Leading from the Heart

The three values on which the inside-out/heart leadership is based,?

Courage

Courage has been a huge theme in my life. Ever since I was a child. When I was 7 years old, I was bitten by a dog (it was actually a bitch ). and in just two days, I was injected 8-10 times, which was very painful.?

But the doctor said, "The Boy is very brave," and after listening to it, all the pain I experienced was worth it(lol). I came home with a satisfying smile on my face.

When I was growing up, the whole idea of courage was not to cry when in pain and, at times not even to show that you are in pain.

Courage is still a huge theme in my life, but the idea of courage has changed completely.

The root of the word?courage?is?cor—the Latin word for?heart. The?word?courage?had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant "To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart."

For me, What's the idea of courage now?

Courage now means being vulnerable in front of people, asking for support when required, and most importantly, accepting my mistakes.

Also, to forgive others for their mistakes.

Ordinary courage is about putting our?vulnerability?on the line and keeping the heart open in all situations. In today's world, that's pretty extraordinary.

Compassion

What's compassion?

Rather than talking about what's compassion, let me talk about what are the barriers to compassion?

There is only one barrier to compassion, and that is fear.

Being compassionate is not about being sweeter on the outside and judgmental, resentful, and angry on the inside.

Perfectionism, Judgement, Envy, Comparison, Jealousy, and Anger all arise from a place of fear.

Then, the question is,

How to let go of the fear??

The thing is,

Love and fear cannot co-exist.

Just like light and darkness, day and night, sound and silence.

Fear is the absence of love.

Love is the absence of fear.

Here, it becomes imperative to talk about self-compassion.

But why is that important? What does Self-Compassion has got to do with leadership?

Simply because all our relationships are a mirror of our relationship with ourselves.?

Then,

How to be self-compassionate? Or rather

How to know if you are not being compassionate to yourself,

3 things,?

• Lack of self-care.
• Lack of self-acceptance.
• Lack of healthy boundaries.

The more we love and accept ourselves the way we are, the easier it is for us to be acceptable to others.

The heart of compassion is really acceptance. The better we become at accepting ourselves, the more compassionate we become inside out.

Empathy, kindness, and understanding become the natural outer response when we become self-compassionate.

Yes, this does not happen in a day; it's a process and a journey.

Connection

As a matter of fact, we are wired for connection. It's in our biology. From the time we are born, we need the connection to thrive emotionally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually.

But, What is connection?

In her book, "The Gifts of Imperfection," Brene Brown defines,?

Connection?is?the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued, where they can give and receive without judgment.

When it comes to giving and receiving without judgment,

A critical question to reflect on is,

Is it easy for you to help others than receive help?

Do you get uneasy or uncomfortable when you ask for help or if someone helps you?

It may sound odd at first, but here is the thing,

Until we can receive with an open heart, we never really give with an open heart. When we attach judgment to receiving help, we knowingly or unknowingly attach judgment to giving help.?

A lot of it comes from the cultural idea of doing it all alone, which originates from the fear of not being good enough.

As if the world is divided into two kinds of people,

-the one who needs help and

-the one who helps

But the truth is we are both. We need help, and others need our help.

For me, a Leader is simply someone who can lead his own life; it does not mean doing it all alone; in fact, it means letting go of the myth that you can, or you have to do it all alone, and when you do that you get out of your way, and it becomes much easier to lead your life indeed.

And How you lead your life, that is how you lead yourself, is not very different from how you lead other people.

Because?

All our relationships are a mirror of our relationship with ourselves.

Leadership is not about leading from the front or the back; it is about leading straight from the heart, and yes, it takes a lot of courage and inner work to do that.

P.S. - The longest journey you will take will be from your head to your heart.

If you have read it till here, please share one takeaway. :)

Love