Creating Tomorrow

Dear Friends,

All day yesterday I tweeted quotes by James Baldwin. Baldwin - as a writer and an activist - has been a seminal figure in my life, and yesterday - after many years of being relegated to the back of my mind - the wisdom of his words and his special brand of urgency forced their way back to the center of my consciousness. I felt a pressing need to tap back into that wisdom - and shared some of it with my Twitter- and FB-network.

One quote in particular resonated with my fellow coach (and fellow former Pennsylvanian) Ed Batista:

“The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”

Ed re-tweeted the quote, and remarked how its veracity extends beyond professions to also hold true for organizations, nations and even families. This quote motivated Ed to write a blog post called “James Baldwin on the Ugly Side of Life“, which I strongly recommend.

The following paragraph particularly caught my eye, because it makes an important point, and reflects my own conviction as well:

“…But emphasizing and harnessing the power of the positive doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to the negative, ignoring ugliness and celebrating this best of all possible worlds.  It means accepting that there is ugliness in this world, in innumerable forms, and choosing how to respond to it…”

Yes, as a human being and as a coach I believe that’s where our true power lies: in our ability to choose - yesterday, today, tomorrow - how we react to life’s ugly side.

• Do we let it demotivate and derail us, leaving us wallowing bitterly by the wayside?
• Or do we acknowledge it, as well as the sorrow and pain it may bring, then get back on track in following through with our life’s higher purpose?

Every day we get another chance to choose.

Read the rest of Ed’s insightful blog post here.

Trina

PHOTO CREDIT: Vechten, Carl Van. “Portrait of James Baldwin.” September 13, 1955. Creative Americans, Portraits by Van Vechten, 1932-1964, Library of Congress.