Daily Inspiration 10-8-10

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

"Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force.

But beware of the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression;

the Dark Side of the Force are they.

Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. . ."

-- Yoda, Star Wars

Oh, such excellent advice. . . "a Jedi's strength flows from the Force" and "beware of the dark side. . ." Fear can be a shadowy thing. It's so easy to spot when it is shown outwardly as in cowering, but it is that same fear that causes us to react rather than respond, and to strike, or charge, or show anger rather than kindness and understanding.

I gave a really good speech once at a company I was working for and I acted as if I owned the whole place. I spoke of the two most basic emotions and more than emotions, points of view: Fear and love. I said something to the effect that many people at a company are coming from fear. You can see it in the things they will do or not do. For example, "that's not my job," comes from fear, and "what can I do to help?" comes from love and these are common phrases used in business--well, at least the first one. . .

I said that if we act with love, it will change the entire perspective of our work environment. No longer would anyone dread coming to work, for it would be a joyous place to come to. I took it even further to the kind of work we do and the way we interact with each other and our customers, vendors, and associates. And the last point was that if we just keep love at the forefront of our minds when we deal with each other on every level, our business will grow and every one will benefit, and that we may have been trained to react with fear, but we have the power of choice to respond with love instead.

Everyone seemed moved at the moment, and it was a great group and a wonderful place to work overall. And, all of that is true. The tough part sometimes is doing it and following through and trusting. That also requires the management to trust and follow through. It is something that really needs to start from the top, but I wouldn't wait very long and just get it going anyway. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force, you know.

We Always Have Had The Power And Still Have It.

Spread Some Joy Today--Start acting with love today, right now. Refuse to surrender to the dark side. Refuse to participate in the ________ bashing and complaining. That is all fear. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force.