Good morning from a beautiful and surprisingly warm fall day. I’m in the midst of a road trip that will take me back and forth across Canada a few times in the next few weeks, and as much as I miss family and home, it is an exciting time; the work is challenging, the people warm and engaging, and the travel relatively comfortable.

Best of all, I have some reflection time. I've mentioned this parable a few times with client groups in the past week, and it calls out to be told here.

Four Buddhist monks are on a journey, and coming to a raging river, they find all sorts of people drowning. Following their deep value on life, all four dive in, and start hauling people out of the river. For hours the four of them haul people out of the river. Even as they pass the point of exhaustion, they still pull people out of the river.

After many hours, one of the four pulls himself out of the water, and starts walking upstream. His fellow monks call out to him, "hey, where are you going, we've got lots of work to do here!"

Continuing his walk upstream, he calls back, "I'm going to see who's throwing them in!"

May this week have a moment of upstream thinking, planning, mitigating, and even reflection for you.