Fine Lines: Pithy Little Teachings

Pithy (adj.): using few words in a clever and effective way

Welcome to another installment in our character-building category – Fine Lines: Pithy Little Teachings

 

Ah, the love / hate affair I have with social network memes.

For being pithy (short and to the point), they elicit a variety of reactions. #yaknowwhatimean?

Several years ago I wrote Old Adages (not) To Live By, which fell along similar love / hate lines.

My point being –

Sometimes pithy is good.
– and –
Sometimes pithy robs us of a ‘life education’
if we constantly want the ‘just the facts, ma’am’ version.

Anyone who writes, speaks, teaches, or visits with great-great Uncle Waldo understands the value of pithy.

When there’s time to spare (which is increasingly infrequent unless we make and take the time), we don’t mind lingering a little longer. We may actually learn something we didn’t know and have confirmed in a fresh way something we already did.

When we’re in a hurry (I think there’s a disease known as hurry-itis, a strain of platetoofull-itis) we tend to love memes with pithy little teachings. The clever is, well, clever … which gives us a little caffeine jolt … which takes care of the effective – for the moment.

In the long run, pithy little teachings will not sustain what ails us. They may humor us or give us pause for a second’s attention, but they don’t heal what’s long been out of joint, out of sync, out of alignment, out of good humor, or out of character with God’s intention for us.

So, there are times the W’s in a counselor’s or life coach’s alphabet are the best tools for a soul’s care:

What? When? Where? Why?

What has your life taught you? When did you learn things you’ve learned? Where did your life engage or disengage you? And, the question that runs deeper than most pithy little teachings can fully address:

Why?

Memes may state the obvious of fine lines: pithy little teachings, but our lives were not meant to be lived in a meme-dom. They more often read like a dissertation. Life is educating us all the time. If we’ll listen to our life.

For the record, I could go on. But in an attempt to use a few words in a clever and effective way, I won’t!

I will, however, invite you to contact me for a ‘lingering a little longer’ conversation. The life coach is ‘in’.

~ Nancy

For more pithy little teachings, visit Fine Lines. Designed to give you a pithy little penny for your thoughts 🙂

Free Photo courtesy of Unsplash / Ales Krivec