Trump and Diana: A Tale of Two Narcissists Part 1

 

Narcissists crave both attention and recognition. In a sense, being noticed and/or praised tends to fill them up temporarily and may give them a fleeting sense of satisfaction and purpose. Yet as it does not have a solid foundation, it can easily be undermined or swept away and will certainly diminish and fade. No matter how hard the narcissist looks to invalidate him or herself, the contingencies of time will make it necessary to have the next fix or dose of what is commonly referred to as their narcissistic supply. This need or desire for attention is not only what drives them, but it is their basic existential building block, while recognition and praise are their drugs of choice.

Since narcissists lack a core identity or personality, they can change ideology and alliances overnight and without rhyme or reason. They tend to align themselves with people who always say yes to them and who constantly and unconditionally applaud their ideas, no matter how detrimental, half-baked, or implausible they may be. At the same time, narcissists tend to shun and eliminate anyone that opposes their plans and ideas regardless of whether the criticism is constructive and the intentions behind them noble and well-meaning. In fact, for a narcissist, there is no such thing as constructive criticism; they see any criticism as a veiled and ultimately threatening personal attack on their very existence.

A narcissist’s worldview is simple and naïve and consists of black and white palettes only: You are either with them or against them. As they lack imagination and feeling and a sense of humor, they only see and evaluate everything in terms of how it benefits them personally at the moment, while they lack ethics and empathy throughout. Everything needs to be about them, and everybody should hold them up as a shiny role model by sustaining them on a pedestal. Trump sees himself as the king of the world, whereas Princess Diana saw herself as the world’s princess.

Finally, narcissists are highly adept at manipulating and controlling others. They may play the victim or the savior card at will, and occasionally they even put down both at the same time. They are good at making you believe that they are on your side and that they embrace, champion, and fight for your cause, but, in fact, this is far from the truth.

They are not the projected and purported shiny examples nor the voice of the people; in fact, all their actions are void of feeling and resonance and their only purpose is to impress others and earn people’s praise as they want to show the world how allegedly wonderful beings they are. I am still shocked that many still believe that Trump has their backs covered and that many still think that Diana was benevolent and caring, but sadly, both aspects and each tale are far from the truth.

 

Trump’s Tale of Lies and Manipulation

It is ironic (but not surprising) that from the first day of taking office, Trump has attacked what he deemed and promoted as “fake news” by virulently propagating his own so-called alternative view and version of facts and events. I remember that we all knew we were in for a bumpy ride when the then Press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to convince us against facts, evidence and not to say common sense that Trump’s inauguration excelled in attendance and popularity.

Two things that mark narcissists are their competitive streak with others and their desire to be - or rather be perceived as - the all-time best. Unlike people who strive for success and put in the extra hour of work and effort, the narcissist can often not be bothered. They expect everything to come to them quickly, handily, and effortlessly as they have an unusually high sense of personal entitlement. Just like their namesake mythological figure Narcissus, they are utterly and blindly in love with themselves, their image, personality, and their supposed and often imagined talents and accomplishments.

Competition looms large but again it is only driven by their desire to be perceived as the best of the lot. No matter what skill or event you talk about, they think they are always better and a step ahead of the rest of us. The actual accomplishments play only second fiddle. One of the main driving forces for Trump - apart from escaping financial ruin, cementing and fortifying his ailing business endeavors as well as escaping the law for tax evasion and malpractice - was his competitive streak with Obama. 

Trump was utterly envious of the success and popularity of the first African American president. Trump’s blatant and unapologetic racism alongside his espousal of racist ideology, groups and actions were undertaken for his own benefit but to also undermine all and any of Obama’s achievement and endeavors; yet, personal vendetta and agenda aside, Trump appears to feel most comfortable in the white-supremacist mindset and the fascist mold.

Narcissists feel they are in competition with everyone else simply because they want to be perceived as the best at everything that they set their minds on. It does not matter whether they have the necessary skills and qualifications. This is also the main reason why everything is in superlatives when Trump talks about himself, while even the greatest accomplishments of others are denigrated, brushed off, and symbolize nothing to him.

In fact, narcissists are so out of touch with reality and common sense that they could see everyone as potential threats, including their own children and family members. For instance, it is not unusual nor out of place for a narcissistic mother to want to seduce and steal her daughter’s boyfriend. Age, beauty, and simple decency are no hindrance to their unfiltered desires.

