"What is to give light, must endure the burning."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
A part of my job that I particularly love is interviewing prospective new team members.
Most of the time, they are social worker types like me and very interested in service to others. Many are young, but I also get the occasional seasoned soul who is looking for a place to put down long term roots. During these adventures, I usually have some of the most interesting conversations. If they are willing to open up, I can get to their motivation for wanting to work with children on the Autism Spectrum. Many times, I am inspired by their answers and challenged to look inside and reconsider my own motives.
Yesterday, I spoke with a young man who had the most unusual name.
While I will not share that private part of the conversation, I will tell you that the name seemed somewhat spiritual in nature. I found out that it was a name he had chosen himself, which made it even more intriguing. He explained that the meaning had to do with always facing toward the light so that you could put your shadows behind you. He could not have known that this week, I have been musing about being a light to others, and what this means for me.
Not just seeking the light, but being one.
Being an aspiring beam of light that shines right on others, putting their 'shadows' behind them. I do appreciate times when we have to seek light. Times when we find ourselves in a darker place and feel a bit lost. I understand it feels as though we have lost our light source in these times, but I wonder if this is just our own self-defeating behavior? What if the light we seek is always within, only covered over by things that come into our lives and succeed in covering it over for a while? Like a fire extinguisher, events that spray a retardant on our flame to smother it?
Could it be we only need to manifest the flame, the passion, or the effort to rekindle it?
What do you need to do to stoke up your inner fire?
Don't be afraid of the heat. Let it burn baby.
So go - glow.
Cheers.
