A deeper you

by Judith F Kennedy, PhD

We are here to lead and yet we are also here to find that dimension in ourselves that is deeper than thought. Finding this deeper dimension, allows us the freedom to be alive and to be the person that others want to follow. There is a way to know yourself other than the identity that you live by everyday. There is so much more.

Be the leader you would want to follow. To be is the optimal word here. It’s not about doing but about being still, finding enough internal solitude and space to understand yourself in way that you have not allowed before.
Lost

“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again saying Here.
No trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wern
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.”
David Wagoner

In the many years that I have worked with leaders, one of the central problems that comes up is the the difficulty in understanding that all things change. Most people who lead want to control. Some for control sake and others because they strongly believe that this is the only way to lead. All things change, and if we expect them not to change and get attached to how things “should” be then there is pain and suffering. In some traditions, it is said that the leader follows “the wisdom of uncertainty”. Understanding and learning to stay centered in the midst of change is a wise way to lead and to live.