Leader, if your title is heavy and your soul is tired, you're in the right place. This show is for the burnt out leader who feels spiritually disconnected and trapped in outdated toxic leadership models. Let me help you restore your presence, your peace, and your purpose with grounded strategies and soul rooted wisdom so you can lead your people with confidence, compassion, and conviction. I am your host and guide, Dr. Denise Simpson. Join me now so we can integrate spirit, science, and strategy. Hi, welcome back leader. Happy you are here for another opportunity to reflect, to contemplate, to take a pause because you're a busy, busy leader. And this may be the only chance you get all week to put yourself first. So make sure that you plan to do this every week with me. Put this on your agenda, put this on your calendar. Every Monday, we have a brand new podcast video episode out. And every Tuesday, I live stream the episode. So If you're at work, you can watch it from LinkedIn desktop, or Facebook, okay, or YouTube. Wherever you are, you are able to watch the video. And you can listen to this where you love to listen to your favorite podcast episodes. We're here. Thank you for being here. Thank you for putting yourself first. I have heard from so many incredible listeners out there, and you are all on a very different path. I love all of your paths. I love the industries that you're in. Some of you are at the beginning of your careers. Wow. Thank you for being so brave. You said, yes, put me in the arena. Wow. Especially during these interesting times, you said... Put me in. I can do this. Good for you. Good for you. I'm so excited for you. Or some of you out here are in mid-career and I love to hear from you guys because you are telling me all of the crazy things that are happening in your industries and in your organizations with AI. Because here's what's interesting. You've seen a lot. You're old school like me. I'm mid-career too. So we've seen a lot. We've experienced a lot. And now we're going into a whole other world of AI. And so some of you are sharing what's happening in your organizations with AI. And so, wow. Listen, good for you. You too are courageous. You are here doing the dang thing. And some of you are also on the way out. You are looking for what's next after retirement. So I'm excited for you too. Because you want to take that expertise. You want to take that mastery and you want to go, you know, consult, you want to go do research. Some of you want to go back to school to do something completely different just to have, you know, just to go learn another craft. Oh my gosh. So wherever you are on the pipeline of leadership, whether you just entered it, whether you're mid-career like me, or you are on your way out, exciting for you. So this show is for all of you. This show is for anyone for sure who has a formal title, a leadership title. This is your show, my friend. And some of us out here, however, are... leaders in your communities and in your families and in your churches, right? Your places of worship. And you may not have a formal title in an organization, but you are leading and inspiring some folks out here. So you are all welcome. Everybody is welcome. into this show and especially the work of the Universal Leader, which is the contemplative leadership approach that we take around here. And this is what we do every week. We contemplate. And I want to talk a little bit about This idea that leadership is severing a lot of us from our souls. I had a client ask me about my divine calling. She said, you know, you talk about this divine assignment. Like, how did you know you have, like, when did you know you had a divine calling? And like, did you ever question your path and your purpose? I'm like, yeah, many times. I mean, like a thousand times probably throughout my career. For sure, for sure. But what I did know very early on was that I was designed, divinely designed to serve. That's something that I know all of us, ninety nine point nine percent of us watching can say truthfully about themselves is that you have this inherent pull, this inherent call to serve others. I remembered in my early twenties, I was working on a dual master's of arts at that time. I had already finished my undergrad and then went into working on this very interesting graduate degree. And I talked to my dad about what I was going to do after I got this graduate degree. And I said, you know, dad, I want to move back home and I want to run for office. I want to run for mayor of this city. I love my town. I love the city and I want to come back and I want to get into the arena and I want to learn all about politics and I want to serve my people. And I was so open hearted, so open minded. And plus, gosh, how brave was I? Like what the confidence on this chick? I mean, like I was like, who's going to stop me? Nobody. Well, my dad did. My dad had the power to stop. And he was very successful in convincing me that this would be a very painful road. I remember he said to me very clearly, they don't like Latinas here. Yes, it's a dominantly Hispanic community, but they're not going to like you in office. And I know my daughter, she's so bright and intelligent and you have so much integrity and you are very ethical and there's no way you're going to survive here. And of course, this was, you know, in the late, oh, it was early two thousand, two thousand, two thousand one. Yeah, because I graduated from college in nineteen ninety nine. Oh, my God. My undergrad in nineteen ninety nine. Do the math, y'all. Do the math. OK, do the math. But at that time, it was scary for a father who, you know, loves his daughter and, you know, probably saw me as a shining bright star and said, oh, you come back here and you try to do this and we're going to dull your light, girl. You're going to get kicked out of this town. And I don't want to put you through that. And I took his advice. You know, he was born and raised in the same town. Me too. He's from a different generation and was very deeply connected to the community. So he knew and heard and saw a lot of things. And he didn't think I would be the right person because of my intentions, the right intentions. So I took his advice. And I didn't run for office. And let me tell you, that dream was squashed. I was so devastated. I remember