| For the present is the point at which time touches eternity – C.S.Lewis There are many presents as I write this week’s offering. Many moments of eternity. Now .. and now .. and now. I’ve tended to love the spaciousness of time .. the way it can expand and stretch and I can get completely lost. I have spent many years, almost fifty, lost in an expanse of time. And while I’ve liked to ‘take my time’, I also see, more and more, how deadlines and structures offer a sort of scaffolding to the limitlessness of time and enable for things to actually get done. Being more conscious and deliberate about my time, rather than greedily desiring more and more of it, is something I’m currently focused on. For me, this correlates with stepping up and being the leader of my life. It means having clearer boundaries around my time rather than allowing myself to get lost in boundary-less time, which has been one of my favourite escapes. And in honouring of time I will keep this note short and sweet. May you leap over your deadlines with joy and ease and appreciate many special moments on the way. With love, Orly PS The following poem is an inspiring call to leadership: For a Leader, by John O’Donohue May you have the grace and wisdom To act kindly, learning To distinguish between what is Personal and what is not. May you be hospitable to criticism. May you never put yourself at the center of things. May you act not from arrogance but out of service. May you work on yourself, Building and refining the ways of the mind. May you learn to cultivate the art of presence In order to engage with those who meet you. When someone fails or disappoints you, May the graciousness with which you engage Be their stairway to renewal and refinement. May you treasure the gifts of the mind Through reading and creative thinking So that you continue as a servant of the frontier Where the new will draw its enrichment of the old, And you never become a functionary. May you know the wisdom of deep listening The healing of wholesome words, The encouragement of the appreciative gaze, The decorum of held dignity, The springtime edge of the bleak question. May you have a mind that loves frontiers So that you can evoke the bright fields That lie beyond the view of the regular eye. May you have good friends To mirror your blind spots. May leadership be for you A true adventure of growth. |
Time to lead
