Tag Archives: transformation

Posted on

What’s Your Personal Creed?

by

personal-creed

This was in the Weekend Wrap-Up but not everyone reads that so I thought I’d post it here.

I’ve had kind of a nostalgic week. Friday my boss retired. He was an excellent boss and as so often happens in the military, he wasn’t there as long as we would have liked. But I learned so much from him even at my age! He was an exceptional leader and I respect him greatly.
As many of you know, I was in the Navy for 30 years and witnessed many retirement ceremonies but this was the first Army retirement I’d seen. And I have to say it was much more moving than any other I’d seen.

This is not pertinent to the subject but the part that moved me the most was when the young Soldiers presented the flag. They ceremoniously unfolded it to show it in his full view, then refolded it perfectly for presentation. While the Soldiers were performing this, the MC read “Old Glory”. I encourage you to read this poem if you’re an American…and I also recommend you have tissues around.

 

My boss told us his philosophy, his creed, the first day he reported and that is what has stuck even amongst all his other great leadership traits. This is his creed and what he embodies:

  • Treat others with respect
  • Treat yourself with respect
  • Take responsibility

Seems pretty simple doesn’t it? But look at each of the components and see how your life stacks up against them.

Even though I had heard them two years ago, this was a terrific reminder for me – not only to see how well I was doing living up to them but also to think about what my own personal creed is. What do I live by? What do I believe? Do I jump from  3rsone behavior to another or do I stick to the straight and narrow (as I have defined it – we each define our creed in the way that fits our lives).

Does my boss’s philosophy work for you? It sure should because it encompasses everything we need to take care of others in this world. If you’re in a service profession, you know that that’s what life is all about. And you know what? Almost every single profession is a service profession since in order to have any income, you have to provide a service..even if that service is to deliver a product.

Take stock of your life. What would your retirement ceremony be like? Who would speak at it? What would that person say about you? What types of remembrances would you want at the ceremony (they showed a video with photos of my boss all throughout various stages of his career. Interspersed were videos from people whom he had influenced in his life and who were far away. Each one said thank you and told him how much he had taught them – it was extremely touching).

You’ve heard people recommend you write your own obituary. Well, although I think that’s a good idea too,designing your retirement ceremony is a great way to reflect upon your life and then you can also see if there’s anything about your life you’d like to change in the next phase of your life (even if it’s an arbitrary line you draw). In the imaginative world, you can retire at any time you want and begin another “profession/job”- meaning starting a new phase of your life.

Think about it and figure out who you’d invite, when you want to have the ceremony, and what will be said – not only by you but by the guest speakers you invite.

Write it out and keep it. Refine it as you go along.

Try it and see what happens. What do you have to lose?

Terrie

Posted on

Seasons Change, Caterpillars Change – So Can You

by

Fall in a park Happy Fall! Yesterday really did feel like Autumn had arrived. It felt cold when I took Jackie out for a walk.  And then when I went out for my long run, it was absolutely gorgeous. The change really started on Saturday though but we all thought it was cool because we had finally gotten some rain. But it was the subtle beginning of a change.

Things frequently creep up on us and maybe we eventually will notice that there has been a change. Often, the change is so gradual, though, that we don’t pay much attention and just morph into this new aspect of our life similar to the life cycle of the butterfly.

The butterfly starts out as an egg.  That’s not so unusual, right? So do we. But when the egg hatches we’d expect to see a butterfly but we don’t – we get a caterpillar, whose primary function in life is to eat (sometimes I wish I was a caterpillar) and grow. That’s similar to us as an infant and child – we are constantly eating (absorbing tons of information about the world and growing with that knowledge but often absorbing faster than we can grow). The caterpillar also has to shed its skin since the skin doesn’t grow with it. We shed our skin too as we move from one stage of our life and “knowing” to another. As the caterpillar eats it gets bigger. We get bigger and hopefully we grow in proportion to the knowledge we are accruing.

The excitement then begins. The caterpillar goes into a stage called a “pupa” – it looks as if it is resting but inside is where all things are changing. How much does this parallel our development. There are times when it appears nothing is happening with us. We often think monarch-emergingwe should be “doing” more – we think we appear lazy. Our creativity seems to be stopping, we feel as if we aren’t going anywhere. Fatigue might set in and we just want to lounge around, “chill out” as it were. What the heck is happening?

With the caterpillar there is a complete metamorphosis. Caterpillars don’t have wings. During this “pupa” stage of change, organs are completely transformed and new limbs and wings develop where there were none before.  If you give yourself a chance and stop criticizing yourself for doing “nothing”, stop stomping on what’s going on and changing inside, the transformation in you will be remarkable. We often call it a spiritual journey but it’s so much more than that. Your thoughts, ideas, philosophies and even beliefs can change dramatically if we just allow ourselves the time and let the process happen deep within.

Then it’s time to emerge as a butterfly, rest and then spread the wings and fly.  This is an amazing process but it’s a tiny, although miraculous, representation of what happens within ourselves – if we let it.

How can you take the caterpillar within you and transform yourself into what you have always wanted to become? Stop moving in a million directions and stop trying to accomplish dozens of things at one time. Sit back, go within, step away from the activity, relax, take time for yourself. Now that fall is here, spend some time on the porch or patio and enjoy life – it’s very short you know. It’s time that we take each moment and revel in it!

Let the butterfly within you emerge with the new you! Let me know what it’s like.

Terrie