Victory can be very broadly defined if and when it is not limited to a conventional definition of winning.  Peace Activist, Daisak Ikeda, said:

“Strength is Happiness. Strength is itself Victory.  In weakness and cowardice, there is no happiness.  When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose.  But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of your continuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being.”

Do your beliefs allow you to define victory as strength when you are engaged in a struggle?  How attached have you been to an old-paradigm definition of winning which has only recognized what might be called “the score on the scoreboard at the end of the game”?  How do we best reconcile our desire to have both a “winning score” as well as victory in how we have “played the game”?

A few years ago, I had the privilege of hearing poet, David Whyte, speak. He has made it his life’s work to get poetry to as many people as possible because it’s such a life saver. Whyte is Welsh, and he has a wonderfully deep baritone voice that one could listen to all day and still want more.

Here’s a link where you can hear him read his poem Everything Is Waiting For You and discuss his views on poetry. My favorite line is: Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2NfrNt9EU

Whyte says that poetry “gives you a language that makes you able for the world – large enough for it and not to hide from it – whereas our strategic, empirical language is constantly trying to give you a read-out into which you can retreat and to say, If you get competent in this area, you’ll be safe. And it’s not true. There’s no area of competency you can enter that will keep you safe from the disappearances of life.”

How do you feel about Whyte’s point of view? Do you agree with him that poetry provides a special way of interacting in the world? Is your experience of poetry that it is empowering? Do you think poetry can be a life saver?

I had the privilege last week of seeing the great poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen, live in concert. He said many things that night, but among the most striking was, “There’s a crack in everything. That’s what lets the light in.”

Most of us have had issues with perfection. We live in a world where airbrushed models, celebrities, professional athletes and even business people are presented as glamorized role models and heroes because of their supposed perfection.

This week, as we explore perfection, let’s take some time to consider Cohen’s remark and look carefully to observe those facets of our lives that appear to be imperfect or “cracked,” but which, in fact, let the light in. We can revisit the state of “perfect imperfection” in which each human being continually lives as a dynamic and ever-changing work in progress.

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

It’s not often that a word can contain two very different, almost opposite meanings . . . one good and one bad. Consider the meanings of “surrender.”

Our most common understanding is that surrender means defeat or loss. However, surrender can also mean allowing something completely . . . giving in to something that often requires a transformation of the self and the situation.

We humans have fought against so many elements of our lives . . . very often fighting to hold on to things that we find precious, but sometimes holding on to limiting patterns.

Where in your life have you been defeated . . . and, contrasting that, where have you given in to something that you had at first resisted, but then embraced for an ultimately better result?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.