Reflections To Light The Future - The Year's Lessons

Darkness Surrounds Me.

It Seeks to Infiltrate My Mind.

My Heart.

My Soul.

It is Subtle.

Like a Shadow.

There, Even When You Forget or Look Away.

Its Goal is to Catch You Unwary.

To Take Hold.

To Crush.

To Extinguish the Light.

This is the Moment.

I Sit Down.

I Close My Eyes.

Allow the Darkness to Surround Me.

Nothing.

I am in a Hallway I know well.

It is a Museum.

One of my Own Making.

Filled with Mirrors of Reflections.

Each Mirror Reveals Memories that I have Displayed.

Reflections and Refractions of Moments from the Year.

I walk from Mirror to Mirror.

I See the Darkness in Each.

It tries to Fill Us with Melancholy on our March Forward.

Pushing us to Give Up before We have even Begun.

It Drives Us to the End of Our Rope.

Burning Our Wicks to their End.

It tries to Blind Us from Our Potential.

Preventing Us From Perceiving It's Existence.

It tells us that Being Human is Wrong.

That becoming a Robot or Zombie would be Better.

It pushes Unknown Struggle Upon Us.

Makes us Wonder Why it Comes Upon us Without Reason.

It drives Unfairness into Our Lives.

Leading to Questions of Whether we Should Even Try when the Odds Start Against Us.

It Causes us to Lose Hope.

For without Hope, we Stand No Chance against the Darkness.

Darkness Calls Out to Us, a Siren, Tempting Us Toward our Doom.

Yes, within this Hall of Memories, I see Darkness Dance around Me.

In Every Reflection.

A Phantom.

A Spectre.

A Demon.

All Seeking to Overtake My Soul.

Yet.

Within these Reflections, there is Far More than the Darkness.

Watch the Darkness.

Why Does it Dance?

The Truth is Revealed.

The Darkness Dances because it Must.

It Cannot Resist.

Where there is Light, the Darkness Cannot Exist.

So it Moves.

Adjusts.

Tries to Draw our Focus.

To Lose Sight of the Light.

But within these Memories, there is Light.

When You See the Light, the Darkness Has No Power.

I Stand in front of a Mirror.

I am Reading The Passing which I wrote after My Grandfather Passed Away.

A Reflection within a Reflection.

As I Speak to those Assembled, I See the Day My Aunt Called Me.

Her voice was shaky.

I could tell she had been crying.

I knew what she was about to tell me.

"Grandad just passed away."

It is a month later as I'm speaking these words and the Emotions Crash Against Me.

Darkness seeks my Soul.

But it Has No Power.

I am with Those I Love.

My Grandfather May Not be There, but His Love Brought Us Together that Day.

His Memory, His Legacy, Lives On in Each of Us in that Room.

Love is Stronger than All Forces.

I See the Light.

I go to the Next Mirror.

I am at an Event to Support a Good Friend of Mine.

We are in a Group that we have Both Belonged to for Years.

There is a Leader of the Group there.

I go to them to say Hello.

I Expected to Feel Warmth.

What I Find is the thing that makes me Most Sad in my Work.

Instead, I See Death.

Coldness.

Questions go through my Mind.

Where did the Glow in Their Eye Go?

What happened to the Warmth they used to have in their Work?

When I used to see them, it was like seeing a Beautiful Tree, Growing on its way to New Heights.

But now, when I look at them, it is more like a Withering Tree, Leafless in the Wrong Season and Decaying before its Time.

Why did they Allow Themselves to Die while still Alive?

Even to this Day, I see the Leaders of this Group in Decay.

Where is the Light Here?

It is in the Realization of My Need to Continue to Grow.

To Hold Appreciation for Everything that the Group Provided.

To Honor their Role in My Life.

But to See that I Must Continue to Grow.

The Light Reveals How Much More there is to Go.

I move on to the Next Mirror.

A Woman is on a Stage.

Dancing.

Singing.

Playing the Violin.

A Spectacle.

She provides an insight...

We must Recognize that We Are Not "There".

So often, we want to "Be" Great without "Accepting" that we Are Not "Yet".

For us to Grow, we must come to Terms with Reality first, and that Reality is that if we want to "Grow" then we are Not "There" Currently.

Now, there is a Voice that Surrounds the Stadium, speaking of Kintsugi.

It is a Japanese Art, sometimes referred to as "Golden Repair".

When a piece of Pottery Breaks, it will be Repaired with Gold, and the Fixed Pottery is considered More Beautiful and Perfect than it had been before.

It is within this Idea that another Duality is Revealed.

Why is it that the Pottery is considered "More" Beautiful and Perfect than when it had Originally been "Whole"?

Could it be that things are Made Beautiful and Perfect "Because" They Break and can become Repaired?

The Light Reveals Itself.

We May Break, but that is Not the End.

It is Only a New Beginning.

I move Forward to the Next Mirror.

I am Speaking with a Client.

Putting Together a Regenerative Legacy Design Pilot Program.

I make Requests.

Many are Denied.

I Warn them of the Problems and Consequences.

They Do Not Care.

The Program is Less than I Hoped.

Nowhere "Near" Optimal.

I know the Failure Rate of "Leadership Development" Programs...

It Completely Fails 80% of the Time, with "Limited" Success the Remainder.

It is Why I Created a Completely Different Program to Begin With.

But there are Points they will Not Budge On.

I am Determined to Still Do My Absolute Best, Despite the Obvious Barriers.

Now I am Handed a Document.

It has the Survey Results of Our 10 Month Program.

I put everything into a Presentation.

I can't believe it...

This means that, even with the Cards Stacked Against the Program, we had a 70% to 80% "Overall Success" Rate.

