Many shades of grey

Since the beginning of this worldwide quarantine I am pretty sure you’ve noticed various ways of sailing the corona crisis. Few dramatic ones, many funny-clownish ones and lots in between.

Honestly, if I may ask, what stands out about yours, so far? I can’t help but to coaching-ish invite you to take some time to write down few words. For self-purpose only. And I will be even more thrilled if you’ll decide to share it in the comment section bellow.

Mine was smooth, thanks for asking.

As a life-time self-employed I’m accustomed to uncertainty. And it’s not like I was not having ambiguous chills every time when I discovered my (I thought) client has already low-profile invited dozens others in a low budget creative (unannounced) pitch. Or was not numbed by a certain percent of my corporate executive coaching clients and friends expectations to send them free tickets for my independent theatre productions, who then acted shocked finding out that I am actually paying my fellow actors with this barely visible revenue.

Actually far from complaining I want to bring in the personal value issue.

It’s fashionable to talk about values these days.

And I am a fashionable guy.

One of my best recent victories as a coach was, after leading one of my career struggling client through a tough process, to see her bursting in joy tears to the end of our last session. Witnessing value articulation gives me the goose bumps I’m getting every time the actors I am directing get to a scene solution that individually we’ve never even dreamed to discover.

So, about this kind of values I am talking/writing here.

In the not so desirable life moments I’ve mentioned before maybe the lack of owning the values is more striking. Because I am a hopeless believer in the essence of human kindness present in every individual just waiting to come to life.

Maybe not knowing what gives fuel to our inner engines is the supreme failure, after all.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been there.

Finding out what values I’ve honoured most of my life was the most awakening experience ever.

I don’t know if it will work remotely but, if I’ll ask you what is the one value that you’ve honoured every day of your life, what would you say?

And if I’ll ask you what is the one deep value that completely speaks out about yourself and you fail to honour often, what would that be?

 

The topic may be not that airily fashionable after all.

 

It’s like when I was shocked to discover that far from being a shallow artist longing to be in the spotlight I am rather happy to serve. To be in service of others, to be fulfilled by seeing the light on their faces – audience, clients, spectators – their “a-ha”s, their laughs and their tears of joy. To be there when they need it most. To continue learning on the other hand when to step back and take care of myself. Because some may decide sometimes to take advantage of that visible value in action. And I’ve learned that I am the only one to know how to properly ride on the thin line between purposely being in service of others and being abused by them.

 

Far from being distinctively black and white, still strongly ours, non negotiable and boosting our deepest decisions and actions, our values may seem to others sometimes like wandering on a blurry, grey fields. All that matters in the end is for ourselves to know that we’re actually wandering slowly through the fields of joy.

Dan Vasile

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *