Conscious Leadership requires an ever-expanding awareness. What you’re about to read is an excerpt from my first book, published in 1991:  Facticity – a door to mental health & beyond.  I’m sharing this blog post again, originally written in 2018, because we are once again welcoming a fresh new year.  And the desire for more Conscious Leadership is high on the business world’s wish list.

When expanding conscious awareness is the focus, I always find the notion of patterns helpful. Patterns are great at highlighting the fact that life is always in motion.  It’s never a static situation, no matter how much your emotions may tell you it is – whether a pleasant situation or a painful one.

Many things will hopefully change in the coming year, transforming into something new. But there are also things that can only stay the same.  Here’s some food for thought when it comes to recognizing and embracing the presence of patterns.

“… I was eating breakfast with a friend, for probably the hundredth time, when he commented on how repetitious life could be.

That comment caused me to begin noticing many things – how the sun rises and sets each day – how the tide comes in and the tide goes out twice a day – how the seasons continue to shift, every year the same process, summer-fall-winter-spring – how the body requires that we eat and sleep each day.

I began to realize that these seemingly unimportant repetitions were demonstrating patterns of change that could teach me something important about how to live.  What you will read here is what has arisen from exploring these experiences and these patterns…

The most basic pattern all of us experience is change – that constant flow of life shifting and moving always, never static or still for more than moments in time.

Even modern physics indicates the most seemingly solid substance is, in fact, in constant motion at the molecular level.

More outside our awareness is another basic pattern woven inside the flow of change. 

That pattern revolves around the presence of opposites.

This pattern reveals the repeated manifestation of life taking shape through one form of expression and the change of that expression into what appears to the mind to be the exact opposite – day into night, wet into dry, right into left, hot into cold…

Have you noticed that everything on the physical, mental and emotional levels of reality does seem to have a dual nature?  We all experience both good and bad, beautiful and ugly, happy and sad, ups and downs.  At one point, I began to wonder if this presence of polar opposites was an unalterable and undeniable reality?

Could there be a way to relate more harmoniously to the presence of these opposites constantly in motion? Could I do something other rather than continuing to set up what I liked against what I disliked and creating a pretty constant internal battle between the two?

All of us have ideas and beliefs about how to live a happy life.  For almost every one of us, these include a basic unconscious belief that we need to get rid of the dark side of our human nature.  If we can just get rid of the pain, get rid of the pressure, get rid of the argument, get rid of anything that is basically unpleasant, then… we’ll find lasting happiness, peace or love.

We seem to forget that spring only arises out of the winter, and the beauty of the stars can only be seen because of the night’s darkness.”

Conscious Leadership & Patterns

 

Patterns like those mentioned above play out everywhere in daily life, both at work and at home.

Some fall into the category we call routine. Like what you do every morning when you wake up. Or what you do every night before you fall into bed. Your route to work. What you steadfastly eat at least once a week for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  How you relate to your employees or to your bosses. And most importantly, how you relate to yourself in all these differing circumstances.

These are the routines that create comfort and familiarity. On the other hand, they can also be the ones creating distress and boredom. But I’ve found that when I remember change is the nature of things, I can relax and enjoy the unfolding of all kinds of patterns.  But my abilities as a Conscious Leader quadruple when awareness of patterns is allowed to enter the scene.

Your Thoughts?

Are you aware of these patterns rooted in polar opposites?  Do you attend to the presence of polar opposites at all? Are you aware of how you relate to them? In the morning? At noon? After dinner? Annoyance? Frustration? Anger? Acceptance? Welcoming?

May you continue becoming more and more aware of these patterns that make up the fabric of your life.  It can strengthen and empower your desire for staying mindful and present much more than you might realize.

Being unaware of polar opposites is like being a fish who doesn’t realize it is swimming in water. 

It’s empowering to relax with the nature of these repeating patterns. It allows you to welcome the new year with all of its old familiar routines, as well as enjoying an exciting expectation for real change and real transformation.

Learning how to easily, confidently and clearly navigate the presence of opposites and the patterns they create will be my focus in more of my future posts.  So please, stay tuned in – whether you’re drawn to Conscious Leadership, or a bit wary of what it all means.

If you’ve enjoyed this type of content, please feel free to subscribe to my blog at www.RaginiMichaels.com/blog.

Meanwhile, may you be happy, peaceful and live each moment with increasing ease, steadfastness, and balance.

Much love,
Ragini