Day Zero @ SOIL
“Self Leadership” – It is all about those who have passion to rise and conquer!! Conquering here does not mean taking away others’ territories or defeating anyone , it is all about conquering your fear , and ego through unconditional love and determination.
Three months ago when I had joined SOIL , we were introduced to this wonderful topic , which I always believe is the backbone to stand strong under toughest circumstance! Self leadership is about having a strong character. Anil Sir , who is himself an inspired leader , taught this subject, in n interesting way of learning through experiences. It was a “self re-discovery” class. We were also taught about “appreciative inquiry” which helps building compassion and connect with people . The session left us with many insightful questions in mind and motivated us to take more and more responsibilities.
Three months down the line we are once again charged up with this spark of Self leadership…..
The session on self leadership began with explaining the difference between big “S” and small “s”. Big “S” stands for the consciousness and source within where as small “s” stands for what we perceive from our surroundings. Self Leadership is all about balancing body, our perceptions and our emotions. An interesting point was made that our own eyes are larger reflection of our inner voice.
Self leadership teaches us to increase the capacity to be mindful and increase our learning capacity. We were said about the practice of silence. Practice of silence means removing all the clutters from your mind and experiencing the rhythm of breath and uttering of the word “OM” from within. This gives immense peace from inside and helps in discovering the source of inner voice. Heart and mind are in sync and we experience inner peace.
We then moved on to understanding our attitude towards learning. Am I fully aware of my gifts and are am I using them properly? Which habits are helping me to learn? Am I putting the right efforts to learn? Which habits are inhibiting my learning process? These were the few questions which we were asked to think about for a while and then discuss them with our respective partners. This small exercise helped us in finding answers to many of the unanswered questions.
An Interesting point that was brought forward is “Biggest Leader is the biggest follower” . The biggest leader is the follower of the cause. He gives utmost priority to the cause. We were given an example of “fire walk” . How the very thought of a cause for life gives immense courage and strength to overcome any hurdle , was best explained through the “Fire walk” story. A person who has a clear heart and has no ego in mind and is clear about the cause, can muster enough strength and courage to convert the problem to an opportunity.
We were the sensitized by the fact that how Trust+Pride+enjoyment in working with people can create a great place to work with. “Work is love made visible” – is indeed an interesting thought which one can realize only if he trusts in himself , takes pride in what he does , and enjoys the work. Consequently , he starts loving his work.
Then in the second half of the day we were said about an amazing way of overcoming fear and ego through unconditional love. Here we were said about the hidden meaning for the word “HABIT”. H stands for hard to change , If one can remove H , then “A BIT” remains , then remove A ,”BIT” remains , remove B ,”IT “ remains, this I is the ego within which stops us from changing. Once we remove this I factor , T remains which means the “transformation”. So the hidden meaning of Habit lies in the word itself. This was very well explained by an inspiring story from life of Anil sir , about how he quit his smoking habit.
Towards the end of the day , we were introduced to one of the most critical subject called “Immunity X-ray” which explains why people find it difficult to change. We were given a brief exercise to understand and realize “what is the one habit that you want to change?” and “What stops you from coming out of that habit?. It was a very insightful exercise. Then we were able to find out our hidden competing commitments which stops us from changing. Accordingly we have realized the steps that we need to take in order to overcome it.
The day ended with some thoughtful questions like :- “If you want to include a new habit , who do you see have that virtue?” , “What kind of things you are exposed to like reading , observing etc in order to develop that habit?” .
It was a great learning about self leadership and the road ahead to attain this is exciting!!!
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