Friday Reflections

Revisiting The Story of a Good Man on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays to All whose encouragement, support and help have made our life so fulfilling. Thank You for your kindness, care and love through the years. 

In light of the current world enviornment and state of our country (and ongoing World Cup Soccer), we decided to revisit an old thanksgiving reflection from the year 2007. 

Point to Ponder: "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational (Team,Family, Nation) objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon things."- Andrew Carnegie

Story Line: But if you sometimes have trouble having compassion for the people you work with, consider the story of the good man who died and, because he had done a few things wrong, was required to spend a short time in hell.

While he was there, he found that one main torture was that everyone was forced to try to eat with spoons that were longer than their arms. The food kept dropping over their shoulders. The condemned were in constant torment for hunger in the midst of good food they couldn’t eat. Then the man was transferred to heaven.

To his surprise, he found that they had the same spoons there but they never went hungry because they fed each other.

Reflection: What kind of world do we want going forward? What changes do we need to make? Please spend sometime to ponder and initiate actions.

Note: After 17 years, Friday Reflections took a pause because of major changes in our lifestyle. They are resuming now and only time they will not publish is when we don't have access to Networks. Thanks to so many readers who sent us note saying how much they missed them.

Success leaves clues

From Left to Right: Row 1: Photos of City Ong (aka CT) and Adventures of Gautam. Row 2: Art of Shubhada and Signature Smile of Xiomara

By Phoebe Pineda

Point to Ponder: Success leaves clues. Go figure out what someone who was successful did, and model it. Improve it, but learn their steps. They have knowledge – Tony Robbins

Storyline: Recently, we’ve spotlighted some people who exhibit extraordinary passion, creativity, and kindness despite maintaining busy work lives.  Looking at these remarkable stories, we’ve identified a few commonalities:

1. Childhood experiences: How people grow up is important in building the foundation for who they become as adults.  Shubhada grew up immersed in art and science; Xiomara lived in a social neighborhood where everyone knew each other; and Gautam spent his youth watching sunsets and exploring forests in the remote outskirts of Mysore, India. For CT, the youngest child with the big age gap with siblings, he exercised his imagination while playing alone.
2. Support and encouragement: Having a supportive environment and people who are invested in your well-being is key.  In addition to having parents who made sure he didn’t overwork himself, Gautam had a friend in high school who took him under her wing and helped him navigate the tumult of adolescence. Shubhada had very supportive parents. CT and Xiomara were deeply influenced by their mothers.
3. A turning point: Several of our subjects can pinpoint the moment they discovered their passion, whether by volunteering to take photos at a conference (CT) or borrowing money from their best friend to buy a train ticket to Nepal (Gautam).
4. Curiosity/risk-taking: Our subjects like to venture beyond the beaten path, driven by a desire to see the world in new and exciting ways.  Shubhada utilizes out-of-the-box thinking (OBT) in both her engineering career and her artwork; Gautam seeks out the roads less traveled as he explores new countries; and CT finds his camera lens drawn to everything from sunsets to animals to a drop of dew on a leaf.
5. Building a relationship between passion and profession: Just because your interests are diverse doesn’t mean lessons from one can’t be applied to the other.  Shubhada approaches both engineering and art with creativity and a methodical focus, and CT finds he’s at his most focused and ready to work after he’s spent some time taking photographs.
6. COVID as an opportunity: With the pandemic slowing life down, our subjects have embraced their passions.  CT documented life in his Malaysian neighborhood, Gautam and his family hit the road to Florida and Yosemite, Shubhada drew daily charcoal portraits of inspiring people, and Xiomara encouraged those around her to remain positive despite the circumstances. 
7. Love first: Though some make money from their passion, they do it primarily because they love it, and because they want to share the joy it brings them with the world.

Reflection: In Developing Talent in Young People, psychologist Benjamin Bloom identifies three key elements that are crucial to helping children discover and foster lifelong passions: exposure, support, and coaching.

My younger brother and I have been lucky enough to have parents willing to allow us to experience and experiment with different interests rather than limiting us to a rigid set of expectations.  As a family, we love to travel–and to eat–and over the years my brother and I have been exposed to all sorts of different places (and different types of food).  For my brother, a weekend is not complete if we haven’t hit the road–whether it’s a drive along the coast, a trip out to the new mochi donut shop, or even running errands at Costco.

Our parents have supported us in all our ventures as we tried new things: while neither of us took a liking to soccer, I enjoyed my ballet classes at the local rec center, and my brother is an avid runner.  Their support, both emotionally and financially, has enabled us to receive proper coaching in order to hone our skills, from my brother’s weekly cross-country practices to my continuing education in writing and literature at a university whose faculty are committed to helping their students develop their craft and grow as artists.

But you don’t have to be a young person to find your passion, to discover what excites you.  Expose yourself to new things, open yourself to new experiences.  Find a friend (or two–maybe more) to support and encourage you–and don’t be afraid to seek out a mentor!  You’re never too old–or too young–to find what you love.

Do What You Love

Live the Life You Imagined

The Path of Life

There is Art in Science and Science in Art

Originally from the SF Bay Area, Phoebe Pineda currently studies Writing and Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies.  In addition to storytelling, she enjoys sunset-watching, road trips, and making art.

Anand and Phoebe first met at a Kid-to-Work Day over two decades ago. Once a week, they meet to discuss the various stories, experiences, memories, and lessons he's collected over the years. They approach each conversation from two different stages in life, one looking forward, the other looking back.

There is Art in Science, and There is Science in Art (Do What You Love - Part 3)

“If you’re having a good time in your own company, it’s a good sign that you’re happy and you enjoy what you do.” -Shubhada 

By Phoebe Pineda

Point to Ponder:  “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking about it differently.” –Albert Szent-Györgyi

Storyline: From majestic landscapes to portraits of renowned historical figures, Shubhada Sahasrabudhe’s art captures beauty in all sorts of places.

An engineer by trade, working at one of the world’s largest tech companies, Shubhada grew up in two worlds: art and science.  “I lived in an engineering town that manufactured pumps, and my dad worked in research and development,” she says.  “But art was in the house all the time.  My dad did outstanding sketches and paintings, and we spent our evenings sitting side-by-side with him and watching him work, doing random art projects-Even his engineering drawings.”  Growing up close to the process of creation, both at the pump factory and at home, instilled a strong sense of curiosity in Shubhada–“We were told to always be curious, not to stop at what but to ask why”–as well as a strong creative drive: “There was this push to be original,” she says.  “My parents told me, ‘You have to create something that belongs to you.  You're not an artist or a scientist unless you have contributed.’”

With limited supplies around the house, Shubhada often spent her childhood drawing in dirt roads with a stick which interestingly and unknowingly connected her to sand as a medium which she used years later.  “It was like an unlimited canvas,” she says.  Though she now has access to more traditional mediums, such as oil and acrylic, she still enjoys working with less conventional materials.  “I’ve always been an experimentalist, so I always try a new technique–anything that stains with a pigment is my medium,” she says.  “If I finish my coffee and I have a little left at the bottom, I will use it.” Her sand art in particular has garnered much attention, including a guest appearance on the Nickelodeon show Ryan’s Mystery Playdate.

Despite coming up in a workplace culture where hobbies and leisure time were challenging, Shubhada takes both her engineering and artistic career equally seriously.  “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like art and science are distinct things,” she says.  “To me they are so blurry and so similar. Yes, there is more system to science, but you see both elements–system and random–in different ways.  When I begin a painting, I don’t start with the details: I do the big strokes first to get the basic form and values together, and that defines my painting.  That’s exactly how I think of engineering: whenever I look at a problem statement, I look at the broad strokes and ask myself, What am I trying to do?  Once I have those pieces, I know how to fill in the minor details.  Knowing the end point helps guide your next steps.” Science and engineering also played a major role in Shubhada’s sand art, from constructing the worktable (which Shubhada designed and built herself) to finding the right type of sand: “I went to twenty different beaches to get as many sand samples as possible,” she says.

