A sign that you are ready for your next level of growth, (enlightenment) will be some turbulence, chaos or an obstacle. If your company goes through culture change, there will be drama. The same is true for you personally. When you are ready to elevate, or even before you know you are ready, some sort of drama will appear.
In fact, the only thing drama is good for is to help you get to the next level, if you are willing to see it that way.
From a lower level of awareness drama looks like a shark floating between your row boat and the island you are heading toward. From a higher level of consciousness, drama looks like a stepping stone to the bridge of enlightenment.
What used to look threatening from the lower levels of awareness, now looks inviting, challenging and like an opportunity for quantum growth. All drama will manifest in one of three ways: An emotion, a situation or another person. Today’s lesson is about how drama manifests as an emotion.
Emotion as Drama
Let’s say you feel resentment. From a drama perspective resentment is something to be ashamed of. You might deny it, hide from it or blame someone else for causing it. The problem with denying the emotion is that resentment always leaks out. Sometimes it leaks out as sarcasm, and at other times it festers into full blown anger.
From an enlightened perspective resentment is a sign that it’s time to learn how to take a stand, speak your truth or set a boundary.
What is anger telling you? From a drama perspective, anger is the result of something someone did to you, or it’s a judgment about yourself that you have an anger problem. You can do all the forgiveness work in the world, but if you keep feeling anger, then there is something that anger is trying to teach you.
From an enlightened perspective you realize that you don’t have an anger problem, you have an awareness problem. The invitation is to pay attention to the space before the blow up, and the space before that, and before that. You can’t change patterns if you don’t know the triggers. With enough awareness, you learn how to take a breath, or you learn to eat when you are hungry and sleep when you are tired. From that perspective anger became the stepping stone to achieve a higher level of effectiveness.
What unwanted emotion is familiar to you? Is it anger, sadness, anxiety, or resentment? How is the unwanted emotion impacting your leadership effectiveness? What if the emotion is your greatest teacher to help you elevate to your next level?
Marlene Chism is a consultant, national speaker and author of Stop Workplace Drama (Wiley 2011). Marlene’s passion is developing wise leaders and helping people to discover, develop and deliver their gifts to the world.
Marlene’s message is spreading across the country at association meetings, corporate retreats, universities and other venues. If interested in exploring speaking or training opportunities please call 1.888.434.9085
