©IBKimage2013

German was my native language and after my family immigrated to the U.S. when I was almost six, I’m happy to say that my wise mother continued to encourage me to keep learning and speaking German.  One of the delights of being bi-lingual is that there are certain words and phrases that so precisely describe a thing or situation in one language, and yet it’s not always easy to convey the same thought when trying to translate from one to the other.  So with today’s blog title being in German, we’ll discuss a phrase that does capture the same thought quite well in both languages.

The English translation is this:  With the choice (Wahl) comes the agony,pain (Qual).  You may not understand German but you understand this concept.  With the hundreds of choices we can, must, and do make everyday, there is an increasing agony of mind and spirit numbing overwhelm.  I no longer subscribe to “getting organized” (and I was once a professional organizer) but rather I’m desperately trying to reduce the options orgy, so that I have more clarity about how to live my life and with whom and with very little stuff. (My apologies to those of you who have to  slog through hundreds of e-mails and other electronic data at work, some daily!)

One of my mentors and wise friend had this to say about overwhelm:  “You can only manage so many choices, relationships, or you start to emotionally hemorrhage…” I would add spiritually and relationally to that too.  Today’s image come’s pretty close to describing the jungle of choices I’m currently lost in. Ironically, the “grey jungle” was a soft sculpture for sale in an upscale housewares decorator shop. 🙂

IBK

IBK