The Power of Moments "Elevation" (2/5)

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Transcript

Hi and welcome to Tea with Tasoni. Today we are reading The Power of Moments and this is actually the second week of reading this book. So, if you missed the video last week, make sure you go check it out. It kind of gives the introduction of the book. And if you need to pick up a copy, remember it's at teawithtasoni.com.

Now this has been a beautiful book. Remember it's not a spiritual book, but it's a self help book and it has so many wonderful applications in service, in our families, in everyday life. And so I'm so excited to talk about today.

The book is divided into four different elements of extraordinary moments, special moments. And the first one, the one that we're going to cover today, is called Elevation. Elevation is like moments that are joyful and engaging and amazing. Just like really good times, right? And they're super memorable.

And what they tell us in the book is that there's a very simple recipe for it. So the recipe is as such: First, boost sensory appeal, get all the senses involved. Second, raise the stakes, make it something that's like on stage or you have to be performing in front of someone important or there's a special prize at the end. Things that kind of make your efforts more worthwhile. And then the last thing is break the script. Get out of the rut that you're in, try something new.

So we're going to talk about those things. I'm going to give you a few examples from the book. The first that they start talking about to sort of explain Elevation. This is perfect because it's a classroom example, so it's one that you can definitely use if you serve in Sunday school. To sort of elevate a moment and make it really special, put on a special event.

So this is called The Trial. Something that the people in the book--it's an example. And in The Trial they are not just learning in the classroom, listening to a lecture, they actually have to prep as lawyers for a case, and they have to prepare documents, prepare arguments, have opening statements.

Not only that, but the teachers who created this event brought the principal and some celebrities from the school to judge the proceedings and to see what they think about the trial and which side is going to win. And it's something that happens every year now.

And the authors talk about how, how rare it is that teachers take the time to do something like this. Something that the kids will never ever forget. So, you know, I went to a great high school, I'm sure many of you did as well. And we didn't have anything that cool and amazing where we all prepped together and had to present in front of important dignitaries or anything like that. So this idea that we should try, to create events like this in our lives that are memorable.

I know that at our church, one of our servants prepared a trial for The Case for Christ, using the book The Case for Christ. She divided them into teams, and they needed to prep to argue about Christ's divinity. And I know that it was a very different kind of moment. And it was much more engaging than it would have been if we just sat there and gave them the theology ourselves. So this idea of elevating the moment.

One of those examples that I think about that of raising the stakes and boosting that sensory appeal is something that came up in the interview with Dahlia who does the music videos like Je Penniot. I did an interview with her that you can check out.

Dahlia was talking about how she does these music videos partly so that the kids that are involved have something to look back on that's extraordinary in their childhood church experience. That it's not your average everyday choir experience to have a professional video team and professional music production, running your sound and creating this amazing video of your choir singing. And you know, I love that she brought that up. So, for her, that was a moment of elevation that she created for her choir.

One of the examples of extraordinary moments or someone going above and beyond is in the book. They talk about a lost stuffed animal. Someone went to a resort, and they forgot their stuffed animal behind, and they were really upset about it, the kid was really upset about it. And so dad was like, Hey, he's just staying a little bit extra. I think Joshie was the name of this stuffed giraffe. Joshie's just staying a little bit longer at the hotel. He is enjoying himself. He's on vacation.

And when he contacted the hotel and told them, "This is what I said to my son, like, can you just take a picture of him by the pool or something and then mail him back to us?" the hotel actually went above and beyond. They didn't just send the stuffed animal with a picture. They sent him with a whole album of pictures of him in the spa, by the pool, enjoying a drink, like really having a good time.

And so they broke the script of what you would expect in customer service. You would just expect them to mail back the animal or to even just say like, "No, we can't even take one picture. You're asking too much." But instead they went above and beyond.

This actually reminded me of something that His Grace Bishop Youssef said to us a few weeks ago, he was saying that, he's been on so many flights and he always sits through the flight safety, but it's so boring. You know, you get out the little thing, and they do this very boring presentation and no one is listening anymore. We've all been on so many flights and especially a bishop who was to criss-cross the country has heard these same words over and over.

But he was saying that they keep elevating the experience, breaking the scripts. So, for example, I know on the last Delta flight that I went on, they didn't just do a safety video. So they went from the flight attendant giving the safety instructions to a video. Now it's a video with jokes and like pranks and stunts. And you want to watch it, you're interested in watching it, and you're laughing. And so that's a great way to break the script and get out of the routine and the rut.

