Finding Onward
There are many paths to finding onward. Personally, I can count 10. My definition of “onward” is, those actions and processes taken in a healthy dose that help move a person from a place of difficulty into a forward trajectory.
When we stay stuck…in any way, we wither.
Finding My Own Onward
Leading a group of women, whom I admire and respect, in a prayer group, on the beach, became one step to my onward. This is where I found myself in January.
Attending the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC as the guest of Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder and mingling with Tibetan Monks became one step to my onward. This is where I found myself this past week.
Opening the Faith Always Wins Foundation and creating the SevenDays® Make a Ripple, Change the World event continue to be featured steps to my onward.
There is much to process after the death of loved ones, a relationship divorce, a business divorce, a serious illness, or an injury.
Healing of the whole person needs to take place for us to find our onward. Healing of our mind, body, and soul must take place for us to truly take healthy steps into our future.
Writing my prayers, journaling my minute-to-minute thoughts, meditation and yoga were all part of my initial healing. Oh, and crying. I did a lot of crying. Living in the reality of the pain and loss is well, painful. I don’t like feeling the pain but it is as unavoidable as it is necessary.
This past week I found a workforce assessment I took in 2008 called the Predictive Index®. Here is the first paragraph of the summary:
“Mindy is a confident, independent self-starter with competitive drive, initiative, a sense of urgency, and the ability to make decisions and take responsibility for them. She can react and adjust quickly to changing conditions and come up with ideas for dealing with them.”
As I sat back and took a real long look at this I saw myself in the parking lot of the shooting that took the lives of my father and Reat. What this tells me is that who I was before the shooting appeared in a very formidable way after the shooting.
The trauma I saw and then lived in for months was physically and mentally debilitating. Trauma affects the brain in serious ways. My brain didn’t remind me to eat or sleep. My brain forgot how to do the math and my memory of life before the shooting can still be speculative.
Even with the serious trauma, I am who my Predictive Index® states I am. There is much more to the summary but the initial paragraph presents enough vulnerability.
Even without knowing or remembering what my PI said about me, I worked at finding my Onward after the shooting.
My hope is that everyone who experiences deep loss, an illness or injury directly or indirectly, will understand the necessity to find their onward.
We give you an opportunity to do so throughout our SevenDays® Make a Ripple, Change the World. Our first event is Thursday, February 15, in partnership with American Public Square.
Join us in making a ripple of kindness and understanding for YOU and OTHERS.
In faith, love, and kindness,
Mindy
