Issue 307
One of the most exasperating characteristics in a colleague can be forgetfulness. Not bringing the right equipment or paperwork to an event or meeting results in irritation; forgetting to make a phone call, send an email or enter a record can lose clients, favour and money. It’s a strange disappointment that accompanies the memory lapse which permeates through a team or an organisation; this disappointment is also directed inwards when the ‘forgetter’ realises the mistake and the damage it has caused. People speak of the curse of absent-mindedness or being air-headed or somewhat dreamy. There is another curse, contrasting in character, namely that of remembering too much.
The over-controlling, hyper-vigilant individual can retain endless details and experience, resulting in mental overload, whilst not allowing others to carry their loads. That curse could be the subject of another piece, but also worth noting now.
There is, however, a daily discipline which would be good to develop around the area of forgetting: there are some things which are best forgotten. The perfectionist may look back on an error and replay over and over the steps to failure causing present feelings of guilt. In such circumstances the lessons should be remembered but the error erased from the memory. Endless rehearsal of ‘might have beens’ robs the present of its potential; “forget it” is a good motto for such circumstances.
Then there is the missed opportunity; a financial investment not made, an asset not acquired or a market not exploited can result in a plague on the mind. It is not a mistake or a failure but merely an oversight or inaccurate judgement which only now is fully understood. Again, a healthy forgetting creates energy to move on.
This discipline has to do with putting the past in its place; It is a relegation of regret to the recesses of the mind where it will evaporate in the warm sun of new dawns.
“Forgetting what is behind” according to Paul, when he wrote to the church in Philippi, is all part of learning to run the race of life. Forgetting mistakes, missed opportunities, and a million other memories is not weakness or dreaming; it is to jettison in a healthy way the unnecessary baggage which will only clutter the present day.
So you might like to consider forgetting on a daily basis. Dropping your anxious thoughts, you can let yourself off the hook of remorse and explore the horizons rather than visit the cellars.
After all, if you are living by faith, you have bet your destiny on the trustworthiness of the one who says “your sins and iniquities I will remember no more”.
Forget well.
Isaiah 43:25-26
25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. 26 Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
Philippians 3:13-14
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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