Light Living!

The plenary session is over, and the “Quad C” line is building in length; complementors, conversationalists, complainers, and correctors are awaiting their personal moment with the plenary speaker. I know because I happened to be the speaker that night, and the conversation went this way:

Me: “Thank you for taking your time to come out, I am humbled and honored. I trust you enjoyed the evening.”

Corrector: “I did, but during your speech, I believe you meant to say, ‘right living,’ instead of ‘light living.’ I raised my hand, to offer correction, but I am guessing you didn’t see it.”

Me: “My apologies for missing your raised hand, but I actually did mean, ‘light living.’ If you have a few minutes for me to finish with the people in line, I will explain my point in greater detail.”

Corrector: “Okay, I’ll wait over here.”

I worked through the line as quickly as possible and made my way over to the attendee waiting to talk, and with a smile I said, “‘light living’ is actually an act that provides one the ability to live beyond the past, and it is a leader’s choice. A leader can keep trying to relive and renegotiate the past, which is insanely impossible, or learn from past events and get on with ‘light living’.”

Over the years I’ve watched leaders hold on to the past like some people hold on to unwanted Christmas gifts. Those gifts can be likened to those memorable events of years gone by, some a blessing, some a burden. Pretty soon the clutter begins to build up and you soon find yourself at a “T” intersection. Turn left and face the possibility of becoming a hopeless hoarder, mentally; turn right and you can become a hopeful person with great potential and a promising future. I’ve developed, for myself, a small quote to recite when I find myself struggling with the past, “When you walk toward the future while looking back at the past, you trip over the present.” This quote is what underwrites the concept of ‘light living.’

The word ‘LIGHT’ represents this thought, ‘Let It Go, Honor Today.’ An authentic leader will not allow the past to lord over their present and limit their future. They accomplish this through ‘light living.’ When the ugly past rears its ugly head these leaders choose to let the past go and honor the present day. By doing this they give the present day the absolute best they have to offer.”

I finished the conversation by saying, “I like your thought of ‘right living’ because it gives me a new approach to titling this conference session. I will change the title to, “Light Living is Right Living,” it gives the title more depth.” He smiled and said, “Glad I could help!”

So, if you are you “light living,” then you are “right living.” Question is, are you?