Linkedin post:
Source of Ethan Hawke video here
This really resonated today. I just returned from a week-long family vacation – where I did not have any connection to work – sure I had my mobile phone for emergencies, but a great leader I report to also supported my complete detachment – I am grateful to whom I report to for the trust and confidence she places in me.
Here’s some quick thoughts about Ethan’s brilliant conversational points in this mini clip –
Ethan Hawke’s TED talk thought –
“… it’s not up to us whether what we do is any good, and if history has taught us anything, it’s that the world is an extremely unreliable critic. The time of our life is so short, and how we spend it – are we spending it doing what’s important to us? Most of us… not. The pull of habit is so huge.”
EH – Ted Talk excerpt
Creative responses to opportunities and challenges are plentiful as I navigate life balance and my career. I have come to understand more and more how courage of value is most often birthed in empathy. For me, this is also where love, compassion, vulnerability and my authentic self struggles but wants to flourish as I express those intimate expressions in my encounters of life – especially in the workplace. I continue to witness that when I am not intimidated by outcomes from internal or external pressures, my creativity is able to be cultivated, first by myself, and then I can select impressionable inputs from external sources (nature, human, life circumstances, etc.). Further, it is in these moments where the raw growth occurs!
Whether in work, mindset, personal ethos, or any other arc of life, stoicism persistently teaches me that I cannot control the world around me, only how I respond—and I strive to respond using the four cardinal virtues as I navigate the noisy corridors we call life:
- Courage
- Temperance
- Wisdom
- Justice
In the recent 2-3 years, in the team I am currently part of, I try to set my ego aside and encourage those I mentor directly and other colleagues to cultivate their own creativities. Some flourish, some aspire, some fail! But most often they each intersect with success in ways unique and valuable to them directly – and what a benefit it is to me to witness those opportunities!
Lastly, as I am more curious and less judgmental (the critic) – I observe that I learn so much more as I observe context that I often ignored because I was too busy removing creativity because I was trying to convince others of why my worldview was the most correct!
How naive and immature I was and still am?
I am grateful, I have finally broken free of that space full of misplaced certainty and the absence of creativity, thought and earned wisdom! Here’s to being able to continually express myself through creativity!
Poor example of humor demonstrating bias and fear
I have seen a few memes lately talking about identification. The one on cyclists, motorcyclists and tour de france almost got me to go into rant mode. But it’s hard to keep quiet when the real message should read,
“I am a narcissistic @sshole/douchebag but I identify as a Christian.”
– me
This is frustrating as a human, a cyclist and triathlete participant – not to mention a faith based human. A lot of folks are circling around authoritarian constructs that disallow agency or autonomies of others – ultimately playing God and not allowing any space for Deity to be Deity nor for a human to exercise agency and even have an opportunity of self-discovery.
I have come to understand more and more how courage of value is birthed in empathy – where love, compassion and vulnerability and my authentic self often struggles but wants to flourish. When I am not intimidated by outcomes from internal or external pressures, my creativity is able to be cultivated by first by myself and then I can select impressionable inputs from external sources (nature, human, life circumstances, etc.). Further, it is in these moments where the raw growth occurs!
A gem of a find
I came across this Macklemore song recently, and it’s an interesting message then and even more so today!.
There is a lot of noise out there and a lot of confusion. The conundrum of small differences and folks drives for autonomy or ultimately control over others is almost too much lately. This is why I turn within and strengthen myself. It’s a difficult and lonely road but so worth it. I wish more of my faith-based proclaiming friends to dig deep and tear the hypocrisy, fear and misunderstanding out of their egos! I find myself following this notion from Marcus Aurelius:
“Say to yourself at the start of the day, I shall meet with meddling, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable people. They are subject to all these defects because they have no knowledge of good and bad. But I, who have observed the nature of the good, and seen that it is the right; and of the bad, and seen that it is the wrong; and of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that his nature is akin to my own—not because he is of the same blood and seed, but because he shares as I do in mind and thus in a portion of the divine—I, then, can neither be harmed by these people, nor become angry with one who is akin to me, nor can I hate him, for we have come into being to work together, like feet, hands, eyelids, or the two rows of teeth in our upper and lower jaws. To work against one another is therefore contrary to nature; and to be angry with another person and turn away from him is surely to work against him.”
– Marcus Aurelius – meditations
Lastly, this aligns with the Stockdale Paradox:
“You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. AND at the same time… You must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
John Stockdale
And one by Bukowski:
“You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.”
I’m still working on saving me.
