The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Portia Nelson’

By the end of 2011, I would have read 200 books for the year. I have always been a voracious reader, but this year I have outdone myself. Despite this, I still feel like a slacker because quite a few people who I know are averaging between four to five books each week. I didn’t read as many classics as I’d like. I find that I struggle to read some of the classics because the story unfolds so slowly.

I try to read books from many genres, and even if it’s fiction, I find that I always take away a lesson or two. I have also noticed that some of the same themes emerging, and I’d like to share them with you.

1. Persistence pays.
2. Where you start out in life does not determine where you’ll end up.
3. Forgive those who hurt you.
4. Let go of anger.
5. You can accomplish a lot more than you think.
6. Take time to enjoy life, the journey is everything.
7. Spend time with family and friends.
8. When others criticize you, instead of immediately being defensive, honestly ask yourself if there is merit to the criticism. If there is, immediately make the changes.
9. Emulate the good qualities you admire in others and check yourself for their bad ones.
10. Things always take a longer to accomplish than you first thought.
11. You accomplish a lot more when you collaborate with people whose skills complement yours.
12. Fall down seven times get up eight.

I’d like to leave you with a quote by Charles Wesley and John Wesley, and a poem by Portia Nelson to reflect on.

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can

To all the people you can

As long as ever you can!”

By Charles and John Wesley

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost … I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in … it’s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

~ Portia Nelson ~

(There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk)

You Tube Video of Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

If you cannot view the video please click here.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

YouTube Video Credit: Uploaded by WildcatTech on May 11, 2009

Lewis Carroll – Your Invisible Mentor

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is really about learning from our mistakes, firing the imagination and making the impossible possible.

In the fantasy, Alice chases after a white rabbit sporting a waistcoat and tumbles down a rabbit hole into a world of wonder, one that’s very dissimilar to the one she came from. The silliness of Alice in Wonderland makes you laugh and makes the book very appealing.

As Carroll takes Alice from one adventure to another I see a bit of Alice inside myself where I make the same mistakes more than once until I finally get it. In the land of make believe, where animals can talk, Alice’s size fluctuates, up and down like a yo-yo until she finally figures out how to control it by nibbling on a piece of mushroom. More than once, she offends and frightens, by telling the mouse and birds about her cat Dinah who loves to catch mice and chase birds.

While reading Alice in Wonderland I was reminded of the poem Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson. The poem makes you laugh, but you are laughing at yourself because you can relate to it. Someone walks down a street and falls into a pothole, and he does it again even though he clearly sees the pothole, he walks down the street again sees the pothole and walks around it until one day he decides, what the heck, I will walk down another street. It’s a part of the human condition and a metaphor for life. Falling into the pothole is a metaphor for the mistakes we make in life.

Five Great Ideas

1. Communicate in simple, clear language to avoid misunderstandings
2. Don’t take things personally (One of the four agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz)
3. If you have a destination, does it really matter how you get there? How about you enjoy the journey instead?
4. Manage your emotions – never lose your temper
5. Think before you speak

So, how can you apply the simple concepts in Alice in Wonderland? Think of a challenge that you are currently facing:

If you were standing on the shoulders of a giant, how differently would you view the challenge? And, if you could shrink the challenge, or break it down into smaller chunks, what difference would it make in resolving it? The way you view the world depends on where you are positioned, and Alice in Wonderland opens you up to many possibilities. Transform the impossibilities in your life to possibilities!

Even if you have read Alice in Wonderland when you were a child, I recommend that you read it through adult lens. What metaphors are used that relate to you life? What lessons can you learn from this timeless classic?

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia

How did I get here?

Why do I keep on making the same mistakes over and over again? You would think that I would have learned by now.

When you read Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, you find yourself  laughing, not because the poem is funny. You are laughing at yourself. You feel a connection to Portia Nelson’s words. She is speaking your words.

I certainly felt a connection with her! She clearly articulated what I was feeling.

You feel connected to the author because it takes you forever to get it right. But one day you finally get it, perhaps by then the pain is too much for even you to bear. Or perhaps you are now more self-aware. The reason doesn’t matter because you have finally learned from that particular mistake.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

by Portia Nelson

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost …. I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in … it’s a habit… but,

my eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

Portia Nelson, 1920 – 2001, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery

As I write this post, and read the poem again, I notice something for the first time, and make a connection that I didn’t make before.

“…I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place…”

The quote attributed to both Einstein and Bejamin Franklin pops into my consciousness, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting to get a different result.” We are in the same place because we simply haven’t made any changes. How can we expect a different result if we keep on doing the same thing the same way?

We no longer have to walk down that particular road in life because we have options. We can learn from your mistakes, or not, the choice is entirely ours.

What emotions does Autobiography in Five Short Chapters evoke? What lessons can we learn? What does this poem remind you of?

The first time I read this poem it moved me deeply. So much so that I secured permission to use it in my book Tales of People Who Get It.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters is from the book There’s a Hole in my Sidewalk, pp 2-3.