Dead Man Walking .... ?!

When you stroll down the bleak-mid winter streets of London, or the dark tunnels of the underground stations, you may sometimes feel witness to parades of "Dead Man Walking......"

Recently, I heard someone say that in olden times, when someone died, the Greeks used to ask "Did they live passionately?"

Living life passionately was considered to be a fundamental value and taking risks was an integral part of the hero's journey; the metaphor for a life worthy of being remembered.

A colleague of mine asked me about the risks involved in giving up a salaried post in order to set up a business. She complained about the lack of financial security in business and the fact that so much of our work is unpaid. My response to this was, "If the expectations of financial security and getting paid for all the work we do were guaranteed in business, I guess that almost EVERYONE would set up a business wouldn't they?"

When you meet talented artists, one of the distinguishing features you may notice about them is that they love their work so passionately that they would do it even if it were not paid. I believe that we are all artists in some form or another and for entrepreneurs, the creation of a business can be a form of artistic expression. When we find work that makes us more of who we are, the need for security and demands for compensation become irrelevant. The passion we generate and express through our business compensates for the lack of security with freedom instead.

Wendy Oak, a wise reader of my e-zine, Success Newsletter, recommended the book "Anam Cara" which means "soul friend" in Irish Gaelic, by John O'Donohue. John O'Donohue is a Celtic mystic and on page 160 of "Anam Cara" he says: "The shape of each soul is different. There is a secret destiny for each person. When you endeavour to repeat what others have done or force yourself into a preset mould, you betray your individuality. We need to return to the solitude within, to find again the dream that lies at the hearth of the soul"

When we love our own life without comparing it with the lives of others; when we love our own business, our own work, I guess that we are living the life of the hero/heroine, which will serve as an example rather than a warning for others.

What is it that makes us NOT a "Dead Man Walking"?