Yet as long as you are in their good books and unquestioningly obey, adulate and praise them, harm shall not fall upon you for the time being and you may be even promoted. The moment you criticize them, no matter how minor, reasonable, or constructive the criticism may be, the tables will turn all of a sudden, and in the blink of an eye, you will be given the boot, no matter how loyal, devoted and dedicated you have been to the narcissist. This has been clearly exemplified by uncountable turnovers in his administration.

Why do they handle criticism so badly? It is because they try to delude themselves on a daily basis that they are special, important, and intelligent when in reality, deep inside, they are - albeit dimly and subconsciously - aware that this is simply not true. Hence, instead of facing reality, they build a fortress of lies and make-believe in which facts are alternative and malleable and in which they are always right no matter how wrong they may be. Any potential doubt must be squashed to keep their illusions as real as possible and they do not hesitate to lash out at others.

If others criticize them, they are simply wrong. If the media disagrees with them, the news networks are the enemy of the people and their reports are completely baseless and misguided. People, journalists, and news networks that praise his outlandish and fantastical ideas are embraced, praised, and promoted by Trump. The truth has been thrown under the bus and instead, praise and idolatry are what matter most to Trump. It comes as no surprise that most dictators have been narcissists as they can have their way anyway they wish and can liberally impose punishments and even death upon all the souls that raise their voices in dissent.

One of the main problems of narcissists is that they have no core self. And with that, they are empty and void. Apart from an absence of empathy or any type of healthy feeling, they also lack ideals, values, and originality. Trump has always seen himself as a product to market to others. He is not intelligent but smart and knows how to manipulate and influence people. At some point, he may have contemplated running as a Democrat, but he found it easier and more convenient to run as a Republican.

Soon enough, he found his niche, and he tapped into what it was that the majority of the people responded to and resonated with. He was a product in the making and he would receive immediate feedback through his campaign rallies. If the slogans and chants were well received, he would usurp them and develop and build on them. It could be anywhere from Build the Wall to Lock her up. One of his catchiest and most promising ones, that of draining the swamp was also his emptiest of slogans as he merely filled the so-called swamp with his own brand of corrupt officials. The issues and actions may or may not have resonated with him personally, but they certainly worked charms for him alongside Reagan’s borrowed phrase of making America great again.

This also explains his overall lack of being steadfast and committed to causes. Trump would switch opinions at a whim without remorse or explanation. In his case, it does not help that he is astrologically speaking a Gemini who are, even in the best and healthiest of cases, known for having two faces and two personalities. He may be kind to his friends and family members but harsh and demanding with his staff; yet, in the end, neither part of that persona is his true essence as he lacks any core or essence, to speak of.

Trump is nothing but his own distorted projections, and he has lived in an alternate universe all his life. In his universe, his electoral win was a landslide, but the same number of electoral seats of his opponent suddenly turns into an election too close to call. In fact, since the results are not to his liking, he puts the whole election process and democracy into doubt to serve his own megalomaniacal benefits.

The sad aspect is that his followers have fallen for what they erroneously believe he actually stands for and they are in many ways as lost and deluded as he is. In fact, Trump only cares about himself, and absolutely no one else. For instance, he politicized the virus for his own gains and benefits regardless of the countless lives that have been lost in the process. 

He is the worst type of narcissist, the psychopathic one that thinks of his own benefits at the expense of everything and everyone else. And yet, he still has many followers out there who are voting and rooting for him even though he does not give a damn about them; Trump would sacrifice all of them in a heartbeat. He has built an army of sycophants around himself and has done long-lasting harm and damage to his political group of choice, the Republican party with its constituents. 

You can find Part 2 here: Diana's Tale of the World's Most Photographed Woman 

Thinking Systematically and Empathically: How to build and thrive on Innovation

One of the most successful approaches to success and innovation is the ability to think in a systematic fashion. It does not matter what the endeavor or business enterprise may be, it would benefit from approaching it as a systems thinker. Such a perspective and approach will ensure that there is a lack of emotional drama (we could all do with less drama in these overdramatic times of ours), and we are better able at filtering out noise (it feels like everyone is shouting nowadays whether outside, on television or on SOCIAL MEDIA).

It is a perspective that tends to enhance and underscore focus; one can then pinpoint one’s attention on essential and vital information without being sidetracked by unnecessary or irrelevant details. It is generally analytical, poised, and task-oriented, which would be most beneficial for most plans, projects, and undertakings. A systems thinker would preferentially focus on one issue at a time and not get bungled up in multitasking scenarios, which usually - notwithstanding anecdotal evidence or popular folklore - often lead to haphazard and unwanted outcomes, results, and by-products.

