I've been reading a bit of Deepak Chopra here and a bit of Eckhart Tolle there.... over the last few months/years. Now - I am one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to spirituality (and religion - which I used to throw all in one pot until recently - never distinguished between spirituality and organized religion - it was all the same thing to me to stop people from thinking and accepting responsibility for their own actions).
I've always been the "I believe it when I see it" person .... "prove it to me - otherwise don't even go there..."
Most of that stemmed from not understanding the difference between spirituality and religion.
I am still not a fan of the big organized religions that just take people's money (usually from the ones who don't have much to begin with) and tell you it's ok to suffer in this life so you can be happy in the next life/heaven (funny how the people who are telling you that usually seem to have plenty of money themselves and I don't think they actually have been to heaven or the next life... hmm).
Anyway - having educated myself a bit more recently about spirituality and the big "quantum soup" (I am still a big fan of science - trying to make sense of it all and find the reasons why we are here) I am now in the "it's all one big energy soup" phase - somehow that seems to make the most sense (for now).
Certainly makes it a lot easier for us to accept a lot of situations in our professional (and personal) life that until now were potentially problematic or at least more challenging than they should be.
My current winning combination seems to be Quantum/Tolle/Chopra/Secret (which really is all one thing, isn't it?! Let me call it Quan-To-Cho-Se for now. Here is one interesting technique that is somewhat easily applied in challenging management and leadership situations;
"Surrender/Accept" the situation you are in and things will suddenly go much more smoothly - "don't try to fight the universe". This is such a tough one to practice in everyday management/stress situations, but it is so enormously helpful! I tried to apply this simple concept for 4 weeks and whenever I have been successful, the results amaze me. For example:
I was in one of the gazillion meetings we all seem be in all the time, they seem to be non-stop these days, hard to get any work done sometimes..... and there must have been about 12 people in the meeting room to talk about something that is really actually a very simple matter. I went into the meeting, already annoyed at the thought of having to be there in the first place (but kind of had to be there since it was one of my projects ;-)
When I sat down and looked at everyone, I thought about what I've been reading: Instead of fighting the situation just accept it for what it is, surrender into it. Let go, be at ease and at peace.
So, I did that. Didn't say anything, just relaxed and waited to see what would happen.
Cool stuff: since I did not say anything (just sat there with a Buddha like smile on my face, looking at everyone in a friendly way - they probably thought I had taken a tranquilizer) the colleague sitting next to me started the meeting and it all just kind of flowed from there, people said what they had to say, a productive discussion ensued, we covered several milestones and most everyone went away satisfied (after only 45 minutes instead of the planned hour).
Now, I don't recommend this for every meeting, but I do notice that whenever I come upon a stressful situation and just "surrender" - things really do take care of themselves. "Things" start coming to you. Maybe there is something to it - if everything - and everyone - is all just energy soup, then positive energy will attract other/more positive energy - and everything will go your way. Pretty cool - and consistent. Wow.
I will continue to apply the "surrender" thing to my business situations and see what happens. Wish it were easy all the time....we do tend to get in our own way so often...
My advice: the next time you are in a stressful situation at work, drop everything and relax. Totally surrender to the situation...
Let go....
Breathe....
Let the positive quantum energy soup take care of everything - it will. Pretty amazing.
Did I mention that this is amazing? Deepak says "don't fight the universe". He's right, we can't. Or shouldn't. When we do, "it" fights back......
Surrender...
Accept....
Let go....
...and voila! Success!
How does this relate to "Fearless Leadership"?
It takes true fearlessness to "let go". It's not easy to let go - as a matter of fact - most of the time it is the absolutely hardest thing to do for leaders. Leaders take care of things. Leaders are in charge. Fearless leaders ........... surrender!
Let go....
Be fearless......in a different way........and be successful!
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I think I was in that meeting, Bettina. The Buddha face technique worked great!
But seriously...there is a real power in surrender. As a member of one of those religions you object to, we have a saying, "Let go and let God." Or as my wife will sometimes say, "Offer it up." In other words, stop beating your head bloody against a wall...and let a higher power step in for a change.
Another way of putting it comes from a former co-worker named Thad who would stop by my cubicle, notice my frustration and offer the following advice: "Let go of the banana, friend."
Terry
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