Tag: leading

Leading the way towards a different Christmas

I am not looking forward to Christmas this year. This will be a Christmas without my son, who is stranded in another country, without a sense of gathering, without the madness of shopping in this busy time and preparing for some big celebration… Indeed… I can recall that this is the time of year where it is often easy to get caught up in family obligations, in the demands of hosting, or to feel lonely because everyone else is reunited and I have no family around.

We may have a very different Christmas, but it may not be that bad! We won’t have to lose track of our own needs as we devote our attention to the people, pets, and places we love. We may be able to take care of ourselves, to seek the light within. We may stand a chance to avoid feeling drained and out of touch with our energy level. We may just be lucky enough to find our way back to resourcing ourselves by ourselves, without the help of external drivers and the outside glamour to feel enriched and fulfilled.

This holiday season may just be what you need! You have a chance to integrate self-care to your schedule, to spend a full hour to let your mind wander, be it on your own or not. Even with close family around and the need to attend to the daily routine, give yourself the hour to go inside and let yourself dream of one thing or another, and restore your energy level thinking of what and whom you love.  This year has been about learning to take care of yourself, and it is time as the year comes to a close to celebrate yourself for it!

Leadership and listening in to our surroundings

I recently received a new lesson in leadership from nature around me. I live in a city, and much of the world I experience daily is dominated and controlled by human beings, whether we spend our time in buildings, cars, or homes. We are “protected” by structures which give us the illusion of control. Rather than listening in to the wind, the rain, we feel more at ease when we can assert our wills and manipulate our environment. I had the good fortune to live in Canada, albeit in the city for many years. I will always be grateful for that time, which helped me connect with nature when entering the forest or sitting on the edge of a lake, listening into another realm, which is simply asking that we drop our baggage, as human beings, and surrender to a different sense of order and meaning.

When we come from urban centers into nature, we may be tempted to bring our cell phone. We may talk loudly to a friend that comes along. We may go by quickly, as we are used to busy city tempo. We can be totally oblivious to our surroundings. Yet, if we tune in to our environment, we will quickly be taken over by a different reality. We will hear birds and other noises like the wind through the leaves of a tree. We will naturally surrender to the presence of nature into a receptive state of openness and listening.

Should you allow yourself to be captivated and calmed by the energy of nature around you, you will notice that you are not leading your life so much as being led by the energy around you. You will discover that this leadership moving through you, originates from outside of you, and feels so much more connected to others and the planet. It is a different type of leadership that needs to be experienced rather than being taught in seminars. It honors our surroundings and our presence in a way that humbles human nature and moves us in a different direction than our own will, away from crumbling structures into a different sense of security.

Taking off

Human beings have always been fascinated by the idea of flying, inventing creatures with wings that can get closer to the sun, eventually developing machines that fly. I actually started to learn how to fly a plane before I had my driver’s license. There is such a sense of freedom being in the air and looking down at our earthly home. The change of perspective is breathtaking. It opens up new ways of looking at things and expands our mind.

Taking off is also a way of escaping our reality. Emotionally, we tend to jump off the cliff of our blockages when the weight of our burden is too heavy. Taking flight is always about freeing ourselves from the pull of gravity on our human condition. As we remember our true nature, though, we realize that this freedom is temporary.

Yet, taking flight can also be a state of mind. Creativity allows us to free ourselves from the burden of reality and the world of forms. Creativity takes you to boundlessness and allows you to experience beyond the constraints of time and space. This is a state of grace in today’s world, to be able to resort to your own creativity to stretch reality beyond the complexity and volatility of this world, in search of what is yet to emerge. Listening in and leading the way with creativity is the path to a new dream beyond the blockage of thoughts and emotions plaguing our human condition. I encourage you to lead with creativity to bring about a new type of leadership, reflecting a greater coherence in our own evolution.

Should you wish to develop your creative leadership skills, I invite you to connect on //www.leadership-alive.com