Though balancing work and life can be challenging, Shubhada says making time to do what she loves is worth every minute.  “Painting for hours is meditative,” she explains.  “It’s the most neutral feeling you can have, which is so rare in this day and age: not happy, not sad, just neutral and satisfied.”  She’s made it a priority to share that feeling with others, whether it’s teaching three and a half hours of back-to-back weekly classes through her art academy or finishing and posting a charcoal portrait every day for 140 days during quarantine. Sketch a Day  “I tried to use my art to combat the negativity and sadness,” she says.  “If you’re having a good time in your own company, it’s a good sign that you’re happy and you enjoy what you do.”

*For her contributions in the field of science, Shubhada recently received an esteem award "Women Engineer of the Year"  by American Sociery of Mechanical Engineers. Being recognized in the areas of her profession as well passion demonstrates her commitment to excellence in whatever she takes up.*

Reflection: I’ve always envied creatives who work in math and science: my physics and bio major friends who draw, write, and paint, who can navigate these two seemingly opposing fields, one world as foreign to me as the other is familiar.  Talking with Shubhada gave me insight into that fluidity: it’s about having a certain mentality, an approach that combines order and creativity and, most of all, an eagerness to learn.

At the end of the day, though the work may be different, the processes are more similar than we think, and the ultimate goal is the same: both science and art attempt to make sense of how the world works.  Science tells its own kind of story, the histories of who we are and how we got here, how the world moves around us and how we move within it.  And art is its own kind of science, an ongoing process of trial and error and building on the ideas of those that came before you, expanding our view of the world, defining and redefining truth.

For Anand, the son of two artists, interviewing Shubhada brought back a lot of memories of his own childhood, and how drawing on those creative experiences influenced his approach to problem-solving, enabling him to look at things differently and formulate solutions.

Our community of readers consists of people with a variety of different passions.  Though these may seem different on the surface, all have similarities in terms of process and approach, and all have valuable lessons that can be applied to different contexts.  But most importantly, no matter your line of work, putting your heart, enthusiasm, and soul into your endeavors will help you succeed.

 You can support Shubhada’s work by visiting her  WEBSITE or following her on Facebook.

Attachments: Versatility of the artist.

 

 

 

*late addition paragraph by Anand*

Originally from the SF Bay Area, Phoebe Pineda currently studies Writing and Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies.  In addition to storytelling, she enjoys sunset-watching, road trips, and making art.

Anand and Phoebe first met at a Kid-to-Work Day over two decades ago. Once a week, they meet to discuss the various stories, experiences, memories, and lessons he's collected over the years. They approach each conversation from two different stages in life, one looking forward, the other looking back.

As you think, so you shall reap

POINT TO PONDER: “Each man kills the thing he loves.”-Oscar Wilde 

STORYLINE: Are you a negative thinker? Before you can stop a potentially damaging habit, you must recognize it first. Take a look at these 9 points from David Burns' book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (Avon Books, 1999) and deduce for yourself if you suffer from habitual negative thought:

1. All-or-nothing thinking. Either you are a hero or a failure. Any small or large misstep is a sign that you are a failure. You feel the need to be perfect all the time and when you are not, it feels like something is lacking with you.
2. Overgeneralization. When something bad happens, you believe it will happen again and again.
3. The Mental Filter. You focus on the downside of a situation rather than on the positive. For example, you may have gotten straight A's on your report card in school but feel bad about the one A- you received.
4. Diminishing the positive. When you twist positive events into negative ones. For example, you got a raise but aren't happy because it wasn't a bigger raise.
5. Jumping to conclusions. You always try to predict future trouble. Examples are if someone doesn't return a call, you think they secretly dislike you. If you are happy in a relationship, you think it won't last and the relationship will end down the line.
6. Emotional reasoning. You believe that your mood reflects your self-worth. You feel lousy because you are lousy.
7. 'Should' and 'must' thoughts. You can't stop thinking of things you should or must do, no matter how much you've already accomplished. This also applies to expectations of other people – you expect other people to do things as you think they should.
8. Labeling and mislabeling. You think you are what you do. You are quick to label yourself and others as failures when mistakes are made. You develop a negative self-image and think negatively of others based on constant judgment.
9. Personalization. You take blame for anything that goes wrong, even if it is not your fault.  

