The wise leader knows what is happening in a group by being aware of what is happening here and now. This is more potent than wandering off into various theories or making complex interpretations of the situation at hand.
Stillness, clarity, and consciousness are more immediate than any number of expeditions into the distant lands of one’s mind. Such expeditions, however stimulating, distract both the leader and the group members from what is actually happening.
By staying present and aware of what is happening, the leader can do less yet achieve more.
Mmm. I’m always a fan of doing less and achieving more. Or heck, just doing less… Americans are always about doing, and so little about being. There seems to be an endless quest to do more, get more, achieve more, have more. For what? Here and now is really all there is, and all there’s ever going to be. If you can’t enjoy that, you aren’t going to really ever enjoy anything else.
I tihnk a lot of people get into meditation and spirituality expecting it to take them to some “other” place, or escape from the here and now. But what it’s really about is learning to live even more deeply in the present moment, to stop trying to escape from it and experience it fully. Then you can learn to escape from it and separate yourself from it when you have to. But if you don’t know fully what is here and now, its very hard to separate what is yourself and what is surrounding you. And you also need to learn how to be in the moment to live life most fully.
It’s so great when you actually meet people who are “present” in life. You see the spark in their eyes, that amusement that comes from really being aware of what is going on around you and knowing most people are not aware, not fully present. You can see the dimness in a lot of people’s eyes, as they put in their time at work or run their errands, and know they aren’t really fully experiencing life. You feel a bit sorry for them, try to jar them back to life somehow by saying something startling or even just noticing them at all, since so many aren’t even used to being noticed. Think about parties, how alive people are, and ask yourself where does that energy and spark go the rest of the time?
And never have a meeting without cookies. They really get people into the moment, somehow. I don’t know why, but it works!
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