Before One Can Lead

…one must be able to follow.

During the years when I was a frequent ashram denizen, I was privileged to offer hours of selfless service. Selfless service was defined as an offering without attachment to the results. So whether it was my responsibility to wash the guests’ bedding, clean the bathrooms, chop vegetables, or lead an evening program, I immersed myself in the service to the very best of my ability without expectation of acknowledgment or reward.

Although these tasks might seem routine and mundane, I always benefited from even the briefest stint as apprentice. All these many years later, I’m still able to fold bedding into neat packets without assistance,  and public speaking holds no terrors for me because I was instructed to imagine I was offering the most delicious plate of chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven!

 

If a brief training in folding sheets has stuck with me and helps keep my linen closet neater all these decades later, imagine the benefits we would all reap with a more willing apprentice in the oval office.