Being someone who sometimes (ok well maybe often) misses the moment to stop and celebrate the joy, success, achievement of a given moment because I have my eye firmly planted on the future and what’s still to be ‘done’, I have been reminded over recent weeks of the power of taking a moment to celebrate and to share joy and enjoyment with others.
In the organisation world one of the things that comes up so often in the work we do with Executive groups is the need to ‘celebrate success’ as they spontaneously recognise for themselves that they are too focused on ‘what next’.
Celebration is an important aspect of life – it can be a witnessing of achievements, it can be a moment to spread joy amongst a group, it can be an opportunity to honour oneself or a group. What strikes me even more deeply though is that celebration can have a deeply unifying effect…it helps to build connection, bonds, positive shared experiences and a sense of well-being. When done alone, it can be nurturing and empowering, when done with others it can be contagious and amplified.
Celebration tunes us into gratitude and gratitude has immensely positive effects, psychologically – that is both mentally and emotionally. We start to notice the smaller things that we take for granted – in ourselves, in others, in our world, in our life as a whole. The more we celebrate and connect with gratitude the more powerful our radiance will be. When we radiate we strengthen our well-being – a wonderful virtuous circle.
So, it’s worth asking ourselves regularly what can I celebrate today? What and/or whom am I grateful for in my life? How will I make time to celebrate alone and with others? As leaders these are important questions if we want to build a culture of appreciation, possibility and powerful contribution.