Leading from Stillness
I have a stillness practice that brings peace to my heart, body, mind, and soul. I love it.
I have long had an activity practice that runs away from this peace and toward doing, producing, moving, and accomplishing.
These days I'm exploring how I might embrace both practices in a more integrated fashion. The phrase “leading from stillness” seems to capture these efforts nicely for me. I should mention that I am a firm believer that leadership always starts with self-leadership!
Where might you be able to start leading from stillness?
Presence and Awareness
My concepts of presence and awareness are differentiated by time and structure.
Presence is the state of being in the present moment. This means observing that which is present through sensory input, feelings, thoughts, and intuition. Presence is merely the observation of what is present in the simplest way possible.
Awareness is the practice of imposing meaning of some form into presence. It might be data or story, but awareness begins to take the present moment and place it into some structure that makes sense of it. Awareness need not be a cognitive exercise. It can be the connection between sensory input and feeling, feeling and thought, sensory input and intuition, etc.
The sensation of my toes in the sand would be presence, while observing happiness due to the sensation would be awareness. Feeling that happiness would be presence, while observing how that happiness changes my mood would be awareness.
So in a sense presence is input and awareness is processing the input. Put another way, presence is the simplest form of awareness and awareness is the most complex form of presence. It's more of a gradient than a line in the sand.
Where do presence and awareness dance together in your life?
Love and Parenthood and Humanity
There is something special about being a parent. Nothing can change the relationship I have to my child. I am their father, and they are my child.
In a world where relationships start and end based on romance, geography, politics, and more; It is refreshing to know my parenting relationships is unwavering.
But is this any less true for siblings? Cousins? Distant relatives?
Perhaps proximate genetic relationship could be a reminder that we are all genetically human, and thus in relationship with one another. In that way, my love for my child can remind me to love others. I hope I am a good enough parent to somehow teach that lesson!
Opening the door for another... so that they might open the door for you
Everyone gets upset sometimes. In intimate 1-1 relationships there are inevitable moments when both people are upset at the same time. In these moments, it is as if two people are trying to fit through a small doorway at the same time. One pushing, one pulling; and no one getting through.
What would it take for you to open the door for your partner? To let them through first, so that they can hold the door for you in exchange once they are through?
Dimensions of Self
Here are a few ways I've learned to disaggregate myself for reflection:
“The Greek Ideal” = Mind, Body, and Spirit
P.I.E.S = Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spiritual
3D personality = Clint (serious), Gandhi (loving), and Curly (funny)
Thoughts, Emotions, and Sensations
Thinking brain, Wise heart, and Instinctive gut
How do you prefer to think of the many dimensions of yourself?
Conditioned Mind
Habits. Programming. Behavior patterns. Cycles of activity. These are all ways of describing what I've been recently calling my “Conditioned Mind”. Some people personalize this aspect of themselves, calling it the “Maximizer”, “Task Master”, “Automatic Self”, or even “Possessed Self”.
My Conditioned Mind has been hard at work for years determining course of action based on environmental rewards and punishments. It can be very useful for task completion, but not so useful for self-engagement, authenticity, or awareness.
I have discovered that my Conditioned Mind seems to feel quite anxious most of the time. There is a sense of “must”, “have to”, and “need to” that comes from a place of scarcity. It has felt odd, but liberating, to check in with this anxious feeling and let it pass instead of indulging it's orders with activity.
What is the emotional tone of your Conditioned Mind?
Body, Mind, and Heart
Evolutionary biology, neurology, and even simple anatomy all make it quite clear that our human brain has elements that make us more cognitively advanced than other animals. Yet we still share great similarity with other animals in our organic and physical functions.
Thus it could be said that the mind was built on the body. There is a certain sequence of order and complexity inherent in this relationship.
Thus it is no surprise that the body reacts powerfully with emotions, while the mind calculates and maps with language and thoughts.
Put another way: The body has ancient emotions. The mind has new knowledge.
What of the heart? I believe the heart has wisdom. Could it be possible that the transcendence of both body and mind lie within the wisdom of the heart?
Abundance and Impermanence
I used to believe that abundance was quantifiable. That I could somehow define it, achieve it, carry it with me.
I have recently realized that a field of grass is as abundant as any amount of money or resources. The infinite complexity of nature that surrounds us provides more abundance than any mind can map, measure, or understand.
Abundance awareness acknowledges that there is no end to the availability of beauty and resource. Scarcity is a story and an illusion, perhaps born out of fear of death. Yet death in the form of impermanence weaves poetically and symbiotically with abundance through time and space.
Abundance and impermanence somehow depend on one another. There can only be abundance if reality flows between coming and going; life and death. For without some sense of life and death there would be no sense of more than enough. And there can only be impermanence if there is abundance. Without abundance, impermanence would make quick work of this world. If there were not more than enough, then there would have nothing left long ago.
How could embracing both abundance and impermanence bring wisdom to your life?
I am not my thoughts.
I am not my feelings.
I am not the container through which thoughts and feelings pass.
I am the indescribable wonderstuff that holds it all together as me.
Being one and being connected
“I think therefore I am.” For that to be true my thoughts must be my own. I must be separate from others.
Yet we live intertwined with other humans, flora and fauna alike. Our body depends on breathing air that we all breathe. I remember once hearing that the water that makes up our body used to be dinosaur pee.
Could it be possible that I am fully me and we are fully connected all at once? Perhaps that is the mystery of life itself.