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Dear Friends, ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!’ So wrote our national poet. True it is that if we saw ourselves through the eyes of others we might all be a little humbler and less inclined to the odd bout of boastful or bombastic behaviour. On the other hand we could all end up with a crisis of confidence. To quote another poet ‘Man cannot stand too much reality’. We need to be able to cope with the negative aspects of ourselves and accept them as part of the person we are, or, if we can, do something about dealing with them. What is unhealthy is trying to pretend they do not exist. What then can happen is that the repressed characteristic is transferred to others. We end up fulminating against those who display the jealousy, greed or what have you, that we are trying subconsciously to repress in ourselves. I’m not sure that it is a ‘modern’ concept, I doubt it. However, the need for ‘self-awareness’ has been much stressed of late. This being said, ‘self awareness’ is not just being aware of our failures and inadequacies but, just as importantly, of our gifts and good points. As with most things in life we need to strike a balance. The above sprang to my mind from a comment made by a well kent member of our church referring to the Mission 21 exercise: ‘I thought we were doing just fine until we started this course – now we can see all the gaps and things we hadn’t noticed before’. That was indeed the point of the exercise, to look at ourselves through the eyes of other people and try to see those things which custom and familiarity have made us blind to. It is also, however, to help us appreciate the things we do well and to celebrate and to build on them. You will find the list of goals that the Mission 21 Team have set out, in this magazine. They are not in a ‘tidied up’ form but just as they emerged. The Vestry has approved them but comment from the congregation would also be welcome. It might also be that those who arrived at these conclusions know what they mean by them but others do not. Please ask, even if you fear you may be annoyed by the answer! Don’t keep your comments to yourself or your ‘best friend’; let the Rector, Vestry and those who have volunteered to oversee the implementing of the various tasks, know your views. Janice |