Hello,
I'm Clare Downam,
The Soulful Success Mentor,
And this is Innate Leadership,
A guided meditation for CEOs and senior managers.
This meditation was inspired by an article from the Harvard Business Review and looks at the way in which successful CEOs allocate their time.
It's about connecting to your innate leadership rather than looking to the outside world for the answers.
It's about you connecting to your natural leadership abilities.
So let's begin.
The first thing I would love you to do is to just make yourself comfortable.
There's no rules for this meditation.
You don't have to have your feet on the floor.
You don't have to be in any particular position.
Just find a position that's comfortable for you.
And whenever you're ready,
Just gently close your eyes.
And I want you to begin first of all by just noticing the mind.
Notice it chatting about the past and the future,
Thinking about the problems it's got to solve,
All the things that pass across our mind.
And do that with no judgment.
It's all okay.
It's all meant to be there.
It's all part of this wonderful unfolding of life.
Just be present to that.
Just notice it.
Just surrender to it.
Fall into that place of fascination with this moment.
What is here in this moment?
This most magical moment.
The moment that's never been here before and will never be here again.
There's nowhere to get to.
Notice your mind may think there's a goal.
There's a place to go to.
Our minds don't really like the idea there is no goal and nowhere to get to.
Notice perhaps that your mind might be talking about what's supposed to happen.
There needs to be more of this or less of that.
Just acknowledge and accept that goal setting mind.
The mind that says this moment isn't quite enough.
Notice what the mind thinks about that.
Really,
To be in this true present moment,
There's allowing.
Allowing our experience to be just as it is.
And now notice your body.
Notice how your body is touching surfaces.
Notice your clothes against your body.
Notice your clothes against your body.
The different sensations that that creates.
And just take a moment just to trace the outline of your body.
Almost like you're scanning across the outline of your body.
Notice where there's pressure,
Where there's vibrations,
Where there's no sensation.
Just open to this moment exactly as it is.
Perhaps noticing your whole body and the effect that gravity has on your body,
Pulling it down towards the earth.
Notice perhaps where you're resisting,
Where there's something that could drop a little further.
Some part of your body you could let go of,
Allow to be drawn down by gravity.
Notice any feelings that are arising.
Again,
Just like those thoughts without judgment.
Notice those little clouds of emotion just passing over who you really are.
That beautiful sun in the sky,
That beautiful blue sky.
Notice these temporary arisings of emotions.
And know that they are all okay.
Just whatever your body's doing right now,
Just notice it.
It's all part of this moment.
A key part of this meditation is to open up and to trust.
To see that every single thing is welcome.
Everything is welcome.
Nothing is undesired.
Everything is desiring to be included and loved and blessed with your attention.
Let every part of you drop into gravity.
Drop down into peace.
And now just notice your breath.
Notice how really there's not you doing any breathing.
But breathing is just happening all by itself.
Feel the breath.
Breathing is just happening all by itself.
Feel gratitude for your breath as a gift,
An anchor to the present moment.
Because breath only can happen in the present moment.
We can only allow the body to breathe in the present moment.
You're not doing the breathing.
The breathing is just happening.
And just observe that as part of the mystery of everything,
As part of nature.
That same force that's moving your breath in and out of your body is the same force that's moving everything in nature,
Everything around us.
So much more than the mind can comprehend.
Everything is so much more than the mind can comprehend.
And now I'd like you to consider your role right now.
Your role as a leader.
Your role as a manager.
Your role as a change maker.
Visualize now what being a successful CEO looks like,
Being that successful leader.
What does it look like to you?
Perhaps you see those embodied qualities such as confidence,
Decisiveness,
Empathy.
Whatever this role means to you is important.
Trust that you know that you have these innate leadership qualities.
And that in every moment of every day,
The right aspect of those qualities is going to rise to the surface.
Know that you have innate guidance on this.
There are some key areas that you know are important to focus on as part of your role.
But I want you to be really clear that in every moment you know exactly which aspect to focus on.
You notice yourself slowing down and making decisions with ease.
Allowing that slowing down process to be key to every single day of your working life.
There are some key areas that you know are important in your role.
But I want you to see that you know exactly how those areas should be covered and how much time is needed for each.
And that you intuitively have a sense of that.
So each day as you go through your working day,
You naturally are inclined towards the right proportions of these different activities.
Strategy,
Your functional and business reviews,
Networking and communications to develop people and relationships.
Human resources,
Organisational structure and culture,
Your financial activities alongside mergers and acquisitions and time with customers.
For each area,
I invite you to trust.
To trust that you will be guided.
To trust that you'll know when to focus on each area and for how much time.
As you undertake this meditation today,
Settle into a sense that throughout today you will engage with these areas in exactly the way that is needed.
To move the business and yourself towards your goals.
I encourage you to trust these intuitive insights rather than getting caught up in over-analysis.
Trust that you know what to do.
Find yourself guided towards those pauses in the day that make sense to you.
Slowing down to speed up.
Slowing down to allow your intuition and those innate leadership qualities to come through naturally.
Deep within you,
There is innate leadership.
And there is a process by which you can allow that to come to light more and more each day.
Connect now to the feeling of self-trust.
To the feeling of presence.
Feel the truth that you trust your intuition to guide your decisions.
That you naturally embody the qualities of a leader.
Trust that you are fully present in every moment,
Making wise and compassionate choices.
Just settle into this moment and those powerful feelings of confidence and intuition.
And know that you can take those with you into the day.
Remember that any point in the day when you take some time to pause and breathe.
That you will easily connect back into that confidence and intuition.
And that you can always trust every single decision that you make.
That it is coming from that innate leadership that is part of who you are.
In a moment,
I'm going to invite you to bring yourself back into the present moment.
Back into today.
And back into the energy,
The motivation and the excitement to go about the tasks that are in front of you.
So I'd like you now to begin to tune in to the sounds around you.
The things around you in the room.
The feeling of your body,
Perhaps wriggling your fingers and your toes.
And whenever you're ready,
Just open your eyes and come back into the room.
Remember now that your leadership journey is unique.
And that you are already equipped with everything you need to succeed.
I encourage you to use this meditation regularly to further develop your innate leadership abilities.
Your confidence and your trust in yourself.
Take care and much love.
