The number Seven is significant in various spiritual, mathematical and cultural contexts. Following are a few key interpretations of the number seven:

1. Religious and Spiritual Significance: In many religions and spiritual traditions, seven holds symbolic importance-

• In Christianity, seven is often associated with completeness or perfection, as in the seven days of creation in the Book of Genesis;
• In Judaism, seven is a sacred number, representing divine completion and rest, as the seventh day is the Sabbath;
• In Islam, there are seven heavens and seven Earths;
• In Hinduism, seven is a spiritually significant number, appearing in texts and rituals.

2. Mathematical Significance: Seven is a prime number, meaning it is only divisible by itself and one. It also has various mathematical properties and relationships, making it significant in number theory and mathematics in general.

3. Cultural Significance: Seven appears in many cultural contexts –

• The Seven wonders of the ancient world;
• Seven days of the week;
• Seven colors in a rainbow;
• Seven notes in a diatonic musical scale;
• Seven seas and seven continents.

For me, there is also a fourth powerful dimension tied to the number Seven, one which holds:

4. Personal Significance: Seven years of profound loss and ongoing remembrance.  Whenever we lose a bright light in our lives, at first there is only darkness.  And then, hopefully and eventually, a new light emerges to attract us and slowly yet steadily guide us forward…

Faced with the death of a loved one, the grief feels insurmountable.  And it would be that way forever if we empowered it to consume us.  My wife, the person who through her fierce dedication to family and  purpose has partnered with me to search for the light, describes grief in this way:

“I believe that Grief is an organic being that lives within the body and soul.  Sometimes grief is quiet and sometimes it becomes so powerful that it is hard to breathe.”

Grief is always there, lurking especially in the dark, and waiting to overwhelm us.  It will do exactly that until and unless we choose to defeat it with positive energy seven times greater than it holds over us.

As I reflect back over the past seven long years, I recall the acorn of an idea that first occurred to me in 2015 for writing what eventually became Leadership Worthy – How Leaders Are Made; my first book was published in 2022.  The inspiration to fully develop my thoughts and learnings emerged out of the darkness through an inspiration to seek the light.  To achieve completeness required (you guessed it) seven years…..

A life well-lived, however short or long, is worthy of celebration.  And, next, it is worthy of emulation.  We owe it to those who have served and sacrificed to carry on and live up to the standards they dutifully upheld.  For they have shown us the way to live and to love.  When we care and then commit, we can leverage good for greater good and Maximize the Moment by the Power of Seven or more!

Tempus Maximize!