It was some time ago I had the pleasure to attend an ETH talk by Ursula Oesterle on Innovation and Global Citizenry in which she explained her own perspective and approach as a systems thinker. Ursula Oesterle currently works for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and is the Vice-President for Innovation and has head years of experience in Silicon Valley. She considers herself (as I would myself) a global citizen; she is a Swiss citizen who grew up in the Philippines.

It is interesting to note that she projected and embodied both cultures. Her analytic way of seeing and interpreting the world was influenced by genetics and her family but her mannerisms and behaviors, a personal nervousness as well as jittery awareness and consciousness of the other, pointed towards her cultural environment and upbringing of the Philippines. In a somewhat similar fashion, my passion, drive, and dedication are in and from my blood, the Persian land I was born on, whereas my thinking has been shaped by my German upbringing and my mannerisms and behavior are mainly a hybrid between German and Canadian values with a dash of Iranian sentiment.

But we are not only formed by our genetics and our childhood and immediate environment, but we also define and refine ourselves through our choices and education, as well as the lack thereof, and this has significant impacts on her thoughts and behavior. In Ursula’s case, her decision to study for a physics degree first, helped her become even more systematic in her thinking and in interpreting the data as well as the world, including the world of business, the field that she entered at a later stage.

In fact, Ursula Oesterle has a progressive forward-oriented outlook as she sees the future as part and parcel of a fiction that we write and create. The past may have given us some tools and materials, yet the future is not set in stone and there is a significant amount of leeway and agency but also personal responsibility that comes with it. Through personal responsibility and concrete actions, we can achieve a potential variety of subsequent results and outcomes. For our goals to materialize and to become a reality down the misty lane of time, we need to always check and obtain feedback on specific data points.

What that means is that we need to have clear and clearly stated outcomes and then have a progress metric to assess and evaluate each of them. This feedback should be based on scientific and demonstratable standards, but, at the same time, they should not be limited nor limiting in scope and extent. Put simply, we need to set our goals and then evaluate over time if and to what extent we have reached them and establish the length of time it took us to get to that point.

Throughout, it is best to have a dynamic outlook. This reinforces the fact that our goals and plans should be not only clearly set and established but they should also be fluid enough and hence not be set in stone; we ought to allow for necessary and productive fluctuations and adjustments. In other words, one needs to have a learner’s mind and approach when it comes to evaluating one’s own level of success and progress. To have a clear plan and a goal for the future is good and beneficial, but at the same time, one must be flexible enough to upgrade and adapt to changes, whenever necessary or advisable.

This is often difficult as many will stubbornly move and plow ahead until they reach their set goals. But this will come at a cost to one’s business and often to one’s pocket as well, so it is the best strategy to learn to reduce as well as to accept and live with a certain level of uncertainty in life and in one’s endeavors. This can be done with the combination of an open mind and a defined system. The information or data points will then give us tangible information about whether the measures in place are fruitful and productive or whether they are misguided or harmful and need to be modified, or even dropped.

For instance, one thing that Covid-19 has taught us is that the digital era is a moment of opportunity instead of a hindrance or obstacle. Many transitions and changes are necessary now in the face and in light of these new circumstances and situations. In many cases, it is about either adapting to or perishing under the new reality. This also gives us the unique opportunity and excuse, if you will, to do something radically different. It is not so much about patching upgrades or repairing parts but rather about building brand-new operating systems. Grander and bolder changes in direction of technology will offer more benefits than ever for those who dare to take the digital leap and accept the risks and dangers associated with such dramatic change and adjustment.

This switch has been seen and felt in the teaching environment. The traditional classroom - the known and familiar source of comfort and pain - has disappeared for the time being. The new reality for many instructors is to conduct and teach virtual and online courses. Those schools and universities who had previously experimented and flirted with such initiatives as well as those who are ready to jump ship and embrace the new horizon of possibilities with its load of challenges and difficulties will be the ones to succeed and thrive in the future.

Yet those who desperately hold onto old-fashioned and inadequate means and forms of education will not be able to survive. It was surprising for me to find out how ill-prepared many, if not most Western teachers as well as elementary and high school institutions have been in the face of this pandemic, whereas, ironically, developing economies and countries, such as the Philippines and Mexico, have been better suited and more willing to deal with and adapt to the changes. As Ursula herself pointed out, this was due to the already used and trodden path and the prevalent infrastructure of televised teaching methods in poorer and rural areas and it did not require nor represent a fundamental nor a substantial existential shift for them.

