On Leadership & 20/20 Vision

Beginning a year with such a powerful metaphor holds rich possibilities. What is your 20/20 vision for this new year and new decade? What growth are you celebrating from the last year? Decade? What do you want to be celebrating at the end of this year? Decade? 

This is a perfect time to consider those questions, and a natural "new beginning" for productive habits, proactive intentions, and for moving forward into this new year and decade with clarity and hope. 

As 2019 closed I received a lovely poem from a client. "For the One Who Holds Power" by John O'Donohue spoke to me about who I want to be in my life's journey. The title speaks less to me than the content. My belief is that we are all leaders in our lives. The Poem is in italics with my reflections, and the question it provoked in me is bolded. The full poem is included again at the end of the post. I hope you find your own meaning in the rich words and images they provoke, and that you will also contemplate my questions as you read.

Poetry spoke to me in so many ways, at so many times in 2019. Loved receiving this John O'Donohue poem from a client at year's end--felt like a perfect gift.

May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a vocation,

Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to serve.…

We are each leaders in many dimensions of our lives. We lead in our families, with our friends, in our communities and in all the groups we choose to engage with. I am called to be of service in all those interactions and in every conversation.  

Who are you called to serve? Lead? 

As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings,

May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills…

I can get so focused on the "foothills" in front of me that I lose sight of "who" I want to be each day, and "how" I am called to serve. I am invited to the larger perspective when I get stuck in the "valleys" of those foothills. 

How are you choosing to view things from new perspectives? To be an eagle soaring over your mountains? 

When the way is flat in times of gray endurance,

May your imagination continue to evoke horizons…

On those days when it feels like slogging and that I've taken three steps forward, only to take those same steps backward again, sometimes it can be hard to get back in to my imagination and the bigger vision of my life and my purpose. 

What are the behaviors you employ to look up and re-focus on your dreams and bright horizons? 

When thirst burns in times of drought,

May you be blessed to find the wells…

When we were in that time of "drought" with unemployment, cancer, and what felt like a multitude of worries, somehow we/I proved to myself again that I do hold a well that can carry me through. I found it in my faith, my family and friends, and in "just taking the next best step forward." 

Where do you go to find your "well?" 

May you have the wisdom to read time clearly and know when the seed of change will flourish.

In your heart may there be sanctuary for the stillness where clarity is born.

Timing really does make a big difference. Planting seeds and nurturing them along the way creates powerful possibilities. There are many ways that I can look back on my life and really say that "hindsight is 2020" and it is amazing how things work out in the ways I expected, imagined, and/or spoke about. That saying "be careful what you wish for" does play out. The repeated narratives we choose come to life. It is amazing to me what happens when I choose to be still, reflect, refresh, re-focus, and consider my current narratives/stories. I have learned to incorporate some habits for visioning forward, and creating new narratives for myself that plant the seeds of possibility I want to nurture. 

What are the seeds you will plant and/or nurture this year? 

May your work be infused with passion and creativity and have the wisdom to balance compassion and challenge.

I love the concepts of passion, creativity, and wisdom--especially when I anchor them in just the right amount of challenge to myself to learn and grow into things along with the self-compassion to forgive myself when I fail. 

How are you challenging yourself this year? And how do you include compassion for yourself and others with intention? 

May your soul find the graciousness to rise above the fester of small mediocrities. May your power never become a shell wherein your heart would silently atrophy. May you welcome your own vulnerability as the ground where healing and truth join.

It can be seductive to fall into the petty complaints and gossip that are the small mediocrities. It is also easy to put on my own armor in ways that protect my heart and keep me in my "head" safely. When I dare to be vulnerable, open, and honest I am met with the same and it creates a rich synergy in relationships. 

What does "graciousness" mean to you? How to you incorporate grace and gratitude consistently? Where might you include more vulnerability? 

May integrity of soul be your first ideal. The source that will guide your work.

Oh my!!! It makes my heart fill when I consider the meaning that I read in this line. We ALL MUST understand our values and align with them to be in integrity. When I am there, and when I see my clients and/or friends, colleagues, family, in that place of alignment (integrity of soul) it really is magical. 

Wishing you that Integrity of Soul as the deep source that will guide your work this year and this decade--hoping that is where I will be as well--Many blessings to you and those you love!