Every day is a learning experience

Sometimes I wonder how people could possibly be bored. Growing up there were a few things that I heard consistently from adults: "Boredom is a function of your own mind" and "If you're bored, I'll give you something to do."  The lesson I took with me into adulthood is that there is always something to do, and thus the idea of boredom is completely lost on me.  Now, I have felt at times that I just didn't want to do something -- that's different.  But I could never be bored, especially when each day provided such a variety of new learning experiences.

Take today, for example.  I have to learn how to nicely, delicately work with a colleague.  This has never been my strong suit and it is high time for me to learn this valuable skill.  My issue today is that I am responsible for the supervision of someone, say Student A, and my colleague thinks that my student isn't quite up to par.  I, on the other hand, quite strongly disagree and I have facts, observations, and years of experience with which to back that conclusion. I also know that said colleague is not at all familiar with Student A's particular area of expertise and is making a judgment based on limited information.  So how do I keep the colleague satisfied that Student A is progressing and keep mentoring Student A in a reliable and trustworthy manner?  How do I reinstate the peace between all groups?

The biggest issue for me, I think, is that I tend to be rather blunt.  Sometimes when I feel like a person is an idiot or ignorant or whatever I tend to let that show.  Over the past few years I've learned, through trial and error, that it's not a good idea to be quite that blunt.  I have to finesse situations, all the while saying that I am being true to Truth and to Myself.

It's hard to learn that being blunt and being honest are not always the same thing.  Sometimes one can be honest without being so blunt, so brutal. That is what I am trying to learn.