This morning, a friend sent me an inspiring blog posting by the writer Alice Walker on The Root, with an open letter to Barack Obama. What touched me most about her posting is that she implored Barack Obama "to cultivate happiness in your own life."
I love that Walker suggested that Obama just relax, because of the benefits that others will see. Specifically, Walker said:
"One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is
no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model
real success, which is all that so many people in the world really
want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all
the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is
because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside
job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone."
I've always been a big fan of self care, and have even shared my own practices for re-energizing and renewal. And just a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of studying with leadership coach Dave Ellis, who quoted Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association:
"It is the management of self that should occupy 50 percent of our time
and the best of our ability. And when we do that, the ethical, moral
and spiritual elements of management are inescapable."
I also like how Dave Ellis illustrates this concept, using a balloon. Dave encourages us to fill ourselves up, which means to do the things we really love, and then to give ourselves away. But not fully away, of course. Because then we'd be like limp balloons, empty, void. How much fun is that?
So, what do you think of giving Obama the time, as Alice Walker suggests, to relax and renew with his family? Do you agree without time to fill himself up, our next president will be "strained and stressed?" Might Obama avoid the fate of other leaders who, in Walker's words "have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors?"
And what are you doing in your own life to fill yourself up?
Me? I'm going for a quick walk before my next coaching call.
With care,
Susan
Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC
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