There is a wonderful quote from Elie Wiesel,
“We must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.”
As coaches and consultants, our world is working with people and their secrets, treasures, anguish, and triumphs. It is an honor and a privilege to do this work and to be able to open the hearts and minds of the people we work with to what it means to be human.
We live in a culture that creates deities of stars, athletes, musicians and the like. In doing so, we come to believe that there are people who are different from the rest of us. People who are special. Confident. At ease. Who don’t have the struggles that the rest of us have. The secrets the rest of us hide. The treasures that the rest of us fear will slip through our hands. The anguish that haunts us at night. And, we can come to believe that they have triumph far beyond our own.
What Elie Wiesel understood was that the human condition is just that, the human condition. No matter one’s role, wealth, status, power, visibility—all humans have a universe inside.
We invite you to take some time this week to consider the universe within you and within the people you love, dislike, wonder about, worry about… take a few moments to seriously consider what it means in your life if you and every single other person you know, read about, see in action, or watch from afar has a universe inside of them. Consider your secrets and be curious about theirs. Honor your treasures and wonder about theirs (we can assure you that some of what the media promotes as treasure in this world—wealth, fame, power—are not the things that they hold the dearest). Acknowledge your anguish and respect that they have theirs. And celebrate your triumphs, large and small, and give a nod to theirs.
When you truly believe that we are more alike then we are different, you will step into your days, greet your loved ones, challenge your peers, and respect those you read about in ways that deepen your sense of connection to this adventure we call life.