I am very excited today about officially introducing my new “brand”. Ironically, I have been thinking, acting, expressing and well…living this idea my whole life and today I am formally recognizing it as a focus for my work.
Honestly, the speaking business is full of people who are constantly re-branding themselves and I don’t say that as a bad thing. In fact, it can be a very good thing if it benefits our clients and audiences. It can also be shallow and self-indulgent which is of course, the opposite benefit. In my case, I am clearly hoping the former rather than the latter is true. I also want to stress this is not a move motivated by desperation. Many in our industry felt that desperation when the economy tanked and the sad stories are countless so I am not insensitive to reality but I was very fortunate that although our business took a hit, we did what we have always done…kept at it with gratitude. That gratitude has given us back so many elements, and enlightenment is one.
The “Two Truths” is not an original thought or expression. When you search the words on the net, you find many references but my favourite is the Buddhist tenant that addresses non-enlightened versus enlightened and in typical Buddhist fashion, it is non-judgemental.
I am not a practicing Buddhist and I am not claiming their form of enlightenment which usually involves a lifetime as a monk and constant pursuit of spiritual clarity. But my own pursuit of answers has led me down this amazing path to understanding what the two truths mean to me. Ironically, what I will officially dub “Alvin Law’s Two Truths” is in its own way that essence. It will be a new motivational program for the stage, probably be the “next book” everyone that read the first one have been asking me about and be a great media interview, but my intention is less a “product” than a belief I want to share so anyone who wants to consider it may reach their own “truth”; something we are all after.
Let me give you one simple example as clearly, there will much more to come. Consider a topic I have addressed in every speech I have ever given…my Mom. In case you are not aware, my birth family made the difficult choice to give me up shortly after my birth in large part after doctors diagnosed I would be void of any abilities or quality of life…one truth as they completely believed it. I was placed in the system and taken in by older foster parents Hilda and Jack Law who were given the same opinion by the same doctors but with no judgement on those experts, my foster parents, the only people I ever called Dad & Mom, simply believed something else; that I would find a way to cope, even thrive. Obviously my parents were right but this isn’t a game where someone is “right” and someone is “wrong”. I view it as a way to see the world but more important, a way to live our lives.
Stay tuned as I am very excited not for re-invention but for further truth that I can only hope will help anyone who wants to better their existence.