Alana Walker Carpenter is a trailblazer. She has redefined what it means to lead, what success looks like, and the gift that love, compassion, and empathy can bring to the boardroom.
There is nothing that brings happiness like the fragrance of a freshly picked bouquet – even the very first bouquet of dandelions our toddler son once picked for me. There is the happiness of getting a win at work and equally, if not more so, in seeing someone else you’ve mentored get that win. And, then there is the sheer bliss of connecting with an old friend.
All of these moments are beautiful.
Yet, I have found I am the happiest when I have entered into someone else’s deep pain and suffering.
When I‘m able to sit at the bedside of someone who is terminally ill, when I am able to listen on the phone when someone can barely catch their breath through the tears of devastation from their partner’s affair, or when I am able to go for walk and listen to a heartbroken parent whose child has derailed – these experiences of offering the profound gift of friendship are where I find happiness because this is where I am able to offer hope.
I recently saw a commercial with two young guys sharing investment strategies – one had secured his first home with the other friend longingly admiring the new digs. The one friend who achieved success stated, “hope is not a strategy,” but I would beg to differ. Hope is a strategy for happiness. It simply depends on where your hope comes from and if you freely offer it to others.
For me, hope comes from my Christian faith, and that is the very reason I chose to abandon my career in Corporate Canada almost twenty years ago. Consultant to Chaplain is not a typical career move. But I saw it as a solution to the masquerade of pretend happiness – one I was all too familiar with on Bay St.
During the pandemic, a number of people have been soul searching, asking life’s new questions, taking the pause they have never been able to take. There is a common theme of restlessness from wanting to find where one’s purpose and hope comes from – essentially where one’s happiness comes from.
No matter what one’s circumstance there is always hope.
Where is your hope?
Connect with Alana:
Website: https://www.intriciti.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IntricitiALANA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intriciti/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Intriciti/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-walker-carpenter-1754932/
