The Direction of Intention

176.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Many years ago I ran a theatre company embedded within a school district. I also founded and ran an alternative school program. They had many things in common but this little aspect was critical: little or no janitorial services – partly because of district budgets and mostly by design. Early on I recognized that ownership of the space in which we worked had a direct impact on the quality of our work; if it’s our space it is ours to care for, to clean, to shape, to decorate, to cultivate the culture of what happens in it. It mattered because we mattered. Initially it was a bloody battle to implant the idea: how you treat your space is a reflection of how you treat yourself. When you believe the work you do is important, when you believe that you are important in the work, then your care for the space. When you care for the space you care for yourself. After the first generation it became a tradition. The older students taught the newcomers: it matters how you embody the space, it matters how you embody your life. It was not uncommon to see students sweeping the parking lot prior to a performance: these kids believed that the audience’s experience of their art began when the car pulled into the parking lot. It mattered. It was theirs to do.

Ownership and mattering are easy words to say – it is easy to say values and ethics and generosity. They are more difficult notions to live.

Each morning I walk down the beach. It is littered with the remnants of last night’s party: old pizza boxes (the birds love that), broken bottles and cans litter the walkways. There is always a clean up crew paid for by the city – apparently it is the city’s job to pick up after the citizens.

We are a people who believe it is someone elses job to clean up our mess. There is scant ownership, no sense of mattering in how we treat our spaces and I can’t help but think it is a reflection of how we think of ourselves. Do you matter? Do your actions matter?

Whose job is it to clean up after our party? How would we live life if we knew that our actions mattered – all of them! When you know you have impact you are conscious of your actions and how they effect other people and the places of your life. You are connected. You own it because you own yourself.

I can’t help thinking about those kids sweeping the parking lot. It is an odd image of powerful people but think of it this way: those kids had no doubt that they mattered and they were bringing it 100%. When was the last time you were that powerful?

Filed under: Education, Truly Powerful People |