Blooming and Venn Diagrams
Especially during the pandemic, I’ve been frustrated with how society has been dealing with COVID and upset or angry about the battles in politics. I’ve been lost, not knowing what I could do to help improve our world (without putting my family at risk). It feels overwhelming at times. I found myself unable to decide what I should do, or debated topics in my head so long I never acted on any of them.
Last month I listened to a homily by Fr Mike Schmitz where he compared our Circle of Interest to our Circle of Influence. This homily really helped me organize my thoughts so I don’t feel so lost anymore.
The Circle of Interest refers to what things we hear about, read about, see on social media or the news. We read about, think about, and focus on topics that interest us. I’m interested in the Catholic faith, the wellbeing of my family and friends, music, mountain biking, Sci-Fi movies, our government’s responses to COVID, state politics, and national politics.
The Circle of Influence refers to what things, topics, people, etc. that we can actually influence. We can influence ourselves, our immediate family, some of our friends and coworkers, but most of us have no real ability to influence topics on a city, state, or national level. We can participate in politics (which is a right and duty as a US Citizen), but unless I commit a significant portion of my time, I will not likely change the outcome of elections or bills in Congress on my own. We often spend a lot of time and mental/emotional energy debating or criticizing current events and politics, and posting on social media what should be done. “Facebook Activism”, while it’s an avenue for venting or stating your position, has no real influence.
The engineer in me tries to visualize this as a Venn diagram: the two circles and where they intersect. Area “A” (which does not include area “C”) represents my interests where I have no influence (for example, national politics). Area “B” represents where I have influence but no interest (for example, I have no interest in pushing my kids to like a certain flavor of ice cream). Area “C” is where my interests and influences intersect. I have an interest ensuring my kids learn more about the Catholic faith. My wife and I have had (and still have) influence over our kids. We have raised our kids in the Catholic faith.
Thinking about what I should do to help improve God’s world has too often focused on topics in Area “A”. Yes, I should be aware of those topics, but I need to focus my energies and abilities on things I can influence.
The real message of Fr Mike’s homily is to “bloom where you’re planted”, a phrase attributed to St. Frances de Sales:
“Truly charity has no limit; for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by His Spirit dwelling in each one of us, calling us to a life of devotion and inviting us to bloom in the garden where He has planted and directing us to radiate the beauty and spread the fragrance of His Providence.”
Another factor to consider is how to use my charisms. A charism is “an extraordinary power (as of healing) given a Christian by the Holy Spirit for the good of the church”. I took a charisms assessment a couple years ago.
In my life I’ve been involved in and supported many charities. I allowed the pandemic to “stall” how I’ve used my interests and charisms within my areas of influence for the good of God’s church. I have an opportunity to “reset” and find new ways to serve, or go back to some charitable activities I’ve done in the past.
While what I’ve described here is very obvious to many of you, this exercise is helping me change the way I think, where I spend my mental and emotional energy, and is helping me target how to use my influences, interests, and charisms for the good of God’s church.
