Ged, Grant, and Getting Value
on naming what you value
“Is ‘you’ an acceptable answer,” asked sparrow, hungrily.
“I’m not sure,” replied worm, nervously, “I like where this is going.”
Thoughts while making
“The sense has gone out of things. There is a hole in the world and the sea is running out of it. The light is running out.”
This is a line from The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin.
In the story, magic is mysteriously drying up all around Earthsea.
It’s a world out of balance; a place where joy and purpose have been replaced by despair, apathy. Sound familiar?
We might say – using Adam Grant’s parlance* – Earthsea is languishing.
As Grant shares, many of us find ourselves inhabiting that liminal “void between depression and flourishing.”
A place where ”the absence of well-being” defines much, albeit murkily.
A time in which “you might not notice the dulling of delight or the dwindling of drive,” where “you’re indifferent to your indifference.”
“When you can’t see your own suffering,” Grant explains, “you don’t seek help or even do much to help yourself.”
In Le Guin’s story, the protagonist, Ged, *does* see the suffering and he sets sail across the great blue to seek answers.
And while his adventures with dragons and dark lords might not seem relevant to where we find ourselves today, Ged returns again and again to something we all *do* share: values.
As he makes his way through the confusion of a changed world, Ged constantly lets his values – balance, self-awareness, mindfulness – guide him and light the dark places.
Would today be a good day to reassess what you truly value? For me, a reflection on what I most value – creativity, authenticity, contribution, flexibility, courage, love – helps me bring light to dark places (or, at least, reminds me that the torch of possibility is there when I’m ready). And I hope it does for you, too.
*Excerpts from Grant’s article, “There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing”
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