A Daily Dose of Sanity by Alan Cohen

Author:Alan Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hay House, Inc.
Published: 2010-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

How do you recognize the difference between destructive and helpful criticism?

I know and trust feedback that resonates with me and helps me. I let go of what is not off base or misdirected.

JUNE 30

How Long It Took

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

— Chinese proverb

One morning in the 1950s an American woman named Joan was shopping in an open-air market in the French city of Nice. When she saw a familiar-looking man holding a sketch pad, she approached him nervously and asked, “Excuse me, but are you Pablo Picasso?”

“That’s right,” he answered softly.

“I am one of your biggest fans!” she told him excitedly. “I don’t mean to disturb you, but is there any way you would take a few minutes and do a sketch of me? I’d be happy to pay you.”

Picasso studied the woman’s features for a moment and answered with a smile, “Yes, I will.”

The two walked to a table at a nearby sidewalk café. Picasso opened his pad, reached into his pocket for a piece of charcoal, and went to work. Fifteen minutes later he turned the pad around and showed Joan his finished work. It was spectacular—an authentic Picasso, and of her!

Joan took the portrait and thanked the master profusely. Then she took out her checkbook and asked, “How much will that be?”

“Five thousand dollars,” Picasso answered in a matter-of-fact way.

Joan’s jaw dropped. “But, sir, with all due respect, the picture took you only 15 minutes.”

“No, madam,” he replied quite seriously. “You don’t understand. The picture took me 80 years and 15 minutes.”

Everything you have ever done has led you to become who and what you are today, and bestowed you with what you have to offer. Assess your worth not by an isolated criterion, but by what you have learned through every job, relationship, failure, triumph, and experience. You bring to the table a huge bank of wisdom based on past learning. This moment is not disconnected from those that came before it. It stands at the apex of the pyramid of your life.

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