Be a Lighthouse Not a Weathervane
Ghislaine Labelle Coach
Professional Executive Coach, Public Speaker and certified facilitator at Coaching Vision Action . I Help Leaders to Coach, & Guide their Team Players to Reach New Heights by developing new markets, & Sales revenue
Who are you when Nobody Else is looking?
In 1786, the Northern Lighthouse Trust was established, with Robert Stevenson, appointed chief engineer. For the next two centuries, four generations of the Stevenson family fought nasty weather, jagged coastlines, and government opposition to build lighthouses in some of the most remote outlooks on the coast and reefs of Scotland. It was amazing what they accomplished.
The Stevensons designed lighthouses to resist the gales of the North Sea and supervised the actual construction. Sometimes the conditions were desperate. They designed interlocking granite blocks, that tied the foundation to bedrock so strong that it could withstand the enormous waves that battered the pillars.
They developed the lamps and lenses themselves. They wanted to send a glea across the water for miles. When lights came on, thousands of lives were saved on ships that would otherwise have foundered on the hidden reefs.
People can be like lighthouses. It's easy to act as if you are a weathervane, always changing your beliefs and words, trying to please everyone around you. But we were born to be lighthouses, not weathervanes. Imagine a vertical axis running through the center of your heart, from your deepest roots to your highest aspirations. That's your lighthouse. It anchors you in the world and frees you from having to change directions every time the weather shifts. Inside the lighthouse there is a lens and a light. The light represents who you are even when nobody else is looking. That light was meant to keep shining, no matter how dark and stormy it gets outside.
When you find that lighti inside you, you will know it. Do not let anyone else dim it! Remember to look for the light inside others. If at first you cannot see it, look deeper. It's there.
Every one of us has inherent qualities that anchor us in the world and enable us to shine. To live in that way, we must clarify our own values and understand those of others. It's one thing to be alive. It's something else altogether to actually live, and work, according to who you are deep down.
People won't put their hearts into something they don't believe in. They might put their intellect into it, but not their hearts. When our individual values don't fit with the life we're leading or the direction in which we are headed, we withhold our best and feel empty or stressed.
Like a lot of people around us, we may soon be likened to a weathervane, going in whichever way the Wind blows!
Honor your fundamental values, let them guide you in your all of your choices and in your thoughts, words and actions. They will keep your light shining strong and clear your path, even during dark storms.
From the book: " The other 90%" by Robert K. Cooper
Brazzell Insurance
7 年Great thoughts but this was originally published by another author...Robert K Cooper in his book entitled " The Orher 90%". You should have credited him for these words.