Evolving Magazine

Have You Won a PLOM Award?

by Suzette Scholtes   

 

My friend Mary Kay worked at Boeing in Wichita as a programmer, later serving as Project Manager.  They programmed parts for the aircraft, working with engineers to tweak designs and build new parts.  The employees loved to be on her team with her sense of humor and her vision and clarity. She arrived at 5:30 am for quiet time; hours before thousands of others arrived, working together like bees in a hive. She made a big sign with the letters P L O M, and every so often placed it on a team member’s computer when they complained or griped too much.

 

“What does this mean?” they would ask.  “It’s the PLOM Award…. Poor little  ol’, me,” Mary Kay said. “Ready to quit feeling sorry for yourself and get back to work?” 

 

In January 2015 my column listed ways we stay clean and clear of negative ego. When I get into the mud of my ego, I call a friend to work through it or go to meditation to heal it.       

 

Guess where I was stuck? Self-pity! I ran around a few weeks feeling sorry for myself. Grief or sadness is not ego, yet it’s good to “sit” with complex emotions to reveal what is going on inside. 

 

“How human of me to worry or fret,” Judith Hanson Lasater, yoga master, teaches. “You are human and you are vulnerable. Be easy on yourself best you can,” she said.

 

Plus. the ego loves denial. You’ve heard the old joke: “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!” My anecdote was forgiveness: to forgive myself, to forgive situations I had no control over and to forgive someone whose words had hurt me. Like cobwebs on the ceiling, some times we need to find the broom and clean things up.

 

Let’s hold compassion for many of you who found the courage to heal the hurt from the death of loved ones, betrayals, break-ups, etc.  When we feel the drama of life—and we will, as no one is exempt, be really tender with self and find ways to heal and ease the pain.  Yoga, acupuncture, tapping or EFT, massage, talk therapy and journaling, all allow healing. I share the following with my yoga students: “Psychic pain is just as wounding as physical pain.  You need six to eight weeks to heal a broken bone. You need that much time and more to heal emotional wounds.”

 

Last, when you are devoted to your spirit and soul, you cast a big umbrella.  When I lose this umbrella is when my ball bounces out of court.

 

Some folks look through the lens of life and see the bad or wrong while others look for the good in self and others. Looking for the ease and light brings joy and fun to life.  Now a quarter into 2015, I am inviting you to continue to give, care, share, respect, love, forgive, trust and feel the gratitude. Set your boundaries around family, colleagues and mates. So when it gets a little heavy, and it will, maybe make your own PLOM Award for your desk and have a good laugh at yourself.

 

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