This past week has been one of certain extremes; from caroling with dear friends with G’rilla Kindness™ at the residence of my mother and she hearing me sing for the first time in 91 years… to running the streets of downtown St. John’s on a Saturday night with my G’rilla Soldier™ friends, handing out food and clothing…. to visiting the grocery store and witnessing the misery of people who have more but seemingly don’t…. these and many more instances this past week have left me with one single thought this Christmas Day.
This day, I am of the thought that going through the motions leads to misery. Finding the meaning leads to merriment. It is in the WHY that we find the joy.
Too many lives have been relegated to simple survival, and not in its truest terms. I am talking of the same ol”, same ol’… what I call the conformity of boredom. Therein lays misery. And breaking free of it does not have to mean throwing out our lives as they are. It means we have to find meaning in those lives.
The motions bring misery.
The meaning brings merriment.
This afternoon, I found myself having Christmas Dinner with my mother and cousin at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home. A Christian, a Jew and a Baha’i for Christmas Dinner with other residents and family and friends. This was a community of the moment. At some point, I felt the urge to sing; and so I did. Others chimed in… and joy was spread. It was palpable, taste-able, and unmistakable. It was a moment of epic, with a room filled with spontaneous singing and joy, all ages and backgrounds included.
Epic leadership is, at times, quite simple. Bring joy. Joyfulness is fuller than happiness; deeper, more powerful and resonant. It is founded on seeing the value in everyone. It is noble. It is grounded in being all in. It is wholehearted. It is epic, in an everyday kind of way.
For me, beyond the unfolding and amazing service of G’rilla Soldiers™ and the work I continue to love as a business educator and with EPIC Engage™, this past December 9th, I had the blessing to sing in Toronto for the opening of the year of Toni Newman‘s Presidency of CAPS, the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers www.canadianspeakers.org. It provided me additional meaning going forward; that the path to creating powerful, practical, purposeful and epic unity and engagement is through joy. I am not sure where it will take me but it does bring a smile. I hope you enjoy.
Peace, passion and prosperity.
Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy™