Leaders my Leaders, welcome back!
You will never reach your full potential as a leader unless you become an integrated, whole person. You will have the best possible impact, and also have the most inner peace, once you do the work required to fully develop yourself as a person. There are a lot of excellent resources out there about how to accomplish this goal. Regardless of what kind of issue you face, there is hope for you. There are a wealth of options for getting help with specific problems. In this digital age, there is no excuse for not finding free or low-cost resources to make progress on areas that are holding you back. Your local library system can also offer you life-changing CDs, DVDs, and other materials at no cost whatsoever. You don’t have to have a lot of money, or spend endless years in therapy to overcome the trouble in your life. If you can afford therapy and feel it might be useful to you, by all means make use of it. But if you don’t have money to spend to get yourself some help, then make the most of the free resources that are available. This includes 12-Step groups, church, sports, music, the arts, or a lot of other rewarding activities in life. Find something healthy that brings you happiness and peace, that challenges you, and gives you a sense of connection. You’ll grow in these types of environments, and good changes you make in one area will help to improve others.
The bottom line is, we all have issues we are dealing with, and we all have baggage of one kind or another from the past. Maybe you grew up in dire circumstances, or maybe you’ve made such bad mistakes that you feel broken and resigned to a lesser life. Once you’re an adult, it really doesn’t matter whose fault something was, what matters is what you do to move past it. You will miss out on opportunities to have a happy life if you remain fragmented or compartmentalized. Unless you’ve faced your own darkness, you’ll have blind spots that will be readily apparent to others. You’ll have an inner angst that will gnaw at you, and that will show up in a variety of ways in your life. People want to help those who are sincerely doing their own work. They don’t want to help people who refuse to live in reality, or who have a bad attitude. Be fully awake to your own life, in it’s entirety. Face it, fix it, and flourish!
Next week we’ll talk about the 5 primary issues that can hold a leader back. Until then beloved ones, keep reaching for a better you!
