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A New Beginning
Last week, I co-led the first of four retreats in CTI‘s Leadership Program. It‘s titled “Creating From Self” and focuses on reclaiming one‘s unique strengths, individuality and sense of purpose.
Gosh, how did it come to be “conventional wisdom” that it was a good idea to tamp down our incredible instincts, our passion, our appetite? Somewhere in the unfolding story of human kind, we became so enamored with “knowledge” and “knowing” that we became separated from the wisdom of our own heart, body and spirit. Our minds are an incredible thing…and the mind is only one part of wisdom.
In a thousand countless ways, we‘ve been “domesticated”; carefully taught to abandon our wildness and interesting uniqueness so that we could “fit in”. Fit in to WHAT I wonder. We‘ve learned to look outside ourselves for what is right and good; to be neat and tidy and stand in straight rows with our hands to ourselves.
It is such a joy to witness people breaking free of old limiting beliefs and reclaiming their aliveness…to watch the faces become brighter and brighter until each one is ablaze with life. It‘s one of those experiences that words fail to express.
To that end, I offer you one of my favorite writings from Bendictus: A Book of Blessings by John O‘Donohue. For more by John O’Donohue you can visit www.johnodonhue.com. This particular blessing is titled “For a New Beginning”, © John O‘Donohue. All rights reserved.
This blessing speaks to my heart about the magic and promise of the new beginning of a journey into one‘s own leadership. KKH
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety,
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life‘s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
~ John O‘Donohue ~
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Lindaa
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