...by Claire Knowles, Lights On! Workshop

   There's a great website with inspirational messages and videos called Simple Truths that recently exhibited a heart-lifting short video about the mother eagle having to push her fledgling eaglets from the nest situated on the highest pinnacle---it is the hardest thing she has to do, because the eaglets have never flown and there's only one chance to get it right.  It's a test of courage and a tribute to her inner knowing that in order to be an eagle and fulfill the eagle destiny, her eaglets have to fly and then, and only then, will they soar!  She has to trust that there will be sufficient wind beneath their wings! (http://www.simpletruths.com/movie_landings/landings.php?banner=eenp&us=1615&ca=302&au=350&intl=342#)

     Sometimes each of us needs a push too.  A push to set personal and professional goals.  A push to follow-through-to move forward with a leap of faith.  A push to do what we know we need to do.  A push to get on with it!  A push to start again.  It is that time of year when New Year's resolutions come to the forefront.  What push do you need this year to follow through so that your New Years resolutions actually do come into fruition?

   There's an old story of two coaching gurus, one well-experienced and the other a novice.  The novice asks the elder, "Why is it that when I coach someone and they say they are going to do this or that, that several weeks later I find that they haven't even started to do this or that?  Instead, they've just muttered the words of wishful thinking and there's been no real action?  The wise guru shared that is because "they just aren't hungry enough."  The novice then asks,  "Well, how can someone become hungry enough to do what they say they really want to do?"  The elder guru then shared, "Something else is feeding them....and you have to find out what that is....because until they are ready to stop feeding on what is keeping them in their current state, they'll not be hungry enough to act; their words of intention and their actions will remain in conflict." 

   The moral of the story:   Perhaps you need a push to get you started toward your goals in the new year.  Get really clear on what it is you really want to have happen, to do or to be.  Then find out what is keeping you stuck right now? What's feeding your present comfort zone?  What's kept you from moving forward before?  Then, start  anew!  Be the person you are meant to be.....fulfill your destiny.....just as the eaglet has to learn to fly before she can soar, so you can succeed at the change you're focusing upon....with just a little push from your inner personal courage.  Go!  Don't be afraid of falling----there's wind beneath your wings!

We have all walked the high-wire of circumstance at times.

We recognize the gravity pull of the earth, yet we choose not to fall.

~Martha Graham (dancer & choreographer)

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!

     The expression, "Elephant in the room" is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed.  The expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.

     It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook.  So, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have made a choice.  They are choosing to concern themselves with smaller and irrelevant issues rather than deal with the looming BIG one.   (Wikipedia reference).

     Can you relate?  Is your business environment one where people continue to  skirt  or ignore the real issues?  To let issues fester?  Do you feel that your organization or work team is being crippled by these elephants in the room and that you're not being the best that you can be?

     At Lights On!, we lift up the elephants!   Once the elephants are lifted up and "all can see them", then they can be addressed.  And then, teams and organizations can move forward effectively.