Hi, Leader. Welcome back. I'm so happy to be back right here in my home office. I've been traveling this weekend to see my niece and nephew graduate summa cum laude and magna cum laude. What? I know. There's no shortage of genius in this family. Let me be specific, in my sister's family. Okay. How wonderful to see my niece and nephew growing up and enjoying their lives, discovering their passions. They are on a trajectory that is filled with so much clarity. And it reminds me of when I was in leadership at nineteen years old at the Bath and Body Works store in San Antonio. Yes, I was nineteen years old and someone said, here, let's give her the keys to the kingdom or the queendom, I should say. And I took those keys and I ran with them. I ran with them. And let me tell you what an incredible experience it has been. But because of clarity, because of focus and life is about focus and clarity. Everything that you create in your life is because you have focused on it, whether it was starting a family, you focused on it, whether it was pursuing your education, higher education, postgraduate education, doctoral education, it was because you focused on it and you gave all of your energy to that endeavor. Some of you are maybe in transition right now, asking yourself, I don't want to focus on this anymore. Is there something else I can focus on? Is there something else I could do? Because I'm burnt out, I'm overwhelmed, and I'm exhausted. And I know there's some other things that are waiting for me to do. So it's about focus and clarity. What are you focused on? What are you clear about? And if you're not, well, then let's get there. Now let's get there because the contrast, the contrast that you are experiencing right now in whatever life's circumstances you are finding yourself in, that contrast, and let's be clear about what that contrast is for you right now. Is it despair? Is it overwhelm? Is it stress? Is it exhaustion? So take a moment, take a beat, take some time to contemplate where you are at right now. Are you in transition? Are you curious about what's on the other side of pain? Are you wanting to explore that further? Then now is the time for us to do that as contemplative leaders. Focus and clarity all brought on because of contrast in our lives. We sure the hell know what we don't want, which means our focus is getting clearer and clearer on what we do want instead. Give me more of that. But we can't get there without the contrast. We can't get there without the constraints, without the resistance, without the naysayers, without life's uncontrollable variables. We can't get to clarity and focus without this contrast. And so I'm not saying, hey, let's have more contrast so we can get more clarity. I'm not saying all that, but I am saying... that it's okay. It's okay to be experiencing this right now in your life. It's okay. And as contemplative leaders, our primary responsibility is to get clear for ourselves that Because if we're not focused and we're not clear in the direction we want to go in, then no one's going to follow you, my friend. Forget it. Your children won't follow you. How many of you out here have children that will not follow you? Or how many of you know of parents whose children will not follow them because they're not clear? They're not focused. They're all over the place. Well, the same goes for your employees, your followers, your constituents, your stakeholders, your dogs. I have two right behind me and they don't care. Okay. Forget the dogs. But if you're not focused and you're not clear, the humans are. will not follow you because they will not trust you because your energy is chaotic, because your focus is not focused. You are fragmented. There's fragmentation in your energy and in your focus. Therefore, you're not clear. And what does that do to your follower? Makes you untrustworthy. It makes you scattered. It makes you unsafe. So as contemplatives, we have to pay close attention to our inner world, our inner alignment, the interior. Because you're so focused on the output, but you're not taking time to get clear on the input. On the input. Because I promise you, when you do that, the output is ease and alignment. It just flows. People follow. People are engaged. People are excited. But if you don't get there, my friend, then I promise you, your leadership will be futile. And we worked really hard in these roles. We had a lot of sacrifice, a lot of pain, some of us some suffering, some punishing too. And we are now here and we owe ourselves and those that follow us this work, the work of taking a moment to get clear and focused on what it is you want moving forward. And I bring this up because we... are two weeks away from the end of the year. I don't know where twenty twenty five went. And frankly, I don't care. Leave it there. I'm going to look forward. This is part of being a contemplative. We take our learnings from our past and we take them and we say goodbye to the rest. And then we keep moving forward. This is what contemplative leaders do. It's expansive vision, which is one of our principles. This