#02: New Tricks

I chose this moving piece from Sasha because it brings to light the importance of not letting our limitations keep us leashed, relating this idea to a specific experience involving the cheerful spirit of an old dog. In a hyperactive world with demanding schedules, it is easy for me to let the little setbacks, mistakes, and challenges change my attitude and behavior for the worse. However, this piece inspires me to reconsider my perspective when negative circumstances come about, and to express gratitude for BOTH the small joyful moments I experience AND for the people who make me feel grateful, fortunate and inspired to unleash and run free. Thanks Sasha!

Amanda

New Tricks

by Sasha Dichter

On a run this past weekend, I turn the corner and see an old chocolate Labrador plodding its way down the street. It has a pronounced limp, it is moving slowly, it looks like maybe the walk is too much for it. It seems like it is suffering.

As I come up alongside the dog, I see something different.

Though its body clearly isn’t cooperating, its tail is wagging, its mouth is open a bit, it looks, as much as any dog can, like it is smiling. I see its owner up the street with two other, younger, dogs, patiently waiting and enjoying this family morning ritual.

Looking at the sun shining on this old friend on a quiet early fall morning, I witness its joyful spirit trapped within a body that isn’t keeping up any more. But her spirit is undeterred. Her spirit shows up in a slowly wagging tail and a spark on the inside, even as her hip aches and her body creaks forward.

We get so caught up in our limitations, big and small, that we can think that they are us.

These limitations can be physical, like a bad hip or a nagging cold. They might be our attitudes and behaviors, like when we give in to fears or get stuck in bad patterns. Or they can be external forces that are weighing us down.

Let’s not wait for things to get so bad, though, before we allow ourselves to see and rediscover the joy that lies within us. We have the chance, today, to experience a sunny morning. We have the chance, today, to be bathed in the love of a patient smile, or even the slowly wagging tail of a close friend.

If we can’t feel it inside of us, then we have the chance to surround ourselves with more people and more moments that bring it out in us, who help us turn up the fuel source on our internal light, beauty, and joy.

We always have time for that.

SASHA DICHTER BIO

(PIP NOTE:    we will each be creating a first person bio for ourselves but this week Sasha has been in key management meetings so NOT the time to be distracted by creating a bio!!   So for today I will tell you my thought about Sasha:  he is someone I am glad I get to walk through life’s complexity with as he willingly wrestles deeply with how to make the world a better place, how to walk the talk waaaay above what is normal, he shows his deep vulnerability and has little interest in protecting any typical ego-driven persona if for only two reasons it seems:  he wants to help others break through the many many challenges of the human condition so he models as best he can AND if he had a posturing persona it would so significantly get in the way of his own growth path which he cherishes perhaps as much as anything in life…   my two cents… pip)

As Acumen’s Chief Innovation Officer, Sasha oversees Acumen’s work in Leadership and the spread of ideas. The encompasses Acumen’s Lean Data work, the Acumen Fellows Programs, +Acumen and other efforts to help Acumen change the way the world tackles poverty. In his previous role as Acumen’s as Director of Business Development, Sasha led global capital raising, including executing a successful $100M capital raise.