Head Toward the Light Where I live we are still heading into deeper darkness. Our days will continue to increase in darkness and decrease in sunlight for most of this week. It has been nearly six months since our daylight began to shorten and shrink. Before next weekend we will turn the corner and slowly begin heading toward the light. We are almost there, almost ready to start. Our annual journey begins in the darkest time. We gain daylight for... Read more
Holding Fast and Standing Firm Many of us like to think leaders need to be nimble and quick on our feet these days. The people we think of as leaders appear to be flexible, adjusting to each new development. We live in a time of increasingly rapid change and expect our leaders to be comfortable with it. It is easy to assume leaders will be familiar with the latest technology and newest ideas. We may feel frustrated with leaders who are behind... Read more
Finding Stillness in the Present Moment We spend our lives running as fast as we can from the past into the future. Studying the past, we try to discern its lessons for us. How can we avoid the mistakes other people have made? What examples does the past offer us to follow? Are we able to learn from history, or are we doomed to repeat it? We read books and listen to stories searching for nuggets of truth to save... Read more
Bringing Fire to the Earth This has been a week of bringing fire to the earth. As our daylight hours grow shorter at this time of year, spiritual life often involves fire. We light candles to mark our progress through the season. A fire in the fireplace keeps us warm and sparks our reflection and contemplation. Flames capture our attention as they dance. Fire is one of my favorite metaphors for spiritual life. It purifies, melting and burning away what... Read more
Leading Like a Monk? Leading like a monk may not be the first example of leadership at the top of our minds. We think of leaders as people who motivate us to get things done. Our assumption is leaders are probably thinking about plans, goals and objectives, and schedules. We assume leaders have expectations about where we are going and how soon we will arrive. Monks must be more reflective, more introspective, than we think strong leaders need to be.... Read more
The Suffering in the Silence As we listen to sacred stillness we hear the suffering in the silence all around us. The people without voices cry out to us. We hear them in the sacred stillness as they live hungry and thirsty, longing for a home. While others are too busy to listen we hear them begging for, and demanding, justice and mercy. We hear the weakened cries of people who need our help, who need us to pay attention. Sacred stillness is filled... Read more
What is Advent All About? It could all be because we are afraid of the dark, or fear running out of time. Our darkness grows as we enter the final month of the year and approach its end. Each year ends in a race to see which will run out first, time or light. The physical world is apparently not designed to reinforce our comfort and security. Many of us try to ignore our fears by entering what we call The Holiday Season. Though it arrives every year,... Read more
More Than We Thought We Could Be We like to believe the leadership mythology we have created. It is easy for us to think leaders are like superheroes. Our myths are filled with leaders whose hidden skills emerge when we most need them. It is almost as if we believe our leaders have secret identities and super powers. The valiant leader steps forward into the light fully formed when the time is right. We separate ourselves from the superheroes hiding among... Read more
Diving Into Deeper Stillness It can feel tempting to spend our time skimming across the surface of life. We believe we are doing well, floating along, letting life carry us. We may even feel satisfied. Diving into deeper stillness is intimidating, too much of a challenge for us. We realize, though, riding along the surface is wearing us out. There are so many things to distract us, to confuse us, to draw us out of our rhythm. Some days it seems to... Read more
Building Our Own Spiritual Life We went out for pizza the other day and immediately faced many choices. Before the sauces and topping options, before we told them how thick we wanted our crust to be. We needed to choose between a pizza designed for us by professionals or a pizza we built for ourselves. While the pre-determined pizzas all sounded fine, we decided to build our own. Deep dish or thin crust. Spicy or regular marinara sauce, or garlic pesto.... Read more
Strategic Monk
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