REFLECTION: My father used to tell me that we are what we feed our minds. If what we feed is negative – our thinking and behavior will reflect accordingly. Negative thinking is a protective measure designed from past experiences that keep us from future disappointments - by shutting us out from possibilities - and ultimately, our true potential.

If we decide to pursue our dreams, negative thinking can be there every step of the way, manifesting itself in doubt. We question why we chose to walk this path in the first place. Right when we are so close to attaining our goals, right when it just in our grasp – a far more destructive form of negativity often arises – we sabotage our own success. We don't feel worthy of the success that is coming, don't know what to do with it, and the ownership of such a success can become overwhelming.     The solution to overcoming negative thinking is not just in positive thinking. That's why so many repel at the thought of another self-help course. Overcoming negative thinking is a long process, of rewiring your mental and emotional circuitry. And that happens slowly: by recognizing that it is there, isolating it when it happens, making the conscious choice to shift your focus to a new way of thinking, and ultimately, believing the new thoughts you are teaching yourself.    

Positive thinking is far harder than its negative counterpart. Our world is filled with so much disappointment that it is easy to discredit possibilities and positive thought. When someone has achieved a high level of success, we want to tear them down, find the faults and if that is hard to find, we like to label them as an exception to the rule. They are only an exception because they have chosen to believe in themselves no matter what obstacles or disappointments come across their path. Negative thinking would like to suggest that you are not good enough while positive belief suggests that you are capable beyond all measure. It is up to you which you believe.

“Kindness and Consideration of Somebody Besides Yourself Keeps You Feeling Young.” –Betty White

By Phoebe Pineda

Point to Ponder:  “My mother always used to say, ‘The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.’” –"Rose Nylund, The Golden Girls"

Storyline:

On New Year’s Eve, beloved television actress Betty White passed away just weeks shy of her 100th birthday.  Widely mourned by audiences everywhere, White’s popularity defied generational boundaries.  With every age and era she seemed to find a new groove, from her roles on such TV classics as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls to more recent roles in Hot in Cleveland and the movie The Proposal.  In 2010, thanks to a fan-launched Facebook campaign, White became the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live at 88 years old–“the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party,” former head writer Seth Meyers remarked.

As well as a talented actress and gifted comedian, White was a pioneer, one of the first women to produce and host for radio and television as well as a longtime advocate for animal welfare and an ally for marginalized people.  Her insistence on giving screentime to Black tap dancer Arthur Duncan resulted in the cancellation of The Betty White Show in 1954, and she was outspoken about her support for the LGBT+ community.

And indeed, even after over sixty years, she never seemed to lose her passion.  Every moment she was onscreen, she stole the show, whether she was ribbing her costars or poking fun at herself.  “If one has no sense of humor,” she wrote in her memoir If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t), “one is in trouble.” 

Reflection:

There never has been, nor will there ever be, another Betty White.  A sentiment I’ve seen floating around the Internet in the weeks since her passing is that she managed to live such an extraordinary life and bring so much joy to people over the years that nearly everyone agreed that 99 years old was far too soon.

Success in Hollywood is rare; to achieve the longevity Betty White had is unimaginable.  Perhaps one of the reasons she could remain such a powerhouse and hold her own in a famously aging-averse agency was because she’d spent her entire life one step ahead of the times.  Even now, we are only just starting to catch up to where Betty was in the 1950s in terms of her creative control and her acceptance of others.

But the reason she resonated with so many of us, from Gen Xers like my parents to children of the Internet like me, was her humor and her heart.  She was quick-witted, snarky, but always compassionate.  And as Anand pointed out to me while we were drafting this article on Monday, every picture of her radiates joy.  She loved life, and she lived a life full of love: for people, for animals, and for being onscreen, making us laugh.