is what we anchor ourselves into. But we do not forget the learnings. We don't want all that pain for nothing. We don't want it to be for nothing. We've suffered. Some of us have yet to let go of that pain and suffering. And what I want for us to do today is to maybe just drop it, drop it for a moment, drop the pain, take whatever it is and just picture it in a ball, just forming it into a ball. It's like a ball of clay. And you're just molding that pain, that suffering, whatever emotions that have been hijacking your amygdala and your nervous system. And we're just going to put it right here in this ball. It's clay. It's not hardened yet. It's a ball. So it's still malleable. It's clay that has not hardened yet. And I just want for you to take a moment right now to reflect with me. What you're putting into that ball of clay. And picture it. Is it a small ball? Is it as small as a tennis ball? Small as a golf ball? Is it a basketball? Is it a dodgeball? Is it shaped like a football? A soccer ball? picture what that ball looks like for you right now. And remember, it's clay. It's malleable. You remember when we used to play with Play-Doh? And if you have little children, you probably have some lying around in the house, non-toxic Play-Doh. That's what I'm talking about, that malleable substance. So you're forming it. You're putting it into whatever size of ball that you want to put it into. Some of our concerns and worries can be put into a small golf ball. Huh? It's that small. Be a ping pong ball, but it's small and that's okay. But some of us, we may have a bigger ball. Yikes. Maybe the size of a watermelon. I don't know how big your ball is, but take the time right now to contemplate that. This is contemplation in action. This is what we contemplative leaders do. We take these life circumstances and experiences and we take learnings from them. We don't want to harbor them. We don't want to keep them in our bodies. We don't want to keep them in our minds. It's like we're in these mental prisons and we just want to like get it all out. Let's put it in a ball right now, shall we? What size is it for you? What are we putting in that ball? That one circumstance, that one situation, you may have a collection of them. You may not just have one. You may have a set of incredible different sized situations that you're putting and forming into these balls. That's cool too, honey. That is great. I have a handful back here that I have put into different shapes and sizes and Because I need to get them out of my mind, out of my body, out of my nervous system. Some of you go for a run and it's out of your body. Some of you go and eat your little heart out because it soothes the pain, right? You have coping strategies. You have coping mechanisms. And this is just another one to add to your leadership tool belt. What's the size of this one? Is it just the one circumstance? Is it one big situation, but with different memories surrounding that one situation? Well, then put it in that ball and you're going to see it's going to expand. It may expand and that's okay. And what we're doing right now is we're shaping the ball because we're taking it out of our system. We're taking it out of our body and we're putting it into this ball of clay. And then I want for you to just set it aside. It's going to harden. It'll harden. Give it time. It's exposed to air. You're not touching anymore. So there's no heat from your hands. So you're going to set it aside and it's going to harden. And sometimes it's okay to sit back and watch it harden because it's now outside of your body. It's now outside of your mind. It's now outside of your nervous system. So it is now in something external. And here's what's so incredible about this. Once it is hardened, you get to now extract the learnings from that situation. Without it being embodied in your system anymore. It's now outside of you. It is hardened. Now you get a chance to look at it for what it really is. And then we get to extract those learnings for ourselves. Because words don't teach. Life experience teaches us. And what you have experienced in that hardened clay... is worth extracting the learnings from. Don't let all that pain be for nothing. Don't let it be in vain. Take those learnings and then let's get focused and clear on what it is we want moving forward. This is my wish and prayer for you today because twenty twenty six is right here. I can touch it. I can taste it. It is so exciting. expansive vision, one of our principles. And that excites me so much because there's so much to do, so much to be, so much to have. More is more. How exciting. This excites me so much. This time of year gets me focused and clear on what it is I want moving forward. And I owe that to myself and I owe that to my team and my followers and my clients and every single person that looks to me as the anchor in this leadership relationship. I am the anchor and I take this the sacred responsibility very seriously. So I'm doing the work contemplative. That's what we do as contemplatives. We do the inner work, the inner alignment work