Inner Leadership Skills
Nurturing the Best Version of Your Self, Moment to Moment
Inner Leadership & The Self
The present belongs to those who are present.
Within each of us, at all times, exists an essence, our life force. Many call it awareness or consciousness. Many call it spirit or soul, the core self, authentic self or the essential self. It is who or what we truly are behind the veil of our personalities and conditioned ways of being.
In our society, due to trauma, adversity and chronic stress, many of us are mostly disconnected from this essence and live from/as our egos instead. The automatic, reactive, survival-based storehouse of self-reinforcing patterns and programs based on all the conditioning of our past. The ego – an umbrella term – is in place to protect us and keep us safe and help us protect our essential needs – but it needs some updating if we ever want to feel fully alive, confident, hopeful, and free again.
Developing the inner leadership skills or capacities below by using various practices & tools taught here at HeartRich, makes it possible to simply be your Self. Many describe it as a state of flow or being in the zone, trusting ourselves and letting ourselves simply be. Meaning, simply being your essence, in real time, without resistance, interference, fear or force.
Spending time connected to our deeper selves is essential to have a vital experience of life and we don’t realize that until we reconnect. Once we do, and live from our core more often, we increase our wellbeing, build our resilience and have a great sense of life satisfaction.
Why isn’t it called Self-Leadership?
That label is reserved for something very closely connected but different. Here is an essay on Self-Leadership and it answers the question there.
In short, Inner Leadership would be all the inner processes to lead ourselves through our inner world of thought, emotion, physiology and will, to get the best out of ourselves in the world. While Self Leadership would be the approach to leading and nurturing all our parts or sub-personalities (selves). When we become Self-Led, we are living from our authentic self – free, confident, compassionate, wise and whole.
Essential Skills for Greater Life Satisfaction, Growth & Wellbeing
Self Connection
Learn to connect with a deeper part of you, the inner witness, become the observer of your inner experiences (thoughts, memories, sensations, urges & impulses). Learn to engage this as a process to observe and accept all your experiences without getting caught up in them. Enjoy this way of being and find that it renews you with vitality and inner peace.
Activating Presence
Learn to wake yourself up from automatic pilot & absent mindedness, be aware, alert and mindful (attending to your present moment experience in optimal ways, e.g. without judgment). Connecting with the ever present now to build a foundation for everything else – living, growing, being with others, working, parenting, leading, driving, having fun, you name it etc.
Acceptance / Allowing
Learn to be open to your full experience, including anxiety and emotional pain. Learning to override or veto your automatic impulses to resist, deny or avoid certain experiences and instead learn to let yourself experience them in a structured way. This helps us be who we want to be even if we experience some fear, anxiety & pain along the way and over time, makes us much less prone to anxiety and other dysregulation disorders/syndromes.
Thought Management (Defusion)
Learn to manage your thoughts, especially the ones that get in the way of taking valued action towards your goals. Learn to spot stinkin thinkin and with many creative tools, you can let those thoughts be there without preventing you from moving forward. Just acknowledge when they’re not helpful and constructive and – let them be and let them go.
Values
Learn what really matters to you, what you stand for, and what you care about. By clarifying & prioritizing your values regularly you find the source of your motivation and will trust yourself to lead yourself on the right path and make choices that will lead to learning and fulfillment.
Engaging Will
Learn to develop your will, your ability to motivate and move yourself into action, whether you enjoy those actions or not, whether you feel like it or not, because it’s almost always easier to take the path of least resistance, which in many cases is based on who you were, not who you can be. Experiencing your own will gives you the confidence and inner power that you can be the person you want to be in moments you usually avoid or fail to show up authentically.
Energy / Vibe Management
Learn to get better at managing and regulating your state of being and how you’re using your energy, in the moment, so you have the best chance to get the best out of yourself. Learn heart-based practices that help you manage your mind, your physiology, and your emotions, so you can fill up your inner batteries, build resilience and be a positive force in the world.
Living Your Values
Using meaningful, values-based goals, with presence & acceptance, taking actions that could usually trigger fear or stress and automatic defenses that (apps – adaptive protective programs), you practice becoming who you really are, even if there is fear, resistance or discomfort. By honoring your values in your goals and in your actions, and overriding your automatic/learned/conditioned and most likely fear-based programming (like avoidance), you strengthen your will and confidence in yourself and pave the way for fulfillment.
Priming Positivity - Practicing Fulfillment
Having learned to accept that discomfort, fear and negative emotions are a part of a meaningful life, learning to prime positive emotions within yourself (and others), lays down tracks to positive states, expansive perspectives and wellbeing. Practice being fulfilled, grateful, appreciative, kind, compassionate, loving and you provide your mind, body and soul with highly resonant and life enhancing energy, which increases your ability to feel good naturally.
The HeartRich Fundamentals
“Get out of your head, drop into your heart, take charge of your life!”
Get experiential training and coaching to help you develop your Inner Leadership Skills.
Personal, Live, 1-on-1 Online Sessions
Does this resonate with you?
Let’s talk.
Seen enough? Don’t want a consultation but want to talk about collaborating? Or something else? Feel free to reach out by email or phone.