Another important and relevant switch is the one from manager to leader. We need to put aside the need to micromanage, steadily and constantly telling others what to do and be seen and perceived as the boss, the always vigilant parent. This is an outdated, and might I add, inadequate and counterproductive way of thinking and of managing personnel. Instead, the boss needs to realize and acknowledge that they do not know everything, and instead, they should ask questions instead of giving orders and be willing and ready to give support whenever needed or required.

This kind of openness will invite others not only to participate in work matters but they will also feel validated in the process. This will make a leader out of the previous boss and manager. A leader is someone who does not give orders but manages to motivate and inspire their workers and employees to do their bidding without expressly having to tell them. There is then no need for vigilant presence to ensure that work is done and accomplished as they will do so on their own accord.

People may follow bosses with a grudge or even against their will, but they will follow a leader not by and via force but through their own desire and volition. Put differently, they will come to do what the leader wants them to do and sometimes be inspired to go the extra mile, as the action or undertaking is considered in both of their interests; a content employee is an important and often neglected and overlooked asset to the success of the business and enterprise.

Finally, a combination of both a learner process and a data-driven process is the best path to take for innovation. It is akin to pinging for immediate data and receiving feedback. Sometimes it is confirmation that one is in the right and has chosen and embarked upon the correct path, while on other occasions the data will counter and go against one’s plans and intentions. The best attitude to adopt is one of mindfulness and of letting go. One’s goal should be not about being in the right but taking and continuing the best direction for one’s business. That often means adjusting to reality and the facts and going with the flow.

But thinking systematically will only get you so far. It is best to combine it with empathy. If you are the founder and manager, it is in your best interest to ensure that all those who work for you are not only treated with respect but also with empathy. This will go both ways. Once you take care of the physical and emotional needs of your employees, they will return you the favor by doing their best to make your business succeed further. It is another win-win situation, and it does not entail much of a sacrifice. In fact, as a business leader, it will make you feel even better, both personally as well as professionally.

Zen and the Art of Health and Leadership: A Personal Interview with Ginny Whitelaw

During my youth and young adulthood, I developed a keen interest in Zen Buddhism. Ever since I found out about this mindful and philosophical approach to life during my high school years, it has stuck with me, sometimes right in front of my eyes, at other times in the back of my mind. I was attracted by the idyllic and harmonious beauty of the Zen monastic life that was ruled by stern discipline and devout dedication in the form of a daily regimen. 

When I found out that there was a Zen Institute of Leadership, I immediately knew that I had to talk to the founder and find out more about the organization and its approach to life and leadership.

I was thrilled but also a bit nervous to talk to Dr. Ginny Whitelaw over Zoom. My slightly apprehensive feeling was due to my Zen conception of the stern overlooking master with a stick who would not hesitate to discipline the ones who lack or falter in terms of discipline. Dr. Whitelaw to whom I shall respectfully refer to as Ginny from now on, looked like the embodiment of Zen: she has that stern focused no-nonsense look about her but the moment she spoke, I was immediately put at ease because she oozed warmth, sympathy, passion, and kindness in a measured and controlled fashion emanating from the other side of the Zoom screen.

It is not only in terms of Eastern and Western upbringing, outlook, and experience that she is the perfect combination and embodiment of Zen, but this is also reflected in her own educational and professional formation.

Ginny started off with the dream of exploring outer space. As a child, she wished to become an astronaut, so her parents cleared the kitchen broom closet and used a vacuum cleaner to recreate the environment of a capsule floating in outer space. Space flight to her represented a potential way of bringing peace on Earth and of uniting everyone for a common and universal purpose. In fact, she ended up landing an executive position at NASA for over a decade before she decided to fully explore and dedicate herself to the inner space via Zen Buddhism.

She is no stranger to philosophy either as she has studied it but, more importantly, she has always been curious about life and its purpose and meaning. In addition, she holds a doctorate in biophysics, and she is a Zen Master. Moreover, apart from having a 5th-degree black belt in Aikido, she also has psychology under her belt as she has studied the nervous system and neuroscience in graduate school, and it must certainly help to have a husband who is a psychologist.

All things considered, the interview was very pleasant and went extremely well as we were from the get-go in perfect alignment regarding values and philosophical outlook. The difference lies in the details on how we approach it and the different paths we have taken – her focus is more on the physical aspects, the body, while I tend to put more emphasis on the mind; notwithstanding, the end result is the same: a holistic quest and aim for uncovering and finding one’s true essence as well as reaching a sense of peace and bliss that vibrates through every fiber of one’s being.

