Facing Our Shadows as Conscious Leaders
Confronted with violence and suffering, we must examine our personal dark side
On Fridays this newsletter usually includes a summary of the latest conscious leadership, future of work, and remote work content I’ve read over the previous week. In light of the trauma America has been processing for the last two weeks, I believe this week it’s important to discuss how conscious leaders respond to the tension.
Conscious leaders understand that we are all one. What impacts one person impacts all of us. How you treat your family, friends, and team will reverberate beyond those immediate relationships. Every encounter has a ripple effect.
What ripples are you creating in your daily interactions?
Becoming conscious—or aware—of your thoughts, feelings, and resulting actions is a powerful way to begin examining how you show up in the world and begin to raise your consciousness through personal growth.
One of the most challenging aspects of personal growth and becoming a more conscious leader is what’s often referred to as “shadow work.” We all have a dark side. It’s that part of you that when triggered feels envious about other’s success, curses at someone in traffic, harshly judges another’s appearance, self-loathes, or lords power over people perceived as subordinates at work.
Even though we all have a dark shadow side, the light within us finds it unconscionable that someone could callously kill another human being. How grateful we are that most people’s consciousness has ascended to the point where they seek to protect life rather than end it. But we still have much work to do because what we see in the world is really a reflection of who we are collectively and individually.
One of my life mantras is Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “BE the change that you want to see in the world.” The way I interpret this wisdom is that if I want to see more peace, love, kindness, compassion, etc., then I need to develop those qualities in my own life. If each of us committed to this work, can you imagine how the world would transform? Instead of pointing fingers and finding fault with others, we would recognize we must first examine our own motivations and actions.
When faced with widespread violence and anger like we’re witnessing or experiencing right now, there are two things we can do. First, we can work on ourselves. The only thing you truly have control over is yourself and how you respond. If we want to see a more harmonious culture, it begins with the individual.
Examine how what you’re seeing in the world may be showing up in some way in your own life. It may not exhibit as throwing a rock through a storefront window. But the energy behind that action, anger or frustration, may show up in other areas of your life in more subtle ways. We are each the product of our own belief system.
What are your beliefs creating for yourself and your world?
Second, we can speak up and take actions we believe will help build a more harmonious society. This is especially important once you’ve examined your own shadows, and are willing to work on them as you help others. Each moment describes who you are and gives you the opportunity to decide if that’s who you want to be.
How are you deciding who you want to be during this time?
You can work on bringing your shadows to the light and processing this darker side. It’s challenging work, but it’s also some of the most freeing, profound work you’ll ever do in your life.
Meredith’s coaching helps conscious leaders step courageously into the future of work. Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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