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Breaking Through Our Limitations
November 19, 2021
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First, From the Heart
We dream. We desire. We wonder. We want to save the world! So often our hearts are called into action, but we hit the wall. Perhaps the wall we encounter is our CEO or board with their fixed mindsets born in the past. Or systems still fueled by competition and scarcity, instead of co-operation, common humanity, and equality.
While we all face plenty of external barriers to compassionate leadership, often the toughest obstacles lie within ourselves. We must confront many painful and difficult truths, often lurking below the level of our conscious mind, to move beyond that which holds us back. It’s why we do the work and practice from the inside out.
No one said this path was easy – it takes profound courage, resilience, and persistence to be the change. It takes each other to carry us through. It takes practice. (Come together as a global community, with guest practice leader Shelly Tygielski, on December 9.)
Most of all, it takes love.
With heart,
Laura
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Best of the Blog
Boundless Leadership: The Breakthrough Method to Realize Your Vision, Empower Others & Ignite Positive Change
by Joe Loizzo and Elazar Aslan
In Boundless Leadership: The Breakthrough Method to Realize Your Vision, Empower Others & Ignite Positive Change, Joe Loizzo and Elazar Aslan show us a path to move from the default survival mode of our distant ancestors to the thriving mind required of compassionate leaders to cultivate a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy world. Read more.
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Research Worth Sharing
A New Paradigm: Toward a User-Centered Social Sector
by Tris Lumley
in Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2/8/17
Even within the nonprofit sector, "Competition, not collaboration is the default mode..." Compassionate leaders are needed in all sectors - for profit, nonprofit, and government - to lead us forward into a world whose survival could be dependent upon our cooperation. Read more in this article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Read the research.
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Practice Matters
The Gift of Limiting Beliefs
For way too long, limiting beliefs defined my life. I felt as if I were confined to a tiny, teeny box. I was never even aware that my overwhelmingly negative ideas, thoughts, and fears were anything other than the truth. Turns out that most of these beliefs were buried deep below the level of my conscious mind. This extensive subconscious collection of shadows ran my operating system – how I behaved, interacted with others, what I felt, and how I viewed the world and my little box in it.
In the lowest of times, I finally started to unravel the riddle. Are these beliefs true? Are the fears real? Where did they come from? What might I start to understand that would calm the suffering and incessant negative mind stuff?
Simply noticing, acknowledging, and naming the beliefs felt like a giant step forward. Learning to have understanding for all the separate and negative selves was another leap in growth. These aspects of me were just trying to survive in hostile, dark environments. I now realize I did the best I could at the time, not knowing any other way to protect myself or process what was going on.
As I attune to my truth in the present moment, I am gifted with joy, wonder, and appreciation for the reality of this life, just as it is. I can welcome the separate and limiting aspects back home with compassion. The old beliefs no longer hold sway over me. With love, they have transformed and merged with my wiser self. The little box is now an infinite field of potential. With practice, I am becoming whole.
When can we practice? Always!
If you'd like to explore additional Practice Matters, you can find them here.
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Upcoming Events
Global Compassion Community Gathering
Attend free community event online December 9
We welcome you to join our inspiring global community of compassionate friends and change makers to spark our collective intention for a more #compassionate world. Our guest presenter and practice leader is Shelly Tygielski, author of Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World. She is the founder of Pandemic of Love, a global, grassroots, volunteer-led mutual aid community that has directly matched nearly two million people since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic of Love is a brilliant example of how one person’s courageous compassion can activate systemic change.
The event is co-hosted by Laura Berland, Founder of the nonprofit Center for Compassionate Leadership, and Monica Worline, co-author of Awakening Compassion at Work, and Research Scientist at The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education | CCARE at Stanford University. Please register for the free event to reserve your spot. Find out more and register here.
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