On Asking for Help

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A friend called me today, in tears and needing help. On hearing how upset she was, I felt grateful that I had seen her in-coming call and put my busy day aside to answer the phone. I am not sure how useful I was to her; but what I hope she gained from our call was a validation that asking for help is never wrong.

Few of us are practiced in asking for help. Most of us have learned to muscle through, work it out and do it all alone. Perhaps we were taught that asking for help is a weakness, or a sign of failure. Or perhaps we feared all too young that if we asked for help no-one would be there to answer.

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Embodied Self-Acceptance: a Pathway to Authentic Leadership

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Recently I went to Spirit Rock to listen to Jack Kornfield speak. His is a beautiful energy and whilst I was drawn to his words on the importance of beauty in our lives, what had most effect on me was the power of his presence.

He exudes a rare comfort in himself that is both engaging and empowering to be with.

His talk was not full of clever gimmicks, or visual aids. Neither did he bounce around his stage revving his audience up, as so many motivational speakers are inclined to do. He simply sat with a pile of poetry around his feet, reaching for a poem now and then, with a warm smile of invitation and seemingly little plan.

It had the intimacy of being in a living room with a benevolent relative who was simply talking about what he loves. Which in turn reminded me of what I love. He was simply being himself with no need for performance or production.

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