What doesn't get lost in translation?

Before we ask ‘Who’s it for?’, it might make sense to look at ‘Who we are?’

It’s not just the country or city that you were born in or live in, or the school or university you attended or the company that you work for.

They matter. But they are part of the picture, not the complete picture.

This is the stuff that doesn’t get lost in translation. What about the other stuff? Your idiosyncrasies. Your choices. Your you.

We spend so much time with ourselves that we take ourselves for granted. ‘What could possibly be special in me?’

And this brings us to the most difficult kind of empathy. The ability to empathise with yourself. To be able to look at yourself as you are meeting yourself for the first time, or as a lover for decades, as a parent, or as a child, as a teacher or as a student.

To be curious about yourself. About your good things and about your demons, especially the demons. The ones that you don’t talk about. And how you deal with them. What happens when you listen to them and what happens when you don’t. How do you do either?

You don’t have to do it all in one go. You don’t have to go to places you don’t want to go to. At least not when you just beginning. You can explore the happy places, the ones you like to talk about.

At the core of it, our constant understanding of ourselves is going to be at the centre of our lives and our work.

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