Greetings!
Happy new year on this first week of the new year.
2010 is over and probably most of us hope its encouraging trends get sustained and amplified in 2011. Working with businesses and non-profits both large and small, the recession has been, obviously, challenging for my clients. I know of no one who has sailed through these rough last few years, yet, the flickers of hope seem to have begun to burn more brightly in recent months as we say goodbye to 2010.
For many, including myself, 2010 was a year to reassess and renew and recommit.
In 2009, as the uncertainties promoted by the sinking economy were rippling with distressing effects for almost everybody, John Beeder, the Sr.VP for Sales and Marketing of American Greetings, addressed a class I was teaching.
He told this group of American Greetings managers his leadership philosophy was: Be of good cheer. He said this in 2009--in the middle of the worst economic environment of most of our lives.
I took it to heart. In my experience there aren't any better alternatives to being positive.
'Be of Good Cheer' means to me to bring a positive framework into every situation.
Know the power of your words. Positive words ignite spirit and engagement while negative talk can extinquish engagement and possibilities.
Constructive, questions create opportunity, while deficit questions constrain and create resistance.
Being positive starts with a commitment to the upside of the possible--is fueled by sincere good feeling--and, is the foundation for enlightened action.
Positivity is not a fool's errand, or, a 'polly anna' approach to the world but a powerful way to influence situations for which there are downsides and cynicism also jockeying for 'position.' In fact, I think it possible to be a sincerely cheerful skeptic and an optimistic realist.
It's completely obvious too part of the reason why my Buddha Bear bulldog came into my life: he can be mischievous but he's never dour, and he's here to model cheer. I can have a down day but never a down day where I'm not turned around at its end by my leaping four-legged friend. He seems to me to be "all-smile."
 | | Buddha Bear rollicking on the winter beach |
I carried John Beeder's message with me through 2009 and shared it widely. 2010 was a year of big challenges and of physical, economic, and spiritual recovery. I kept my head and heart up and received the huge benefit the energy around 'good cheer' can bring to any situation.
I am starting the New Year 2011 with a renewed intention to continue John Beeder's practice.
'Be of Good Cheer,' and spread the simplicity and power of an upbeat, optimistic mood to all the situations I encounter.
Let me know what you think. As always, feel free to pass along, opt in or opt out of my newsletter.
Have great days,
Leslie
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