Hi!
In my previous post, I briefly touched upon transformational presence as one of the important cornerstones of my work and life. Let me say a few words about this as, in the next posts, I will probably refer to it rather frequently I guess…..
In his book “Transformational Presence, How To Make a Difference In a Rapidly Changing World”, Alan Seale (www.transformationalpresence.org) describes it as:
“showing up to life and leadership in a way that creates the best possible conditions for transformation to occur. We cannot make transformation happen – that’s called “manipulation!” Yet we can create environments and cultures that encourage transformation to unfold.”
There are a few things that you may or may not notice reading this. First of all: “showing up” means here how you choose to show up. Rather than being pushed around by whatever is going on in your life, and hence being in response mode, this is the first distinction: to operate from choice. We can’t always change the circumstances right away, but we can choose who we choose to be. And that alone makes quite a difference.
“…to life and leadership…” it refers to Transformational Presence not being the latest fad that you can apply in your professional life for a while to finally discard of it as the fad doesn’t really work. Transformational Presence is potentially a profound re-orientation on your life altogether. It is always open to what wants to happen in any given situation. And also, who that is asking you to be, which is completely different from what you want to happen in a situation and what should change (probably excluding yourself) in order for that to happen. Now you might think that being open to what wants to happen means, giving in to that. This is most definitely not the case. By being open to the potential in a situation and also to who is that asking us to be, it opens up the possibility to flow with that instead of fighting it. Flowing with it is different from ‘going with the flow’. To me, the latter lives in a domain of resignation, of giving up, of powerlessness. Flowing with what is happening comes from expanded awareness and alertness for us to act when the moment is right. I will re-address this in subsequent posts.
“…. that creates the best possible conditions for transformation to occur.” In our rapidly changing world with so many people speaking and acting to serve their goals and interests, it will prove to be a hell of a rodeo trying to make things happen and trying to control every step in that process to get a guaranteed outcome. The question ‘are you talking to life, or do you let life talk to you?’ comes to mind while writing this. Living your life grounded in the practices of Transformational Presence allows you to partner with your potential if you like. It’s about flowing with what wants to happen whilst being very candid about the question who that is asking you to be. And indeed it does mean that you’ll allow change into your life. Perhaps even a more profound change from time to time. Like change across form. A transformation so to speak.
I hope this is helpful as a start. Share any questions you may have!
Geert
Geert Hofman 