Lessons from the Maple

Rest and Reset; the difference is the "e" ... I humbly offer up. And, I suggest that difference is Excellence. I invite you to consider. For me, as I undertake both rest and reset for matters of Health, Service and Faith... for body, mind and spirit... I am considering the role of the Virtue that is Excellence.

Part 1. Excellence and Care

Excellence is not a destination nor is it perfect as noun. It is a journey ... and perfect as verb. We give our own best personally and professionally, without undue Responsibility.... but responsible for what is truly ours We just bring our best. We learn, and through missed takes...

... and through our Studentry; for Studentry is the only real mastery. We live and work and serve with Love.

LP Jacks once said...

• “A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”

I love this. I believe in this. I adore this.

Simply pursuing our vision of Excellence through whatever we are doing, and leaving others to determine whether we are working or playing. Ponder that. And, pursuit in this reference, I see not as hustle but walking steadfastly towards.

I will add that I have long held that WEALTH is When Excellence and Love Take Hold. Think about it. Our WEALTH is when we bring our best with Love for what we DO and BE. Indeed, that applies to our own Caring Management ... and I am reminded that Caring is a Virtue... and that self care is vital to our own practice of Excellence. That said, we can indeed and in deed, practice Caring for ourselves ... with Excellence

Part 2. Rest and RESeT

Which brings me back to the notions of rest and reset. For me this past year, and the year ahead, is a period of significant transition. Mysteries around Health and a nearing to "retirement" from full time College teaching (I see retiring as re-tiring, new tires on the car, if you will)... both are causing me to re-examine rest and reset. Maybe like you, I grew up with the words said to me, "A change is a good as a rest"... and there is Wisdom within that statement.

Still, change can be opportunity and/or threat, and we need approach significant change with a good and strong sense of our own rest and reset. What do I mean? Well, I am ever better Understanding ...

... that dealing with change is less about grind and hustle and "making things happen". It is not best conducted, forced. It is more about flow, and "riding the wave", I believe and contend. A Cool Composure is part of that. Going for our everything is not about frantic hustle, grind and forced pursuit. I suggest that it is more about the "law of nature".

Part 3. Nature Knows

And what do I mean by that? Well, with sincere Respect for friends and the many who propose and believe in the law of attraction...

... I have long believed that it is ultimately about the law of nature. Wolves get up each day, knowing who they are and what they do and they go and do and be. Some days, the hunt and life is not successful. But they get up each day, doing and being. They experience no existential crises nor do they ponder their Purpose. They simply Do and Be who they are.

We humans have our minds get in the way far too much. You see, I believe that the Body is our Ship, sailing the high seas of life (however cliché that might sound). I believe that our Heart (Spirit) is the Captain looking to the Stars (Soul) for guidance to chart course. And, I believe the mind is the Navigator. Essentially, I offer up that our Soul knows best. It is our deepest sense of BEing and DOing. It is the voice of our own noble Audacity. Our Heart should heed. Our Mind should not be involved in determining destination, but involved in determining how we best get there. I propose that our Heart is Strategic, listening deep to our own sense of calling. Our Mind needs be the Tactical.

Part 4. The Maple Knows

Which brings me back again to rest and reset. Nature is filled with such. My Maple is about to go into rest and reset mode as Fall and Winter approach. Growth in Spring and Summer... rest and reset in Fall and Winter. It has spent the last 6 months coming forth and growing outwards and upwards. Now, it is heading into a period of consolidating... resting and resetting. Much of nature follows such pattern. It is not a process nor journey of go-go-go. It is expansion and consolidation alternating. Ebb and flow. From seedling to now, the Maple has grown but not in a straight, all consuming line. It has grown and flourished, then rested and reset itself, only to grow again the next year. And some years, growth was better than others. Some periods of rest and reset were longer or shorter too. For me, I am coming ever better to such Understanding...

... that I am in a stage of rest and reset and that "e" thing of Excellence matters in this space and time in how I take best care of myself while I "consolidate". Life has advances and setbacks... and plateaus. The plateaus are the places of rest and reset; with Excellence. Those plateaus can be "life changing events". They can also be weekly, in a "day of rest". But we need them. It is only natural.

Imagine, for a moment, how approaches to technology and economy could be served thusly. Imagine instead of constant growth (which is not unlike cancer cells, by the way)... there was expansion and consolidation, allowing for sustaining and sustainable growth and the Wisdom of rest and reset in between the periods of growth. But, I digress, lol.

Part 5. Quietly Patient

In those times of rest and reset, it is in the practice of Quietude that we "hear". Last year, I wrote on When She Finds Me... and much of that post still holds very true. But, in my own quiet, rest and reset, I am ever more aware that in areas of the personal and professional, Patience is powerful. And necessary. Patience with our Work. Patience with our Health. Patience with Life. Now, it is not about sitting and waiting or holding our breath. We can be that "master in the art of living"... drawing no distinction between work, play, learning and loving. We can be that noble wolf, being and doing; simply living our Spirit. As my Maple enters its own time, it will still exist but in more of that space of Quietude, patient.

Part 6. Tempered Discipline

I am a Strength Coach, Speaker and Educator helping nobilize leadership, mobilize mission and humanize culture. I teach, coach, mentor, sing, dance, cartoon, write, vlog, box and create to advance Character, Purpose and Unity. I believe we are noble at core. I believe in The Humanity Map... and I serve those I serve thusly forward. I am The Unity Guy.

That said, this is a time and space of rest and reset for me. My blogging and vlogging will reflect that... and will be grounded in my own approach to rest and reset. The world will not dictate my pace. I will discern and decide where my talents, capacities and energies best serve those I serve and me. And this will be a time of Temperance...

... the Discipline to discern, decide, detach and devote. Certainly, I will be sharing thoughts on same as I go... around Work and Health and more

Part 7. Rest and RESeT Forward

My blogging will have such theme in broad strokes this Year, and I am thinking there will be points of Wisdom that will serve me and others. Maybe you. I will be exploring how rest and reset work for me in moving forward and I hope you join me. That said, how might rest and reset apply for you now? Consider where and how and what that might look like.

Let us make a Project of this rest and reset thing to move forward. Insh'allah. For me, it is about Understanding these coming months need to be lived with a deeper practice of Grace...

... and I will further ponder and consider on what that looks like and its benefits. "The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct" and I offer up that rest and reset are part of same. They matter. How about for you?

Let us continue to Aim High. My Maples does.

Justice, Peace and Unity...

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy with Epic Engage

Here are some other offerings to possibly consider...

• Humanity Forward
• The Humanity Map
• Explore your Code of Character
• The Stoic Road
• TUGtv Conversations; engaging dialogue around ideas that matter.
• A Future for Us All
• The Global Goals
• Hope
• Atlas Falls