Where Has Your Light Gone?

Have you ever stopped long enough to consider the light of your life?

Not the love of your life, but the light of your life. The spark within that ignites your whole world and fills it with vigor, joy and passion. That is your light.

We all enter this world with our own unique light. Yet as we grow, get busy, have families, and climb the corporate ladder, juggling an ever-growing mountain of every day responsibilities, many of us become increasingly disconnected from that light. We lose touch with, and sight of, what really lights up our lives, relationships, and careers. Often to the detriment of the very things that form the nexus of what is most important to us.

As the world speeds up, we find ourselves constantly pushing the boundaries of our own horizons in order to succeed. However, - and I speak from personal experience of an extended corporate career - few of us can sustain this for long before our view of what success means becomes so skewed that our inner light begins to fade, and flicker, until one day its simply not there anymore.

When that light finally goes, we are left with a sense of loss, futility, and confusion about what comes next. What we need to do in order to reconnect with our inner selves, and to find the confidence to be ourselves again, in order to get our light back.

After suffering corporate burnout it took me a while to re-ignite my own light, and really speak my own truth again, the truth that I had silenced in the pursuit of my own version of success. The thing that I have learned along the way is that once we look beyond ourselves the fear begins to dissipate and the light starts to seep slowly back. Fear of - judgment, isolation, a lack of 'attainment' are some of the biggest dimmers and ultimately killers of our light.

It takes a lot of courage to face these fears, and ask ourselves the simple yet often seemingly insurmountable question of 'what then?'  What does judgment really mean to me, should the approval of others drive my actions, or is my own approval enough, do the material things we have been taught to view as markers of success really define the terms of my success?

Understanding the roots of our fears,and seeing them for what they are, enables us to start to let go of those things that are holding us back. Once we free ourselves of those self-limiting feelings and behaviors we can begin to explore our inner worlds for clues that will point us back to our light.

Ask yourself what lit you up as a child, what did you dream about doing and why, when did you most feel alive, and at what point did that light begin to dim...as losing our light takes time, finding it again and re-igniting it, is often a process of many small 'awakenings' and 'realisations' rather than a single defining 'aha' moment so be sure to give yourself the kindness, time, and space to honor that process.

Author: Deidre Dattoli

Deidre is highly experienced in the fields of executive coaching and leadership development, team dynamics and performance, offering a range of personal and group leadership training programs, customized training solutions, consultancy and coaching services.

Deidre is one of Griffith Consulting's key program facilitators.

For more information about Deidre, please contact us, today.