In the darkness, the eye begins to see

“Sorrow happens, hardship happens, the hell with it, who never knew the price of happiness, will not be happy.” Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Can we relinquish our insistence to have power over our experiences and see that life is richer as we choose power through our experiences no matter what they may be?

To know and not to do is to not know

PORTIA  Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare)

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. 

Leading is a constant for all of us. The opportunity for leadership is ubiquitous not sporadic. Every time you behave or think, you are having influence or impact on yourself and those around you. We would like to think that leadership is something that happens occasionally, but it truly is a 24/7 event.  To accept the idea that we cannot NOT have influence means we are always responsible for our actions regardless of whether we are conscious of our affect, purposeful with our actions, or self-aware of our influence.  For most people, leadership is thought more of as an organizational matter not so much as personal.  The idea is that leaders are those people who have positional authority, are “up front,” and have information to distinguish themselves or bring unique value to the situation.  An additional matter and one far more insidiously embedded into the psyche of most individuals centers around the matter that most people are driven to avoid pain and difficulty than to do what is right, needed or best concerning the sitautional need.  It isn’t an easy task to face and accept the reality that being responsible is important and that response-ability is important all the time.  As leaders who are always leading, the challenge is for us to bring a quality of presence and attention to the moment; collaborate with others to hear what is essential; and then to co-create value in response to the critical need of people and organizations.

December is a time when many of us contribute to organizations that contribute to the greater good of society. Chris Gardner whose life was recently made in to the movie, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’, discuss his philosophy of giving to charity.

In it he discusses why giving money to the homeless can be misguided.

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