What are you "for"? Help for turbulent times

“I’m tired of being defined by what I'm against,” my husband mused, a decade ago.  “I want to be known by what I'm for.”
 
We live in disrupted times.  News headlines crash and boom and it seems like a general air of uncertainty hangs over…everything.
 
Businesses are scaling back growth projections, employees worry about layoffs, and a recent haircut for my son at Great Clips just jumped from $16 (which already felt high) to $20.
 
So, I’ve been thinking about Luke’s insight and asking myself the question – what am I "for"?
 
Last week, I was in Las Vegas with the Great Place to Work Conference, connecting with clients and leading conversations on workplace empathy.

Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work, gave a rallying, opening salvo.  He noted that, in times of disruption, when people don’t know where to turn and are worried about what comes next, workplaces have a tremendous opportunity to be the place where people feel secure, competent, and cared for.
 
He showed us slide after slide, featuring big brands – Hilton, Marriott, Delta, Synchrony, Cisco – who purposefully invest in people and culture and, as a result, outshine their competitors on share price and growth.
 
My breakout sessions on empathy and human-centric skills filled up rapidly with leaders hungry to know how to better support their people when it matters most.
 
Mr. Bush said it well – “don’t get distracted from what matters most”.
 
Which was another way of asking us, both personally and organizationally  – what are you for? 

I’m making a list and putting it somewhere that I see often – what do I want to be marked by?  When people spend time with me, in person or in virtual space, what do I want their energetic imprint to be?

One of the answers that consistently emerges, for me, is hope.
 
Personal practices for hope
Emily Dickinson famously wrote, “Hope is a thing with feathers, that perches in the soul.”
 
And, sometimes, hope can seem like that:  small, chirping, fluffy.  But hope is also fierce.  An ancient writer mused, “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
 
Amid all the noise – I am centering on hope.  I want to be a hopeful person, one that sees above (or perhaps beyond) the noise of the moment.
 
Those are nice-sounding words, but how does one manifest hope – embracing (and being embraced by it) as an anchor?
 
Here are a few of my current thoughts/practices.  

1). Limit my news intake/doom scrolling
The news cycle is constant and designed for outrage.  I find that my focus and overall well-being benefits from taking the news in smaller, planned doses – i.e. I will check the news in the morning and then again mid-afternoon. 

2). Cultivate gratitude
The daffodils are lovely, my family is healthy (which is a grateful thing after a fall marked by hospital visits), I love my green velvet couch, I have so much (tasty) food in my pantry, work is busy and deeply fulfilling…and the list goes on and on.
 
But I will easily trade away my gratitude for anxiety, when I'm not being self-aware.

3). Who are you inviting in?
I need good companions for this hope-filled journey; we aren’t made to walk alone.  I’m bringing together those people, in real time and space.
 
I’m also purposeful about what I’m reading.  El Salvador has been in the news cycle this month, which brought me back to the works of a prophetic Salvadoran, Oscar Romero.  I’m reading his book, The Scandal of Redemption.  His works inspire me to hope.
 
What are you reading/listening to?  Is it helping you become more of who you want to be?