During my studies to become a certified Life Coach (a life work in progress), we were introduced to the “Lighthouse” analogy. I love using analogies to paint a clear picture in my Mind, so I want to share this with you. This is from the book, Attracting Perfect Customers by Stacey Hall & Jan Brogniez.
“The authors like to think of a business as a lighthouse “standing strong and tall on the rocky shore of a beautiful harbor”. The water is calm, the sky is blue, and many boats are out at sea. But off in the distance a storm cloud is forming. It approaches the shore very quickly. The sky is getting darker, the waves are getting rougher, and many of the boats are being tossed about in the water. As the rain and the wind pick up strength, the power of the beam of light emanating from the lighthouse increases. The darker the skies become, the brighter the light shines to provide safety and security in the midst of the storm.
Notice that not all of the boats need this beam of light to guide them to safety. Some have more confident captains and crews, and some are fully equipped to manage through storms safely and effectively. Now imagine that the lighthouse gets upset because some of the boats are choosing to follow their own path. The lighthouse feels that it is not successful if its light is not guiding all of the boats in the sea. It sprouts arms and legs and runs up and down the beach acting like a searchlight, doing its best to catch the attention of all the boat captains, attempting to encourage more of them to depend on its light.
What do you think would be the result?
Most likely, the boats whose captains were depending on a steady, constant stream of light to guide them safely around potential dangers would be damaged or destroyed in the chaos and confusion. Other boats might be steered dangerously close to shore so those on board could get a better look at the spectacle. Still others would be perfectly content to stay where they are – out at sea, relying on their own navigational equipment. The result: very few boats would be served well or at all by the lighthouse.”
When I related this analogy to my website āhuatanga (my lighthouse) I wasn’t sure if she was ready to shine her light or stand strong to weather the storms. In fact, I’ve been running up and down the beach with her with the light switch turned off … trying to find the right position for her before I turned her light switch on!! Aue! No wonder I’m tired!
So today when I thought about the evolution of my website, I thought about what I wanted Ahuatanga to represent? And I thought about ahikā – keeping the home fires burning.
In our Māori culture, it’s important for our people who live on our tribal lands to keep the home fires burning for cooking, for warmth, for manaakitanga, for survival, for influence over the land. The home fires were also a beacon to call and guide our people home, back to our turangawaewae, our tribal land, our traditional standing place in this World.
For me personally, it’s also important for us to exercise ahikā individually, within ourselves. To hold influence over our own sacred space. To keep our own internal fire burning, to keep our internal light shining brightly. Shining like a beacon that brings us back to our “I Am” space. A light that illuminates and guides us out of our darkest times and, perhaps, a light that illuminates and guides others out of their darkness.
But like the lighthouse, we’ll no doubt attract negative people or situations into our lives who’ll try to diminish our light or extinguish our fire. It’s at those times we’ll be challenged to maintain our ahikā – to keep our own fires ignited with passion and purpose.
Never let anyone diminish your light or extinguish your fire!
Stand tall and strong like the lighthouse and shine your light regardless.
This is what Ahuatanga represents for me.
