Anyway, my client mentioned out of the blue that she
regretted that she had never done anything or become anything special. I asked
her what she meant by special, envisioning a short school bus but knowing that
isn’t what she meant.
“You know, I’ll never be famous. I can’t sing, I can’t
dance, I’m not funny, I've never been on t.v…Have you ever been on t.v.? “Yes”, I answered I went home from work after moving around
a half dozen appointments because my son had a fever. By the time I got there,
he didn't have a fever, so we went to my daughter’s school carnival. I was
stuffing my pie hole with a chili dog and ended up on the local news where
every one of my clients I had canceled saw me.
It didn't make me famous.”
“SEE??? Even YOU have been on t.v.!” I wasn't sure how to
take that so we moved on.
She explained that her entire life had been a dull, dreary
story that she couldn't even keep a journal about. My immediate reaction, which
I managed to keep to myself, was…so?
It occurred to me that she just needed a change of
perspective. We were giving her a new color and cut that day so we had enough
time for me to share my perspective.
Here’s my take on greatness. Greatness is a personal thing.
And it is achieved on a personal level. It is not determined by the number of
friends we have, the neighborhood or size of our homes. It is not measured by
our stature, career, bank account or spouse.
Greatness, like respect, generosity, integrity, leadership,
comes from within. It is revealed to us at the end of the day when we look
ourselves in the mirror and know we spent our day well. It is reflected in the
faces of our children. Greatness is purity of heart; follow through on
intention, ingenuity. We achieve
greatness daily by putting one foot in front of the other when every fiber
screams “LAY DOWN”; when we live one day at a time with gratitude; when we
remember that someone in the world loves us, when we end the day weary of a
hard day’s work.
Greatness is not an empty vessel to be filled with the
adulation of thousands of strangers who only want to be around us in the hopes
that we can do something for them; it is not shallow like outer beauty; it is
not vengeful, selfish, or brutish. To achieve greatness we must be the vessel.
No, we achieve personal greatness every day that we survive,
that we choose good over evil, that we do some selfless act. We need not desire
the approbation of the masses. We need only to accept and love ourselves in
order to love and accept others. We need only to live gratefully, contribute
productively, and remember that we never know who is watching, listening and
learning from us.
During my musings with this client, I reminded her that she
had two wonderful children, is a wonderful and supportive wife, an amazing and
talented teacher, and a thoughtful and respectful friend. And if all those
successes didn't make her “great” I’d be willing to contribute and write a blog
about her.
I finished her hair, which, if I do say so myself, looked
stunning and handed her the mirror. She gazed at herself for only a moment
before exclaiming. “OMG! I’m gorgeous!!!” loud enough to draw chuckles from
more than a few sitting in earshot.
“See? Now, your outsides reflect your insides. And you said
you weren't special.”
She left with a smile on her face. My job was done. :c )
