Hello, Goodbye - Grasshopper

The Beatles sang a song called “Hello, Goodbye” but this recording has nothing to do with that. It was prompted by a musing from The Grasshopper. He said, “You don’t get to say ‘Goodbye’ if you can’t say ‘Hello.’”

I was scratching my head over what it meant and this is what popped in:

If we don’t own a piece of behavior (say Hello to it), we have no chance to outgrow it (say, Goodbye).

How many people have said something like this to you? “You’re so (fill-in the blank).” The blank being an unbecoming trait or behavior they ascribe to you. You immediately deny their observation as being, let’s be kind, “poppycock.”

But let’s say you’ve heard it from lots of people and you still pooh-pooh their characterizations as nonsense. You haven’t taken the time to consider their opinion, and you hold the opinion they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. You haven’t said, “Hello.”

From this state of denial, you can’t say, “Goodbye.”

You’ll own that behavior for a lifetime if you don’t give it the time of day, and it will continue to lead you astray.

So let’s take this scenario out of the realm of opinion and into the world of fact. If “x” amount of people have made this claim, it’s time to shoulder some of the blame.

It may take some pretending at first. Pretend for a moment that what they’re saying is accurate. And further pretend that you know someone else who does have this undesirable behavior. How would you counsel that person if they asked for your help?

What steps would you recommend to them? Just this little act of make believe is enough to set the wheels in motion to say, “Hi” to that which you want to say, “Goodbye.”

If you refuse to connect it to you, you won’t be able to say, “Fond adieu.”

So before I say, “Goodbye,” I recommend you give “Hello” a try, instead of saying, “I have bigger fish to fry.”

All the best,