ROI: Relevant Or Irrelevant? 5 Steps + 1 for your personal growth path.

In this time of uncertainty due to the pandemic and the new technological era, the old paradigms of work and social interactions are being "challenged", to say the least.

This radical change in our daily habits, in what we thought it was our normality, may have caused confusion, an unpleasent sense of loss that keeps us in a state of anxiety and fear.

It is therefore, more than ever required that we find a path that inspires us to light up the spark that we have within us, and we know that we have it somewhere, to shed some light on the way forward rather than being "consumed" as mere seekers of hope and survival. 

We all want to prosper as individuals but not always understand that in order to do so, we need to elevate our thinking beyond the logic of individualism and competition. 

Both the pandemic and technology, not to mention the global climate crisis that affect the planet, are showing to us how we are all connected.

We are all in the same boat one would say.

What happens in Italy, India, China or in the US, will end up affecting people wherever they are in the world.

We've got to understand this. Not as concept but as a fact.

New behaviours are required but before we rush into a new "fashionable" bunch of activities we need to invest time discovering "what is it the most important thing in my life" so that a new mindset will have the strength to face and shape the challenges ahead rather than being shaped by them.

This new mindest requires that we move past the narrative of the survival of the fittest or that it is up to our leaders to resolve the problems of the world, as these ARE OUR PROBLEMS and so we, as leaders, have to embrace this challenge, everyone for the part that plays in society, with a little humility and courage to ask for help so that we can help in turn.

You and I are here to share our gifts and to enjoy our presence with others as we welcome others to do the same.

The "others" are the reason why we learn more about ourselves and enjoy this thing called life.

Nationalisms, individualism, sectarism have no more space if we want to prosper in freedom AND in the global community. 

So what can YOU or I do, NOW, to live an inspired life and share our gifts to the world?

First and foremost we need to understand that not everything is in our power to control so that we can start thinking with more attention about the results that our actions are going to produce on the entire system before we act.

Knowing our limits is powerful enough.

This requires us to take a serious inward look.

The learning about ourselves is the most "religious" and revolutionary act in this divided world. The Latin roots of the word religion have various interpretations ("re-legere", "re-ligare" "re-ligere") but they all seem to converge to mean "unifying", "bonding", "observing with scrupulous attention", "putting together".

I hope that the Latin experts who are reading this will forgive my approximation.

But I think the concept is clear.

We might need to consider the option to go beyond the current paradigms that life either "happens to me" or "because of me" and allow it perhaps to "flow it through me" as my purpose unfolds.

There is nothing out there to rush and grab that makes sense unless we try at least to see what's within.

A spiritual path has got nothing to do with slavishly following a bunch of scriptures (however beautiful) but to find, everyone for themselves, the bond with our divine nature. This is what I call THE unifying and inspiring factor.

Those who embark in their spiritual journey, open themselves up to vulnerability, to not knowing and gratitude.

Whether one is willing to admit it or not, we are all vulnerable, we don't have all the answers and yes, we will discover that once we surrender to our fragility, gratitude and purpose will powerfully emerge without effort.  

Some people will continue to be part of the old paradigms and that is fine. It is not requred that all join the effort, nor it will be possible, but it is sufficient that a critical mass of new awakened individuals start moving in the right direction for the change to take place.

If you got this far with the reading I suspect you might be one of them.

Embarking on a spiritual path is not a wishy washy fantasy, on the contrary, it is a very pragmatic imperative need of those who understand that

they are greater than any products of their creativity and so they can continue to create and drop what it doesn't work anymore!

New leaders will go beyond the logic of linear growth and individualism as they are able to lucidly see the whole and the impact that every action has on the community and "by attentive observation" they will be able to "unite" what in the surface appears to be divided. 

We are used to consider ROI in economic terms, it is perhaps time, in this new era, that we start questioning whether ROI is instead a question that we need to ask ourselves:

am I "Relevant Or Irrelevant"?

Tips:

 1.     Invest in your peace of mind by understanding that you are a player not a passive spectator. Seek silence to refill your energy tank before you get into the play. BUT PLEASE PLAY DON’T JUST WATCH.

2.     Reflect on what gets you up in the morning and what makes you stay in bed. Plan your growth by either learning and investing more on what makes you feel like you are “expanding” or plan a way out from where you are. In either case, START NOW.

3.     Ask yourself this question: am I chasing a socially given paradigm or am I allowing my authentic purpose to flow through me? If you do not know what your true purpose really is, JUST ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE WHERE YOU ARE and again SEEK SILENCE AND MEDITATE, your purpose is embedded in you and will emerge as soon as you will carry less noise in your mind so that your heart can start “hearing” it.

4.     Don’t believe everything you hear about progress if that implies long term debt or buying the next gadget. Adopt the long term debt solution only if you can still get up from bed in the morning with a big smile on your face, otherwise don’t get a further burden on your freedom. PLAN THE EXTINCTION OF ALL UNNECESSARY DEBTS AND STOP BUYING STUFF ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN AFFORD THEM. That savings can give you the financial freedom you need when you’ll decide to pursue your true purpose driven goal !!

5.     Understand this: having a great title and being miserable is a waste of life. YOU OWN YOUR PEACE OF MIND, NO ONE ELSE IS GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU. Nor the next notion. Peace of mind comes easier when you give up on your presumption of knowing. If you knew what was best for you, you would be there already. Say to yourself “I don’t know but I am open to find out”.

 +1 (bonus step): 

6.     Chose "R" for Relevant.

 I'd love to hear your thoughts.

#awareness #management #leadership #personalgrowth

About the author: Dino Carella is a former corporate leader and member of the board with ca 30 years of international experience mainly in the financial services. He is now focused on raising people’s awareness on the importance to follow their spiritual path in order to find inner peace and be better leaders. "Being spiritual and productive are not mutually exclusive conditions, on the contrary they help shifting the meaning of our presence from being mere executors to creators". A book inspired by a true story that will shed some light on the obstacles we face and how to transform them into opportunities to reach our higher goal, is about to be published.