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What's in your locket?

1/27/2015

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I have a question for you: What’s in your locket?

A locket is a small pendant that includes a space for storing a small keepsake, often a lock of hair or photo of a loved one. Worn on a necklace or bracelet, this charm holds a cherished item, and the wearer often opens it to be reminded of one so near to their heart.
I have a question for you: What’s in your locket?

 

A locket is a small pendant that includes a space for storing a small keepsake, often a lock of hair or photo of a loved one. Worn on a necklace or bracelet, this charm holds a cherished item, and the wearer often opens it to be reminded of one so near to their heart.

 

So, what’s in your locket? Besides being a twist on a popular ad campaign (thanks, Capital One), it’s a relevant question for anyone who wants to enjoy their work and their life. Job satisfaction – and effectiveness – is directly related to the laser-like alignment of your deeply held values, personal passions (loves), and outward actions and abilities.

 

Jim Collins calls it a Hedgehog Concept. Simon Sinek calls it his Golden Circle. Steven Covey calls them habits. Lencioni has a pyramid. And Drucker posed them as six critical questions. While each of these authors (and several others) adds his own contribution to the discussion, they all build off of this place of inner-outer alignment. It’s true for all organisms: individuals, families, organizations, communities, and probably states and nations.

 

Yet, while many write about it, few are so aligned. Like an aching back, painful barbs shoot through our activities and discourse. And we’re left feeling out of sorts.

 

This chiropractic conundrum of misalignment is often more intrapersonal than interpersonal. Few of us take the time to listen to our true selves (our inner voice) and understand our deeply held values and personal passions. Instead, we align with an external set of expectations packaged and presented as an appealing alternative to our dissatisfaction.

 

One of Simon Sinek’s (Start with Why) contributions to this discussion is the idea that people align with others who believe what they believe. He says it this way: “We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe.”

 

So, we need to open our lockets and peer inside to that which we hold dear and then find the words to speak it clearly to ourselves, our families, our organizations and community. Take some time – quiet, reflective time – to listen and learn from yourself.

 

From time to time, I facilitate workshops on forgiveness. I often open the session with the question, “what’s important to you?” I get the same answers every single time. Among them are these four: my family, my health, my friends, my community.

 

My guess is this: once we align ourselves to the most important things in our lives, we’ll find that interpersonal (including intergenerational, interracial, and intercultural) alignment comes much easier.

 

Quote

Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need. Frederick Buechner

 

Web

Here’s a brief video in which Parker Palmer speaks of the heart as the center of our alignment and action (watch now).

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