Have you ever noticed the difference in speaking to someone who truly resonates with you in some topic, versus someone who has little or no exposure to it, or understanding of it?
When this happens you will sense an increase in the energy within you. You come alive as the mutual exchange of individual perspectives within your topic of conversation build on each other, developing a more complete picture, resulting in inspiration, creativity, innovation, and more.
I am coming to understand that this exchange is far more than inspiring; it reaches into the realm of validation and even our identity. Its as if we see our self in the eyes of the one who is looking back at us; as if we are exchanging at a level of knowing and being known – touching and resonating with our essence.
No matter the topic it can seem as if we are broken, invalid and irrelevant if we are picking up signals that no one understands, leaving us with a subconscious feeling that parallels a lack of existence. This can rob us of the vital energy and confidence that we need to continue to advance in leading change.
If we want to “be the change (we) want to see in the world” (Ghandi), we will often find ourselves in situations wherein we are not understood by others, and therefore we are going to have to find ways to stay resilient.
Vulnerably, one of my greatest challenges to resilience is understanding my self. One tool that I have been using lately has been proving to be exceptionally effective in this regard.
I took the free online enneagram test that I cited in my last blog post (you can find it here: TEST). I then read up on my “type” profile (here), and I subscribed to the Enneathought of the day (here: Subscribe).
Our resilience is impacted by internal, external and process factors. Knowing this, its still hard for me to describe the impact of these (single sentence) enneathought of the day emails. As I combine the understanding of my sub-persona wiring with these daily reminders, it is as though I am beginning to see an objective vision of the essence of my self in a mirror. It normalizes many of my emotions, and reminds me that I am not broken – encouraging me to continue with a value-based message to inspire heart-full change within the communities of our workplaces.
No matter which of the nine types of the Enneagram you might be, it is possible for you to find some resonance with the essence of your self – which is a great place to start as we reach out to impact the community around us.
Freud was once asked to define the elements of a fulfilling life; he is said to have answered, “to love and to work.”
