“Bring your full attention to your breath. Don’t try to control it — just sense the full breath in and the full breath out. If you notice that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to your breathing and start over with the next breath. Don’t judge yourself for your runaway thoughts – we all have them…it’s the act of bringing the focus back to the breath that seems to strengthen the brain’s circuitry for concentration.”[7]
When we are calm in the face of challenge, our breathing is steady, centering, and restorative. There is plenty of air for us to share, so take as many centering breaths as you need until you gain perspective on whether your life is in peril or whether there is a call for your leadership. If your life is in peril, then run! If there is a call for your leadership, then take a breath, get grounded, and decide what to do next.
Water: Ride the Wave to Shore
Feeling overwhelmed and as though you are drowning in everybody’s worries and needs? Your life jacket is the certainty that there will be a way through, under, over, or around the disturbance. Your resilience will provide the buoyancy you need to persist during turbulent times. Resilient leaders use their reasoning mind and their intuitive heart to navigate, innovate, and discover what could helpful along the way. The earth is 71% water and the brain and heart together are composed of 73% water. The human body is built to ride and survive waves of disruption.
Download Article 1K ClubI struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again, I struck it with all of my might — yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature of water.[8]