I will not attempt to explain Zen, a feat that is deemed not only fallible and impossible but also futile and pointless as well as beyond the point. Put simply, Zen is both a view on life as well as a manual on how to live it. When Ginny talks about energy that needs to be balanced and to flow harmoniously, an inner sense of movement in lieu of stagnation that is reigned by chaos and rigidity in body and mind, I feel comforted by the fact that she is not merely uttering buzz words or providing empty jargon but that she intuitively as well as scientifically is aware of the connotations and the meanings and the implications of those processes.

But science - hand in hand with the Western conception and understanding of the body and of personhood - is severely restrained and limited. Trying to understand human motivation by using logical concepts will lead us nowhere in particular except have us do pirouettes while we anxiously and desperately are trying to chase our own tail. Zen inherently knows about the limitations of both language and rational thinking and this has been its most startling and astounding asset. Our thinking can only get us so far; we need to tap into a world beyond it to fully grasp and experience the world.

This can perhaps be best expressed and understood by the practice of koans. They are riddles that do not have logical answers and I sometimes doubt they have any answer at all. To solve this riddle or at least to come close to a possible solution, we need to put aside the brain, rationality, and language and instead delve into pure intuition and insight.

As Ginny herself puts it, during Zen practice and training, we start off with mountains being mountains, then we reach a point when we see them no more as mountains, while finally, we return to our first understanding of mountains being mountains but this second time around, we see and perceive them through significantly different eyes with a transformed and transcended point of view and outlook.

Language is an immensely useful tool; it has given us science, literature, civilization, culture as well as philosophy and religion but it has its inherent limitations and imperfections. Science can explain many things and it is most useful in understanding processes in and of the world, but at the same time, it cannot touch and reach everything and this is why no one has ever succeeded in the Holy Grail of science: the Theory of Everything.

In addition, our bodies, our “meat suits” according to Ginny, are imperfect in and of themselves; yet it is through this living and breathing device that cosmic energy can flow and which helps us connect and adapt to eternal flow if we manage to set and tune it wisely and mindfully. Put differently, the body is an instrument, which is often out of tune and we need to tune it to resonate with life; we need to free it up from stuck trauma so that it can synchronize with the natural rhythm of life and with the flow of energy.

How can we do this and what does it all have to do with leadership? Although there is a difference in our respective methodology, Ginny’s and mine, I use a mindful existential version of psychoanalysis, while she uses Zen meditation and physical training and activities, it is all about connecting with your true self.

The true self is not the same as the ego, which is a term that is used in both approaches but with slightly different connotations. Generally speaking, in psychoanalysis we want to fortify the ego, which is sandwiched between forces that often seem out of its grasp and control (unconscious processes of the id and the superego), whereas, in Zen, we want to see through its sham and disguise and “battle with the ego armed to the teeth” (it is not surprising that Zen and martial arts are natural allies in that respect) and steal its apparent show and arrogant glamour or more positively to notice that it is merely a mask and often an impostor but not the true authentic self or being. The ego is, according to Ginny, stealing our identity and making us think that we know who we are, but we need to see through it instead of being spun around by it.

This has everything to do with living one’s life and gaining ownership regarding the direction our life will be taking from this moment on. Once we feel connected to powerful energies flowing through and within us, we can gain a sense of peace and a feeling of well-being and happiness. In its activated sense, this is what Zen monks mean when they claim to have their feet half a foot above the ground throughout the whole day.

It is like experiencing a natural and constant high but without using drugs, chemicals, or other types of stimulants. It is the feeling of being both free as well as in control of one’s life to the humble extent that we do indeed and in fact have control over those aspects. It is breaking free from the bonds of earth and gravity and breaking free psychologically from the prison of self. It is finding one’s calling and living it from fleeting moment to moment. It is about figuring out the most personal and satisfactory dance moves while the music of the spheres is resonating through us so long as we are blessed with the breath of life.

At one point through my own exploration of psychoanalysis, there was a moment where I gained this momentary awareness and experience of bliss and I was immediately reminded of Zen Buddhism. It came to me as not too surprising that such a link had already been explored and established to a degree with the work of Erich Fromm and his book Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis.

