Creating Space to Turn Inward

Leading With VOICCE® Series.

You're the one who remembers all the birthdays and milestones, not just for your loved ones, but for your colleagues and team members as well. 

While everyone else is brainstorming, strategizing, and building projections, you're noticing who has quietly disengaged, whose tone has shifted from collaborative to apprehensive, and which topics continue to bring the team back to the same dead end.

Your keen awareness is a superpower.

The question is - when is the last time you turned that awareness inward, and what did it feel like when you did? 

The same skill you use every day, often without much conscious effort, is the same skill that can unlock a new level of insight in yourself. 

High-achieving women are often so attuned to what's happening around them and then deploying all their resources to supporting others, that they often miss the same cues in themselves. 

It's not a flaw, but it is an opportunity to build a new practice. 

Imagine what it would feel like to come home at the end of a day, and rather than passing out from exhaustion, you spend time doing something that lights you up inside. Perhaps it's something you usually only do on vacation, or something you usually tell yourself you don't have time for. 

For many women, these simple pleasures can feel inaccessible, but they're not. They just require the practice of creating a little space. And like most new habits, they may take a little time - but wouldn't it be worth it? Energy, alignment and enjoyment, on purpose. 

This week, that keen sense of awareness - point it at yourself. When you grab your morning coffee, pause as you sip. Notice your breath. Notice your feet on the floor. Notice the flavor of the coffee. That's it. There's nothing to fix. Just the practice of noticing.

For some, this practice in itself can be energizing, and for others soothing or relaxing. It's also possible it could bring feelings of discomfort. It doesn't mean something is wrong, but it does teach our minds to scan our inner landscape. If something needs our attention, we're now in a better position to do something about it, or simply acknowledge it. If we choose. But we also don't have to. Not yet. 

This practice is about slowing down enough to connect within. You don't have to fix what you find. You don't have to name it, explain it, or decide anything about it yet. Just let yourself notice it, the way you'd notice it in someone else, before you'd know how to help. That's not avoidance. That's the same discernment you already trust, just given a beat before it has to become a plan. 

There's wisdom there, and a practice that becomes a new way of showing up - this time for yourself. 

Mindfulness teaches us to notice the present moment, on purpose, without judgement, and with curiosity. 

How can you move into your week more mindful - not just of what's happening around you, but of what's happening within you?

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Tian Philson - Leadership Transformation & Decision-Making Coach | Creator of the VOICCE® Decision Making & Empowerment Framework | Helping leaders go inward so they can go upward.