January 17th would have been her 100th birthday.  On behalf of everyone and all the lives you’ve touched, Betty, thank you for being a friend.

 

 

Originally from the SF Bay Area, Phoebe Pineda currently studies Writing and Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies.  In addition to storytelling, she enjoys sunset-watching, road trips, and making art.

Anand and Phoebe first met at a Kid-to-Work Day over two decades ago. Once a week, they meet to discuss the various stories, experiences, memories, and lessons he's collected over the years. They approach each conversation from two different stages in life, one looking forward, the other looking back.

Why do people take more pictures of sunsets than sunrises?

Majestic Sunsets around the world: 93 locations

By Phoebe Pineda

Points to Ponder : “As your day comes to a close, ask yourself whether you’ve done everything you set out to do or been the person you desire to be.” - Everyday Power.com

 Story Line: Why do people take more pictures of sunsets than sunrises?

Perhaps it’s because many of us (particularly those of us who are night owls) aren’t awake for the sunrise.  But maybe it’s that there’s something special about sunsets – about how no two sunsets are alike, each with its own combination of striking colors lending new life to deserts, cityscapes, and ocean waves.  Every sunset is as unique as the day it concludes, an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on what we learned.

In one of my last writing classes, our professor had us submit an essay reflecting on each of our writing assignments.  In each reflection, we looked back on our writing process and the decisions we made: how did we make our writing easier for a reader to approach?  What type of reader are we writing for?  What were some of the challenges we faced, and what aspects did we enjoy?  The goal of these reflection essays, according to my professor, was to track our progress as writers – to keep a log of how we approach different assignments and what we learn in doing so, which can be a very valuable tool for improvement.  They also serve as a way to validate our growth, providing something we can look back on and see where we were and how we might do things differently, or how trying something new for one essay became integrated into our approaches to other essays.  It can feel tedious picking our work apart, rehashing what we’ve already written instead of pursuing something new, but at the same time, looking back at something you’ve completed and meditating on it can feel refreshing.  You’ve already done the hard work, and now you can relax and really acknowledge the amount of hard work you’ve put in, and how it’s paid off.

Where sunrises serve as a command, or a call to action, sunsets offer catharsis.  It’s why we take so many walks at dusk on the beach, or spend so many evening car rides just peering out the window, watching the glass go from golden-orange to rosy lavender as night falls.  My family’s spent the past few New Year’s Eves chasing that final sunset, and it feels like a fitting conclusion, a way to stop, breathe, and say goodbye to the old year in all its highs and lows, all its joys and hardships.

We’ll head into 2022 anew, with visions for what we want to accomplish and how we want to get there.  But as we ride out the final hours of 2021, I encourage everyone to take a moment to sit back and watch the sky.

 

Countries: Botswana,Cambodia,CostaRica,Scotland/England,Fiji,Guatemala,Japan,Laos,New Zealand,Malaysia,Philippines,Samoa,India,Indonesia,Israel,Taiwan,Thailand,Tonga,USA,Zambia.

Contributors: Sunsets Around The World Video. 93 locations, 31 Photographers, 20 Countries, 5 Continents

