The power from within…

I don’t really know where to start as I stare at my screen this morning.  It’s not that I’m unsure what I want to write, it’s that my mind is still flooded with a thousand new thoughts.  Yesterday’s practice let loose like a torrent.  I’m not sure that I’ve ever been so flooded after a practice and yet, at the same time, so energized.

Here’s my theory as to why I’m so FULL, to the point of being flooded.

I refused to close down the practice yesterday.  I told the team they had to close it and they all sent me blank stares.  I refused to blink.  After a few moments of silence, I told the team to write.  I gave them a couple minutes to capture their thinking.  DoubleD wanted us to write a brand new song that represented how far we’ve progressed in 2010.  He wanted us to celebrate in song, the places we had been on this BTL journey, take notice of how far we’ve come, and capture a snapshot of where we’re headed.  Hunter wasn’t so sure.  He agreed that we would benefit from looking back through the playbooks and play with what we had written and what we had done and go from there.  The team agreed.

I turned to my playlist and started to write about the journey with this team and the journey of discovery on my own as a perpetual student of this work.  Everybody wrote and wrote and wrote.  Magic.

Thirty minutes later the team was still writing and they were smiling.  Very cool.

One by one they shared their builder’s journeys.  One by one they spoke from their heart.  One by one they spoke their song, in their voice, and it was like being in a sanctuary.  We knew it was real, we knew it was compelling, and we knew it was magic.  We just did.  The individual and collective transformation was recounted.  The struggle too.  Here’s but a few of the highlights.  Sole builders, feel free to AND…

The FEAR and the doubt, the pain in the process, and the desire to go faster had been subdued by the power of clear VISION. Nothing sustainable is accomplished without an overarching vision.  It just isn’t.  This team has also been gaining clarity about…

The power of challenge.

The power of pain.

The power of the plank.

The power of passion.

The power of  becoming ONE, while remaining separate.

The power of truth in LOVE.

The power of the pen.

The power of PLAY.

The power of Productive Action.

The power from within, the amazing, sustainable,  and contagious power of ONE, Strong CORE.

Yesterday’s practice flooded me, I’ve decided, because I was experiencing this last power.  I was challenging this team all day to get out of their comfort zone, to go further on the floor, to think more in the moment, to push through their ambiguity and into PA, to speak more truth in LOVE, and they had moved toward the challenge, not away.  Why?

They’re beginning to believe.

Remember, leaders are believers.

Never underestimate…

The power of belief.

God, thank you for this band of sole lovers and for their belief in themselves, in their vision, in each other, in this process, and in BTL.

God, thanks for the flood.

God, help me to remember to mark more moments like yesterday and embrace the power of ritual.

God, help me…