so that our output, so our behaviors, so that we show up in models as models of excellence. Haven't heard that word in a while, excellence. How many leaders do you see out there in your organization or in the news or on Netflix that are excellent? Haven't seen one in ages. Wow. But you are the model of excellence for your family, for your community, for your nonprofit, for your business, for your team, for your organization, wherever you are leading, you are the anchor and you have anchored into the spiritual principles and the output. Inevitably, is excellence. So do this exercise for yourself. If you are in the office right now because you're still working this week, cool. Close the door. Do not disturb. Put your phone on silent and get to doing some of this work. All this takes is a moment of your focus. And no matter how recent that circumstance is, you can still do this exercise. And maybe it's everything just coming through your hands. Maybe it's the memories. Maybe it's the emotion. But you're taking it out of your body and it's now in your hands. And it's now forming this ball of clay. And that's a five-minute exercise. If you're anything like me, I'll put some earbuds in. I'll put the Calm app. I don't have any affiliation with them, but I love their stuff. I love their... There's stuff for focus, for clarity, for calm, for peace, to help with anxiety, to help with worry, to help with depression, all kinds of things you can find on that app. All I do is put my earbuds in and I pick something from my favorite playlist and I just close my eyes and I envision whatever that situation was. Could have been where I was harmed. Could have been where I was yelled at. Could have been where I disappointed somebody. Could have been where, you know, I said something I shouldn't have. Whatever situation that is for you, all you do is take it, put it in your hands. And maybe it's a moment to close your eyes. And maybe it's just extracting it from wherever it is housed in your body right now. Maybe it's in the pit of your stomach. Maybe it's in your throat. Maybe it's in your chest. Maybe your shoulders, your lower back, the crown of your head. Wherever it may be, close your eyes, envision it, and then transfer it. Transfer it into the palm of your hands. And as you extract, Everything you need to extract from that situation. You put them in your hands and you start molding the clay. And maybe it's just rubbing your hands. Maybe it's actually forming a ball. Maybe it's picking up a tennis ball. You know, a lot of us have some of those stress balls. Maybe it's picking that up and maybe it's massaging it in your hands. I have one up here with a little bear. It's a bear. The belly is a stress ball. I can't squeeze that cute little bear, but that's what it's for. So maybe it's manipulating that stress ball so you could feel it tactile in your hands. And maybe you envision whatever it is transferred into this ball. Remember it's clay and that clay will harden. And maybe after it has hardened and you've extracted the learnings from that ball of clay that has hardened, maybe you go smash it against the cement outside. I don't know. Maybe you take a hammer to it. This is all visualization. I mean, you can take it a step further and actually do it physically. But I do it in a five-minute meditation exercise and I extract things that do not belong in my body. Do not belong in my head. Do not belong in my solar plexus. Do not belong in my nervous system. If it is not mine because someone else put it in my nervous system, it's going to be extracted. It doesn't belong here. So I have to do something about it to get it out of my system. And this is what this exercise is going to help you do for yourself. And this is all again for the purpose of focus and clarity and where we're going into the future. Contemplatives, you, contemplative leader, we take the time to meditate, to pray, to reflect, to contemplate on these circumstances, on those uncontrollable variables that were thrusted into our lives. And now we have the right to do something about it. And this is what we're doing together. Because twenty twenty six is upon us. And it's going to be a glorious year for the contemplative. Mark my words and you are part of this collective and you are on this journey with me and we do this work together. All right, dear leader, I hope this was helpful, especially right now during the holidays with the stress and all the interesting things that are happening in our world and around the world. Take a moment for yourself. You owe this. You owe this to yourself first and foremost, and then secondly to those that you lead. And then head over to Instagram, LinkedIn to DM me and let me know how this exercise worked for you. Dear leader, I am wishing you a wonderful holiday ahead. I will be back next week. We're not going to skip a moment. We're not going to skip a week because I have so much to share with you on what is to come for the contemplative leader. Take good care, all my best and all my love to you and those that you love. I'll see you very soon. Bye for now.
