In This is The May, I said, “I have nothing more to say for now other than the reclaim of COOLness goes on and I humbly suggest diving into these afore noted links for yourself. I know that I will be sharing more in this second half of May.” That reclaim does go on. Of late, I have shared on Courage and Justice and Temperance… 3 of the 4 Cardinal Virtues of Stoicism. And, I am learning. What I have learned in life about learning of Character and its development.. is that when you “wish” you had more of something, you seem to get opportunities to practice such. It is in the practice that the growth happens.
And that Stoicism thing is the classroom right now, it seems. I have noted before that this past year or so, I have been dealing with some new health matters. Indeed, they have inspired my exploration of Character and Health of late. And I am making purposeful changes in order to address same.
That said, throughout my life, I have battled what I call high functioning depression. I call it dancing with the dragons. The dragons challenge, and I must needs respond. The battling has periods of peace and war.
I do not believe in nor hold to toxic positivity. I believe in and hold to Optimism. There is a difference, markedly so. The former bores me anyway. For me, it is escapism. The latter, that practice of Optimism… knows that I am “enough” even in the moments I feel weakened. Our emotions matter. But they are not our masters. We are the captains of our Soul… and we need see our own emotional Courage.
My battles are grounded in the belief that “this too shall pass”, and that the battle requires my response whether I feel like it or not. And, that battle is noble. Sometimes my response is to rest. Sometimes it is grounded in “When the swords flash, go forward…”. And, to be honest, I believe that rest is about going forward. We rest for the next leg of the journey.
But my dragons remain. These past few months they have risen ever more so. The thing is the dragons want to dance. They seek me to tame them. That realization, for me, does not make it necessarily any easier… but it does make it possible, probable and inevitable. With that in mind, two days ago, I posted on Facebook…
Borrowing an idea from a wise friend. Over the next month or so… I am gutting my Facebook list… Nothing personal… … just making Facebook my truly “social” media. If you like some of my posts or would like to stay on as Friend… way cool. Simply like this post. Will be posting videos and music and such… Virtues Cards… and social stuff. 
This might take me down to less than 100 people… I don’t know. All I do know is that this will be my truly “social” space still sharing hopefully cool content and such… but y’know. 
And it might reduce the number of ugh ads in my Feed. Ugh. Uuuuuugh. 
But that would be freeing lol. But seriously… if you don’t want to stay connected… understood. If you do… Like or Love this post … to say yeah you’d like to stay connected here. Either way… I do wish you Peace.
This action too is purposeful. My business, work and Service (and connections) are primarily through LinkedIN these days… and I choose that so. My existence on Facebook needs get back to being that simple and truly social media. I can have same connections on both but Facebook will be truly “social”. This action along with the healthy Summer planned are part of the ongoing battle; a noble and glorious one… where I ever learn my capacity to not just survive but thrive. That said, the battle continues. There are days of armistice and peace… many actually… and there are days of all out war… the big dance with the dragons. I write this for those who relate. I write for this for me. I write this to say the battle needs be noble. And these next few months for me, I am on the offensive. The fight is The Good Fight. We are worth it. Oh, and this tune always brings it for me. Peace.
Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy with Epic Engage.
CONSIDER
Developing Leadership Character – Ivey Business Journal
“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness. ― Anne Frank