SOULFUL LEADERSHIP
Short intro sentance here…..
SOULFUL LEADERSHIP
What qualities of being do we need to cultivate in order to live in service of life?
My passion for the meeting place between personal and collective transformation has led me to develop in depth thinking and frameworks on ‘Soulful Leadership’.
Essentially, Soulful Leadership applies the lens of transpersonal psychology to our troubles times. Asking, What qualities of being do we need to cultivate in order to live in service of life?”
Alongside psychosynthesis, Soulful Leadership is inspired by thinkers such as: Charles Eisenstein, Joana Macy, Michael Meade, Bill Plotkin, Brene Brown, Jean Houston, Anodea Judith, David Whyte, Francis Weller, Adrienne Maree Brown, David Whyte & Parker Palmer.
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.)
THE CALL
“Quote on Soulful Leadership coaching work”
-BONNY TYDEMAN
Soulful Leadership is born from the understanding that beneath the ecological, political, and mental health crises we are facing as a collective, 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.
“Quote on Soulful Leadership coaching work”
-BONNY TYDEMAN
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.
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.
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.
The Fundamental Appetites of the Soul & the Qualities of Soulful Leadership:
“Quote on Soulful Leadership coaching work”
-BONNY TYDEMAN
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 - £300 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
Step deeper into your authentic power and purpose today.
“Quote on Soulful Leadership coaching work”
-BONNY TYDEMAN
A MORE IN DEPTH LOOK AT SOULFUL LEADERSHIP:
Read more on Soulful Leadership on my Blog
If you’d like to dive deeper into my philosophy and approach, check out the writing on my blog or subscribe to my substack for my most current thinking.
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