worth a thousand words
I have always been a visual thinker. It is how I get my bearings, find a foot hold and progress, no matter what the task. If I have a way to see it in my head and map it, I can find my way forward. No matter what the subject matter, no matter how abstract or fully intellectual it is, seeing it in my mind's eye is the key. In college I learned how to take notes in a way that visually separated things into ideological sections so that when I needed to recall the information I would visualize my notes, and since they were organized that way I was able to easily keep those ideas grouped by picturing them. You would think I would have gone into a field like engineering, only problem is that my highest aptitude is emotional intelligence, and my greatest passion is spirituality. I guess in some ways you could say that what I do is "psychospiritual engineering". I map out blueprints and designs for how things work. Except the things aren't machines or electronics, they are people and relationships. I get a concept in my mind and some physical representation of that concept appears and helps me get my baring's; to find foot holds so I can keep moving forward as I explore the idea. Let me show you what I'm talking about.
One of the first lessons I was taught in the arena of spiritual leadership is something that I see play itself out time and again. Even more so as the internet and social media have created a place for people to be given platforms based on their talent that they didn't have to earn over time. Fact is, people have talent and they have character, and while the two will definitely impact each other, they are not the same. Each plays a role in elevating your leadership platform, but they bring different strengths to the table. Their position and proportion are vital. The caution is often taught this way: If your talent outpaces your character you are primed for a fall.
Talent & Character
Talent will propel you "up" to the top of the heap quickly and powerfully, like having a couple of firehoses elevating your platform. It's dynamic and exciting, but not very steady of secure. Character, on the other hand, will elevate you slow and steady. It is far less exciting, requires much more effort and diligence than talent. It's like building a foundation out of bricks for your platform to rest on. You lay those bricks one at a time, and it takes as long as it takes, but once you are finished, you are there to stay.
A healthy balance
The danger of being elevated by talent is collapse. Sure, it's fast and exciting to take the ride up, but you are literally held up by the movement of the water, any interruption will throw you off balance and might cause your collapse. Character, on the other hand, is secure and resilient, but it takes time. Without determination and vision for what you are building, most people become stagnant; they loose interest and move on to something else. IF, however, you can find a balance between talent and character, you are able to let talent cast the vision and do the lifting, but control the pace enough to allow character to be building underneath you are in a much more secure position. As long as you don't let your talent outpace your character, you are set!
"A picture book for your soul"?
What is special about this book
I have spent the last three decades deeply involved in spiritual journeys. My own and those of people around me. While the contexts may have spanned from one end of the spectrum to the next, the need to “see” complex ideas that are normally considered abstract remained the same. Some of the pictures contained in this book have never lived outside my head. So while, for me, this book is a journey, it is also a resource. A spiritual reference guide that can be used to help access ideas and concepts that used to be thought of as only for people of a certain spiritual maturity, are now laid out in an organized fashion so that anyone can internalize, find their own foot holds and grow from them.
"Worth a Thousand Words" is a categorized volume of wisdom that I have gleaned over decades as I have grappled with the complexity of being human, the beauty of being spiritual and the adventure of being alive. It is often said that we are physical beings on a spiritual journey AND spiritual beings on a physical journey. The goal of this resource is to help us learn how to on how to be both physical AND spiritual, concrete AND abstract in a world that sometimes seems neither. It is organized into the framework of relationship, which is the realm of the spirit, so that while you can certainly search a particular topic for wisdom, there is a deliberate movement to the material that highlights the interplay between the three relationships that every human beings live their life through.
self : god : others
We experience life through three primary relationships. Our relationship with self, with God & with others. When we learn how to recognize which we are operating in, we open up new - or should I say - very old wisdom for living.
Self/Healing
Our relationship with ourself is the primary window through which we see the world. For better or worse, it will impact everything else so taking care of it is crucial. HEALING starts with us.
god/theology
Whatever your language is: Good Intentions, Higher Power or God, our relationship with Him works the same way every other relationship we have does, only it is the most intimate relationship we will ever have. Which means that if I want my relationship with self to be healthy, I will have no better ally than God.
others/relationships
Self-sufficiency is a myth and does nothing to help us find happiness or peace. We were created for community and it is in relationship with others that we most often find and feel our own purpose. We need each other, even if only to be needed.