Reset is Life

Back in 2015, I experienced a clearly unexpected stroke and I posted some thoughts on that journey on March 7, 2016. I sincerely and humbly recommend the read but, either way, in it I noted, "I intend a journey of 90 days.?That being said, I intend the rest of my life to be journeys of 90 days.?I intend to have that proverbial fire in the belly fueled by the question "What if I only have 90 days?"?And to good extent, I have done same. But there is more to learn. The lesson never truly ends.

Thoughts on Reset and Resistance

Reset is a word with baggage to some it seems. But it is a natural process in life. We experience multiple resets in our lives... following the passing of a loved one, divorce or any ending of significant relationship (personal or professional)... with unexpected loss of employment or business. Upon graduation and "moving out" ... or moving back in. And economies and cultures experience it, historically. There are multiple examples of "new world orders" throughout history. Nations and regions have risen, fallen and reinvented. Enemies become allies, and so on. The global goals are a vision of reset. Reset happens and our knee jerk resistance must needs be "healthily" questioned. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield speaks to such resistance I believe and contend... and I recommend that read.

Reset can be necessarily reactive or the product of our own Initiative. Here, my good friend Guy Matthews chat on reset in myriad form and face. As I noted in our conversation... back when I experienced my stroke, there was, indeed and in deed, reset. Still reset is not a singular event in our lives. We have many... small and large alike.

For many, the Pandemic has been such. For me, reset from the Pandemic and the passing of Panda and the movement of my teaching online were "forced" upon me and I needed to react, and I did. Reset can be a necessity at times, a reaction of Responsibility... response ability. With my stroke, I needed to respond. With divorce, I needed to respond. With the passing of parents and Panda over the last 20 years, I needed to respond. With moving and graduating and any and all considerable changes in life... there is a need for reset.

My attendance at a session by David Swanson way back in 1982 was a reset at 22 years of age. Inspired by the work of Richard Nelson Bolles, it caused me to rethink path forward, and still impacts me these 39 years later. So many decisions made since have been guided by that decision then and the choice to reset mindset and heartset. I am thankful exceedingly.

Indeed and related, my work with Dale Carnegie Training from 1987 through 2001 was the result of reset born of my move to Vancouver. That move across country was born of choice, not necessity,.. but it was indeed a reset. Much changed with that singular decision.

The Second Force for Reset

Reset can be born of necessity. But it can be also an impulse of inspiration and Initiative. If there are two forces for change... desperation and inspiration... inspiration begins with Initiative. We take that first step, the one we believe in... and the second one might be profound. Indeed, we cannot be guided, unless and until we move. Enter Initiative.

Courage to walk our path, our path of origin and ongoing. Solving problems creatively. Seeing challenges as opportunities and teachers. Walking forward with untried ideas, Walking new ground. With Enthusiasm. Pioneering and exploring.

This is Initiative. It is that strength of character to initiate, to begin, again. Reset.

Reset 2022

It is where I am. If these past two years have been about reset in the face of unexpected and uncontrollable change, I see the next year and beyond as being driven by Initiative. Personally, I expect that this decade is going to be historic in its challenges and opportunities. It is going to test (and prove) our capacity... our Humanity. We will make it but it will require work and great Initiative... collectively, and personally.

For me, 2022 represents a launch point for one of the most significant resets of my life... and I have had a few. It represents, as I noted in my conversation with Guy (I humbly suggest you listen in)... a deconstruct and rebuild... personally and professionally. It represents a new 9-year reconstruction, if you will.

That reconstruction is a work in progress, but I have almost arbitrarily set February 22, 2022 as a milestone date to build the "launch site". The date is cool to me as (a) it is 22022022 and (b) it is two days into my 62nd birthday... 6 two's lol. That said, the date is still arbitrary somewhat, but it is set with the clear intention of building the launch site, as I affectionately refer to it. In effect, this is a time of great reflection and there are three things I would like to share on its process, that might be useful to consider.

TAKE STOCK

• One of the things I noted in my conversation with Guy is that I am in the process of both understanding and stockpiling my trails, trails and triumphs. I am ever more realizing that my past matters only in as much as it has been a manufacturing center, building the materials for the reconstruction. That which has happened to me and that which I have somehow made happen... are inventory. I need to take stock; a detailed stock audit. Any knowledge, skills, abilities, capacities, talents, accomplishments, resets, learnings and more already experienced are being inventoried, They do not define my future but they allow me to understand what I best bring into my future. Such inventory is part of our own sense of Dominion. So, my thought to you is to take deliberate, detailed and diligent stock of all that you have accumulated. It is your potential weaponry for the walk forward, however repurposed it might become.

TAKE SPIRIT

• Meditate. We have a beautiful and colossal mind. Reflect on what you sense. Practice Candor with yourself in what you best sense. Do not filter. Listen to your spirit. Note the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in understanding that "It is an axiomatic fact that while you meditate you are speaking with your own spirit. In that state of mind you put certain questions to your spirit and the spirit answers: the light breaks forth and the reality is revealed."

TAKE STRENGTH

• ... of action. Understanding what you own to date (part of your sense and practice of Dominion)... it can then be re-purposed to serve what you are sensing as path forward. Walk that with Strength of action and resolve. "When the swords flash, go forward...". Walk thusly, with assured step, bringing your inventory into the new land and space of your life, work or enterprise.

I have walked my share of resets, large and small and in between. So have you. This one for me is more than a new chapter. It is a new book. But the process, I humbly contend, is not much different; just maybe a deeper, even more courageous dive into what I take with me and where I am going. I know that I am an Educator and Entrepreneur by experience, education and Enthusiasm. That has not changed, nor will it I sense. But how it manifests will. How I purpose that which I am and bring to the "next book" is the subject of my reconstruction.

As I consider my first draft on inventory (with intention to explore broader and deeper), I also continue to meditate on path. In so doing, I am reminded yet again ... of those words from some 5 years ago... "I intend a journey of 90 days.?That being said, I intend the rest of my life to be journeys of 90 days.?I intend to have that proverbial fire in the belly fueled by the question "What if I only have 90 days?" New books still are written one chapter at a time.

Whatever reset you are in now, small to large... own it. Figure out what you most care about, and what you bring to the table in doing so. Resets are natural. Resets are life.

Here's to life... and reset.

Peace...

Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy with Epic Engage.

Me?on LinkedIn

CHECK OUT

• Developing Leadership Character – Ivey Business Journal

• The Global Goals
• The Virtues Project

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