going, well, what am I going to do now? Like, what am I going to do now? That's all I wanted to do was run for office for so long. It was an idea that came into my head. And I was just like, I said, yeah, I just want to serve my people. I want to serve my people. But, you know, had to pivot and had to redirect. And I did. And I found myself serving in other capacities, in other industries. I, you know, I remembered, you know, applying for positions that I had no business for. Like I had no experience in some of these places. And I just said, oh, I could do that. That sounds like fun. Yeah. And I would apply and then I would persuade the hiring manager to hire me. I was so confident in my abilities because I was so passionate about serving people. And all I did was connect what their mission was to what I could do. And they're like, when do you want to start? I can tell you a dozen, yeah, a dozen experiences where I was... not supposed to be in these organizations and found myself in them because of my calling, because of my divine assignment to serve. And I know that that is yours too, especially as a leader, especially as a contemplative like us. I know that your divine assignment is to serve your collective, your people, your family, your constituents, your communities. Wherever you're finding yourself right now, this was put in you. This was assigned to you. How incredible is that? And so many of us along our paths during our journeys, we realize, wow, the divine assignment. is assigning. And wow, I'm like, I'm struggling here. Like, okay, fine, Denise. I have a divine assignment to serve others, but gosh, I'm finding myself right now questioning whether this is the right calling. Am I answering the calling? Is this the right calling? Where am I supposed to be? What am I? Is this, is this true? Is this true for me though? A lot of you are asking yourselves this because you are frustrated, because you are overwhelmed, because you are at the effect of all of these uncontrollable variables in leadership. like your policies in your organization, like maybe the board of directors, maybe like your inherited team, because you didn't hire any one of them, but here you are having to lead this team. And so all of these variables, we call them variables around here. I'm a researcher, love to just neutralize everything. They're all variables, right? And so here you are trying to fulfill this incredible divine assignment. And now you're questioning whether you're in the right place or not. because of these uncontrollable variables. Trust me, you are never going to be able to control those variables. If it's outside of your head and your body, you have no business controlling it or them. So here you are at the effect of these variables and you are questioning, am I in the right place? Because this place sucks. Because I hate my team. Yep. Oops. I said it out loud. I can't stand them. I didn't hire them. They're horrible. They treat me horribly. Or the board of directors, my God, they question everything I do. They undermine my decisions. They undermine my brilliance. And I don't think I'm supposed to be here. Well, maybe you are. Maybe you are. And maybe we're just seeing this in a negative light because you are at the effect of all of these uncontrollable variables. So what can you control? My goodness, you can control a lot within your perspective. You can control a lot within your emotional wheelhouse. You can control so much more than you think you can. And so along our journeys, we question ourselves. Is this right? Is this where I'm supposed to be? Is this my calling? So take a pause with me. Take a beat with me, okay? Just a heartbeat with me and ask yourself, Am I answering my divine assignment? And see how that feels. See what comes up in your mind. But take a moment for yourself and ask yourself that. Is this my divine assignment? Am I answering it? Am I living it? Am I demonstrating it? And maybe the answer is, I don't know. I don't know. And that could be a lot of fog in your brain. It could be a lot of emotions mixed up in your brain, a lot of thoughts, you know, in that gorgeous mind of yours. And that's okay. So this is why we contemplate because we want to be better leaders. We want to serve ourselves so that we can serve others. And that's what you're doing right now. You're serving yourself right now. Okay. No guilt, no shame here. We serve ourselves first. And so we're serving ourselves and asking ourselves, am I answering this divine assignment? So I was talking to a client about her purpose and her divine calling and her assignment in this world. And here's what's interesting. She thought that it was one way. It was this way in this company, in this industry, because her mom retired after thirty years serving this one organization. And she was taught that that's what you do. She said, I was so excited to enter this organization. And she's been there now twenty-five years and said, I'm kind of questioning whether this is the right place for me or not. And I just want it for her to take a moment and take her back to when she first raised her hand and said, put me in that arena. Not that one. I don't care about that arena over there. How about this one here? Put me in this arena. I want to try this out. I said, take me back to that moment and tell me how you felt in your body. Tell me what was going on in your head. Tell me what you were feeling about this whole experience. And she said, oh, I was so excited. So much confidence. She said, I was stupid too, but I was so confident. And so she entered the pipeline of leadership and here she's been in this organization and has risen through the ranks. My gosh, she has seen some things. And now she's questioning whether this is her divine assignment. And I said to her, you are answering your calling. But circumstances have changed. And so have you. And the circumstances that I'm talking about, a new leader, a new CEO, a new board of directors. She has seen so many people come and go. She has some public policies that are impacting her organization right now. And some interesting ones that are really, really impacting this workforce. And so she is at the effect of all of these uncontrollable variables that are impacting her divine assignment. She's questioning now her divine assignment. Because her mind is