A Glimpse of Brilliance

It strikes me that once you have had a glimpse of brilliance, you can never truly can never go back to where you were before that experience. Whatever follows in your life or work, you will always have that knowledge. Be it having secured that new position, of completing that amazing project or gaining that wonderful appraisal, you will always have the imprint of the joy and sense of achievement that went with it ….
20 years ago I worked providing opportunities and personal development for teams of young people. Often these individuals came from tough backgrounds. The real joy was that, given half a chance, team members took huge leaps in their appreciation of their own strengths, and also in their perception of what they could make manifest in the world. It is such a privilege to witness people literally fly.
Equally devastating would be encountering a team member, several months after the program had ended, only to find them back in their old challenging situations. How could this be happening? As I became more experienced in my role I began to notice the pattern. People would partake for the 3 months, see real opportunity for themselves, leave, and fall backwards. But, and this is the important bit, 18 months on, and a majority of the team, each in their own unique way, would be back out in the world. They would be reaping the rewards and raised expectations that those three months of nourishment had fleetingly shown them could be theirs…….
It is sometimes my job to remind people of this when they arrive at my door. Coaching clients come to do this work because they are disheartened and disappointed in themselves or their career worlds. Certainly there needs to be space in order to hear this part of their journey. What comes next however, is the seeking out of the past career experience that were enjoyable and that did provide nourishment for their growth. Join this information with future ambition and you can concoct a potent mix.
It is SO important to pull out those threads of gold from the past. Those moments of brilliance are glimpses of a bright future, if that’s where we choose to put our energy….
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