We all find ourselves in a group environment at one time or the other. It might be in a social setting, a classroom, a church, a business team, or some other group with a common goal. Whatever it is, there are goals, whether spoken or just understood.
Since each member of a group adds their consciousness to the group consciousness as a whole, this thought should pique your curiosity.
If you plan to assess yourself as a member of the group, you have to consider your attitudes. Are you needful, or are you mindful and grateful?
Since each member of a group adds their consciousness to the group consciousness as a whole, this thought should pique your curiosity.
If you plan to assess yourself as a member of the group, you have to consider your attitudes. Are you needful, or are you mindful and grateful?
• Are you needful? In other words, do you have a fixed idea of how the group has to operate in order for you to be happy as a member? Do you also feel that your personal needs must be fully met before the group is considered functional by you?
• Do you understand that you must be mindful of the needs of others who also make up the group?
• Are you grateful for the opportunity to come together to learn about the mission embraced by this group, even if it is strictly social, and for the opportunity to express what you learn and feel with its other members?
Of course, it is often our neediness that draws us to particular groups. However, needing emotional or spiritual support is not the same as being needful, which involves demanding your needs be met. When members of a group insisting that things be done their way becomes the rule of the day, the danger is that the group and its mission are no longer the focus. Everything begins to deteriorate, and until the focus is restored to its proper place, there is nothing that can heal it. This also applies to the group we don’t usually bring to mind: the nation to which we belong.
• Do you understand that you must be mindful of the needs of others who also make up the group?
• Are you grateful for the opportunity to come together to learn about the mission embraced by this group, even if it is strictly social, and for the opportunity to express what you learn and feel with its other members?
Of course, it is often our neediness that draws us to particular groups. However, needing emotional or spiritual support is not the same as being needful, which involves demanding your needs be met. When members of a group insisting that things be done their way becomes the rule of the day, the danger is that the group and its mission are no longer the focus. Everything begins to deteriorate, and until the focus is restored to its proper place, there is nothing that can heal it. This also applies to the group we don’t usually bring to mind: the nation to which we belong.
In this process of decline, there are three basic groups of people. A long time ago, I heard this breakdown of the philosophies of those in a group although I don't remember who said it.
• First, there are the risk-takers. These are the people who remain committed to the group’s mission as the lifeline for moving forward. They stand strong, regardless of the stones and arrows thrust at them by others. They make a commitment to stepping outside their personal comfort zones for the good of the group’s mission. They work toward cohesiveness, not divisiveness.
• Next are the caretakers. They don't want to get involved. No shaking things up for them. They close their eyes to the problems and to the troublemakers. Their blinders stay in place, and their buffers shield them from the realities.
• Finally, the third group of people has little power until the caretakers outnumber the risk-takers. When that happens, the voices of the undertakers begin to be heard because the group itself is dying. An undertaker is someone whose purpose is to prepare the dead for burial. The way in which these undertakers do this is to set about creating divisiveness through gossip, innuendos, and outright untruths. Unlike the caretakers, they want to shake things up! The long-term health of the group and its mission is not their focus. Rather they are focused on enjoying increased personal power, at least until the group takes its last breath.
• First, there are the risk-takers. These are the people who remain committed to the group’s mission as the lifeline for moving forward. They stand strong, regardless of the stones and arrows thrust at them by others. They make a commitment to stepping outside their personal comfort zones for the good of the group’s mission. They work toward cohesiveness, not divisiveness.
• Next are the caretakers. They don't want to get involved. No shaking things up for them. They close their eyes to the problems and to the troublemakers. Their blinders stay in place, and their buffers shield them from the realities.
• Finally, the third group of people has little power until the caretakers outnumber the risk-takers. When that happens, the voices of the undertakers begin to be heard because the group itself is dying. An undertaker is someone whose purpose is to prepare the dead for burial. The way in which these undertakers do this is to set about creating divisiveness through gossip, innuendos, and outright untruths. Unlike the caretakers, they want to shake things up! The long-term health of the group and its mission is not their focus. Rather they are focused on enjoying increased personal power, at least until the group takes its last breath.
The only restorative solution for a situation such as this is for the caretakers to wake up and become risk-takers. Although these types of people exist in groups of all kinds, this is the truth in America at the moment. If the caretakers in the American population don’t wake up and become risk-takers, the undertakers who have emerged in full force in the last eight years, creating chaos in all levels of the nation, will bury this group we call America.
So, if every group member, every citizen, were like you, where would your particular group be headed? Would it be growing in understanding as the consciousness of the group increased? Or would it be on life support, torn apart by the increasing negativity within?
So, if every group member, every citizen, were like you, where would your particular group be headed? Would it be growing in understanding as the consciousness of the group increased? Or would it be on life support, torn apart by the increasing negativity within?
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