Tag Archives: wellness

The Great Leaders

Where is the greatness, the integrity, the true service to others (the people)? Perhaps it is too much to expect in a hierarchical pyramid, a model that tends to attract power hungry and easily corruptible politicians to the top? We think that if we could just find that magic replacement for the person not doing the good job, everything would return to normal and be okay.

We must stop just waiting and hoping for someone else to fix our world for us. We must see that the answer to leadership actually lies within ourselves. The great leaders we remember and hold close to our hearts often have little or nothing to do with politics. They inspire us to be better people. They nudge us into our own greatness.

The great leaders don’t tell us what to do, trying to control every situation. They know that control is NOT an expansive spiritual concept. Control results in diminishing return. Great leaders allow us to find the tools within ourselves, and external to us, that enable us build a better world. When we become inspired in this way, things can change from the bottom up.

Inspirational Quotes

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” ~ Mother Teresa

“A leader… is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.” ~ Lao Tzu

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Words Are Seeds

It’s Time To

Daydreaming Joy

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The tightly restrictive early pandemic days were illuminating for me. “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone…” The absence of seemingly small things that gave me every day joy was notable. I missed getting together with a friend for coffee, to share personal space with them, to feel their smile. I suppose it didn’t really matter (in a way) that our smiles were covered by masks. How many of us were sincerely smiling with the joy of life underneath them? Our smiles had been stolen from us overnight.

Also no longer for a time able to take my daily nature walk (yes, they closed the parks where I was too!), I searched for ways to cling to happy thoughts, to overcome the constant feeling of oppression. It occurred to me that replaying some happy memories would help to preserve my feeling that joy is and would again be possible in the world.

I have a friend who started a social media group during that time. She shared (and still does) beautiful pictures of the Alps in Europe – the gorgeous scenery, the activities, the famous spots to visit in a cluster of countries – and together she and the members of the group have protected and kept alive the beauty of life. They helped each other come out the other side of a very difficult time.

What memories of your life give you a feeling of joyousness? This is one of mine that without fail makes me feel light of heart and spirit ~

The magical dragonfly is a fond girlhood memory of summer for me. Paddling around the lake on sultry afternoons, I loved to watch their iridescent colors flitting among the graceful lily pads. They captivated me. There was a purity and magic about these tiny gossamer creatures. They seemed to occupy a mysterious, unseen world, to which for a few moments I was privy.

Peace and a feeling of the goodness in the world were mine, and they still are when I close my eyes and revisit this memory. I also strongly reconnect to a sense of my intrinsic freedom as a human being on this Earth.

Whatever brings you joy, commit to fiercely protecting your memories and vision of what is good and right in the world. Obviously we can’t live solely in the past if we want to manifest a new future, but those joyous memories and history are the strong foundation on which to build it.

Inspirational Quote:

“…What if the point is to stop, then,… and listen to the birdsong, to watch the dragonflies hover, to look at your lover’s face, then up at the undersides of leaves moving together in the breeze? What if the point is to invite these others into your movement, to bring trees, wind, grass, dragonflies into your family and in so doing abandon any attempt to control them? ~ Derrick Jensen

I Am Infinite

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Who am I? Genetics, environment, and experience, they have all helped to shape me. I was born into this life with a touch of auburn in my hair from Dad, and long piano playing fingers from Mom.

But father, why did you not give me the flaming locks that run in your Scottish family? Why just a whisper of red for me? I have a fire inside that rages, and a call to blaze a path in this world. My Maori friend calls me “Fire”. Perhaps it is so my flame is evident only to those with eyes that see deeper?

And mother, why was I born with your hands and no musical talent? It felt cruel. It was a source of frustration to me that I failed at piano lessons. Perhaps it was so I could learn to see in myself what is, rather than what is not?

One summer afternoon, the girl I was lay on her bed daydreaming. I left my body and up I rose until I floated among the stars, tethered to Earth by a slender silver thread. I felt infinity for the first time, and I realized that I was so much more than they were telling me.

I am the artist in France, learning to express my soul on canvas. In this present life, I recall those lessons easily. Painting is like breathing to me. That other self walks in Monet’s garden, and I yearn to again. A photo of the Seine in the fog makes my heart ache with longing. It is a happy life.

I am the Japanese geisha in love with a powerful man. He loves me, but we cannot be together. Even now, pink cherry blossoms in spring make my heart both sing and weep, all at the same time. The lesson? I love and I am loved. In the end, the love is all that is important.

Sometimes when I walk along the sidewalk, I recognize a piece of myself in a stranger’s eyes. How can I say what it is exactly? It is fleeting, but I see it, and I feel it.

When I pass a beggar on the street, I attach a blessing to the coin I give. In my mind I say, “I know you, and I feel your pain. I have been where you are. It is a lesson you are learning, and it will all be okay.”

There is so much of me flooding in from the world, sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it. So I wash the dishes or sweep the floor, ordinary tasks that ground me in the here and now.

But I can never deny to myself, or to the world, that which I know to be true: I am stardust. I am Infinite. I am part of it All.