Hey everyone, I’m Saralyn Hodgkin. And this is the podcast to practice your leadership.
Inner work, isn’t that an elusive term? I’ve heard this term used in so many different contexts in so many different ways. But what an important concept. What the heck is inner work? Oh my goodness, knowing it’s different for all of us and knowing that maybe these chatters, I have have something to throw into the space and make an offering as as people play with this idea of inner work. And I feel like for me, it’s been important to talk about just within myself, like, what do I mean by inner work? And there are different definitions out there, there are different models, there’s a whole bunch of stuff out there like there is everywhere.
But what does it mean to me? That’s a place that I’ve been called to play with at different times. And so I thought I’d share what I did with that calling. And what I learned, and what I learned about inner work is that it was really, it is really standing in a place of unfolding your self awareness, awareness of self, from a place of interiority, that literal interiority of yourself of that inner landscape of yourself and coming into connection with that self awareness is not easy, because you’re going to be noticing patterns you’re going to, you’re going to be in places where you’re aware of your presence, and sometimes those areas are just so uncomfortable. Alarming, like, never saw that before. Whoa, wait, what are the emotions that are springing up? What, whatever it is, right?
There’s, there’s this place of exploring the self, that when you’re doing your own work, you’re disarming some of what you have leaned on, taken for granted, constructed to be able to make peace with what is already inside you, what is what is yearning to come forth. And unfortunately, there’s no one else who has the answers other than you, this is your own work. This is my own work. No guru I can go to, no thought leader that’s going to tell me about my inner work, for goodness sakes. What it requires is this approach with such wow, who was it who termed the words radical self compassion, like it’s just Tara Brach or someone? I might get that wrong.But it is, it is radical, you know, coming into such deep self awareness and it requires this kindness and love and compassion of yourself that you cannot source from someone or something else. Sometimes this word feels really alone. And yet trying to come into these places of inner work is so deeply relational, relational with self, relational with community. However, however, that is defined for you and it can strike such individual agency for sure. But it is also this, this collective endeavour where you’re tapping into wisdom beyond yourself, while also tapping into that inner knowing of self. Inner work requires the honour of mystery and sometimes it’s hard to listen to that or access different intelligences that maybe aren’t normed in society, or that you’re exploring for the first time. What does that tree have to offer in terms of intelligence as you as you stand alongside that tree, to source into who you are, there’s, you can go out and and look at and, and explore around what is inner work mean, and so on. For sure. There’s some great stuff out there. And yet, exploring one’s inner work as a practice, it means coming into structural shifts, that take a stand for you exploring your inner work. It requires a practice of listening differently. It requires crafting space for renewal, to recalibrate yourself to integrate ideas, which of course goes completely against productivity and output and this is a redefined productivity space, right, of pausing and reflecting, finding those spaces to clear the noise. So renewal can be revolutionary for you.
Inner work is a continual practice of accessing diverse knowledge systems including your own intuition, diverse conscious and subconscious and unconscious spaces. And to figure out what works for you and your personal practice of exploring inner work for yourself, while sometimes again, feeling alone, but knowing some kind of deep knowing that when you ask for help, that help will come, that help will come. So the question here is what is inner work for you? And the practice of exploring your inner work and the agency in which you strive to be in. What is your practice?
Thanks, all. I’m Saralyn. You can find me at holonleadership.org. I walk alongside you as you practice your leadership.
