Tag: feelings

Experiencing uncertainty

As I reflect upon the past six months, it feels like a period muddled and unfocused. I am actually unable to distinguish what I did. I can, however, reconnect with the feelings of it all. As I look to the next six months, I am already prepared for a period of fog, where moving through space and time without seeing much warrants slowing down, knowing that where I am going or where I have come from is unclear. I shall keep my eyes open for what emerges from the haze, and mostly feel my way forward.

We may be tempted to pull over and wait for the murkiness to clear. We may also look for the taillights of someone in front of us to follow and make our way along the road. Indeed, most of us prefer to see where we are going and keep steadfast in one direction. Yet there are gifts that come with the fog. Sometimes it takes something like fog to slow us down and think. Involuntary inactivity forces us to see beyond what we may look for, and it may even help us see that the fogginess is coming from within. In reality, we cannot see outside ourselves; the source of insight and light usually lies within.

You can continue to move forward cautiously in the months to come, but you cannot predict when the fog will lift. You can wait for guidance and hope for reliable taillights to follow. But you can also learn to listen for signs, harness your intuition and insights, and distinguish the noise around you from your own voice and clarity within. You will find clarity as you look for your next step, but certainty is becoming increasingly illusive. Let it not stop you. Being clear is all you need. Certainty never lived long anyway.

Vision and leadership

When we cast our sight on what is happening around us and beyond in the world, we may be overwhelmed by the beauty of nature and the colors and shapes of art in its various forms. We are able to read the feelings of others from their facial expressions. We enjoy the ability to read books and look for signs around us to navigate our way forward. We get a sense of control of our environment based on knowledge and the ability to see what is coming our way and where we stand.

At the same time, looking around me these days, I can be just as overwhelmed by what I see. I often feel unable to make sense of a lot of images passing in front of my eyes throughout the day. I register the stress on people faces, as well as the ugliness and fear coming from the wreckage of natural disasters, inhuman treatment coming from all corners of the planet. I often close my eyes; don’t you? Yet I feel compelled to see both sides and the contrast to stay on the edge. Ultimately, I realize how little control I have, and how I am increasingly relying on inner vision to find my way.

You may discover that your eyesight diminishes as your inner vision is meant to increase. Your acuity may be advantageously replaced by an inner knowing that will help you reconsider what you thought to be factual, and navigate the world of fake news more easily. You may lose control over the world around you, but you gain mastery over yourself. Inner vision comes from a place where thoughts and feelings/emotions through your body show you things that are not manifest in the world of forms, but connect you to a part of yourself which operates from a different intelligence, and helps you lead from a different place.

Presence and Leadership

“Who you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying.” Maya Angelou

For a few years already, I have offered posts in this blog about the unique contribution individuals can make to the world and the power we all have to impact our context and the international environment more broadly. I have devoted much attention to leadership skills and self-awareness to lead from a place of integrity. I have spent much time reflecting on our unique perspectives as individuals, based on our experiences, our desires and specific strength, on how we think, feel, and act. I also ventured into the power of vulnerability, investigating how our struggles, failures, weaknesses can become our strength and how our vulnerability can be the seat of our own power. I want to write today about our unique presence.

We have all faced situations where we are called upon to help another through difficult times. We are usually more at ease with concrete actions, be it running errands or meeting specific requests, but how to just “be there” for someone is far less obvious and usually more challenging. It is a matter of holding space for someone to express feelings or simply being silent, offering a safe place. We thus become a container for someone else to pour out the overflow or simply share what is too heavy. This is when presence becomes powerful. Our presence alone may liberate others.

Your presence requires steadiness, centeredness, stability, and benevolence for another to lean in, feeling free, safe, and supported. There is no real need to talk or do anything, just be responsive without taking the lead, but still leading by allowing the other to find balance and dictate the flow of conversation. Being aware and open, you can gently steer another to find a stable place and recover his/her own balance. This type of leadership requires humility and awareness. It rests on the ability to be non-judgmental and step out of the way, realizing that this is not about us, simply allowing for the process to unfold. This is a real gift from your part; one that has not yet surfaced and found its place in international settings.