«
»

LETTING OUR LIGHTS SHINE … PART 3

Over the last couple of days I have been reflecting on the importance of having the courage to let our / my light(s) shine out. At the same time, I have also been seeking some help in finding a good PR person to help me get some of my articles etc published. Some kind soul sent me a glowing endorsement of someone he had used and closed with the note “Good luck with your ‘quest for fame!’

This got me thinking; what if everyone started taking what I said to heart and we were all busy trying to outshine each other … what would that be like? Would we be behaving like a bunch of ego-mad thespians all trying to upstage each other in order to be the ‘star’?

The answer, of course, is “No”, pure and simple, because once we are brave enough to step out and ‘be seen for who we truly are’ then we move beyond the drives of our egos into authenticity. The sky at night is big enough for countless million stars, all twinkling away; I think that this world will allow a few more of us the space to shine too.

We are all the heirs to the twin, and conflicting, drives to ‘be seen’ and to hide our lights least we be judged wanting. So today’s challenge is not only to continue to take the risk of being the ‘real’ you / me, but at the same time to make the space for others to do the same! Encourage them to be brave, explore what they have to offer. I guarantee that they will love us for it and there is no better strategy to make friends than take a genuine interest in others.

“People love others not for who they are but for how they make them feel” Irwin Federman


 

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 05:08 and is filed under Personal Change, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “LETTING OUR LIGHTS SHINE … PART 3”

  1. SarahArrow says:
    11 January , 2008 at 14:23

    “The sky at night is big enough for countless million stars, all twinkling away; I think that this world will allow a few more of us the space to shine too.”

    Hi Richard, I loved that quote. Sometimes its great to step back and look at all the stars and other times its great to focus on one, like you did yesterday with Jamie Oliver.
    Keep blogging, its really though provoking.

    Sarah

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    11 January , 2008 at 14:37

    Yup, people have been both following stars, and being amazed by them throughout human history. I guess we have to pick our own star and follow where it leads us

  3. ida_h says:
    12 January , 2008 at 16:55

    Agree with Sarah.. great blog.

    I like a bit about “The sky at night is big enough for countless million stars, all twinkling away; I think that this world will allow a few more of us the space to shine too

    There is a standing joke a light hearted one I must add between a good friend of mine who is a Life Coach and I, regarding the number of life coaches out there. The answer appears to be in your line here about there being space for everyone

    Regarding “encouraging others”, these two words are easily understood and make sense, however how do you encourage others? In some scenarios the encouraging is straight forward because the person in question may ask for “moral support” etc in others it may not be so apparent, how do you recognise it? and what do you about the ones the prefer to bear the cross?

    Ida

  4. richardderwentcooke says:
    12 January , 2008 at 17:10

    Ida….

    Firstly “Thank you”

    To your points:-
    1. I never worry about there being so many coaches out there you can just chuck a rock blindfold and still be sure to hit one! A few years ago everyone was a consultant. This is all about building trust and rapport and if you can do that, people will come to you.

    2. With regards to encouraging people, I was listening to someone today saying “First there is empathy, then Change can come”. You can encourage simply by asking the right kind of questions, ones that really engage them and show a genuine interest in them and their story. So few people can gift the gift of a real good listening to, and it is priceless! The other key component is acceptance rather than judgement. We don’t all have to be vanilla flavoured, to paraphrase myself, there is room for many flavours in the freezer!

    3. As to those who want to be a martyr, I guess we can leave them to it, but it is also ok to gently probe and see if you can help them see that there are other ways, or even do it and show them!

Leave a Reply

This blog is kept spam free by WP-SpamFree.