Greetings fellow Healing Leaders,
 

If you read the last newsletter, you know that I am now in my 5th week of recovery from surgery in which my right kidney was removed with a 3-inch tumor. Unfortunately, it  was malignant and had begun to invade the fatty tissue around the kidney. The good news is that they were able to remove both the kidney and the fatty tissue and I am recovering nicely from surgery. Medically, I am considered cancer free, and no further treatment is being recommended. The doctors caution me that recurrence is a concern.

The events of the past 2 months and the ongoing concern for my future health have given rise to a number of questions within me regarding the nature of life and of suffering. What are we to do with adversity in our lives? What does it mean when I experience suffering and pain? Why do bad things happen to good people?
 

Our culture is filled with voices from fundamentalist preachers to new age prophets who would have us believe that adversity is a sign for us. They will tell us that it is a sign that we are being judged in some way for our sins. New Age people, such as those behind The Secret, put it a little more nicely but the meaning is the same; we are thinking the wrong thoughts and creating our own suffering. They believe that adversity is a sign that we are going in the wrong direction. The way of ease is the way of blessing.
 

My life has taught me to be suspicious of preachers and prophets. The questions that are in me lead in a different direction. What if experiencing adversity means we are moving in the right direction? What if we have the opportunity to respond to adversity in ways that move us in wonderful directions that would be otherwise unlikely or even impossible? More personally, how will I respond to this experience?
 

I will choose to welcome it as a messenger for me. I will gladly receive the message and hopefully dismiss the messenger rather than invite it as a permanent resident in my body. The message is surely about more intentional self-care and the need to stop postponing joy in my life. I intend to do both far better now than I would have before this experience.
Leadership is not for the squeamish. It often requires us to value the path of challenge and yes, even adversity. This choice is not one of macho "bring it on" but rather one of graceful acceptance and the choice to adapt and respond resourcefully. It is not about becoming bullet proof. It is about becoming our best selves. 
 

I don't know why there is pain and suffering in the world. But I do know that my own pain can be used by me to become my best self. And I do know that sometimes the most authentic path for us is the more difficult path - the road less traveled. The next time you are faced with a leadership decision, I invite you to seriously consider that the most difficult option may in fact, be the best one. 
 

Ikuku Osumi - a great healer from Japan, says that healing is about becoming our true selves.  As healing leaders, our true selves will not be found on the road most traveled. We may not even be found on the road less travelled. Our true destinies may lie where there are no roads at all - yet.