“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.” -Confucius
These days when I meditate on my vision of the future, I pray for my ability to serve to expand to its largest possible dimension. I believe the deepest service that I offer in life is my ability to write and teach about love. It is the work that feels like I am a channel and what makes me fall most deeply into myself. It is the work that has invented me and turned me into the best version of myself. I am so grateful to be able to channel the clarity that comes to me about loving and so proud that I was able to persist long enough to put it in a book.
Now comes the real test I realize of planting the seed of this work firmly in the world. The task feels a bit daunting, so I am relying on my positivity quest to keep my thinking about the possibilities open and promising. I need to learn how to promote my work with grace and keep my ego out of the way. This is a challenging slope for me as I have often confused gathering attention and offering myself in service. The days of avoidance are over now; now it has to be 100% offering.
The best way for me to proceed is to keep the image of planting seeds in mind. I take the words of Samuel Johnson to heart here, “The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public.” Growing my voice, believing in the power and truth of my own work is the next leap and it is not solitary, but rather a willingness to be out in the world and expose myself to more and more new people that will turn the seed into a sapling, that might just become a tree.
I have been studying 1001 Ways to Market your Books, which is literally an encyclopedia of ideas about learning to not only embrace but live a life that promotes your work in everything you do. As I page through the chapters I feel like the baby bird that is sitting at the edge of the nest, ready but not quite, to test its wings. So it is just the leap and the a soft breeze to carry me that I need now. Robert Fritz wrote, “The way to activate the seeds of your creation is by making choices about the results you want to create. When you make a choice, you activate vast human energies and resources, which otherwise go untapped.”
So here I go, Love that Works is flying, starting now.
