the victory itself.  Frankly, compared to the shark, she can hang out with other animals and enjoy their company until there is a hunger or a need to hunt.

I am thinking today I am a beagle.  Loyal, determined, and independent.  Wanting to please the people around me.  Focused on the relationships in my life as or more important than the opportunities in front of me.  But, just like a beagle when I need to make a move I do it.  If that is to track down a rabbit in the field as our dog Pixie did growing up.  Knowing the opportunity or what I need is in that field with focus and determination.  Sometimes that focus causes me to have blinders to what else is going around me, she wouldn't hear my Dad she just wanted to catch that rabbit and never did, but it allows me to accomplish the task at hand.  I wish at these moments I could be more patient.  I could be more calculated.  Look around and not just act at that moment.  But, just as Pixie just needed to get out of the fence and do her own thing there are times I just have to do what I believe to be best for me.  I know she loved us no doubt.  I don't remember many nights she didn't come home.  But, she needed to be able to do her own thing and be in her space.    So, I am content to think of myself like a beagle.  Strong willed, smart, determined with great senses of smell hearing and focus as hunter.  Love of the family and friends, but also that core independent streak that causes that beagle to just want to dig under the fence and fine his or her own way.

I am feeling like that beagle today.  I have been dealing lately with some key decisions  this is one of those times, when I can't wait.  I know there is a decision to be made and I will make it.  I know that many people would debate the choices.  Look at their options, and discuss it among their friends and family.   So, these moments I just want to act.  I do compare my choices, look at the options, and start to seek clarity of what is right for me.  On the other side, my feeling side that is focused on the people around me will cause me to want to do at times what I think they would want for me to do.  But, in the end just like Pixie I will dig out and do what I have to do and believe is best for me.