Meeting Hayden Hayden

Bijonbo boarded the Monday morning flight to Dallas on his way to a week of work in Mexico. He spotted Hayden Hayden several rows back, who he recognized from training videos and they emailed a few times, but never met. (Yes, Hayden’s first name is the same as his last). He noticed the seat next to Hayden was open so Bijonbo approached him and introduced himself.

“Hi Hayden, …Bijonbo!” and extended his hand.

“Excuse me?” Hayden replied.

“Oh right sorry,” Bijonbo said. “Brian Fleming, but I go by Bijonbo now. We’ve never met but if you remember me at all, we exchanged a few emails a while back about your training videos.”

“Brian Fleming? -- hhmm.”

“Would you mind if I join you?”

“Sure have a seat!” Hayden moved his bag.

“So right, I’ve seen your videos and read your book. Great to meet you!” Bijonbo said.

“Likewise! What did you think of them?” Hayden replied.

“I really like how you pull together ideas from different sources: Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication, Csikszentmihalyi's Flow, even Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.”

“Right thanks! I guess I am a fan of good ideas. Was there something that hit home?”

“What were those 4 questions about change that you like to ask?”

“Well, let’s see, these?

1. What negative things in your life do you want to Eliminate?
2. What negative things must you Accept?
3. What positive aspects do you want to Preserve?
4. And what new aspects do you want to Create?”

“Yeah those, I’ve been thinking about them ever since!”

“So what did you come up with?”

“OK, well I want to Eliminate discord between members of my family. Accept the fact that I have shaky hands, ha ha. I want to Preserve some new endeavors I’ve been working on, specifically helping people who are recovering from addiction and irrational beliefs. And I want to Create a following and become a wise elder that people seek out for advice.”

“Wow!” Hayden said. “Sorry to put you through all that! So what could you do to create that following?”

“Not sure,” Bijonbo said, thinking. “Any ideas?”

“Well, you could start a blog,” Hayden said.

“A blog. Hhmm. An advice blog! Yeah that’s the ticket!”

“Dear Bijonbo!” Hayden chuckled.

“So why were you in Nashville?” Bijonbo asked.

“I had a consulting gig last week and I stayed over the weekend just for fun.”

“OK so I’ll leave you be. Don't want to wear out my welcome.”

“No worries.”

“Great to meet you! Thanks! Have a nice day, Hayden!”

“You too, Bijonbo!”