Exploring Vision

A Vision can be defined as the capacity to imagine and plan the future with Wisdom.

Just yesterday, I wrote on Virtues, Values and Fit. That said, I educate, entertain, speak, coach, mentor, facilitate, train, sing, dance, cartoon, write, blog, vlog, box and create to advance Character, Purpose and Unity at school, work, business and community. That is my work and Service. That is both my diligent and succinct work.

I deliver through Epic Engage and TUGtv and my teaching. 40+ years in leadership training and development, managing and leading... 28+ years in business education and coaching. I have 25,000+ contact hours in speaking, training and facilitating and have had 2000+ participants and clients coached. I have delivered to audiences as large as 4,000... and presented and performed for 250,000+ people of all ages and backgrounds. I am a Master Facilitator with the?Virtues Project??since 2004... a Certified Facilitator with?Personality Dimension??since 2004... a Certified Super Host Leader and Mature Consumer Trainer (2002)... a Facilitator with the?Ruhi Institute?since 2001 ... and a practitioner of the work of?What Color is Your Parachute??since 1982. And, I am a Vocalist, Rocker,?Author and Writer, Dancer, Boxer,?and Cartoonist.

Vision and Vocation

I say this not to impress (if it even does) but to impress upon... the thought around Vocation. Frederick Buechner said,

• “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.”

It is Purpose... explored and manifested. I say this because, as I quickly approach my 63rd birthday, I am discerning and deciding on next Chapter, if you will. I have been exploring on same for a number of years now through Pandemic and all. Discerning and deciding...

Discernment and Decisiveness

Discernment is about wandering, wondering and pondering. It is accessing and exploring the Wisdom of experience and education and inspiration. We detach from arbitrary expectations and explore freely and even deeply. We contemplate for Clarity. We hold ourselves both aware and accountable to ourselves to investigate our own personal truth. We are not knee jerk but diligent in doing same and such. Discernment is sincere and genuine and deliberate.

And it is best partnered with Decisiveness. To decide is essentially to cut away from... it is decisive. It requires us to practice Courage and Discernment.

Decisiveness can be in the moment or over time, depending on the need. Some decisions must needs be immediate. Others require true Patience.

When we practice Discernment and Decisiveness we are mining our own gems.

My Own Practice

With that in mind and heart, I have been exploring around my craft and the Discipline to get go... holding myself accountable. I have suggested in the past that our lives are our countries to explore. And I am taking these next three days to retreat in order to advance... discerning and deciding upon a practical sense of Vision for next Chapter. I am 98% there...

There are 4 works that I have been discerning and deciding upon... Faith... Service... Health... and Love. I am ever getting closer to a fully palpable and tasteable sense of what those 4 might look like to walk towards.

The Look

They look like a soulfully and wholeheartedly inspired Epic Engage...

I adore my work. That said, there are "tweaks" if you will in terms of what I do and for whom I best do it. 63 (I have no idea what that means) and counting, and I am ever more aware of the need to have my work fully reflect who I am and what and why I do... to be ever more true to my own best sense of Just Cause ... and meaning; that "Humans Together Strong" thing.

And that brings me to Health; practicing my own optimal health, exploring Boxing and Salsa Dancing as a combined Discipline for my own enduring walk towards and through next Chapter.

Put simply, BOXsa is my chosen and loved path to engaging body, mind and spirit to fiercely serve in my work. It is my path for health and strength to be and serve the best I can.

So, BOXsa and Epic Engage are two of the foundations calling. Then there is Tu'uk Ma'ah.

Tu'uk Ma'ah you say? As a child of vast and vivid imagination, I created a world (nay a Galaxy and Universe) and amidst it was a contextual language. One of the key words or expressions or ideas was "Tu'uk Ma'ah"; a deeply and sacredly held sense of Honor and Love, in action. If Honor was the Thunder, Love was the Lightning. It was Strength and Zeal manifested.

For me now, decades later, I revisit that childhood Wisdom. I better see the breadcrumbs of that childlike Creation. Tu'uk Ma'ah is expressed in relationships and Service. It is a countenance and gait. It is better walked. than talked. "Let deeds, not words, be your adorning" springs to heart and mind as I write.

So, going into this Retreat to Advance 3-day period, I am focusing on a Vision grounded in a soulful Epic Engage, a rockin' strong BOXsa, and a return to Tu'uk Ma'ah, well lived.

And all three are fiercely focused on a return to Haifa. Haifa where peace is sung about. Haifa and Mount Carmel and Akká and Bahjí. As a Bahai, I am looking to serve in Haifa. I am looking to apply for Service... within the next 18 months... to live and serve there, and from there. I was there in 2010, and pics hang at home and work reminding me of my deep, cool desire to return; and for longer.

So What?

For us all, I suggest an exploring of Purpose. Dig into your own best sense of Character. What might be 3-4 core manifestations of Vision that you might discern and decide upon; the big rocks for you? Spend the time digging into that. The investment will have a high return on Clarity for Vision....

Now, that is a more forward thinking CV. As I take on these next 3 days, discerning and deciding, I am conscious that (based on watershed times already in my life before), there will be an inner freedom born of choosing next path wisely that will taste so dang delicious. Indeed, there is a conversation that happens way to much that is characterized by "How are things? ... Oh, you know, same ol' same ol'." You know the conversation. You have heard it or been part of it. So have I. SOSO is the same ol, same ol' and, while I like some traditions, ruts are born of the SOSO. The SOSO is not delicious, more meh far too often. So may we say NO NO to the SO SO. May we each dare thusly. And, may we each find our own world embracing vision. The world needs us. A better future needs us.

Pease, passion and prosperity...

Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy with Epic Engage.

Me?on LinkedIn

I educate, entertain, speak, coach, mentor, facilitate, train, sing, dance, cartoon, write, blog, vlog, box and create to advance?Character?and?Purpose?and?Unity?at school, work, business and community.

CHECK OUT

• Character, Purpose, and Unity
• The Character LENS to Lead
• Developing Leadership Character – Ivey Business Journal

• TUGtv
• The Global Goals
• The Virtues Project

Epic Engage

• You?are an Activant … an Educator, Entrepreneur or Emerging Leader who is looking to make constructive change happen, on the ground, real-world, real-time. You are world-embracing and noble-hearted. You seek to mobilize a strong, united and character-driven team to change the world or your corner of it. You want to lead, inspire, educate and unite in doing so.?Let’s go build a better world!

On the other hand, I?am an Activant too; an?Educator?and?Entrepreneur?by experience, education and?Enthusiasm... with 40 years in leadership training and development, 27 years in business college education and 20 years certified and associated with?The Virtues Project. Additionally certified for 16 years in?Temperament?Assessment and with a longstanding body of work around Character Leadership, I help advance?conversation, consultation and capacity around?Character,?Purpose?and?Unity...?and?the?global goals. My work in business and education is to help those building a better world at school, work, business and community; locally and globally.?Humans together, strong.... that is?my?meaning... and?the space I can stay forever. To that?just cause, I commit.