Trust your inner compass
On February 2nd I attended a very inspiring and valuable Webinar of ChiFactum Institute about 'Humanity Centered Leadership'. Together with all the insights I gained from the courses on 'Consciousness Development' of Jentien Keijzer, and the things I learn from my coachees, the pieces of the puzzle of the paradigm shift we're currently in are falling into place.
We're in the midst of a transition and this requires a different leadership approach. Integrating the mind and the heart, shifing the focus from bottom line (only) welfare to wellbeing and (re-)connecting with ourselves, each other and the planet. Starting with personal leadership and selfawareness.
Besides the evolution process we are noticing in the world around us, more and more people are becoming aware of this transition on a personal level as well. I see it in my coach sessions: the young professionals are very aware of this shift and very eager to change the way we work and 'use' the planet, but they also feel the need to (re-)define their own role in this world and are seeking ways to connect with and live by their own values and purpose. In this blog I share my insights and experience. From 'feeling lost', to 'finding yourself' and reconnecting with your inner compass.
- Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves - [Henry David Thoreau]
Though feeling lost can be confusing, painful, heavy, frustrating and annoying, the realization of “I feel lost, something doesn’t feel right, I don't know what to do?” in itself is beautiful. You can look at it as ‘positive confusion’. You experience resistance, but something inside of you, your inner knowing, is telling you that it is time for change.
It is your body and subconscious mind communicating with you: making you aware that you are ready to transform. The awareness of ‘feeling lost’ itself is therefore THE moment where, very organically, change can begin. Change in a sense of growing, evolving, stepping up your game.
What makes this process so challenging is the unknown, the invisible, the uncertainty. ‘Yes, something needs to change, but how, what, why?!’ Often it starts with certain signals of your body, a feeling inside which you cannot describe with words. Your first response might be to ignore it and to keep on going. Since your mind can’t capture the feeling with words nor rationally understand it, the feeling might seem irrelevant.
As the time passes and the feeling remains, you might experience going back and forth between your ego (your mind talking loudly) and your heart (loving awareness).
Your ego might say: “you’re going crazy, nothing is going on, let’s not overcomplicate things, just work a little harder, focus on the things you can control”. Your ego will do everything in its power to avoid change, to make you stay in your comfort zone and to just ‘fit in’ and adapt to the situation as is, whether it’s comfortable or not.
However, at some point, the feeling will get louder. Whether it be a yearning feeling, stress, unease, sleeping issues, a burnout, or other physical or mental discomforts: it simply wants you to listen.
Again, it is up to you. You can either choose to still ignore the feeling, live in survival mode and seek external answers, or you can choose to trust your inner knowing, explore the feeling and embrace the change.
Yes, it is scary as hell, but it is the only way towards yourself, all the answers within and your authentic life path. Like everything in nature, it’s an organic process of evolving, growing and becoming...becoming more you. A process of breaking free from old patterns & conditionings. A process of (re-)connecting with yourself and learning to trust your inner compass.
Just like a seed growing through the dark soil, but trusting that it will eventually see the sun. Just like a caterpillar going through an uncomfortable journey while evolving into a beautiful butterfly. Just like the moon, trusting that whenever it leaves, the sun will come up.
Trust the process, trust your inner compass and know that it has your best interest. Believe me, you've got all the answers within, sometimes you just need a little help to connect to them (again). But in the end, only you know what your values are, only you know what energizes you, only you know what your boundaries are, only you know what's best for you.
Some periods in life, you might be caught up by the hamster wheel, seek external validation, thrive on your analytical skills and rely completely on your mind (/ego) and be disconnected from this inner 'knowing'. Just know that at any moment in time, you can choose to reconnect with yourself again. Your inner compass is always at hand, sometimes you 'just' need to peel off some layers (beliefs, habbits, patterns) and disconnect from the external expectations and conditionings to connect to your inner authority, your inner wisdom, your inner compass.