Day 5: Develop Your Stable Inner Leader
Welcome to Day 5 of 21 Days on the Mountain. The focus of our Power of Pause practice today is interconnectedness, and how we are all part of a bigger pattern, a bigger system and ecosystem.
Evolving Leadership is grounded in the principle that to lead others, you must first know and master yourself.
Becoming a Stable Inner Leader and practising Balanced Awareness involves tuning into what’s happening within you, but also becoming more aware of who is around you and what is going on around you.
So join me in our video today to experience the peace and tranquility of an Alpine forest. Take time to create space in your busy schedule and enjoy some simple moments of calm and inner stillness.
Video Transcript
Hello and welcome to 21 Days On The Mountain, a chance for us to pause together for a few minutes. And it’s a beautiful sunny day here today you know, the air temperature has warmed right up, I have taken my jacket off and I’m sitting here on a tree trunk. Next to a whole swathe of tree trunks that a local logger has placed here to sell, probably to sawmills. And I’ve been sitting here for a while as we’ve been setting up this shot, listening to the bird song, but also reflecting on the sustainable forestry that this village has been practising for generations. We’re surrounded by woodland and it’s fascinating to observe the way it’s managed sustainably.
So it feels ok to be sitting on this trunk, knowing that ultimately it’s going to be feeding people’s livelihoods. Carpenters, chalet builders, lots of different artisans, hugely skilled artisans learning from their forefathers, making tables and chairs and building houses for people to live in. So when I reflect on everything that went into putting this trunk here, and these others, when I think of all the people, all the loggers who’ve come before or gone before the logger who placed these trunks here, when I think of the service that he’s providing, the livelihoods that he’s feeding, the forests and woodlands that he’s sustaining, I get a sense of the interconnection of all of that.
And sitting here listening to the waterfall, a riverbed behind over there that’s got a gentle stream flowing through it, and of course the ever-present birdsong for which I’m very thankful, suddenly it’s as if being here in this moment is part of some bigger pattern.
Now you might say you know it’s easy for me to say that, in an Alpine village away from all the churn and hassle of a town or a city – that I know isn’t churning and hassling much at the moment as we’re all confined indoors but even so, I have the huge privilege of being here in this place. But that’s why I’m sharing it with you. If you’re not currently in the position to come here, which you’re not, and if you’re not currently in a place where this kind of scenery is accessible, then my intention in these 21 days of 10-minute or so videos, is to bring it to you.
So let’s pause. And let’s think about where we are now. And where you are now is sitting or standing or kneeling or whatever and listening to this. And in doing that, you are here too. And if you notice thoughts arising of, well, whatever thoughts you notice arising, just notice them, and bring yourself back to being here. And our three-step pause tool can help you do that, can help you come into this present moment, listen inside, follow your breath and become more present in this moment.
So let’s do that together now. I’m going to close my eyes as I always do to help me concentrate. I’m going to place my hand on my solar plexus that I talked to you about yesterday, and I invite you to do the same. So as you pause, as you focus into this space between your sternum and your navel, as you follow your breath into your body, and out of your body, as you notice your breath landing somewhere around where my hands are or where your hands are, as you notice it landing there, enjoy a feeling of expanding as your breath fills your body. Sit with it for a few seconds, and then joyfully release. And as you release, let go of any tension. Allow the space to remain. A true feeling of releasing and letting go. And now, let’s do all this in silence, together.
Pause…
And as the rumbling of that quad bike peters out, on your next outbreath, when you’re ready, gently open your eyes.
Thank you for joining me today, on this beautiful Sunday. I wish you a peaceful, calm day, and in those moments which feel less peaceful and less calm, which aren’t going quite the way you’d like them to, remember to pause.
Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.
21 Days on the Mountain
- Day 1: Why Learn to Pause?
- Day 2: 5 Steps to the Pause Habit
- Day 3: Listen to Nature
- Day 4: Harness the Power of Mind-Body Connection
- Day 5: Develop Your Stable Inner Leader
- Day 6: Access a Peak Experience
- Day 7: Adapt to Change in Uncertain Times
- Day 8: Find Stillness amid Turbulence
- Day 9: Notice How You See Things
- Day 10: Breathe for Calm
- Day 11: Be Like a Mountain
- Day 12: The Lessons of Slowing Down
- Day 13: Develop Fearless Compassion
- Day 14: Create Inner Space
- Day 15: Explore Continuity and Change
- Day 16: See the Big Picture
- Day 17: Embrace Your Shadow Self
- Day 18: Learn Resilience from the Willow
- Day 19: Cultivate Your Inner Smile
- Day 20: Nurture Your Inner Leader
- Day 21: Maintain the Pause Habit
