Sustainability of the Spirit

On Tuesday, March 1 Elemental Impact Founder Holly Elmore spoke to the Georgia Tech Engineers for a Sustainable World student group. In her pre-meeting chat with group organizer Nicole Kennard, Holly asked if the group preferred a technical talk on Ei successes | zero waste scenarios or one grounded in motivation | mentorship. Nicole was clear a motivational talk was the preference.

Thus, Holly spoke on a topic dear to her heart: Sustainability of the Spirit!

Holly speaking @ Ga Tech
photo courtesy of Scott Seydel

After inviting the students to participate in a dialogue, Holly used her eclectic professional life experience to substantiate points. First and foremost, Holly emphasized the importance of living from the heart, not the mind. 

How do you know you are living from the heart? If you "jump" out of bed in the morning filled with excitement for the day's activities, you are living in your heart. Life flows with seemingly miraculous synchronicity when living in the heart. Often you smile | glow for no particular reason, simply from love of your life.

Many individuals living in their hearts get goose bumps or strong energy surges when Truths are spoken. A valuable asset, the energy surges serve as an excellent barometer to assess the integrity of a scenario or person.

Learning to "flow" in life is another important asset. When circumstances flow within a project, it is time to focus attention until the flow wanes. Then place the project on a side burner until the flow returns. Awareness of flow, or lack thereof, is essential to maintaining productivity and avoiding "splats."

Photo courtesy of Holly

Holly shared her perspective that life is a river filled with rapids complemented by clear, smooth current areas. When in the rapids of life, "splats" often occur when a rock or other obstacle abruptly stops flow. 

After "splatting," a visit to the shore is essential to dissipate emotions, heal wounds and assess the best timing to re-enter the river. These respites vary from hours to days to sometimes years. Holly shared several examples of her life "splats." Handling the scenario with patience and awareness is key to ultimate success.

Stepping out of comfort zones and taking risks are integral to the social, government and corporate consciousness shifts necessary for a sustainable world to emerge from current chaos. Empowerment of the spirit and complete trust in Self is critical for those in leadership roles affecting substantial cultural change. 

Holly shared another visual: walk confidently to the edge of a steep cliff and keep walking, knowing the air currents will carry you or a soft, perfect landing awaits. It took Holly almost fours years working this visual to walk confidently off the cliff. 

On another note, Holly emphasized the significant role powerful mentors play in developing strong professional foundations. In the first five years out of school, most managers are happy to take an eager young person under their wings. As a person nears 30 years old, solid professional skills are expected and the ideal mentor time window is closed.

In her closing, Holly used the Zero Waste Zones launch in 2009 through their 2012 purchase by the National Restaurant Association as a solid example tying together the many parameters within her talk. It was empowering to witness the student enthusiasm from questions to note taking to sparkling eyes.

The Georgia Tech students are the generation who will take the helm for creating a sustainable world. From her perspective, Holly's role is to mentor, support and applaud the generation as they step into their personal power and live within their hearts.