SOULFUL LEADERSHIP
Cultivating authentic power & purpose in service of a more beautiful world
“Bonny is one of the clearest, most heartfelt, powerful and wise practitioners of soul-sourced leadership development that I’m aware of in the world.”
-Jon Eden Khan, Soulful Leadership Mentor
THE CALL
The way we are being ‘led’ is missing a vital dimension - attendance to and appreciation for the core human values of truth, beauty, freedom & love.
For, if we are not being led towards that which is most sacred, most meaningful, most deep & abiding in life, then we are being led astray.
Any leadership that perpetuates paradigms of division, domination and control, is leading us astray…
When the sanctity of life is being violated, true leadership involves saying a firm and resounding NO to that which seeks to extract, exploit, violate, dominate or manipulate life. (Both in the world and inside ourselves.) And saying an emphatic and resounding YES to possibility, creativity, imagination, joy, beauty and the sacred. (Both in the world and inside ourselves.)
“True leadership is not about personal gain, it is about collective empowerment.”
-Bonny Tydeman
SOULFUL LEADERSHIP ASKS…
What qualities of being do we need to cultivate in order to live in service of life?
We are living in a suicidal culture that is addicted to work, power, control and consumerism.
As such, each of us are prey to system forces that bribe us with perverse incentives to behave in ways that trivialise and degrade life.
When we conform within a system that is not acting in service of life, we betray what is most sacred in us for the shallow gain of approval from others, and acceptance within the status quo.
The problem with status quo bias is that it can lead us to abdicate personal responsibility, critical thinking and moral discernment to notions such as ‘everyone else is doing it/ that’s just the way it is…’
We give our freedom away day by day through these tiny collusions. Which is why it is so important to develop deep self awareness and authentic self expression - they are foundational tools for developing a sense of agency in our complex and conflicted world…
“We trivialise our lives when we don’t pay attention to our deeper feelings - when we choose comfort, convenience & distraction over the uncomfortable & inconvenient truth of our deepest longings.”
-Bonny Tydeman
Soulful Leadership is born from the understanding that beneath the ecological, political & mental health crises we are facing, is a crisis of disconnection, leading to a crisis of meaning & belonging…
We have forgotten who we are.
No longer anchored by the deep & abiding bonds of land & community, we have become untethered from the web of life; cast adrift in an endless sea of cultural detritus.
Suicide & depression are on the rise, and it’s not hard to see why. Of course, people feel alienated when all the mainstream media mirrors to us is a smorgasbord of horrifying violence, disheartening corruption & superficial nonsense.
If that was the only reference point I had for the nature of reality & humanity, I’d want out too…
But it’s not the full truth.
Counter to the ideology that underpins modern, western, industrialised society, we are more than civilised apes with sex & death drives.
To be human is to have a soul. And to have a soul is to have longings for Truth, Beauty, Freedom & Love.
I believe the very fact that we have these longings tells us something about the dignity of humanity, and I know that allowing ourselves to feel these longings is a crucial first step towards reclaiming a sense of connection and belonging.
“Bonny is an inspiring, grounded and heart-based teacher who creates an impeccable container for soul work.”
-Semele Xerri, Soulful Leadership Course Participant
Your longing is sacred…
Your longing for presence is sacred.
Your longing for intimacy is sacred.
Your longing for beauty is sacred.
Your longing for meaning is sacred.
Longing is not the same as wanting.
We don’t long for social media.
We don’t long for alcohol.
We don’t long for new clothes & fast cars.
We don’t long for the things that give us a quick fix.
Because longing is deeper than that. Longing is a function of the soul.
Something my path has revealed to me is that if you want to cultivate belonging you have to inhabit your longing.
You have to BE longing...
Which means you have to be willing to feel your soul's hunger - to allow yourself to be empty enough to access those deeper rumblings - instead of always reaching for something to numb & distract you every time you feel the existential ache...
Nothing that you compulsively consume will ever satisfy your deepest longings, but it will fill you up in ways that mask your soul’s hunger and ultimately make it harder for you to tune into the appetites that, if followed, would lead to fulfilment.
Allowing ourselves to access our soul’s appetites is painful, because in doing so we make contact with the grief of the loss of the things we didn’t receive from life, but at some level always expected.
This is a symptom of our sacred wounding.
As souls, we expect intimate connection and unconditional love. And the will of our souls are aimed towards experiencing ever-deeper truth and ever-more expansive freedom.
That’s what the study of psycho-spiritual development and soulful evolution shows is possible.
So, how is this related to Soulful Leadership?
Acknowledging our soul’s longings is just the beginning. As we begin to follow them, we are called to embody them…
Our longing for truth inspires us to be authentic.
Our longing for freedom inspires us to become response-able.
Our longing for beauty inspires us to bow down to the source of creation.
Our longing for love inspires us to cultivate the courage to make a stand for love in the world.
This is the evolutionary nature of longing - the soul’s appetites for Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love work within us, compelling us to become authentic, devotional, response-able and courageous.
These are the qualities of Soulful Leadership.
Because true leaders lead by example - they embody the things they are pointing towards because they know that the best way to satisfy an appetite is to become a source of the very things you are hungry for.
You become authentic by following your longing for a deeper truth.
You become response-able by following your desire to get free.
You become devotional by giving thanks for the unfathomable beauty of creation.
You become courageous by knowing yourself as a source of love.
Yes, everything you seek is within you, but it won’t just arrive - real spiritual, emotional and creative labour is required to alchemise it.
This is the labour I apply myself to every day. I would love you to join me in it.
“Bonny’s coaching approach has the rare quality of leading with the soulful. The result is a graceful and adaptive pursuit of purpose in which deep exploration of emotions, thoughts and embodiment replaces the too often limiting pursuit of fixed goals.”
- Chris, Soulful Leadership Coaching Client
Step deeper into your authentic power & purpose today.
Soulful Leadership Coaching can support you to harness your life force and direct it with clarity and strength of purpose towards creating a more beautiful world.
This is for you if you are a facilitator, freelancer, business owner or team leader that wants to lead in a way that is aligned, purposeful, and in service of life.
Price - £250 p/m, minimum of 3 months.
What you get:
Bi-monthly 60 min coaching sessions, over Zoom
Continuous access to me via Telegram
Reading, practise & additional exercise suggestions tailored to you
“Bonny has a deep understanding of our broken world and the crisis we find ourselves up against as leaders. She is a creative space holder who draws out the very best in people, being intuitive to their needs and passionate about their growth and flourishing.”
- Charlotte, Soulful Leadership Course Participant
A MORE IN DEPTH LOOK AT SOULFUL LEADERSHIP:
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