Alankar Naik: North Carolina (182-193), Alka Pandya: Mumbai (115-116),Boon Seng Tan: Hillsoboro,OR and Pismo Beach,Ca (97,103,150), Chen Ping and Oliver Chen: California Coast and Yosemite(114, 143-144), Chet Thaker: Zambia and Bostwana (163-168,172-179*), City Ong: Penang, Malaysia (69-72,,89,99-100,104,108-109,113,124-135*,141-142,181), Gabriela Cruz Thompson: Costa Rica/Oregon (110-112),Gordon Ching: Ohau, Hawaii (117-119,121-123*,139-140),Haresh Parikh: Ahmedabad, India (203-207),Kalpana Shah Korvar:Poona, India (145-146*),Kashyap Shah:KeyWest,FL and Kannapali,Maui (170,180), Kevin Rockwood:Manila, Philippines(153),Madhuri Narkhede: Picacho Peak,AZ (136),Mayur Desai: SanDiego,Ca (161-162),Mihir Shah: San Francisco Bay, Pillar Point,Ca (154-55,202),Nitin Godiwla:Rhode Island (229), Phobe Pineda: Culver City,Ca (157), Rajan Shah:Mussorie and Coorg India (137-8,156), Rajiv Shah: San Francisco (105-106),Ronak Shodhan: Ahmedabad,India(228),Samantha Baud: Los Altos,Ca (171),Sharad Mehta: Amelia Island,FL(169),Sharvary Trivedi: Goa,India(67-68),Shashank Phadke: Moffet Field, Ca(158),Shinji Hioki:Oregon Coast(101-102),Swati Desai:Dwarka,Nasik,Abu,Goa-India, Bali(194-201),

Prasad Vepa:Montara(8),Carmel(9),BarHarbor(13),parque(22),PacificGrove(54),SantaCruz(55),Sunnyvale(56),Saratoga(147),Maui(148).

Gautam Singampalli: SanJose(160),GandCanyon,MonumentValley,Guatamala,Assam, AcreIsland-Israel,Jerusalem,LaguanaBeach-Ca, Outrey-Colorado,Amritsar,Ladakh,Yousemite,MountShasta,HalfMoonBay,MountWhitney and Mahabalipuram(208-227).

AnandLuisa Shah: Goa(1-4),Kauai(5-7),BryceCanyon(10-11),YellowStone(12),Christchurch,FranJoseph-NZ(14-15),VitiLevu-Fiji(16-21),SiemReap-Cambodia(23-25),LuangPrabang-Laos(26),Zion(27),DeathValley(28-29),Sunnyvale(30,98),Milpitas(31-2),Pascadero(33),Bali,Indonesia(34-37),SanLuisObispo(38),KingCity(39),LosAltos(40,96,107),Upolu-Samoa(41-47),Savaii-Samoa(48-50),Haapai-Tongatapu-Tonga(51-53),Glasgow-IsleofSkye-Scotland(58-61),HalfMoonBay(62-63),Seattle(64-65),SantaClara(66),ChianMai-Thailand(73),Bohol-Philippines(74-76),ElNido&Coron-Palawan(77-86),Okinawa-Japan(87),Alishan-Taiwan(88,90-94) and MountainView,Ca(151-152)

Unknown(95,120)…

*Few Photos of Moon.

Originally from the SF Bay Area, Phoebe Pineda currently studies Writing and Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies.  In addition to storytelling, she enjoys sunset-watching, road trips, and making art.

Anand and Phoebe first met at a Kid-to-Work Day over two decades ago. Once a week, they meet to discuss the various stories, experiences, memories, and lessons he's collected over the years. They approach each conversation from two different stages in life, one looking forward, the other looking back.

Yosemite after first snow.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Wonderful Winter Wishes to our loyal readers from Friday Reflections Team. 

Your support, encouragement and feedback has inspired us to carry on Friday Reflections for over 15 years. 

Enjoy the immense beauty and versatility of Yosemite in Autum by Gautam, the person featured in last week reflection.

Leaders Can Come From Anywhere, at Any Age.

Happy Thanksgiving

By Phoebe Pineda

Point to Ponder:  “A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.” --Joe DiMaggio

Storyline: On November 4, after eleven years playing Major League Baseball, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey announced his retirement.  The news shocked fans -- Posey had just helped propel the Giants to their best season in history, and at only 34 still seemed to have more ahead of him.

