Martin Luther King Jr and Braving the Wilderness

Team, Not sure if others looked up at the calendar, saw it was Thursday, January 17, and already wondered where the time went.  It feels like just yesterday, the ball was dropping and we were singing Auld Lang Syne and making resolutions for 2020.  But, no, we are 17 days into the New Year.  Let that sink in.  

The calendar also reminded me that on Monday, we commemorate the life and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

As I sit here and reflect on the significance of his presence on this planet:  his drive for racial justice and equality, his dream of democracy for all Americans, and his example of nonviolent action as a powerful, revolutionary force for social change.  I am humbled by his tenacity, his courage and extremely grateful.  Dr. King was a man of action and it makes sense that on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, we too take action.  And, there are so many ways that we can be of service to our communities, a cause or in service of another.  I encourage you to plan your Friday in a way that affords us to honor his legacy through service.  And, as we do that, it will inspire us to invest further in service of something even greater. 

I finished Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown and recommend it as a much read for each of you.  Why do I recommend?  Read on… 

Braving the Wilderness

Brené Brown is amazing.  If you haven’t already been introduced to her work, take a look at her Ted Talk called The power of vulnerability.  Holy Moly.  It is a powerful, authentic talk on the importance of human connection.
The book moved me.  Brené was so vulnerable in sharing her personal story of how she chased the fundamental need to belong and, now, in hindsight shares openly how to avoid common pitfalls on our journey to find it. To her, belonging is mostly about learning to belong to ourselves.

Brené starts with encouraging us to be courageous in standing alone and be our authentic self when no one has our back. Here are three lessons I took away from the book specific to that:

• Lesson One:  Stop trying so hard to fit in and give yourself permission to be yourself.  
• Lesson Two:  The courage you need to be who you are comes from learning to trust yourself and others.
• Lesson Three: Turn anger into a positive before it becomes resentment. Acknowledge your anger.  Use it.  Turn it around for the positive – betterness, not bitterness – for those you engage with.

Final thought

With so much to divide us in our world, the book reminded me to root myself in the fundamental truth that we all want to be part of something meaningful and something that is bigger than we are. It is time to replace hostility and division with humanity, trust and respect.  If we can connect at this level and be ourselves, the engagement will be at a more meaningful level. 

Happy Thursday all,
- srt