{"id":410,"date":"2018-11-15T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T19:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/?p=410"},"modified":"2018-11-15T11:54:38","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T19:54:38","slug":"light-from-many-lamps-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/2018\/11\/15\/light-from-many-lamps-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Light from Many Lamps – Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an ever-shrinking world filled with increasing demands and distractions, affording yourself the means to enjoy solitude and the art of contemplation is fast becoming a rare luxury. Regardless of the approach, style, technique or strategy, leading others through a culture that abhors living a minimalistic or simplified life is not an enterprise for the faint-hearted, but requires a \u201cmature attitude towards success\u201d and a strong will to stand firm through processes of development that sometimes require patience, time and nourishment (Thoreau, 1951, p. 238). In his passage titled Our life\u2026,<\/em> Henry David Thoreau (1951) reflects on his decision to experiment with simplicity, prompting the reader to consider how life could be so much more meaningful and deliberate in caring for others when choosing to live, work and think alongside what he terms as \u201cSpartan simplicity\u201d (p. 233). What Thoreau discovers through living a simplistic life, is that by integrating solitude and reflection into the life of a leader, it enhances clarity, improves cognition and strengthens their capacity to be alone, and in response to it, better equipped to lead.<\/p>\n

In order to exercise one\u2019s state of mind, allowing it the freedom to become grounded as means to enhance perspective is not what some would call introversion, or worse, self-imposed isolation. Solitude and life simplification are what Thoreau (1951) describes as opportunities to improve the \u201csoul\u2019s estate\u201d, growing closer to understanding life\u2019s basic, but elusive truths that give it meaning (p. 233). Unlike what Dan B. Allender (1996) states in Leading with a Limp<\/em>, when solitude is sometimes used as a vehicle to hide and \u201cguard against hurt\u201d; leaders need to reserve moments to reflect and recharge so that they can more effectively lead others (p. 116). Through his emphatic expression, Thoreau is saying that we as leaders, need to abstain from succumbing to a reality that suggests we should fill every available moment and space to the point of \u201censlavement\u201d, and instead, supplant it with more simplicity as a means to be more emotionally and mentally prepared to execute their very best in decision making and influence.<\/p>\n

Finding moments of solitude in an overly-connected work environment can be difficult these days; however, the relevance of this lesson speaks to the choices we make and what measure of intentionality we apply towards achieving those goals. Apart from time in prayer and reflection, I try to keep a journal which captures both daily events and the measure and sense of my emotional state. In addition to the cognitive benefits that solitude offers, the practice of journaling helps form perspective, aids decision-making and in being organized, expands the time available as a means to consider future actions and the needs of others on my team. As an accomplished scholar in his time, Thoreau was clearly outside the norm with his decision to experiment with solitude. Nevertheless, his experience teaches us to keep our burdens light, enjoying every moment in itself, and through it, every opportunity to use it to benefit the lives of those we lead.<\/p>\n

Matt<\/p>\n

Allender, D. B. (2006). Leading with a limp.<\/em> Colorado Springs, Colorado: Waterbrook Press.<\/p>\n

Thoreau, H. D. (1951). Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify! In L. E. Watson, Light from Many Lamps<\/em> (pp. 231-238). New York: Simon & Schuster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an ever-shrinking world filled with increasing demands and distractions, affording yourself the means to enjoy solitude and the art of contemplation is fast becoming a rare luxury. Regardless of the approach, style, technique or strategy, leading others through a culture that abhors living a minimalistic or simplified life is not an enterprise for the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Light from Many Lamps – Part Four”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,71],"tags":[47,49,72],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-8","tag-ldrs500","tag-light-from-many-lamps","tag-unit-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/fourwinds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}