Grow Your Thought Leadership Flame by Liz Ryan

Have you ever sat down to ponder where your beliefs, habits, identities and issues were hatched? I found an old journal where I answered some of those questions...

Grow your thought Leadership Flame – week 2 

October 12, 2013

When you were really little, what sorts of things were you interested in?

I always loved music and was always singing.  I used to sit on my swing in my backyard and sing and swing.  I read from a very young age about anything and everything that had to do with ghosts, witches, mysteries, vampires, mysteries, detectives, etc.  Anything that was otherworldly like mythology.  

I also like to swim, do baton, dance, etc.  

What other influences, like family moves or big events in your life, do you think shaped your worldview while you were a child?

My parents fought a lot.  They disagreed and my dad always bullied my mom into doing what he wanted.  He believed if you weren’t moving and working, you were being lazy.  As a kid there was not a lot of time to be a kid.   I learned at an early age that he valued work, so I did as much housework as I could when I was at home.  We travelled a lot back to my dad’s home town to spend time with my grandpa.   I spent as much time as I could with my friend’s family as they were laid back and fun.  I ate a lot of junk to numb my loneliness.   I can remember being about 12 years old and wondering when my parents were going to get a divorce.  I used to think that if I could just keep the house clean enough and make the meals and do the laundry that there would be nothing to fight about and everyone would be happy.

I read a lot of books at this time to escape into fantasy worlds where there were good families and heroes; where the good guy always won.   

In your teenage years, what did you like to do?  Were you already sharing your ideas, then?  How did you do it?  If not, what changed for you?

In my teenage years, I wrote a lot of poetry and spent a lot of time writing down the lyrics to popular songs.  I sang, read, dreamed and wrote in my journal.   I spent a lot of time with my boyfriend who was really smart.  I believed he was smarter than I was.   I thought that I was a good writer.  I also was the editor of the school yearbook for two years in a row.  I was creative by being in swing choir, special chorus and sewing some of my own clothes.  

When and how did you start speaking about, writing about, blogging about or otherwise sharing your ideas and point of view?  Did it happen through your work or on your own?  How did you feel about sharing what you know?

The biggest sharing time where I wrote and shared my feelings came when Alexandra was ill.  I wrote to friends in Regina when I was in Calgary with Alex going through her treatment.  I was told that I had a way with words and that our journey was an inspiration to many others as parents and just in general as people going through life’s challenges.  This is when I really began to believe that I had a gift for writing.

Do you associate your thought leadership with a particular area, for instance your work, or your passion for a topic, or something else?

I am passionate about people and about living a spiritual life.  I believe in people and think that they should be treated well above money and success in a business.   I don’t think that people should be human doings, but human beings.   I don’t think that company, money or success should come ahead of being good people, friends and members of society.  I talk to people about spirituality, energy work, healing and self-health.   I believe that everything happens for a reason; the good and bad events equally and it is our job to find the lesson in our life’s events.  

MY AHA:

I forgot about writing poetry in high school.  I forgot about my English teacher tearing down my poetry and how that made me feel ashamed of my writing.  

I remember how much I loved books and music and how these simple pleasures filled my days with places to hide away and imagine a better world.   

What do I think about my goal for this Grow Your Thought Leadership Flame program after walking through my path?

I think that my goal is attainable.   I think that I am filled with creativity and always have been but that my parents’ obsession with work stole my childhood dream time away.  Now is the time to take that back and nurture the side of me that loves to dream.   

I remember skipping film class with a friend named Ryan V and hanging out in front of the piano, singing duets and writing lyrics.  That was so awesome and uplifting.

I found a book of poetry that I wrote in my high school years.  It was a little campy and melodramatic but what a nice way to get those emotions out.

What do I think about my goal for this Grow Your Thought Leadership Flame program after walking through my path?

These goals that I have are achievable.  The thing that I have been doing to hold myself back is to put other people ahead of my own needs.   I have been a doormat who taught my ex and sons that it’s okay not to honour promises to me; it’s okay to consider me last.  A prime example of this would have been when my youngest came to me and asked if I thought it was okay that he spends $60 plus on a wallet online when he owed me, his dad, and others money?  Really?  NO!  It’s not okay! 

So…. I am the only one who is going to fulfill my dreams which starts by taking the time to understand WHAT it is that I want and then by just doing it!    The universe can’t provide me with what I want if I don’t know what that actually is!   

Week Two Assignment:

Article – Unleashing your inner thought leader”

What is exciting about the idea?  What feels daunting or hard about it?  

My thoughts…WOW!   I am so relieved to read that other people think like me!   At my place of work, there is a definite mentality of command and control.   We need to command people and tell them what to do, how to do it, when and in what order.   I personally believe that if the right structure is there, with the right tools and the orders are correct that people will for the most part do the right things.   Too much structure removes imagination and creativity.  It takes away the desire to find a better way and to do a better job; without trust people stop doing the exact things that employers want them to do.  

My way of thinking is wonderful and when I find a way to incorporate it and make it work for me in a practical sense, I will be wildly successful and help to make many other people wildly satisfied.   Now…. <tenting hands under chin> to find the way…

Week Three – December 1, 2013 – Getting Altitude

Cloud Level Vision:    What is your vision for yourself as a thought leader?  Where do you want your thought leadership to go?  Do you want to write a book, or a series of books?  Do you want to define a new field of study, based on your work?

For years a have been studying books and people to notice what creates a happy, balanced life with nods to spirituality with a way to bring it into my daily life.  I have found ways to be mostly happy and balanced on a daily basis.  I see myself as someone who connects people.  I connect them to information, ideas and other people.

My dream is to write articles and books on how to make it through this life’s challenges with grace.  I want to have a healing and teaching practice where I help people stand on their own two feet.  I don’t want to have people dependent on me for their own well-being.  In my vision, I help them find their balance and their own personal strength so that they can go forward and help themselves then help others.    Like a reverse domino effect where rather than someone bringing another person down with their attitude, we all serve to stand each other up.

That’s my vision.  

Thank you Substack, and writers like

Scott Britton

who encouraged me to start writing…