“How can we focus on building ourselves up when we are just trying to survive”. This was a question I was recently asked during a leadership training. This individual went on to explain all the hardship that are currently on their plate, both personally and professionally. I gave them space to deeply ruminate on how they can continue to build themselves when feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders.
“Not every day is the day to focus on building, some days focusing on being” is what I replied. We all sat, me giving time and space for the words I just spoke to sink in differently for the various leaders attending the session.
But in that moment, I realized the silence wasn’t empty, it was full. Full of reflection, of recalibration, of the quiet realization that leadership isn’t always about action. Sometimes, it’s about presence. I watched as a few eyes softened, shoulders relaxed, and the energy in the room shifted from urgency to openness. In that moment, the invitation wasn’t to do more, but to feel more. To notice what emerges when we stop striving and start listening—to ourselves, to each other, to the moment.
One leader finally spoke, not with a solution, but with a question: “What does being look like for me right now?” That question lingered, echoing through the room like a gentle challenge. It was clear that something had landed; a seed planted – not in strategy, but in stillness. And as we continued, the conversation took on a different texture: less about outcomes, more about alignment. Less about fixing, more about feeling. That’s the kind of growth that doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet, but transforms everything.
This is just one of the reasons I do what I do. Why I morph the work I do in mindfulness into the leadership practices. This moment is a moment that will linger on in so many beautiful ways not only for me, but all others that were in that room.
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Dawn Xx
