In the spirit of validation and if courage and self expression and the power of being present, even when you aren’t… I tell a story about an amazing woman. it’s a pleasure when you can also work in her presence.
I have a boss named Mimi.
I love her name, so to not use it here on my blog would not add honor to the definition I need to bring to the table in regard to her personality. (You know someone named Mimi has to have some added excitement to their life, right?)
I found out recently that Mimi means “star of the sea”; or “longed-for-child.” Makes sense that anything she does will stand out, right?
Well, I just love how she speaks at work sometimes with her voice, but most of the time, without speaking. Sometimes… you can say so much more without them. She seems to speak volumes, even when she isn’t in the workplace. I work in a program where several women are recovering and have to learn to use self-guidance self-nurturing and DAILY use their own sense of integrity and intuition about making good choices.
The thing I love about Mimi’s voice is she seems to get the fact that VALIDATION is so very important. Sometimes, to be very honest, I miss that point- but am easily reminded by the atmosphere in which I work. Maybe it was because I didn’t get a whole lot it when I was in my younger years, but I later began to find ways to validate myself as I became older. Maybe it’s because the most insightful
and affirming way to validate someone is to understand that they have a space in the world, and they MATTER. Mimi sometimes does this without thinking. I have learned so much from her way of being and doing and how she leads. There should be more leaders who have a special class on leading with VALIDATION to showcase their uncanny ability to affirm. They might have more staff members
who affirm them back and actually enjoy being led by them.
The reasons Mimi stood out today, was I noticed she wasn’t in the workplace, but yet I heard her voice resounding. I heard it loudly when one of the women generously affirmed and appreciate one another and each other’s efforts and make a big deal of it . I also heard her voice when I heard another young lady talk proudly about her accomplishments in such a way she never had, and spoke with complete pride about how well she had been progressing with her goal – giving herself her own ‘pat on the back’…
Or…. when another young lady was able to wear her pride well because she knew she had made a decision well because it was validated by a team of women leaders who show they care in such a phenomenal attentive and sharing way. Our team seems to practice so graciously under this ‘cloak of affirmation’ - if you will – we put it on daily and come to work and it causes us to take pride in the spirit of validation and what it does for the soul of us all. Tears are so common, in this workplace.
I have learned so much within the past year I have been in the women’s program.
So… did Mimi… start this wave? (I doubt it.) She may have had several sailors… but she set sail one day and reached out to help formulate a mission for a dying sea of women in addiction who had lost hope, thought they were failures and were washed up on the sea never to h ave another chance. She demands their attention and appreciation be given as a gift, they be honored and cherished – for their efforts, even when they make even the smallest accomplishment.
Knowing that these women will carry a ritual of affirming care that Mimi deems completely necessary and that this ritual of care is exercised and noticed amongst all – helps the other women to be graced with the desire for love and an open heart towards compassion. Even more, just knowing you can have a voice that resounds with such spirit and your words of affirmation can became permanently imprinted in someone’s mind and heart – is a joy to leave behind. What a great way to love on someone and show you care.
What a better world it would be if we all practiced the same.
Thanks, Mimi for showing your compassion and care to a community of women who so need this compassion to grow and flourish in life and living.
And here’s a special poem that honors this deed:
A traveler was walking along a beach when he saw a woman scooping up starfish off the sand and
tossing them into the waves. Curious, he asked her what she was doing. The woman replied “When
the tide goes out it leaves these starfish stranded on the beach. They will dry up and die before the tide
comes back in, so I am throwing them back into the sea where they can live.”
The traveler then asked her “But this beach is miles long and there are hundreds of stranded starfish,
many will die before you reach them – do you really think throwing back a few starfish is really going to
make a difference?”
The woman picked up a starfish and looked at it, then she threw it into the waves. “It makes a difference to this one” she said.
Kudos! To Mimi… continue to throw those stars in the sea, they keep coming back and making your team to proud to be their cheerleaders!
