Leading With Authenticity

Good morning, everybody. Gene Mitchells calling in here. Major reporting for duty. Major. Look, Major over here. He's scouting for birds. He will say hello. You can see his nose. He says, good morning, everybody. Hello. Speak Wonder. Major is here. He's ready for you. Hello, Jaden. Mommy. How are you today? So as you're popping in this morning, or if you're listening in on replay, my name is Jean Mitchells and I am going to invite you to type one word in the chat, assuming you're not driving, no texting and driving.

Type one word about how you feel right now, today. So as you're kicking into your Monday, whatever time zone you're calling in from, what is one word you can cheat, you can add up to three words of how you feel right, right now in this moment today. And the word that I would say is joyful. I had a very long weekend in the best possible way, hosting some women's only events. Sorry, guys. Hello, Kelly. Good morning. And I feel so much joy for what happened over the weekend and all of the breakthroughs, but my second word is exhausted.

So Jade and Mommy a little blah. I get that. And if you want to share more, feel free, but there's not necessary. So I feel joyful in my heart, but I feel exhausted in my body because they put so much energy out there that Monday morning. It's been rough. I have had a very, very slow start. Speak, wonder. I feel buoyant. Great. Now what I'll be curious about and maybe you can set a timer for later. But before you go back, go to bed tonight, write down or think of a word or phrase about how you feel at the end of the day.

And if you started doing this practice every day for just a week, what would you, you would just have data, right? You would have information that you could reflect back on to see what were the ebbs and flows of your week and what might you do with a little more intentionality to shift the ebb and flow for next week? Now, things are going to come up. Things will happen. A meeting will happen on your calendar that might make you feel drained. Some. Something might happen with your family. There are a lot of things, a lot of possibilities of things that are truly out of our control.

But when we can actively focus in on how we're starting and how we're ending our days, we just collect data to see what we can maybe do for tiny shifts to create change. And when we create that change in ourselves, it creates that change when we show up in our jobs with our families. Families at our works. It also allows us to have more transparency in our communications. So if you have permission to tell somebody I feel blah today, they might be able to tell you how they feel as well. And you can engage in a conversation or you can have a support team that says, you know what?

Today I feel blah. I need. I need a lift. Help me out. Hold my hand. Speak wonders. Feeling buoyant because she's rehearsing a lovely music in a string band of rogue jammers. That sounds cool. I want to come watch you guys play. So today, on this Monday, a couple of things I wanted to pull forward. If you are into astrology, I'm going to pull that in. It is a full moon today. So if you are in a city that has a clear sky, look up, look up into that moon. If anybody is a cancer, feel free to do a little heart.

If you are a zodiac sign of cancer, because this is your moon, if you're into zodiac stuff. But what I like about this and why I think it's important today for Monday is on moons, I like to do some extra journaling or intention setting. I consider a new moon or a full moon an opportunity to plant seeds in a garden on a new moon. And on a full moon, I feel it's an opportunity to water the seeds. So invest in the dreams, the intentions that I've put forward. But what is lovely about this full moon, and I won't stay here long, but it does tie into leading authentically is it's.

You might feel a little extra emotion. But what's beautiful about this moon is it very much ties to water, and it ties a lot to the ocean. And so when you think about that ocean, the ocean molds the shoreline, right? Or a lake with its waves can mold the shoreline. Water is the very first support of life. That's where life was created. Water. So. And I'm not going into religion or any of those things, it really is just. It's a source of life. Our bodies are mostly water. We need water to hydrate, we need to consume.

You know, they tell us to consume 8 ounces of water every single day. It's not just to help our body and our skin, but it's to help our brain function as well. Our brains need hydration, and without it, we can have brain fog, and we may not feel as with it. So even just starting your day before anything else, even before a cup of coffee, having a glass of water can start to shape how your day and your body and your brain can work differently in that Day now, I haven't had a glass of water yet, so that will be my next activity.

But when you think about ocean, and we'll go to the. The analogy of an ocean with the waves crashing in, the waves will crash into the shoreline. It will pull the debris from the shoreline back in. It will. It will take it back into itself and it will create a new wave. So it's that ebb and flow. It pulls in and then it exceeds out and it crashes in and it will shape the shoreline. So if we think of ourselves as the shoreline, if we think of ourselves as that ocean, and our lives are the shoreline, we have the opportunity to mold the shoreline.

So in this analogy, if we are the ocean, if we are fueling ourselves, if we are bringing in that water, if we are taking everything in. So it's a diverge and a converge. It's a tenant in creative thinking. Our hearts, they diverge. They pull all the blood into our heart, and then they converge. It squishes out and it pushes everything into our bodies to give us life, to help us function. Our lungs, they expand, diverge, they contract, converge. So our bodies naturally have the same ebb and flow as the ocean.

