English football fans might have observed that Manchester City’s win over Manchester United last night was dedicated to former player Colin Bell, who had died 24 hours previously.

Manchester City had a cause. A collective focus to win on behalf of somebody else.

In doing so they created a twelfth player.

An invisible force that added extra energy, desire and enthusiasm to their game.

A cause is another name for a powerful REASON WHY.

The reason why you do what you do.

A powerful REASON WHY can never be under-estimated. So many of the great human adversity stories are born out the reason why, whether it be:

• to right a wrong;
• to break a stop situation;
• to do it on behalf of others who are no longer with us;
• to serve a greater or higher cause;
• to change one’s personal situation.

There are so many reasons why to chose from…

Sure, some days don’t feel like reason why days. We show up. Do what needs to be done. And head home.

However too many of these days can lead to a ‘same shit, different day’ mindset, where repetition holds sway, and we lose the connection to the power that moves mountains or makes a difference.

And this is the beauty of a CAUSE.

It can create a shift in power that liberates us from ordinariness. Takes us to a new level of possibility.

Each person’s CAUSE is unique to them.

But find the sweet spot of a CAUSE and you can draw on previously untapped emotional power and energy. Why?

Because a CAUSE is an act of service, a doing something for more than self-serving reasons.

To add into the human story.

And that untapped power is akin to CAUSE power.

Coded into us all, so that we may move beyond singularity into collective thinking and feeling.

Thus a CAUSE only exists because of the human capacity to recognise that there is more than oneself!

So whatever moves you to do, to give, to share, know that each act on behalf of someone or something else makes a small mark on the constantly evolving human story.

And the beauty of a cause is that CAUSES never die.

They are fundamental to collective life in this part of the universe!

NOTE: This post is aligned towards  The Diamond Light. The Light of Values

To capture the spirit of the Diamond Light, I’d like to share a true story that happened recently.

Noah and Sara

I was at a seminar in London. At the seminar were two friends whom I have known a long time, Noah and Sara.

Before leaving the seminar, I asked Noah and Sara, who were both travelling back to Nottingham, if they would like to stop at a motorway services for a snack.

They agreed and sometime later, we met at Watford Gap services. Now as it was sometime past ten at night, the only food counter that was open was McDonalds. So we found a small table and began to chat.

After sometime, I said to them both, ‘I have known you both for nearly 40 years. And you have known me for nearly 40 years, and each other too. So I am going to go into my bag and get something out.’

So I drew out of my bag a Magic Light.

This Magic Light represents the value that has been forged from out of the nearly 40 years of knowing you, I said to Sara.

And the Magic Light was placed on the table, where it glowed.

Then I said to Noah, I am going to go into my bag, where I have something for you. So I went into the bag and produced another Magic Light.

This Magic Light represents the value that has been forged out the nearly 40 years of which I have known you.

And the Magic Light was placed on the table where it glowed.

Sara and Noah were then asked if they would like to place Magic Lights on the table.

So that there were then six Magic Lights on the table.

All glowing.

Now, I said, it’s time for the seventh thing. At this point all the six Magic Lights will merge and form a Seventh Light, and this Seventh Light will be a Diamond Light.

It is a light that cannot go out, because it has been forged on real things

• Devotion
• Companionship
• Trust
• Adversity
• Resolve
• Courage
• Loyalty

And this Diamond Light will be the fortification, the thing we can turn to as we journey into the future. It will be the stability and the holding of good things.

And in the centre of the table the Diamond Light radiated.

It was time to leave, as there was much of the journey still to complete. The Diamond Light was not returned into a bag, but held inside each of us.

And with that we left McDonalds, and headed home. Deeply enriched for this special moment in time.