Leadership as a result

Today is Day 5 of the ‘Whispers from Within’ women’s writing retreat, and we’re done. Given that I do not hold myself as separate from the experience, I am mindful that I am not who I was when I arrived on Monday, and I’m wondering how I’m different. In this moment, even when the details escape me (it’s been a very intense week!), I am clear that I am more than I was five days ago.

I live a magical life! I get paid to engage in vibrant, creative, soul-sourcing, life expanding conversations with others that are designed to be invitations to our own evolution. I get to be open, honest, clear, simple and direct in being present with others and in turn, witness the powerful results when we all discover how to engage in this way. In the blink of an eye, we collectively create in moments that it would take months to create in our usual fashion of hinting, hedging, negotiating, mediating and trying to manipulate what we want. This week, we all discovered what the results can look like from those 60-seconds of authentic presence.

Part of this five-day process included watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth’. This time what popped out for me was the Al Gore enquiry (AGE) of ‘How should I spend my time on this earth?’ following the near-death of his son. Intensity has a way of helping us focus.

This week has been intense – and the clarity of focus that comes with it is life-changing. In that intensity, when I ponder the AGE, I am clear that what fills my soul is engaging with others in conversations that awaken us all to a more potent way to live. And in that exploration, I am drawn to the courage and sense of irreverence that women bring to it.

As I listened to these women engage and interact over the last five days, the notion of ‘leadership’ flashed into my awareness at several different times. It was so clear to me and so simple: leadership is not a verb… it’s not a behaviour but a result that unfolds naturally from our willingness to engage! The alternative is to sit on the sidelines of life and tell stories about how it could have or should have been – and these women tired of their stories and moved on to something else that profoundly changed their lives in five short days.

Breathing is good…..