CIRCLE OF TRUST .. For Community and Business Leaders
We are navigating through a major transition in which our world - personally, locally and globally - is changing as we know it.
Much of it is falling apart. Amidst the chaos and confusion, we’re tasked to understand what is happening and how to best respond.
How do we stop the bleeding, while generating constructive action to repair our systems - communal, business, societal, political, …?
How do we develop more effective ways to live and work together?
History shows our societies go through these cycles of severe change.
During these cycles, our community and business leaders are called to step forward for providing the leadership that is required during the current times.
These days, there is an urgency for effectively responding to this major cycle of change. The pace and scope of the challenges run deep.
I know community and business leaders with great heart and commitment to service. Many of them are overwhelmed with the complexity and confusion of their circumstances. They've become absorbed in trying to regain their personal presence while trying to plug the endless leaks in their ship.
So there seems no bandwidth to step back and gain clear perspective about what is happening & needed to create stability & solutions.
In response, it has become incumbent for our leaders to find ways for stepping out of the relentless windstorm and employing a Circle of Trust that can help re-ignite the personal presence of their brightest and best.
CIRCLE OF TRUST
Employing a support-system based in alignment and trust.
Reacting to difficult or "impossible situations" can prompt us to retreat into isolation. However understanding, into resolving, our situations requires a collective effort.
The empowerment of shared purpose and commitment, with and for each other, offers a scope of support and inspiration that is there for you when needed most.
Reaching out for support in these situations requires strength and determination - even when it’s all been exhausted in the struggle.
It is crazy-making to be stuck in the cross-hairs of a daunting situation that has to get resolved. Yet when we need support the most is often when it is most difficult to reach for it. We can be exhausted, leaving us mentally depleted, as well as emotionally raw and vulnerable.
However the challenges aren't going away until they get resolved. This is a time is when we have the responsibility to generate the capacity to reach out for needed support.
Stepping out of the ongoing windstorm into a space of calm and sanity for clearing your head and quieting your emotions.
Easing into the private space for relationship with peers where you can be with and for each other.
Reorienting to the level of relationship where it is safe to release your battle-ready armor and re-learn how to simply be yourself.
Generating the structure and discipline for the needed decompression - spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Our out-of-balance emotion consumes most of our awareness and energy.
It's no small step to refocus, from the entrapment of your "irresolvable challenges”, to generating the urgently needed practice for the basic-needs of your self care.
Developing the calm and agility of a Samurai field general through deepening levels of mindfulness.
Ongoing skill development in mindfulness practices for realizing the dynamics and relationships of your playing field more clearly.
Enabling your capacity to face and progress through any of your situations.
Thinking out loud.
The process of thinking out loud, with others who are with and for you, enables you to realize what you honestly see, think, feel and want.
These realizations enliven the full spectrum of your awareness and intelligence - for enabling the personal-presence of your brightest and best.
Embracing the peer synergy for dialoguing about your situation.
Experiencing the empowerment of being asked about what is important to you, and then being heard AND acknowledged by others who appreciate and understand.
Confidential sounding board for sharing about your situation, generating innovative perspectives, determining strategies, uncovering resources, … ...
Expanding your awareness and perspectives to more clearly understand the dynamics of your current situation, along with ways to foster alignment with the North Star of your desired situation.
Uncover and release fixed beliefs and perspectives that are keeping you locked in the battle-tension and resentment of the struggle - "it’s us vs them”.
Look for and discover the common ground “on all sides” for generating the shared dialogue necessary to create solutions.
Embodying unwavering trust.
Relationship trust in which you continue to develop and be nourished by relationships that are with and for each other.
Basic trust in life that - in some way - you will find access to the insights, relationships, and courage, which enable you to understand and progress through your challenges.
CIRCLE OF TRUST: requires work.
Your commitment to fully show up for the 1-1 and group process of being with and for each other.
Your willingness do the work for restoring your personal presence while developing the perspectives and skills to understand and progress your situation.
It’s work either way.
Simply continue tolerating your situation.
OR engage a Circle of Trust for generating change.
4 STEP ACTION PLAN for finding your CIRCLE OF TRUST.
Who in your current inner-circle will you reach out to for help in finding your Circle of Trust?
What continues or intensifies in your challenging situation if nothing changes? Drilling deeply into this question is an essential step. I find it is often necessary to break through the inertia that is keeping you stuck. I recommend doing it with your current inner-circle, 3x or more, to fully realize the factors and the impact on you and your situation.
Commit 100% to finding your Circle of Trust. If your commitment is less, then continue processing #2 like your life depends upon it. Otherwise you will continue being buried in what is currently consuming you.
Continue utilizing your current inner-circle as a sounding board, with accountability, as you research, reach out, find, and enter the relationship with your Circle of Trust.
Recommend prior articles posted on otanpatrickford.substack.com:
Samurai Mindfulness For The Community and Business Leader, Part 2, August 16th, 2022
The Challenge With Change .. The Way Through It, July 26th
Reaching Out for Support - It’s Not Easy - But It’s Waiting For You, July 12th
Facing Difficult - Even - Impossible Situations, June 14th
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Unwavering Heart: 5 Keys to Living with Fierce Authenticity, 2014
Unwavering Heart: 5 Keys to Becoming your Destiny, 2017
otan@otanpatrickford.com 1.973.229.7174 https://www.otanpatrickford.com