Dominique Browning, the author of a new book called “Slow Love, How I Lost My Job, Put On My Pajamas and Found Happiness,” recalls the general reaction when she was dismissed as the editor of House & Garden: Everyone stopped fawning over her. One former pal even called her and said, “You’ve lost your power! Now I can say anything I want to you!”
Why do we so crave being in the company of powerful people? Does it make us powerful and more appealing by association? Do we walk away from someone once she can no longer help us?
Dominque also remembers nonchalantly zapping her incoming emails during busy mornings. Which begs the question: Why, on the other hand, do people with “power” often become arrogant and start brushing aside others?
“I want to write about moving at a gentler, more loving pace in everything I do, learning to appreciate the beauty of everyday moments, the wisdom of thinking things over,” Dominique says on her website. “I was forced to slow down when I lost my job–and the journey of grieving and recovery is what my book is about. Slow living led me to falling in love with the world, experiencing what I think of as slow love.”
0 Responses to ““…all glory is fleeting” –General Patton”
Toby Wollin says:
I always tend to measure people I meet by how they treat people who are not in positions of power – how do they treat the doorman, the mail/coffee delivery kid, the assistant, the interns? Being good, polite, and nice to people costs you nothing and means everything to them. If a tip is involved, then giving a gracious tip for good service is a blessing too. Asking their names and using them tells them that you recognize them as people – they are not “nobody”. As my dad used to say (freely translated from the Yiddish), “their souls are bigger than raisins too.”