focused on these variables that she's never had control over, right? Because the mind's interesting. It'll make you think that you have control over people or decisions or policies or whatever. No, here's the reality check. No one has control over anything outside of their minds, their bodies. That includes your children. You don't have control over your children. They have a mind of their own. They have a soul of their own. So back to my client. I just shifted her perspective slightly. It was like a slight degree change. That's all I did. I didn't turn the whole boat around. No, it was just like, why don't we look that direction for just a moment? And it was like a three degree redirect. That's it. That's all it took was to help her see that here's why she was questioning her divine assignment. So we get wrapped up in those variables, those things we cannot control, and we let those variables impact or affect what we believe, what our souls truly believe about our divine assignment. And so if you're in that position right now where you are... overwhelmed frustrated you don't feel like yourself anymore you don't feel like it's the same some of you are feeling apathy i've heard from some young leaders who are apathetic there's no loyalty to the organization because the organization has shown zero loyalty to them I understand that. And they feel like they have zero say, so they cannot make an impact, but their minds actually want to control the circumstances and they're never going to be able to do that. But here they are thinking that they're not able to impact the way they believe they can. Well, no, there's so much more to it, my friend. So instead of exerting any energy, exerting any emotion, they have fallen into the apathy trap. That's when you quiet quit on your organization. A lot of us have done that. I know I have many times because I was at the effect of all of these uncontrollable circumstances. But if you are in that boat feeling apathy right now, I promise you a slight redirect, just a few degrees, just a few degrees off so that we could look at that destination instead of where we were traveling to, right? Instead of that point, we're just gonna move it slightly over and we're gonna look beyond that, the things that we cannot control. Because when we take that redirect and we slightly move into this direction over here, then we're able to ask ourselves, What can I control? What is it that's within my control? Can I control the way I see this organization? Can I control the way I see myself impacting this organization? Because I still have direct impact on my employees. So I serve them every day. I communicate with them every day. I respect them. I do not undermine them. So I still have that control. So you have control in how you want to see this whole situation. And you certainly can change your perspective on whether this is your divine assignment that you are answering. And just give yourself just a few minutes to do that in your body, to do that in your mind, to settle yourself in wherever you're at right now. If you're driving, don't do that. But if you are watching or listening from a space, a place where you can do this, ask yourself, okay, I've been looking in this very interesting direction. I'm going to turn my head slightly. I'm going to turn my head slightly and I'm going to look in a different direction. And that direction is where do I have the control? Because the point of a contemplative is also to reclaim your power. Contemplative, that's the whole point. This is why we descend down below and we anchor into these spiritual principles because we need to reclaim our spiritual authority. We need to renew ourselves so that we can ascend back onto that surface so that we can show the world I have great impact and here's how I'm going to impact this situation. So it's a moment to ask yourself, Where do I have the control? And ultimately, how can I reclaim my spiritual authority and my power here? Oh, it's in how I choose to see the situation. I love that for you. I love that for us. So my friend, wherever you are finding yourself on this journey of leadership, know that you have more control than you think. You have more control than you think. And that's where the true power is. It's not outside of you. It's not in others. It's not in the people that you lead. It is you. You are the power source. And it's also called your soul power. also called your soul so reconnect to it reconnect to it and you get to do that every week with me here okay good all right leader i hope this episode has served you well i hope it has shifted slightly your perspective and just that slight shift that's all it takes that's all it takes you don't have to turn that whole boat around okay it just takes a slight degree change that's it that's all it takes so that you can reclaim your spiritual authority and your power in any situation. So keep answering your divine assignments, but also keep questioning. Keep questioning your emotions. Keep questioning your thoughts and your beliefs around your divine assignment and whether you're answering it right here, right now in this organization. All right, leader. As always, thank you for taking time for yourself today. And should you wish, come and join me inside the sanctuary. This is where we descend intentionally. We descend down below, my friend, because we need to disconnect ourselves from all that mental rumination and chaos and crisis and our organizations and in our bodies and all the things, all the things we do not have control over, we disconnect from that and we descend down below like contemplatives do. So I invite you inside the sanctuary. Check out the link wherever you're watching or listening to this episode to join me ASAP. Have a wonderful rest of your week. I look forward to serving you again soon, leader. Take very good care. Bye. Hey, before you go, if today's episode served you, please consider subscribing or even leaving a review. Or you can share this with a leader who is desperate to find peace right now. Now, if you're craving a deeper refuge, somewhere where you can return to the stillness, I created a sacred space. It's called the sanctuary. Here is where you can reconnect to your divine assignment. Thanks again for listening today, reader until next time. Take very good care. Bye for now.
