Mind Set Go

There is a point in Jim Collins’s book Good to Great, in which he describes a commonality between companies that have achieved “greatness” as the presence of a board or council consisting of individuals that spend a great deal of time behind closed doors hashing out divergent ideas and putting (what I call) diversity of thought into action.  Collins and a team of researchers first identified a number of companies that achieved extraordinary outcomes before proceeding with research.  While they strove to identify the common traits of this “greatness” within organizations, Collins also disclosed that the findings, the results of their labors, have been applied by many to guide their own lives on a personal front. 

What can be learned of this less than harmonious practice of hashing out—of disagreement?  Does it reveal that the discourse you may have with or about your own situation deserves, in a way, the upheaval it seems to take to get through certain decisions or trials you may face?  Compounded with internal struggles being affected by emotions about how certain situations make you feel, how can you use the diversity of your own thought to propel you to a better place?

Could there be a healthy way for you, for me, to put divergent ideas into practice?  To maintain peace, not for the sake of peace, but to engage with humility to put real peace into practice?  Can you welcome diversity, including diversity of thought, wholeheartedly from within your very central core rather than from without as some random assignment of something else to do?

I have had the great honor to be in the presence of many people who have accomplished extraordinary things.  While my own findings lack any empirical evidence, what I have always been left with, after meeting and engaging with these heroes, these leaders in our midst, is a certain feeling that greatness includes extreme doses of humility quite similar to what Collins describes of CEOs of those successful companies.  And oh, by the way, Collins also disclosed that greatness often comes within organizations and not from pulling in those believed to be great from outside organizations with hopes that they would sweep in and solve problems or save the day. 

You and I are, no doubt, ordinary beings.  We all are.  How do we measure and appreciate the delicate balance of our own lives, of our own world, before the upside-down pendulum swings too far never to return to the sanctity of what most of us seemingly take for granted? 

I have witnessed the power of prayer and meditation.  Yet, I /we often stray from this very accessible practice.  I don’t know if you have ever practiced yoga, but I can tell you that one of the most impressive things about it, other than its impact, is its accessibility.  You do not have to have the mat or blocks or tools.  You use your mind, your body.  With the advent of the power of the internet, you can find yogis that will guide you through gentle poses.  You can find examples of yoga nidra, of meditation, of stretching. 

It takes mindset.  Your mind.  Your breath.  Your time.  No weights; no driving to a gym; no check-off’s on to-do lists. 

The mind clutter you generate is to be expected and welcomed, and only then can you appreciate your humanness and the fragility of life.  There is great value in our differences.  Someone not seeing eye-to-eye with you can be a blessing as you process and move on with new information.

There is great power in what teams of people can accomplish working together.  How we engage with one another matters.  How we engage with ourselves does, too.  The appreciation and common courtesies we apply to others, we should afford to ourselves.  Appreciating diversity of thought, using it and applying its outcomes can change the world within and without.  It takes not only work and application, but acting now before “it” is too late.  But the moment is always now.  There is no other that actually exists.  Embrace it with humility, with kindness, with love. 

Usher in your new year this moment, today.  Accept your own human transgressions as yours alone.  The influences others afford you reside within your own mind, and only you have the power to interpret them in positive, peace-filled ways.  Accept that others are different from you and halt the struggles you may be inflicting within your own mind. 

The only limited power you have is to accept the companionship you have of this very moment; you become “better,” not in spite of, or despite, what happens around you, but with what happens within.  Embrace this moment.  There is nothing better to be had than that which exists and can be found within through spiritual guidance and acceptance, prayer and meditation.

Love already exists. Peace already exists.  Find it and share it.  You have what you need.