Truths and Initiators

As Dwight Schrute would say, it is my birthday today. So I figured a little self reflection on the past year is needed. A couple weeks ago I shared my daily stock pages and at the bottom are the 5 essiential truths that Richard Rohr breaks down in his book Adam’s Return, a book on male initiation.

The 5 truths are:

1. Life is hard

2. You are not that important

3. Your life is not about you

4. You are not in control

5. You are going to die

The cleanest way I have heard the wisdom of these truths explained is, when you do not recognize these truths, you will consistently take from others. When you recognize them though, you will learn to generate and give to others. Doesn’t that ring true of strong business owners? You could reframe these as a business owner:

1. This isn’t easy

2. No one cares as much as you do

3. It will require you doing stuff you don’t want to do

4. 1+1 doesn’t always equal 2

5. After all that, why?

This year/these truths have stripped me down, exposed me, forced me to recognize my many flaws and ultimately it asks me like a bully on the school yard after taking my lunch money, “What are you going to do about it?” This is the real work of initiation, waking up and facing these truths. This “bully” is just the initiator, a mirror, not the victor. I hope in my 37th year of life, I’ll get a little closer to staring down the initiator each and every day choosing to do something about it. To generate and not just take.