An Irish Blessing

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

For a Leader

by John O’Donohue

 

May you have the grace and wisdom

To act kindly, learning

To distinguish between what is

Personal and what is not.

 

May you be hospitable to criticism.

 

May you never put yourself at the center

Of things.

 

May you act not from arrogance but out

Of service.

 

May you work on yourself,

Building up and refining the ways of your

Mind.

 

May those who work with you know

You see and respect them.

 

May you learn to cultivate the art of

Presence

In order to engage with those who meet

You.

 

When someone fails or disappoints you,

May the graciousness with which you

Engage

Be their stairway to renewal and

Refinement.

 

May you treasure the gifts of the mind

Through reading and creative thinking

So that you continue as a servant of the

Frontier.

 

Where the new will draw its enrichment

From the old,

And you never become a functionary.

 

May you know the wisdom of deep

Listening,

The healing of wholesome words,

The encouragement of the appreciative

Gaze,

The decorum of held dignity,

The springtime edge of the bleak

Question.

 

May you have a mind that loves frontiers

So that you can evoke the bright fields

That lie beyond the view of the regular

Eye.

 

May you have good friends

To mirror your blind spots.

 

May leadership be for you

A true adventure of growth.