I was thinking also about how much the kids appreciate it when Abouna plays soccer with them. They spend so much time seeing Abouna in a role of authority, at the altar, making announcements, giving sermons or lessons. But to see him play with them, they love it so much because it breaks the script for them and it's something memorable that they will not forget.

Also think about like Amazon Prime. So it used to be that you would order something and you'd get it like two weeks later. But with Amazon prime now, even if you order it, sometimes you get it the same day. It's crazy how fast they're getting stuff to us. Which is bad for me as a business; I can't deliver things overnight like Amazon. But yeah, it's wonderful for the consumer, right? To be able to get things right away like that.

One of the beautiful ideas that was given in this chapter was to do a church walkabout. So get like a committee of servants together and give them each, you know, like a clipboard and a piece of paper and a pencil and ask them to walk around your church and try to see it through the eyes of a visitor, a first time visitor, and see what's missing, what's working, what needs to be fixed.

It's very easy for us who are in church every week to get used to things and not really notice that something's wrong anymore. But when you look at it with new eyes, you're like, oh wow, this could be better. We can do a better job of this. Right?

And so, that is something you might want to try, a church walk around, and see what services are missing or what things need to be repaired or fixed. I know recently I was in the crying room. My son is five now, so I'm never in the crying room.

And I went in there and I was like, We did a big cleanup effort a while ago. We need to do this again. We need to do another big cleanup effort for the crying room. It's starting to get a little rundown again because, of course, it's got all these kids running around it all the time.

So, walk around your church and think about what, what things you can do and contribute to improve things, you know, what would make a visitor more welcome, or even just like the placement of the coffee machine. When you think about it with new eyes, when you think about it as someone is coming for the first time, what could be better, you know, and discuss that with your team.

One of the things they talk about with elevating the moment is that often you're wearing different clothes, and people want to pull out their cameras, like something exciting is happening. So I was thinking about that for our graduation. We have a graduation that we do for high school and college graduates and Abouna actually had some of the women creates sashes, that say "Class of" whatever year it is.

It's such a small thing, but when they put those sashes on, and they're processed into the church, they are so proud of themselves. They know they've achieved something, and they feel the moment. It's an amazing thing I think for us to see them and to give them that moment in church, being recognized for their accomplishments.

So in short, stop being so reasonable about everything, you know, break out of your comfort zone, break out of the rut, create moments of elevation.

I'll give another example. A friend of mine at church, I don't know if she still does this, but when her kids were younger, she would--I don't exactly know how she did this, but she basically made it so that when they opened their door, they were flooded with balloons and confetti on the day of their birthday.

So every birthday you would like open your bedroom door and like all these balloons would come flying out at you and confetti and just making the day extra special with something so simple and not costly at all.

I wonder how we can do that for our kids, in our service, at our church, for visitors, or even in our own everyday lives.

You know, I was thinking, I was listening to a podcast that was talking about self care to me, self care always sounds like this huge ordeal where you go to the spa for an hour for a massage and it takes forever. And who has the time to do that or the money? I hope you do. I don't really. And so I feel like that's always been my thought is it's like this big thing that takes up so much time.

And this podcast was saying like sometimes it's as simple as buying a soap that has a scent that you love. You know, sometimes it's as simple as getting like jasmine scented soap and the morning is entirely different. Now you've elevated the day for yourself.

That reminds me of another thing that they always tell us to do, to break the script of brushing our teeth, so whatever your dominant hand is, try brushing with the other hand because it actually wakes your brain up. It does something. Your brain has to work, to like wake up and recognize that something different is happening.

And that brings me to the last point, which is that they talk about how so many moments of elevation happen in childhood or before the age of 30. And they're saying that this is because there are so many firsts.

It's your first day of school, and then it's your first graduation. And then you get married for the first time, you fall in love… Everything is happening, it's so brand new, you know, and you can't live a life that's completely like that all the time. Like you can't always be doing brand new things.

But there's nothing wrong with putting the effort in, you know, putting the effort into really elevating the moments of your life and to add some variety, add spice to your life.

I'm trying to remember if this is the chapter because if it is, I don't want to miss it. There's a chapter about someone who gets the news that he's going to pass away, and I think that might be the next chapter, but I'm not sure. Give me a second to double-check cause I don't want to miss it. Okay. Yeah, that's a future chapter. So we'll talk about that later. But I will see you next week. So that's a sneak peek for next week.

I'll see you then and I hope you have a wonderful and blessed week. Take care.