A lot of what I do in my ministry job (and in teaching too) is the slow work of deconstructing things people have spent years building.  People, myself included, spend time and energy and themselves creating notions and living from those notions.  When they’re asked or told to change, they should be told to change with grace and patience because egos are hard things.

I read this and thought how appropriate it is an advice of various sorts.  It’s from Randy Susan Meyers and is primarily about writing workshops, which are places of grief and feedback for creative writers.  Randy is continuing the conversation around these and other quotes at this weekend’s Muse & the Marketplace, a helpful and memorable place where writers and readers gather in Boston, and for the record, a place I have good memories of:

Beware of hardening yourself to protect your ego. Even the smartest critique stings. It is common to hate, really hate, someone who points out that five backflashes in a row might leave the reader confused. I make a deal with myself when I’m ‘up’ in my writer’s group. I am allowed to think everyone is stupid for 10 minutes. Then I have to consider their ideas. I don’t have to buy them, but I must rent them.

To read the rest of Randy’s post, go here.