Reflections
You never know
what someone else is thinking,
what happens behind closed doors,
what difficulty may be coming,
or what the next conversation has in store.
You rarely know
what someone really thinks of you,
if your plans will work out,
what today will bring,
and this causes much doubt.
Since you know this to be true,
these things you
never,
rarely
know,
there is only one thing to do,
stop worrying
and
let
them
go.
At first, we believed
these thoughts were trying to protect us.
“Don’t do it.”
“You will look silly.”
“They will make fun of you.”
And so, we listened.
We trusted.
And the thoughts grew in the dark corners of our mind.
They clamped our mouths shut in meetings.
Told us other ideas were always better.
Kept us from reaching out when we needed help.
Told us we were better off this way.
Over time, however, our awareness began to grow.
These thoughts weren’t trying to protect us,
they were stopping us from being
our best,
most courageous,
Self.
These gremlins appeared every time
we were close to something
real,
vulnerable,
valuable.
So we stopped feeding them,
stopped seeing them as warning signs
and began to see them as evidence
we were on the right path.
We starved them of attention,
and they started to shrink.
And we began to grow.
Mind gremlins --
don’t feed them attention in the dark.
They only grow.
When you commit yourself
to making progress,
to getting better,
to being better,
every day
you’re not going to be able to see
the difference in the moment.
You cannot see
grass,
kids,
resilience,
skills,
determination,
peace,
patience,
kindness
grow
from day to day.
So when you’re having a bad day,
when all you have been trying
seems to not be working,
when you feel you’ll never reach your destination,
don’t let the gremlins in your mind
tell you you’re no better than before,
just keep going.
Remembering,
honoring,
memorializing
take on greater meaning
when doing so
moves us
from
nostalgia and sentimentality
to renewed
activity and vitality.
May our looking back
spur us to move forward.
When you decide you are in it for
the long haul,
the little slowdowns,
the unexpected detours,
the necessary rest stops,
are a signal you are still on your way.
Keep on trucking.
Too many people have
successful, lucrative careers,
but die inside
a little bit,
every day.
Life is too long
to wait to do something
that fires up
your imagination,
that conjures up
your best work,
that brings to life
your soul.
You don’t have to give up everything
to follow this path,
but you do have to decide to stop dying.
You cannot make an impact
if you don’t show up.
Showing up,
being truly present,
bringing your best work (for that day)
consistently,
over the long haul,
may not mean you
get famous or rich,
but it will mean
you mattered.
You see it on the playground --
the loudest kid,
the biggest kid,
the belligerent kid,
gets everyone to do her bidding.
Her games get played.
Her ideas are not questioned.
Later in life,
we mistake these
playground antics
for leadership.
But, leadership is not
bullying,
having the last word,
exerting power over others,
or
getting people to do what you want.
Leadership is
partnering,
listening,
guiding others to use their power,
helping people do their best work.
The hard work of leadership
takes much more
mental,
emotional,
physical
investment
than
being the loudest
on the playground.
We have a choice:
do the work,
hold other leaders accountable,
or stay in the sandbox.
Many people
have it all--
the house,
the spouse,
the car.
From the outside,
all seems well
and better than well.
From the inside,
there is often a different story --
loss,
pain,
relationships strained.
So if you’re looking outside in,
don’t be too sure of what you see.
Rather, spend time looking at yourself
and who you want to be.
If you ever wonder
why you cannot seem to keep it together,
why the house always needs cleaning,
why your body, mind, and soul need exercising,
why relationships need tending,
just remember
life is a cycle of
moving from
order to disorder.
The joy of life comes
when you relish the opportunity to
reimagine,
reshape,
reform
your world.
Every. Single. Day.