It comes then as little surprise that a person who feels satisfaction, meaning, and purpose will be not only a more effective leader but will also feel healthier and also have a sound and healthy effect on their surroundings and their fellow beings. Ginny explained to me the approach they take at her institute and it is a manner of switching to the appropriate leadership style of the given situation.

For this purpose, Ginny engages in what is called FEBI during which they test and determine the personal characteristics of each individual joining the program. The result is not only a clearer understanding of the psychological underpinnings and preferences of the individual but also the best way of guiding and managing their progress. As this is not merely a psychological measure but also provides the groundwork for physical and spiritual path and guidance, it will address the person as a whole.

As such, it is holistic and mindful in nature. The goal of this type of training is to provide a different sense of the self in which we are able to see the whole picture and not just mere fragments or distortions of the self. We cannot get rid of the ego, but we can use it as a tool in service of the whole picture. We must keep in mind that the ego has a job to do, that is, to keep us safe and alive but its perception of life and death is immensely distorted and its point of view and method of judging things and events as either thumbs up or thumbs down are limited, naïve and inherently selfish in nature.

In fact, the ego is generally a narrative device, a piece of fiction that merely exists in reference to other parts of one’s being but it tries to freeze-frame our lives and hold us hostage with experiences and stories from the past. But instead of just reacting to the ego and letting it keep us in the confines of what it deems as innocuous comfort zones, we ought to step up and step out and face the world inside and outside of us. We can gain control of this rudderless ship and not just react but guide the light and energy to serve the world. During the messy and confusing time as we are grasping for light and understanding, it is often good to work with a master, whether it is in Zen and through psychoanalysis.

Here, we may disagree slightly. She believes that a master is indispensable for such growth and mindset; I have a more solitary self-made lone wolf approach and think that in some cases it can be done without actual guidance and presence of a master. Yet I do not doubt that the presence of living - and more often nonliving - masters are essential for learning about oneself and for getting set on one’s unique path. Nothing valuable can be achieved in isolation but like the Buddha himself, we must do the work ourselves to achieve insight and to alight the true eternal and ineffable spark within us.

We must be guided not by our tiny and puny ego who thinks it has all the answers (when it clearly does not) but by real and genuine wisdom. And the caveat is that this light and wisdom will not reveal itself nor open up to us unless we are ready for it to occur. Zen is not for everyone but rather for people who are stable; they will have doubts about life and existence but they want to know more and gain knowledge and are willing to work hard.

As mentioned earlier, the end result, whether we embark upon the path of Zen or psychoanalysis is essentially the same. Whether we use inspection, reflection, or meditation, it provides and supplies us with a better way to be and breathe in the world. Our life is then filled with resonance and purpose. We vibrate with ourselves and the world around us and as a system, we interact with the energy and field in our environment. It is not something that can be solved in the head; it is not a purpose or mission statement nor repetitive thinking and behavior. It is about what truly resonates within us, what calls us; a call for action, and a call for transformation, for becoming and for being.

How we resonate with the world is our choice. As Ginny says, we must breathe anyway, so why not get it right and breathe more slowly and more deeply. Why not be a little more grounded and centered and more caring and connected? But resonating with the world means accepting its struggles and its fair share of suffering. We are not immune to that and pain and suffering come as part of the deal with life. And yet, it is suffering that can teach us the most valuable and most life-changing lessons in life. As one of her Zen teachers once told her, there are two great teachers in life, suffering, and meditation, but he prefers the latter when given a choice.

A true leader is someone who acts on behalf of themselves as well as others. A good leader is a person that knows when to focus but is flexible enough to adapt to circumstances and reframe their viewpoints and actions. There are times and situations when we need a narrow focus and other times, where we need to expand our view and look at the big picture. The framework and training that Ginny proposes are learning to use and harness these different styles although we may have certain personal preferences for one or the other. Most importantly, we would learn to reframe and flip from coping with life and surviving to use the energy around us and effectively working with paradoxes and ambiguities.

The leader and the conscious and mindful person would be able to connect the inner with the outer world and work with their fears and self-limiting beliefs. They would bring the future into the present, and this will go beyond being successful but more about realizing and fulfilling one’s purpose in life. And that is also where healing resides as sickness and disease occur when life becomes lopsided, that is, when the energy becomes stuck and there is an overall lack of wellness and balance in one’s life.

For more detailed information, you can check out Ginny Whitelaw’s recently published book Resonate: Zen and the Way of Making a Difference as well as visit the website Embodied Facilitator and you can watch the entire interview on YouTube 

If you prefer to listen to the interview, here is the link to my podcast: Arash's World Podcast