Malicious Toys

In the toy department…. that is where it went down. That little six sided devil innocently sitting in a non-threatening box.  Staring out of its clear plastic container, its sides in perfect harmony looking most like a colorful Christmas ornament than anything.  It certainly did not look dastardly.

I took it home. I tried to make it my friend.  I even approached the relationship slowly by only moving one side, then cautiously moving it back to its perfect position.  And with an eye for the details unfolding with a single move, I made two moves, then carefully rotated the squares back.  My confidence ever growing, I took a chance and made three moves from the perfect harmonies of green, white, yellow, orange, blue and red. 

And that was it. 

That beautiful colorful, harmonious children’s toy turned instantly into a six sided devil.  A sneaky time wasting puzzle that has 43 quintillion possible combinations with no apparent solution.

The Rubik’s cube.  There is no better way than that to explain life.  Ever trying to restore  balance.  Like the Rubik’s cube, complete one side, or maybe two, and the other four turn to  complete disarray.  Restore order to one of the remaining sides and the puzzles harmony is broken on the other.

Those of you that own a Rubik’s cube understand why sometimes for months the Rubik’s cube will sit on the shelf at the state of your highest accomplishment.  That is when you have partially solved it, got further than you have ever made it before, scared to make another turn for fear of completely ruining the partial balance you have created. But here is the catch, it is not perfect, and it never will be without attempting to move forward with it.  That means trying it, with odds highly in the favour you are going to get it wrong and turn it to shambles.

This year I recognize that there have been many failures with my I Ho Chuan attempt, but there have been successes also.  For me to move forward I have to be sure to reflect on the past couple years and determine exactly which patterns of success are worth duplicating. I have to assume that the upcoming year will be the same as the previous and adapt to that.

Scheduling around a career that has no schedule can lead to failure.  Similar to saying “well I am pretty busy now, but Saturday should open up, I will do it then” is not a good option.  Habits have got to be daily

This year, I really feel I know what I have to do to succeed. It won’t be easy, but anything is possible with this group.  I am really looking forward to working with every member of the team this year and draw on all your strengths for inspiration.  Bring on the year of the Horse!

And yes you probably will see me a time or two with a Rubik’s cube in my hand, attempting to solve it without ripping and removing stickers or looking towards the internet oracle for a solution.

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