Be the Captain of Your Lifes Ship

In his book, "Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity," author David Whyte explores the concept of work from an internal perspective and how work allows us to become the individuals that we are. He refers to the works of the well-known poet and engraver, William Blake. Whyte uses the analogy of a ship crossing unknown seas to illustrate how we need to be the captains of our vessels. Through a variety of analogies, Wyte has presented work from a different perspective and one that allows us to explore our own potential and how we can better leverage that potential within that area of our life we call work.

Work is viewed not just as a journey through the world, but through the various stages of understanding. Work allows us to give the gifts that we possess and shows us the gifts that we are afraid of receiving.

The voyage that we take in our "ships" also involves change. Change is a necessary component to meaningful and creative work.

Whyte also shares how he believes that the successes we have in middle life can also imprison us as much as our failures. Some of the other interesting concepts he discusses includes: courage, expressive imagination, family ancestry of work and the "edge of necessity."

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P's of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. Her ROI driven process solutions affect sustainable change in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation with a variety of industries. She aligns the strategies, systems and people to develop loyal internal customers that lead to external customers. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for June 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or leanne@processspecialist.com if you are seeking amazing results.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, http://www.processspecialist.com

Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

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