???? Leadership challenges and rewards.

Welcome or welcome back.

We’re all leaders. Leading our lives. Doing our best to play the game without the manual.

Each of us ultimately wanting the same things.

Peace, harmony, joy, fulfilment, security, happiness, love, unity, freedom.

Today, I'm writing about the challenges and rewards of 'courageous leadership'.

As always I hope you find it valuable in some way.

Have a great weekend.

Most of my clients are business owners, leaders or coaches.

Some lead teams. Some fly solo. Some fly in partnership.

They engage for different reasons.

But regardless of their reasons...

The common denominator amongst them is they’re up for taking "full responsibility".

And I never ever lose sight of the courage this requires.

When I say 'they're up for taking full responsibility', what I mean is they’re willing to recognise that our outer world is our inner world pushed out and reflected back.

That we perceive the world in correspondence with the thinking we're accepting.

Whilst this connection between our inner and outer world may be self-evident much of the time.

And whilst realising this is ultimately the only truth that sets us free.

It’s still challenging to accept.

For one thing, it can be hard to see...

Which is a major part of my role as a coach.

Helping clients become aware of their blindspots and connect the dots.

To hold up the mirror.

Ultimately, it's only through our awareness of the unity between what we give our awareness to and what we then perceive which supports us to enjoy a lot more of what we love and to make the shifts in our experience we'd most love.

The more aware we are of the 'non-duality' or oneness of what appears to be separate, the more we free ourself from the belief in secondary causes...

And free ourself to consciously tune our awareness to the fulfilment of whatever it is we'd love to experience.

And the more we then get to experience and perceive this.

Yet, knowing others and the world reflect back our inner stories about them and about ourself doesn't necessarily mean it's always easy to make the inner shift.

Not just because the outer appearances seem so independent but because the ego-belief rejects the idea of unity.

Despite this ultimately being what the ego most wants, accepting leaves no room for the ego's No.1 favourite game.

The Separation and Blame Game.

The game in which we unknowingly go into battle with ourself.

Fighting with or trying to fix or improve our own projections.... without knowing they're ours.

In playing this game, we may blame others or the world, invent all sorts of justifications and give ourself a tough time too.

And although the 'ego' - which is simply the core belief in separation - gets to fight another day, there are no winners in its game.

We may experience some relief from having had a rant or have moments of satisfaction from all our activity and striving or from believing we’re right.... but the relief doesn’t last.

Because we can’t push against or resist something and experience any less of it, let alone the absence of it.

It only grows and morphs and we just end up playing whac-a-mole...

And back on the hamster wheel.

Running hard and striving to get our 'outside world' to conform when it has no choice but to conform to our inner state and not our actions...

Whilst continuing to so convincingly appear to be separate and independent!

I have the greatest admiration and respect for every one of my clients.

I am humbled every day.

Partly because I know how tempting it is to want to believe the reflections are independent of our awareness.

Partly because I know how tempting it is to believe that the way to having and being is through doing.

But mostly because I know working with me requires enormous courage.

In the truest sense of the word.

It brings the ego's game to an end!

Courage is all about being vulnerable.

It's about being ok with and trusting the unknown.

Something the separate self (ego belief) is not up for at all.

Even when we're aware of the science and understand the nature of mind and that we project the images of the thinking we’re accepting, the illusion of separation remains very convincing.

Because it's supposed to! If it didn't, life would be no fun at all!

Courage also requires a willingness to have and hold true to a Vision which is greater than we believe possible.

It requires a willingness to think greater than we believe.

And to trust in a vision above and beyond the evidence for it.

Courage requires a willingness to place awareness and faith where there is no belief or prior experience.

It's about being willing to hold to a vision which is bold enough to GUARANTEE that doubt and fear and wanting to lower the bar or go back to what's familiar and what we know will all be part of the journey!

Leading any other way is not courageous.

If we lead from what we believe, the mind is in charge and it’s the opposite of courage.

And as Earl Nightingale clearly stated:

"The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it's conformity".

Because when we conform, we conform to the norm and we do what's normal.

And we go taking action to resolve how we feel or to get rid of our fears instead of recognising that our feelings and fears are outcomes!

We're not supposed to try and get rid of them! That's unnatural and it leads suffering.

When we conform, we use the past and what we know and believe to dictate our thinking and our future.

And we put our faith and awareness in our beliefs, our current circumstances or our history instead of in our desires and what we'd really love.

And even when we think we're thinking and planning for a different or better future, we're using our past as the basis for our thinking!

And ultimately we then suffer.

Because there’s no excitement or thrill in living from what we believe and know.

It may feel safer because it's familiar but the problem is, despite our efforts, the scenery doesn’t change all that much…. because it can’t.

And although we may keep pushing and trying and believing the breakthrough we'd love is just ahead, the oneness between our inner and outer world means...

The breakthrough we'd most love is always exactly that. Just ahead!! Arrghhh!!

The rewards for being courageous are that you come back into alignment with what's natural.

And the mind falls back into line to be the servant of your heart and not its leader.

And the world rises to meet your awareness of it.... because it has to!

?? Whenever you may be ready to explore, here are 3 ways we can work together .