From the moment Posey first stepped foot in the Giants clubhouse in 2009, he made an impression.  Sports broadcaster Mike Krukow recalled that Posey had a presence unlike any other rookie he’d seen, an “it factor” that left even his veteran teammates in awe and eager to impress him.  That energy helped reinvigorate an aging team of underestimated misfits, as Posey and the team led San Francisco to win its first championship in 2010 and two more in the span of five years.  He played every game with a focused determination, a drive to push the team forward that remained untouched by ego, and became a quiet leader to those around him, a person his teammates could rely on and an opinion they could trust.  Posey is perhaps nearly as famous for his “Buster Hugs,” a hallmark of nearly every major victory in these past 12 years and a testament to the strength of his relationship with each Giants pitcher, as he is for his playing.  As basketball player Steph Curry described it, “There’s always a feeling of somebody who represented one organization for his entire career and did it with class the entire time.”

Buster Posey’s final season feels like an encore, a last hurrah before the curtain falls and the lights go down.  He opted out of the 2020 season to spend time with his family and his newly-adopted twin daughters, and came back this year stronger than ever, the longest-tenured member on the team and a leader to a group of new up-and-comers.  It was not the first time he’d returned to the game after a hiatus, and perhaps one reason fans were so caught off-guard by Posey’s decision to retire was because they were so used to seeing him get back up again, fall after fall.  But playing one of baseball’s most physically-taxing positions takes its toll, and at the end of the day, Posey decided to place not only his family first, but his own well-being.

Former Giants pitcher Barry Zito said it best in a Twitter tribute to his old teammate:  “You have what most of us MLB players never did, true perspective.  You didn’t bow down & worship the game of baseball as if it were your God.  In the eyes of @SFGiants fans, you walked on water but to you, it was just a game you loved to play and that’s why you played it so well.  Perspective.  You cared about the game but didn’t let it define you the way we all did.  Whether you were winning one of your 3 World Series titles or in the middle of a career-worst slump you were the same Buster, focused, friendly and always professional.”

Reflection: It doesn’t take a seasoned veteran to make a leader.  At 23, Buster Posey was already setting an example for his team before he’d even played his first game.  For twelve years, his dedication, humility, and commitment to his teammates never wavered.  His priorities, too, remained unchanged -- while baseball was his livelihood, at the end of the day, at the peak of his career, he chose to step away and take care of himself and his family.  That, too, takes confidence.

Happy Thanksgiving, Buster.  We’re thankful for you and all you’ve given us, and we know your family is too.

(An additional thanks to my mother, a lifelong Giants fan whose input helped make this post possible, and to our readers around the world, for your continued support and contributions to discussion through the years.  From all of us at Friday Reflections, Happy Thanksgiving.)

Originally from the SF Bay Area, Phoebe Pineda currently studies Writing and Literature at the University of California Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies.  In addition to storytelling, she enjoys sunset-watching, road trips, and making art.

A Place Where Everybody Knows your Name

Points to Ponder: The words that we attach to our experience become our experience. – Tony Robbins

Cheers, Where Everybody Knows your Name. T-Shirt from Cheers Bar in Boston

Story Line: This year I had a sad experience of parting with the T-Shirt that I have worn for a long time. It was a T-Shirt from Cheers Bar in Boston that my wife and daughter had bought for me over a decade ago. It had inscription on the back: Cheers, Where Everybody Knows your Name. The years had taken its toll. Even after it had developed holes in underarm sleeves a few years ago; instead of throwing it away, I had cut the sleeves and still wore it.

This had greatly puzzled my friend who was witnessing a gentle dialogue between my wife and me about retiring that treasure. So in order to calm/satisfy his curiosity I explained the background.

Years ago when my wife handed me that T-Shirt, the thought (analogy) that came to my mind was “Wouldn’t it be valuable to have the similar theme applied in work and life atmosphere: “Cheers, Where Everybody Knows your and your organization’s Name”? But your stakeholders (customers, partners, investors and employees) can remember your name in two ways; positive experiences or negative experiences.

Years ago I got a job in an organization that managed supply of materials used in making semiconductor chips. The job involved dealing with suppliers in many different countries, huge portfolio of materials, dealing with many different manufacturing facilities and demanding customers. There were huge challenges to continue uninterrupted supply of materials amidst growing business, faster introduction of newer products and technologies, and not very patient customers. Dealing with stakeholders in many different geographies required significant time commitment and flexibility. The pressure and stress level was viewed very intense by some who left the group.

