Doing More versus Being More
Shirley Williams asked in Personal Leadership/Conscious Following: “What were the characteristics of the person who inspired you to do more?”
I take my inspiration from many sources, both from a positive modeling perspective (i.e. “do what they did”) as well as from a negative modeling perspective (i.e. “don’t do what they did”).
For example, when I was a little girl, my father told me that I could do anything I set my mind to. He established that belief within me, even during the years when the deterioration of our relationship threatened that belief. My mother was an entrepreneur in her thirties and I learned the positive lessons from that, even as her self-percept is full of self limitations and victimization.
When I participated in an “authentic thinking” course, the facilitator helped me become a sharper thinker, even though later on, I detached from his organization because I disagreed with how he handled intimate relationships in the group.
Herman Hesse inspired me solely through writing Siddhartha, even though he’s dead and Siddhartha is a fictional character based on Gautama Buddha. Rudolf Steiner inspired me to see thinking in a different way with Philosophy of Freedom – even as a spiritual activity – even though he’s as dead as Hesse and some have questioned the relevance of his later works relating to clairvoyance (those I’ve not read).
Often these examples inspire me to “BE” more without necessarily “doing” more.
Competition motivates me to DO more.
Love (for my family, the human experience, and realizing an Ideal) inspires me to BE more.
In other words, motivation to do more is like filling up my vessel faster and higher.
Inspiration to be more is like expanding the vessel itself.
Both are necessary for me to create and live a full life.
Jane Chin
Abstract image by Asif Akbar.