So we take a breath in to create. We exhale out to release and put that intention out there. So why is this important? And why does this tied into leading with authenticity? When we know ourselves really well, when we can check in with ourselves to see how we're feeling, it's a unique opportunity for us to share. Thank you for sharing, by the way. It's an opportunity for us to reflect. Is this something in my control? If yes, what might I do to change or adjust? Is this out of my control? Yes. If yes, what can I do to show up differently in this moment?

And it's not about us being everything at all times. It's about us recognizing the moments when we aren't everything. And when we can do that, we give ourselves permission to be authentic in that moment because we've done the check in. And it also allows us to take ownership for those moments when maybe we aren't showing up the way that we want to. You know, I come in after teaching a sound bath, and anybody that I might interact with could think, wow, why do you do this? Because when after a sound bath is done and I'm holding space for anywhere from 10 to 30 or more people, I'm putting out a lot of energy to help people heal and to relax and release.

But I need to replenish that energy back in. So once those Moments are complete. The best I have to offer is a general conversation or maybe some active listening or just my presence, because it will take me an hour or so just to refill my bucket. So my ritual is I come home and I get something to eat fast because I'm super hungry after these events and I take a bath. But I didn't know that at first. So when I first started, I would just come out and people would be like, jean, let's get together.

Let's have a conversation. And I was so crabby, and I was so short, and I couldn't understand why until I understood what was causing it. And that required me just to do some reflection. So now I know that when I do these events that I can set a bumper for it and just. I don't schedule anything after it unless it's spontaneous, because in that moment, I feel a little extra energy that maybe I have left over or maybe I received. So allowing ourselves to do that and being patient with ourselves, kind to ourselves, activating that water energy within us is a tenant of what this full moon is about.

So when we think about tapping into our emotions, being honest, I'm blah. I'm buoyant, I'm tired, I'm joyful. That transparency and that authenticity is what the human connection is looking for. We're not looking for that image that we might see that's set up externally. It could be through social media. It could be through someone coming in and pretending that they're amazing and joyful every single day, but inside, they're drowning. We're looking for more of those authentic connections. I keep hearing this a lot.

I have designed this new event called Celebrate you for right now. Designed for women. These gatherings are designed for women. No offense, guys, but that was the initial intent for this particular event this weekend. And what I heard is what I've been hearing for the last probably two or three years. People are feeling a desire for more connection, but they don't know how to do it. People are going through so many transitions, whether it's a layoff from their job or it's a empty nesting situation or graduating college, starting a first job, but not having that job yet.

There's so much happening that it's opening up a doorway, a pathway for us to go back to ourselves, come back into home, come back into the water, come back into the ocean and look at our shoreline and decide what might we want to create, who might we want to surround ourselves with to lift us up into that creation. So being authentic in that moment Now, I'm going to post these into the chat as well. But the questions that came up most prominently this weekend for people to do some reflection on.

And so I'm going to give these to you especially. It's a full moon on a Monday, but it really ties in nicely to identifying our authentic selves, because when we can put our own stake in the ground, then we can have a path forward and we can get everybody to come with us. So here are some of the questions. The first one is what are your I am statements? I am enough. I am grateful. I am magical. I am buoyant. I am blah. I am love. What are your I am statements? I am a mom, I am a sister, a daughter, a dog mom.

What are all of your I am statements? Put them all out there and don't be shy about it. Be bold. The next question is, what are your creates? What are the seeds that you want to play? What do you plant? What do you want to create in your life, in your relationships, in your friendships, in your work, in your dreams? What are your creations? Igne I want to create more events for people to come together and gather. My creations are a possible podcast founded in the same principle. So what are they?

You don't have to have a plan for them, but if you could create anything, what would it be? In order for us to create, we need to have space. So the third question is, what are your let gos? What in your day, what in your life, what in your thought process, what in your feelings, in your heart, do you need to let go to support your creations and to support your IMs. And maybe, just maybe, there are few of your IMs that join your let go list. Hello, Jules. So those are my big questions for you today.

On this Monday, leading with authenticity, using the Cancer Full Moon. If you want more information about it, pop a question out in the comment session. I'll come in and I'll add some context for you. Maybe I'll just post about it anyway. But really checking in with yourself, you are the ocean. You are the creator of that shore, of that landscape. It requires us to feel, it requires us to have intention, and it requires us to just be honest with ourselves. And the more we can do that, the better we can lead in our lives, the better we can lead our teams, our communities, our families, relationships.

So I'm putting that out there for you today. Answer your questions, see what you come up with. And if you do answer the questions and you want, come back into this live stream and type in the comments. What you came up with, or I will put these questions in the larger conversation and you can answer them there if you would like. I hope you have the best day. And as Mel Robbins finished all of her podcasts with Just know that you are loved. I am sending you love today. I love all of you today. If you're listening on replay, I am sending you love as well.

So happy.