Who'll you bring to work in 2023?

2022 has been a year of hope and uncertainty at the same time. After a couple of years of the pandemic, hope was the answer to dealing with the world around us. Events and phases in life (and many unpredictable ones) will anyway impact us and generate negative emotions periodically. There is talk of another spike in the pandemic as I write this.

As human beings though, hope is what will help us dealing with the world at large, and make movement forward for each of us, our communities and society at large.

The last couple of years have also been a period when I have gone back to two of my favourite writings. Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope is a thing with feathers" and Viktor Frankl's book " Man's search for meaning".

Talking of hope, my single most hope (along with a bit of planning) is to better myself so I carry around with me a 'new improved version' of myself.

There are three personal development items which I am engaged with to help me in that direction. I'm trying to get more comfortable in areas which are generally uncomfortable zones for me.

The comfort in having more questions than answers. There are just too many things happening around us, many of them outside the realm of pure logical comprehension. So trying to find answers all the time is not just tiring, but perhaps foolish as well. Trying to find answers also has an arrogance built in. The wise understand that there are unknowns, un-knowables, and more getting generated every minute. All of humanity is unlikely to have answers to everything.

The comfort in acceptance rather than in tolerance. This has been a recurring theme for me for many years in different ways. Tolerance is time bound, assumes that a particular phenomenon will go away and there will be relief. Acceptance is far more calming, and helps us deal with ambiguity and upcoming uncertainties better. Tolerance has an element of irritation, while acceptance includes love and understanding.

Finding the comfort in "Balance". There is a hardening process which we go through, especially when there is increased polarisation, and events around us take away from predictability and daily peace. Hardening can lead to reducing understanding, engaging in lesser dialogue and reducing the softer sides of us, compassion for example. Not taking extreme positions, living with duality, being comfortable with yin and the yang together are areas of growth I am pursuing. I am sure it will help make more meaning through balancing apparently opposite views, forces and emotions.

My effort is towards becoming even more comfortable on these three dimensions. I also believe that it will help me bring a better, more energetic person to each moment of the coming year, at work and otherwise, to my relationships and in my conflicts.

As a student of leadership, it's been useful to practice and advocate setting personal development goals. These are mine as we change calendar years.

Have a a fabulous 2023.

**There is no real reason to do a note like this at the end of the year, except that it is symbolic, and more important, allows a pause, and an opportunity to take stock a little more systematically..