We never know what paths our thinking shall take. Thinking can be as unpredictable as weather is. This post provides an example of what I mean.
Dennis Pitocco replied to a message that I sent to him “It’s quite simple – quality always rises to the top!”
I replied, “Froth also rises to the top”.
Dennis replied, “Froth dissolves – quality lives on”.
These messages provided the first seeds to write this post. It is an example of how few words may take us on different thinking paths.
The first emerging idea- intentions and wants
Maybe you heard the story of the two chefs who were preparing the dinner for their employer. They both needed orange for what they were preparing. To their predicament only they found that there is one orange left. They started fighting over it. Finally, they agreed to share the orange by cutting it into two halves.
One chef peeled the orange and threw the peel away. The other chef did the same, but instead, he kept the peel and through the orange. The first chef wanted to make orange juice and the second chef wanted the peel to decorate the cake he was preparing.
They did not discuss their intentions. Had they done so they would not have quarreled?
What does this have to do with froth?
Well. The same story recurred in a different version. Again, the two chefs decided to share the meet by dividing it into two equal portions. One chef removed the meat from the bones and threw away the bones. The other chef did exactly the opposite and kept the bones. It turned out that the chef who kept the bones wanted to make bones soup. The other chef needed the meat only in his cooking.
The first lesson from this story is we lose resources, time and go in unnecessary conflicts when we fail to our intentions clear. Our wants link to our intentions. Assuming we know the intention is often misleading. Declarations of intentions clarify the turbidity of collaboration.
Froth and broth
Let us continue with my story. The chef who started making the bone broth (soup) noticed that turbid foam collected at the surface. He started skimming it off. It did not allow him to see inside the soup.
He then realized that turbidity stops us form-seeing problems clearly.
He learnt his second lesson= in turbid intentions, understanding is difficult. The debris of the bones and the left meat on the bones caused turbidity. Misunderstanding leads to undesirable froth and extra effort to remove it.
Golden Froth
We concentrate gold ores by frothing the gold ore so that the bubbles of air trap the gold particles and take them to the surface. Skimming the froth has the particles ready for further treatment.
My third lesson is again, intentions have turned into a golden froth. It is not the froth as much as why we produce the froth.
The triangle of wants and Wants and Needs, wisdom and beliefs
Harvey Lloyd commented on one of my recent posts. He wrote, “What we believe; what we need; and our wisdom is always in tension as we meet new and different challenges to our path of success.
I hope the above stories and derived lessons show the importance of having our wants and needs clarity without any turbidity.
