Over 600 years ago, in a monastery in Thailand, a clay covered Buddha sat quietly in the garden. To sway invaders the monks covered their golden Buddha with clay. Time passed, monks came and went. The Buddha and what lay underneath it survived. Until with the drought and heat it started to slowly crack open. A golden light shimmered between the cracks and as monks chipped away the clay, they found underneath solid gold.
Tara Brach tells this story as a reminder that each of us carries “gold” within us our innate wisdom, creativity, and presence. As we grow we layer on the clay and cover the gold to protect ourselves from judgement of others, fear, doubt, and the busyness of life.
Six months ago, I decided to stretch myself and get comfortable with the discomfort and join the ranks of social media, specifically LinkedIn. I committed to the experiment fully with videos, carousels, posts, all of it. Drawing on my days in marketing, I developed a social media plan and cringed as I launched my first video. From my B&B in Boston, in the dark, I fiddled with my iPhone determined to launch and share conflict resolution insights inspired by my mediation training at Harvard Law School.
From there, I upgraded my tools, learned new online marketing strategies and best practices, and experimented. I posted. I watched. I measured the results. Some days were great, impressions went up and others days not so much. I change my strategy and tried again. The Van Morrison song kept looping in my head ….When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit…When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this…… Well, my mama told me there’ll be days like this.
This journey was full of ups and downs and sometimes I felt like giving up, but I stayed the course. LinkedIn proved valuable for making connections, but it doesn’t come close to the deep connections of meeting someone face to face or working with you, my clients. I found it to be a sea of noise where it is hard to separate the signal. My inbox got inundated with emails promising to grow my business exponentially, with a catch, and not in the way I wanted to grow.
And then I remembered the Golden Buddha story. I realized my “gold” wasn’t in chasing algorithms, posts, or these mass marketing promises. My gold was in being present for my clients, building trust, writing these newsletters, sharing wisdom and ideas that spark meaningful change. Every time I hear you learned something, applied it, and got results, or shared it with someone where they found gold wisdom, meaning, and insight this brings me joy.
Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People I read back in college taught me some principles I still apply today begin with the end in mind and prioritize and focus on what’s important. I began six months ago my social media experiment and now I am shifting focus and prioritizing my core services, deepening my relationships, collaborating with others, and focusing my time on high-impact tasks rather than getting caught up in the sea of the constant notifications or trends.
Like the Golden Buddha, the gold lies within. I am tapping into that and allowing those cracks to open up and let the light out.
I will still use LinkedIn for the occasional post or event. I will continue to write newsletters as it helps me revisit old books, read new ones and gather insights. My focus is shifting to continue to polish what’s underneath, not layering on more clay.
As part of that shift, I am collaborating with a fellow Harvard program alum, an attorney, to launch services that help organizations resolve conflict, strengthen team relationships, and foster lasting cultural health. In my coaching and advising work, I consistently see leaders struggle with navigating conflict, creating cohesive teams, and building a culture rooted in collaboration and open communication. More to come on this in my next newsletter so keep your eyes peeled.
I love hearing from you, so is you can take a moment and answer these questions and reach out to share your thoughts.
What have you found insightful or what “gold” have you uncovered from these newsletters?
And what can I do to share and reveal more of it?
Topics, ideas and your insights welcome!
Thank you for reading and for your support, insights, and our connection.