To succeed in such an environment, there was great need for an organization culture that was focused on providing memorable valuable experiences for the stakeholders. Well my good fortune that the team I worked with created such a culture. The organization got recognized numerous times by the real stakeholders for delivering outstanding results. Even years after I retired from the industry, people I run into mentions so many names from that team in a very positive light. Awards, Trophies, Public recognitions are like stamp collections**but the learnings from those experiences are lifelong. That experience had demonstrated to me the true meaning of the tag line “Where Everybody Knows your Name.”

The friend who was previously puzzled with my attachment to that T-Shirt seemed to be happy with the explanation.

Reflection: The experience enriched me with knowledge of many different industries and incredible technologies, understanding of numerous company cultures and learning to work with many country cultures. I also learned about diverse group of materials and how to stay calm under intense pressures while solving complex problems. Not to forget the travel to 13 different countries.  But most importantly learning how to keep customers and team members motivated while dealing with all the challenges. To be honest, I often told myself “How many people in the world get an opportunity to have such a broad scope job and learn so much in same amount of time?”

That piece of cloth and words on it I had held on to so dearly was not just the T-Shirt. It is the memory of the great learning experience. It is also the reminder of the value I must continue to provide to people who put their time, resources and trust in me. Every day, I am enriching myself with new experiences from that learning.

Every encounter in life has some learnings. The key thing is how one views that experience and resulting actions.

**“Stamp Collection” is where one pulls things from the shelf (past), dust them off, flip pages, feel good about it and then put them back. Once former Boss used the words “Stamp Collection” to describe behaviors when people get in the mode of Self Admiration (team members complemnting each other for great job for stakeholders without any input from the real stakeholders) or produce tons of data that is not useful.

The word Place in the title could be a company, a country, an organization, a team, a group or an individual.

 

Extras:

… Making your way in the world today Takes everything you've got……..

.....Be glad there's one place in the world Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came…..….You want to go (Be) where everybody knows your name

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Besides that dear T-Shirt and one brown like the above photo, there are a few others that have been my companion for a very long time; again for the similar reason as the one above. Each one has enriched me with more knowledge, better service and clarity about life.

Yellow Stone (retired after 10 years of service): For immense diversity and harmony in one place.

SF Giants World Series (still in service):  What a group of committed, focused, rookies and also not star players can achieve when they work together as a team on the singular purpose. They had no superstars or big names when they got their first two championships. And third time they had so many players- Where Everybody Knew their Names. 😊 😊 😃

Global Supply Management (still keeps on ticking eventhough with a lot of beating/torn): It was a great privilege to be of service to this great organization that delivered immense value to the corporation and provided great opportunity to learn about many different industries, incredible technologies, 100s of company country cultures, many country cultures and huge portfolio of materials and solve complex problems.

 

 

 

Sometimes it helps to look at the bigger picture.

Points To Ponder: THE DELUSION OF LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE The most powerful learning comes from direct experience. Indeed, we learn eating, crawling, walking, and communicating through direct trial and error—through taking an action and seeing the consequences of that action; then taking a new and different action. But what happens when we can no longer observe the consequences of our actions? What happens if the primary consequences of our actions are in the distant future or in a distant part of the larger system within which we operate? We each have a “learning horizon,” a breadth of vision in time and space within which we assess our effectiveness. When our actions have consequences beyond our learning horizon, it becomes impossible to learn from direct experience. --Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

Story Line: In The current state of world affairs- Pandemic, Border Disputes, Political Positioning, Equal Rights, Natural Disasters, Enviornmental Issues, Diversity....."My Way or Highway"...........

Your Reflection: Where are we heading as the human race? What is the Big Picture Thinking?

 

The Fifth Discipline is one of the few books I have learnt from and treasured from the day I was introduced to it in the year 1992 by our boss Robert Miller. The learnings from this book have been great asset in what follwed in wonderful career and life.