How I’m Measuring My Blog’s Summer Harvest

by Lisa Petrilli

Today is the Harvest Moon, generally defined as the full moon closest to the time of the Autumnal Equinox.  This year is actually quite special – the full moon occurs very early today, the very day of the Autumnal Equinox.

Evidently this moon was named as such because before our ancestors had tractors with lights on them this particular full moon, which rises earlier than most, would allow farmers the opportunity to be much more productive at harvesting their fields well into the evening. 

Well, I’ve been reading a lot about Egyptian and Greek mythology lately.  The ancients followed the moon ardently and worked hard for a bountiful harvest.  In learning about it I’ve been harkening back to early civilizations and to how they honored what really matters most in life: the circle of life of birth, growth, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, planting, harvesting, and the music, art, sport, and storytelling that completed their days… 

And though this blog was born just four months ago at the start of the summer,  and the seeds it has planted have been few, my harvest this year is overwhelmingly abundant – full of just about everything having to do with the circle of life mentioned above and in those myths of long ago. 

What I’ve harvested from this blog is simply immeasurable… 

• You have shared with me in the comments, in emails and in Twitter Direct Messages stories of deep personal losses and pain and even of death, which have touched my heart in ways you can’t possibly know
• You’ve shared with me – and with each other – your leadership failures and successes and the lessons gained from both
• The encouragement you’ve given me along the way has brought tears of joy
• So has some of your humor
• The stories you’ve shared with each other have verified that many of you are master storytellers
• Your insights and enlightenment are divinely given and it’s beyond my understanding as to how I’ve become so fortunate as to have you share them here
• You’ve shared your friendship unreservedly
• You’ve shared your own light enthusiastically
• You’ve shared your love

Seriously, how do you really measure this? You simply can’t.

So, in honor of this tremendous blessing that I’ve received, and am still in awe of, I thought I’d share a feast to celebrate – a veritable cornucopia of wisdom!

What follows are just some – a very small fraction – of the inspiring, insightful and thought-provoking things you’ve written in the comments that have been, to me, more valuable than gold. 

I hope that as you read through them you, too, get a sense of the abundant harvest here! Enjoy the feast…

“Be powerful enough to be vulnerable. Be forgiving enough to transform. Be humble enough to transcend. You don’t have to be perfect. Just be enough”.  ~via Robert Rose

“Become valiant at what you do and you will create a cause that will not be defeated.” ~ by Jonathan Saar

“There’s an inner well of wisdom that contains a juicy elixir that we often ignore. In the silence can emerge great creativity. It we can get quiet enough to listen – all else falls into place. Business is hard, but I teach that the competitive edge is that silence. Making decisions from a place of wisdom sans fear. The sign of a true leader.” ~ by Judy Martin

“A lovely definition of intimacy I once heard: Intimacy = “into me I let you see.”  Our fondest hope and deepest fear all in one.” ~ by David Kemper

When it comes to the desire to share…to help another human being….there is no such thing as scarcity. There is only abundance. ~ by Estrella Rosenberg

“When bringing love to leadership I think it helps to know that you will get your heart broken eventually. Being clear on my values has helped me to pick myself up and continue to engage with passion.” ~ by Hans Hageman

“When you mix human vulnerability with attachment to high principles – and add in personal courage – you get a potent leadership combination. I think a good amount of leadership can occur with any 2 of those elements present, but all three – that is rare, and nearly irresistible!” ~ by Steve Woodruff

“Play the cards you are dealt as best you can. Have intent and honor your intent with passion. When your intent suffers a setback, honor it by crying. Then reevaluate and ask what the situation taught you: about yourself, the company, the people or circumstances involved.” ~ by Christopher S. Rollyson

“If I know you are trying to influence me, I will go in the opposite direction…empower me to do something and I will go 100 miles per hour in a positive direction.” ~ by Beth Harte

“The one thing I do know about people is that if you are afraid to accept a compliment, you can also be reluctant to give one.” ~ by Judy Helfand

I’ve known my wife for over half of my life and I am still finding out new things about her… still finding more reasons to love her. ~ by Steve Olenski

“By forcing ourselves to consider the Other, we are able to truly forge connections and leave our fears behind us.” ~ by Molly Cantrell-Kraig

I am no longer afraid to ask. ~ by Kneale Mann

“…there is no failure in happiness. If you’re happy, you’re a success regardless of the size of your house, bank account or follower list on Twitter. Happiness is a personal thing but far too often we’re told it should be somehow measured by outside barometers.” ~ by Tom Martin

“Without risk, we move methodically through the stages of life and as a result, circumvent the path less traveled –the one that leads to success and personal fulfillment.” ~ by Lisa Diomede

“The mystery and mysticism of will: When you mix the power to will into love, a dynamism of change happens. Magic happens. The power to “will” brings definition, design and direction to the deepening and the awakening of consciousness. Creation can become manifestation. Potential becomes actual.” ~ via Robert Rose

And finally the place of honor at the harvest feast table goes to my dear friend Mack Collier who said to me the night before I launched the blog – when I was re-thinking my whole approach, “If you’re not going to write it in your own voice and be true to yourself – then you shouldn’t write it at all.”  That was the lesson that started it all…

Thank you to every single one of my readers who has been here to share this journey with me and has blessed me with abundance beyond my wildest imagination… Here’s to a fall season of abundance for all of us…!

Photo is Songless Under a Harvest Moon by Alistair Craven.

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