Mark Bryan, Julia Cameron, and Catherine Allen The Artist’s Way at WorkThere once was a dragon that was lost at birth by its parents and raised among farm animals. It grew up to eat grass and walk the fields like other tame beasts.
One day an older dragon flew over the fields, breathing fire and scattering all the animals in the barnyard. The young dragon on the ground was fascinated and frozen in its tracks. The older dragon, spying its young cousin, swooped down, grabbed the younger one in its huge jaws, and flew far up into the sky.
When they were so far up the houses looked like toys, the older dragon dropped the younger one from his mouth, causing him to fall screaming toward the ground. Then, just before the younger dragon would have been killed, the older dragon swooped down, caught him in his mouth, and returned him to the sky, where he promptly dropped him again.
This horrible fall happened several times before the young dragon, frightened and angry, finally spread his own wings and with a roar of fire, sailed high into the sky — becoming — for the first time in his life — his real self.
This young dragon’s first realization of his true nature was what similar stories from the east call “the roar of awakening.”
Did you feel it? That tinge of a dragon inside you?
You started your careers with great ambition. Young, inspired, full of energy and ready to make a huge splash in the business world. You had a unique way of being in the world and you were certain the world needed you.
Then one day you woke up at 42, slumped over your keyboard, in an office without windows, surrounded by paperwork, faded motivational quotes on the wall, and a looming deadline written on your whiteboard. You have become like one of the barnyard animals in the story. The dragon is buried deep inside you – beaten down by years of negative feedback and uninspired bosses whose dragons have turned to smoke.
There is still time to awaken your dragen. Do one thing different today at work to inspire your dragon to come out of hiding. Nudge the dragon by doing something like….
- Sitting in on a meeting with a different department and offer your perspective
- Taking a walk to allow your ideas to move from pre-consciousness into consciousness
- Asking ‘why not?’ when someone says no to a proposal to make a change
- Writing a proposal to make a change in your organization, department, or team.
- Giving someone else a chance to lead your meeting
- Taking your meeting outside
- Writing a full page description of your perfect work day (no limitations)
- Flying a kite on your lunch break
Now, what are you going to do about this new idea, thought, or feeling you are experiencing?
CHALLENGE: Inspire someone you work with to do one thing different. Start a movement…inspire the roar of awakening the dragon in everyone!
