Are You A Curious Leader?
Your leadership depends on you being present and awake to you and your patterns that no longer serve you! Without changing your beliefs and behaviors, you will continue to get the same outcome. Yet, every four seconds we are not present to the here and now. It is critical that a leader learns more about themselves to be present and achieve the highest outcome possible.
Do you keep doing what you don’t want?
Do you have the life you want?
If you are not fully living the life you most want - right now - you are dying a slow death. If you have any part of you that is saying you should or have to - you are draining your energy. Those thoughts - should and have to - lead you away from your passion, purpose, and expertise.
Waking up to standing for your whole yes requires saying “no” much of the time. Most leaders say “yes” as an automatic response which keeps them distracted from focusing on what is most important to guide their company. It is likened to a three-star general concerned with which shovel is being used on the front lines - not the most effective use of their leadership.
Unconscious fear (reactive) is the natural state of all of us! It is the way our amygdala (the small part of our protective mind) is wired. Reactive fear scans for threat, prepares for battle, holds the fort, or charges ahead in a single, tight path.
Those who achieve what they desire go beyond reactive fear. They don’t push fear away, but become curious to what their fear is really saying.
Curious fear says: What wants to be paid attention to? What are all the options? Inquisitive leaders feel how their body is responding to their fear and take 3 deep breaths. This very moment becomes the shift to new possibilities.
Taking a pause to breathe and be still, provides a space that opens to a new pattern and different result. You begin to realize fear is here to help you wake up!
When we are reactive, the body and mind go to the flight, fight, or freeze state. It is literally impossible for leaders to create the best answers - as the heart races and adrenaline courses in the body.
Muscles constrict and full breathing stops. So - when you notice you are in this state - breathe. As soon as you notice, take 3 deep breaths. Then ask yourself: how can the opposite of what I am telling myself be just as true or truer? Voila! The mind just opened to limitless solutions!
Make this a practice when you are not triggered. Each morning and night - take 5 minutes to just breathe deeply. It is also loving to your body - lessening cortisol build up. The answer to creating what you want is in the Pause and the Practice
Being curious about your fear, in this paused state, also begins to reveal what you most want! Because of your fear, your wants have gone underground and have not been expressed. What is important to understand is that your wants are your inner wisdom and key to your leadership. This is a common paradigm for many leaders.
Learning to live and align to your whole yes is a practice. Saying no to what is not a whole yes is a practice. When you forget and go into your reactive pattern - stop and breathe again. Keep up the noticing and practice, practice, practice.
To be a radically responsible, conscious leader always starts from within. Get curious about your fear.
Join me on a transformational journey, to a new path leading you out of old patterns that have kept you stuck. Contact me now for a taste of Conscious Leadership Coaching. Let’s talk about what you want and how I may support you!
Email: Debra@DebraSunderland.com Phone: 708.989.1159
To you!
Debra Xxoo
Exquisite Leader. Exquisite Life.