Tag: imagination

Let’s welcome a new year!

As I packed my Christmas decorations this weekend, eating the last chocolates from visiting loved ones, feeling the presence of departed family and friends, I am wondering why life seems so empty all of sudden. This mellowness does not have to tarnish the fulfilling memories of happy festivities. It does not have to trigger a pang of gloom. The trick is that the magic of the holiday season lives on when we know how to avoid settling back into routine.

We can all discover the pleasures of everyday existence, and rest assured that the cycle of regular celebrations will return like seasons orchestrating our years. There is something so comforting in remembering how life just like celebrations are cyclical. Reverting to the holiday highlights and what we value most, such as the generosity and gratitude of Christmas, or the simplicity and forgiveness to stay home alone for a quiet time off when everyone else is buzzing all over the world, or the joys of traditions or even the time of volunteering for the less fortunate can help us stay connected to the spark of special times.

You will find tremendous excitement in building the days and months to come this year integrating the joys and values that you just reflected upon, whether you experienced them fully or wished they were part of the fun – togetherness, magic, beauty, peacefulness. They can all be called upon all year long, if your heart is in it and your imagination triggered. Let it be a magical year!

You are important

I grew up as an only child in a lonely home with working parents. School and books became my refuge. I often felt insignificant with belittling beliefs to keep myself safe and make sense of confusing and challenging situations. I felt unseen, unheard but could not relate it to the lack of attention from the people around me. It was more palatable to see something wrong with me. At some level, I felt that my life did not really matter. I was invisible, but that did not prevent me from exploring the world in my imagination and later in real life.

As adults it can also be easy sometimes to buy into the illusion of our own insignificance when we look at the world and feel so powerless to change anything. We are surrounded by celebrities, powerful people, and we may conclude that fame and material power confirm how little our lives amount to. Compared to the suffering of people in places like Syria, we may decide that our challenges are small. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Every single one of us matter and all our challenges matter. We tend to forget how our very existence affects countless people around us in countless ways.

You are important and your life matters because you are a microcosm of a larger whole. Your life is a piece of a puzzle connected to a larger universe where your internal experiences affect the whole of life around you. In reality, life organizes around you! This is a shift of perception around your impact in the world that has the potential to affect your life in profound ways. You may discover a creative power you never knew you had, and generate energy to connect with the world in a different way. This is a different basis for leadership in the world.

Celebrate our quirkyness

I have long felt self-conscious about my differences, not quite fitting in my surroundings, coming from another country with a different background, speaking with an accent most of my life. I noticed over time how some of us have an easier time sharing their differences and preferences, while most of us tend to downplay our eccentricities–whatever we deem quirky. Society from education onwards tend to favor uniformity, and we have codes about what is socially acceptable. As a result, we may not realize how much we have attuned to our surroundings and done away with our special personality traits, intentionally or not. I certainly learned to conform from an early age and was mostly unaware of it until I started paying attention to leadership.

Leaders have usually learned to live without suppressing their eccentricities or rediscovered and embraced these buried traits. They understand that their idiosyncrasies are an important part of who they are. Should you are wondering about these special characteristics of yours, let’s try to think about what it is that you would love to do or be if you knew that you would not be judged for it. What would you take up for a hobby or what would you look like, given a bit more freedom and imagination?

You may be surprised at what comes up and what you discover about your suppressed peculiarities. Ask yourself what is stopping you from expressing this part of you and bring it out in the open. Try to incorporate this side of you into your daily existence. You may be even more surprised to realize that some people will appreciate you more for it than you might have expected. Remember that being your true self frees others up. Give yourself permission!