Episode Transcript
Hi again, dear listeners. Welcome to 3-Minute Reframe. Today we’re diving into the value of partial feelings. So the Japanese sword saint Miyamoto Musashi lived between 1583 and 1645. And in his final work, he wrote down what he felt were life’s most essential lessons, one of which was, quote, do not under any circumstances depend on partial feeling, end quote. In the heat of a life or death sword battle, which was Musashi’s world, Partial feeling, one that may cause a brief moment of pause or uncertainty, could mean death. Outside of that intense realm, I still find value in this lesson, particularly in moments demanding pure authenticity. So recently I stood before a class of 150 of my business school students after my wife and I suffered the loss of our stillborn daughter and nearly the loss of my wife as well. A partial feeling would have had me dancing around the truth maybe a bit indirect, maybe couching my emotions or the information I shared with my students and likely not being fully in the moment. Instead, to honor myself and give my students the experience they deserved, I knew I had to let go of any hesitation and dive into the full rawness of the story. And the result was that I was able to model a kind of authentic leadership by going straight to the core of what happened. However,
We humans are complex. Sometimes we get swept up in a single powerful emotion, anger, frustration, and we manufacture a whole narrative around it. We might get upset that a colleague missed a meeting and then spin up a story about their laziness only to find out later they were in a car accident. In cases like this, partial feelings would be far better. A tinge of disappointment would be fine, but dependence on that initial emotion, say anger, without context is a hazard that can lead us to amplifying a false narrative. The wisdom is to recognize when a partial feeling is a useful signal to pause and gather more information, and when it’s an inhibitor to fully showing up. For this week’s resource, this insight comes from an interpretation of Musashi’s book, The Way of Walking Alone by Lawrence Cain and Chris Wilder. You can support a local bookstore by finding a link to buy a copy in the show notes or transcript.
And finally, here’s your inquiry. This week, bring to mind an area of your life where you have multiple, perhaps conflicting feelings. Is there value in holding these partial feelings, or do you need to fully commit to one to take authentic action? That’s your three-minute reframe team. See you next week.
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