Welcome to The Lampstand Leader. In this blog, I hope to discuss a wide range of topics, all focused on being better leaders and humans. I created Sorensen Consulting to share the knowledge I gained from twenty-nine years of public service, mixed in with the teachings and knowledge I have gained from John C. Maxwell and the Maxwell Leadership Team, and tie that all together with the experiences I gained serving in the Lutheran Church as I achieved my Master of Divinity.
With all this being said, I am not here to lecture anyone because I definitely do not have all the answers and have made many mistakes. I want to take you on my journey, trying to figure out how to make this world a better place and how exactly I fit into this world. Ideally, this will become a place to share experiences and ideas and grow together. All I thought was that I had my Master of Divinity. I also researched, read, and listened to other experts and opinions about self-mastery, life, and especially leadership.
The Three-Legged Stool of Life: Body, Mind, and Spirit
So today, with this inaugural blog, I want to start by discussing a topic I have been working on and trying to fix in my life. Today’s topic will focus on the union of body, mind, and spirit. I examined this idea as I was thinking about my life and direction. At first, I thought of body, mind, and spirit as an isosceles triangle. How each leg could shrink and grow as we paid attention to it, but life still goes on. The more I thought of that, the more I knew/felt it wasn’t right. Then, one day, it came to me in my “thinking chamber” (the shower). This union is more like a three-legged stool, with our life being the seat or the top.
Although each of these legs is important, we can still have shortcomings or overwork one leg or the other while still maintaining a useful seat (life). The problems begin when we have a shortcoming and tend to overcompensate for it with our strengths or another part of our lives. At that point, one leg gets shorter and shorter, another leg gets longer and longer, and eventually, we are going to fall over, and our life is going to be in upheaval.
My Personal Journey
I have never been a fitness guy. I started life very thin and asthmatic. As life became busier and more hectic, fitness was never a priority, so I gained and gained weight. As I experienced stress and shift work, I relied on Mt. Dew and energy drinks, and my weight has steadily increased since my twenties. It also doesn’t help that I am a Nebraska boy who only believes in meat and potatoes. With that shortcoming, I have studied leadership, as well as my coursework to have my Master’s, and have worked within a Lutheran Church and with those in need, so my mental and spiritual legs are pretty strong.
This gives me a stool that at some point will fall over and dump me on my head. I can stay ignorant to those signs or take them in and decide to do something about it. What signs, you may ask? Well, I had a heart attack in my forties, I now have to sleep with a CPAP, my knees hurt, three flights of stairs, and I may need life flight. Little hints like that are my body leg telling me I have problems. It also affects the other two legs, as I get tired and can’t focus as long, shortening my mental leg gains. If I can't focus and get tired, that makes it harder to study and read the Bible or write sermons.
Life Lessons
So, I have learned a couple of life-changing lessons up to this point. The first one was when I was at the Sherman Block Leadership Institute during my career. They taught us and warned us that they would ruin movies for us. We analyzed several movies during this course, including the Band of Brothers series. So now, when I watch movies, I analyze them for meaning. One of the most meaningful ones for me was Kung Fu Panda. The teachings and lessons there are so vital and essential; the one that has had the most effect on me is “There are no accidents” by Master Oogway.
No Accidents, Only Lessons
We can be victims of events, see how the outside world affects us, see how events are trying to tell us something, or how God is pushing us in a particular direction. Once we know that, we exercise our free will to go down the narrow path or continue down the easy path. In this blog and through our conversations, my goal is to keep each other on the straight and narrow; we encourage each other to grow and observe those events. We also can work on our bodies, minds, and spirits together for the next few weeks and try to ensure our lives are balanced and safe to push forward so we don’t fall over.
Join the Journey
So, I invite you to follow along, analyze your own life, and respond in the comments to take this journey with me. God calls on us to be the example, to be the lamp on the lampstand. Because if we don’t have a balanced life, that lamp is going to fall over and go out, or worse, start a fire. So I invite you to join me on this quest to be a light for others and to let that light shine bright. Together, we can strengthen our foundation, let our light shine, and make a positive impact on the world.
Welcome to The Lampstand Leader: A Journey of Growth and Leadership