We Basically Flipped the Percentage of the Leadership Development Industry Standard, while "Still" Including People Who Actively Did Not Want to Grow/Actively Avoided Sessions.

This is also True "With" Communication Barriers that had to be Overcome.

What else did we Accomplish?

We Filled Up 15 Pages of Lessons the Leaders Underwent, All of which were "Specific" to their Current Problems which they Could, and Did, Immediately Implement.

Over 80% of Dis-Stress was Completely Resolved.

Frequently we had Leaders Reporting "No Stress" or "I had a Stressor but Solved It Already".

Even with an "Extremely" Hampered Program, the Results Were Tremendous.

The Light Reveals.

Others May Not See the Path to the Future, but You Can Still Pave the Way.

Barriers will Rise Against Us.

But they can be Overcome.

The Darkness Has No Power.

I continue to the Next Mirror.

I am in a lot of Pain.

This is the Spartan 50k Race with 65 Obstacles.

I am thinking about 2 Yeas Prior when I did this Exact Same Race...

Wanting to Quit...

Having Injured My Knee...

I am Here Again, Hoping for a Different Result.

It went Differently this Year though.

So was this a Perfect Race?

Absolutely Not.

Did a Lot Go Wrong?

Yes.

... this was one of my worst Obstacle Performances.

Of the 65 Obstacles, I only completed 52.

That is 80% which isn't necessarily "Bad", but I usually hit into the Upper 90's.

But Have I Made Improvements?

I did.

It was a Great Comeback for me.

The Light Gives Me Hope.

I have Fallen in the Past, but I am Able to Rise Again.

This Reminds Me of Another Mirror to Visit.

I go and Look at the Reflection.

I am in the Midst of a Health and Fitness Competition.

I have Experienced Cheating.

The Judges Do Nothing.

I am Frustrated because I have Real People who have Supported me in Incredible Ways.

My Anger Swells because their Time and Efforts will be Wasted due to a Broken System.

As Broken as the Health and Wellness Industry.

I Refuse to Accept This.

Perhaps the System is Broken, and the Judges Corrupt, but I Can Still Do Something.

Another Reflection shines through this Reflection.

I am Sitting on the Floor.

Feeling Hopeless.

I have just gotten word that My Best Friend, My Brother, is going through his Second Battle against Brain Cancer.

I Cry Out in Despair...

"What Can I Do?"

Before I had a word for it, My Wayset Resets My Mindset...

I Ask Again, but With Hope...

"What 'Can' I Do?"

I come back to this Competition, after the Death of My Brother.

It is Time to Make Good on a Promise to Him.

Time to Change The World.

I begin Change The World Fitness Apparel, where he is the Inspirational Founder.

I make a Guarantee to those Who Supported Me During this Broken Competition.

A Radical Generosity Guarantee.

We "Will" Change the World.

My Supporters Provided Me with 970 Hero Votes, using the Hard-Earned Money from their Pockets, which helped support the B+ Foundation.

As a part of the Radical Generosity Guarantee, I did a Matching Donation for Every Hero Vote Received.

I rounded up though.

So $1,000 "More" was Donated to the B+ Foundation, in the name of our Inspirational Founder for Change The World, Scott.

However, with the Amplified Radical Generosity Guarantee, we "Further" committed to Improve the World by Progressing Regenerative Projects.

That Impact was Amazing!

• 58 Baby Corals were Planted, which completed 3 Coral Starss that Support Marine Life & Tourism, and Further Provided Employment for Victims of Sex Trafficking
• 365 Square Meters of Microhabitats were Protected which provides Enough Land for over 200 Critically Endangered Pseudophilautus Amboli (Baby Frogs) and over 80 Critically Endangered Buceros Bicornis (Baby Birds)
• 197 kg of Plastic were Collected from our Oceans, which is Equivalent to 10,000 Plastic Bottles
• 117 Mangrove Trees were Planted which can Reverse 146,000 Miles Worth of Carbon Emissions

This is the Kind of Change we can Create when we work together!

This is how We Change The World!

All of this was Accomplished by a Small Group of People in a Very Small Amount of Time!

On Our "First" Major Impact Project!

Imagine how much "More" We "Can" Accomplish by Continuing To Work Toward These Goals?

The Light Gives Hope for a Better Future.

It Inspired Change The World Fitness Aparrel which Continues to Impact Through Sales.

It Began to Fulfill a Promise Made to My Brother.

Our Reach is Furthered through another Impact Project, the Seeking Sageship: Beyond Leadership Newsletter, where Paid Subscribers' Contributions "Also" Impact Regenerative Projects.

All Flourishing is Mutual.

The Darkness Cannot Stop Us.

I go to the Last Mirror.

I see my Beautiful Spouse.

3 Years ago, we "Finally" got Married (Thanks 2020).

When I think about this Time, it's been Wonderful.

Spectacularly Slow.

I am Blessed Beyond Belief.

Light Shines Brightly Through Love.

I continue to walk down the Museum Hallway.

I hear a Statement of Power.

Percussus Resurgo

Invictus

Amor Fati

This is how I live my Life.

But what does it mean?

Directly it translates from Latin to English as:

Stricken, I Rise

Unconquerable

Loving Fate

At the End of the Hallway, a Light Shines.

I walk Forward.

Ready.

My Eyes Open.

Echoes of the Year's Lessons Fill My Soul.

The Darkness is Gone.

I Walk in Light.

Are You Ready to Go Beyond Leadership?

Tired of Broken Algorithms and AI Slop?

Excited to Dive Deeper into Psychophysiological Mastery?

Want to Change The World?

The Seeking Sageship Newsletter is for You!

Link is in the Comments!