Hi there Reader,
Welcome to this edition of Meaningful eMail with the most recent takeaway and updates linked here at the top, and then a full article for your consideration.
Grab what's helpful today, then save others for future reference. You never know when you or someone in your network could use a boost!
Recent Takeaways & Updates
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Top Takeaway: The Confidence Code by Kay & Shipman
Great read for the science, art and practical methods for building confidence.
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Upcoming: The Next Mid-Career Remix Roundtable 2/20
Inspired by recent training, this next one will be a fast-paced, transformative conversation designed to shift your thinking and leave you energized with a new sense of direction.
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Let's Explore
Where is the light?
I signed out of the training zoom room with a smile and a sigh, sat back in my chair with my head packed full of amazing new ideas and my heart bursting with joy and belonging. I was excited to keep in touch with the incredible people I'd met and eager integrate the strategies and tactics I just learned. The positive possibilities were wide open.
And then a habit kicked in that I instantly regretted. I checked the socials.
In the blink of an eye, I went from being surrounded by fully present, engaged and inspiring individuals to voices who were caught in a swirl of darkness and negativity. The contrast took my breath away.
For a moment, I felt guilty. I had just spent two transformative days immersed in this amazing training with this life-giving group. But did I just avoid reality? Maybe I should've been keeping up with the news?Was I doing enough to help with the issues I care about?
But then I remembered a beautiful moment from the training I just completed.
Light vs darkness
This training was about becoming a conscious facilitator - a way to building community, deep learning and transformations at any gathering, whether it's 3 people or 3,000.
One part of the framework is to invite the audience to be more fully present and centered. This helps set the groundwork for people to more deeply absorb the content. As an example of that centering we were led through breathwork and a reading based on the Shambhala Warrior Prophecy. This is a Buddhist teaching in which the Shambhala Warrior symbolizes inner strength, resilience, and the active choice to live with purpose despite challenges. Check out that reading at the end of this email - it’s a beautiful call to act with love in the face of fear, to bring our light to the darkness.
There are so many other inspiring calls to bring our light to the darkness as well.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Mark 4:22: let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
And as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
But when there is so much chaos and uncertainty, so much darkness, how can we find the light? Where is the love?
No sense combing the headlines or scrolling through feeds to find it. No need to go searching for it.
You already have it.
You have more light and love inside you than you can imagine.
Your light
Every time you smile at a stranger, call your cashier by their name, listen deeply to a friend share a tough experience you bring light and love to the darkness.
When you tap into your natural strengths - talents, wisdom, experiences - you bring energy that's downright contagious. Think about how awesome you feel when you’re in your genius zone. If you’re like most, you feel more energized and invigorated after doing that type of work.
I heard “I just love your energy” so many times during that training last week. People said that to me and to many others. I was in one of my genius zones - the intersection of learning and connecting.
So was I escaping reality? Nope. I was working hard to improve it. My light was shining. It was shining so bright I wouldn’t be surprised if I was powering a 5-mile radius of laptops and laundry rooms.
Imagine if each of us turned on our lights!
It’s like at a concert when the house lights go dark and the audience fires up their lighters (oh wait, it’s not the 1900s anymore) - their phones - for a beautiful moment of collective energy. It’s just so cool to see so many people create a big difference in the feel of a space, just by turning on their own individual light.
Your light is needed.
Are you ready to turn it on? To make it even brighter?
Here's how:
- Find your tribe. You are not alone. Search out and spend time in the spaces and with the people who bring the type of energy you aspire to.
- Tap into your strengths. Get clear on your natural talents, wisdom, skills and experiences and how they help others.
- Own your power. Decide how you want to engage with the world. Will daily chaos pull you down or will you stand strong in your drive to make a difference?
So, will you let the world dim your light?
Or will you turn it up?
This moment - right now - is a choice.
You don’t need permission to shine.
You don’t need perfect circumstances to make an impact.
You just need to decide: Where will you put your energy? Who will you surround yourself with? What strengths will you step into?
If you’re ready to explore that, I’d love to help. I’m offering a handful of special coaching sessions in February on a sliding scale, just pay what you can. Grab one here before they’re gone.
But whether or not we work together, I hope you remember this:
Your light is needed.
Your strengths matter.
And when you shine, you give others permission to do the same.
Turn it on. The world is waiting.
Prophecy of the Shambhala Warrior (paraphrased)
This is a prophecy that has been told for hundreds or thousands of years.
There comes a time when the world is in great danger.
When the forests are dying, the waters are poisoned, and nations are at war.
A time that is ruled by greed and fear, and the future seems uncertain.
In this time, the kingdom of Shambhala arises. Not as a place.
But in the hearts of those who hear the call. The warriors of Shambala do not wear armor or carry weapons.
Their courage comes from compassion, their strength from wisdom. They see the systems of destruction, yet they know these are made by human minds and can be undone by human hearts.
They do not fight with hate, but with the knowledge that all things are connected.
The warriors of Shambhala are you and me. And all who choose to act with love in the face of fear with truth in the face of deception.
They are called not to retreat. But to engage.
To heal, to serve, to awaken.
And so when the world is on fire The warriors step forward.
Quietly, unshaken, and ready.
Shambhala warriors are everywhere.
They are you, they are me. All are needed. We are in a state of emergency.
We need all hands on deck. Hands of nature and hearts of love.
