Inner Conflict

I was watching "A Minute with Maxwell" video, where John Maxwell shares with me (alrigh,t and a bunch of other subscribers) a one minute leadership lesson. Today's lesson was on conflict. In about 60 seconds he confirmed what I already knew: conflict exits, learn to live with it. Although he focused on the conflict we experience with others, what resonated more with me is the fact I often have conflict with myself: over what I believe, between my wants and needs, over how to use my time, whether to self publish or seek a traditional publisher. Every day I have a tennis match with myself over something.

John Maxwell reminded me a bit of my dad – he was a truth sayer, always told it like it was, no sugar coating. As much as I would like inner resolution John's video made me think, perhaps the process of going through conflict – with myself or others – is part of what makes us better people. I can think of two stories in nature that illustrate this:

The Great Barrier Reef – the reason it is one of the world's greatest reefs providing a home to vibrant, majestic and visually stimulating sea creatures and coral is because of the constant conflict it faces from the turbulence of the sea. Without having to adapt to its environment, the reef would not be as glorious as it is. The second story was told by Joel Osteen. He told how groups of commercial fisherman were losing revenue when the fish they were bringing back to port lost their flavor due to the length of time it took to catch the fish and bring it back to port. During the journey from sea to dock the fish would become inactive leaving them with little taste for the consumer. The solution: freeze the fish once they were caught. Retailers didn't like this solution because fresh fish tastes much better than frozen. The fishermen decided to try another tactic – add a single predator to the onboard fish tank. The result: the fish remained active during the long journey from sea to land, and consequently retained not only freshness but flavor when sold to the consumer.

Maybe a little inner conflict is good for the soul after all.