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In this section, a feature in each newsletter, I
focus on lessons I've learned from my own journey. This month my thoughts
are focused on a lesson from my first book, Lessons from
the Porch: A Gathering Place for Telling Our Stories: "The
porch provides a site for camping as well as a moor for launching."
In her book, Tribe, author Martha Courtot said,
"We tell you this: we are doing the impossible. We are
teaching ourselves to understand ourselves and our journeys
together. When we are finished, the strands which connect us will
be unbreakable...The fibers which we weave on our insides will be so
tight nothing will be able to pass through them."
These words are found in the Gospel of Thomas:
The 5th Gospel: "If you bring forth what is within you, what
you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is
within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
As I explore the many connections in my life, I need to
see the relationships among the experiences and thoughts I have.
How does one thought, idea, or experience connect to the others? I
have found it helpful to think about sailing as a way to see the
connections and make the transitions in my life - leaving and returning
to my porch. In addition to my company, Lessons for Your Journey,
Inc., I am also president of Setting Sail: Harnessing the Winds of
Change.
Sailing a boat is not unlike negotiating a life or an
organization. The winds of change that impact both lives and
organizations might blow from any direction at any given time. We
don't pick the wind, but we can sail the wind- against
it, sideways to it, with it. Day to day life is like the wind with
all its variations and moods. As the sailor sails the wind, so we
must sail the shifting moods and challenges in our lives, both on and off
our porches.
One book that has had a major influence on my adult life
was written by Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces.
Campbell describes the archetypal hero's journey as a series of
interconnecting phases, the same relationships I continue to seek in my
life. Campbell explains that the hero's journey always begins with
an imaginary "Everyman" just living his humdrum life.
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, Everyman is pulled out of his ordinary life
or chooses to leave that life, moving on to a great adventure, to
discover an ending he cannot know at the beginning. Everyman goes
out on faith, not knowing. Everyman goes through, and survives,
several phases along the journey and returns home. Because his
beliefs have changed during the journey, he sees a different world upon
returning home, and he sees it clearly for the first time.
Every leader being interviewed for Lessons from
Empowering Leaders, is sailing the winds of change; taking the
journey Everyman took. These individuals share their stories of
returning home and seeing it for the first time. The leaders also
share their stories of the unavoidable connections between their personal
and organizational lives during times of change.
As I write this lesson, the connections I see
emerging as I travel this segment of my journey are becoming clearer each
day. The current work in my companies: Lessons for Your Journey,
Inc., Setting Sail: Harnessing the Winds of Change, the Lesson Guy
Internet radio show, and my upcoming book is all intertwined.
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