Saturday, October 16, 2010

Net Worth

I attended a great dinner party tonight.  George, a woman, pulled together two of us who are new to town and added more of her friends to welcome us.  We shared great food together and non-stop conversation.  We talked about everything and anything and we were so interested in what each other had to say.
I realize, upon reflection, that new people navigating conversations together is really a subtle and complex undertaking.  We wind in and out of conversations, responses to one another and general sensing, reading body language, listening for tone, facial expression, intensity and work to understand each other's position. 
At first I was quiet in that it has hurt me to talk for several days.  I have had this head cold thing that plugged up my Eustachian tubes making my ears unable to equalize the pressure while flying.  The doctor gave me great medication this afternoon and as we moved into the evening, the pain lessened and I joined in. 
I asked a question about net worth and what that means to people.  We decided that net worth needed to include all goal areas of life, not just financial.  How does our balance sheet read in regard to the number of positive thoughts versus negative thoughts we have per day?  How about in regard to our physical fitness versus poor health.  And let's not forget our spiritual balance sheet; what do those assets look like?  And mentally are we adding to life in an interesting way or self absorbed?  I threw in my made up village joke about asking a commercial fisherman, "What is your net worth?"  And he/she would answer that it was worth a lot since it is the main tool in making a living. 
How do we measure our value as a person?  What is the real balance sheet?  What does it have on it? 

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