{"id":7268,"date":"2013-08-04T12:22:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-04T19:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7268"},"modified":"2013-08-04T12:58:22","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T19:58:22","slug":"bell-curves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/08\/04\/bell-curves\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell Curves"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bell-Curve\"<\/a><\/h6>\n

I’ve been thinking a bit about bell curves and how every one of us is somewhere on one whether we know it or not.<\/p>\n

Bell curves are everywhere. They’ve been used to show things like the breadth of intelligence in society . . . with a few at extremes on both sides and the bulk of us somewhere in the middle. They’ve also been used to illustrate the growth of an organization, starting small, struggling to succeed, climaxing, and then gradually falling off.<\/p>\n

And there’s an inevitable bell curve when it comes to our lives.<\/p>\n

We grow, we find our path, we get ideas and pursue them, we get very busy, in demand, then later not so much.<\/p>\n

It’s never a comfort to sense the peak has passed. We can get frustrated wondering why things aren’t happening as they once did. But, when we realize there’s a bell curve, at least we get perspective.<\/p>\n

It’s another truth that sets us free.<\/p>\n

My dad, at 96, is at an extreme edge of his curve. He was highly active in his middle years, and kept that energy going for a very long time. But of course eventually he slowed down. Whether he thought about it or fought it, I don’t know. Now he’s at peace with doing very little.<\/p>\n

That’s just how life is. At a certain point the energy’s gone and we don’t care. But there’s still quite a bit of life on the second side of the curve when we do care. And that’s what I’m talking about.<\/p>\n

Happily, new bell curves can grow out of existing ones.<\/p>\n

It’s not uncommon for an organization to receive new life. With the infusion of new vision, a new leader or a new idea it can take off again, making use of the strength already accrued. It’ll also mean shedding some of the dead weight that holds onto the status quo. If those forces are too strong, the new life will never happen. But it is possible.<\/p>\n

It’s the same in our own lives. When one area of strength peaks . . . even our main identity . . . another can be born. A new bell is established and off we go again.\u00a0And again.\u00a0And again.<\/p>\n

One of the keys is to not wait until the current curve has begun its descent. The trip down is not as exhilarating as was the trip up and we can lose heart. But if it has already peaked, fret not. There’s another adventure waiting, another learning, another offering to be made.<\/p>\n

So let those bells ring. And the more the better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_________________<\/p>\n

As always, feel free to tell me what you think . . . and share it with others.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bell curves happen. They’re everywhere. Whether we know it or not, we’ve on one. What we may not know is we can get onto another. And another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7268"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7293,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7268\/revisions\/7293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}