Extraordinary times, like the ones we are currently living, tend to bring out the best and the worst in everyone. Tendencies, beliefs, and emotions get easily polarized because there are forces at hand pushing us to make tough choices—about relationships, work, finances, health, and social issues.
I cannot stress enough the need to choose love over fear every step of the way, because that choice alone marks the difference between resisting change (holding on to the past) and embracing what is happening and what is yet to come, with faith and inner strength, while allowing your divine nature —and true power—to emerge.
Love is not the overly emotional or passionate rapture we see in the movies. Love is the absolute absence of fear. When there is no fear, there is no need to justify or defend our beliefs: if we fully accept ourselves, we can open up to others and accept who they are as well, like young children do, at least until they are made to feel they should behave a certain way to meet the needs of the adults in their life.
When fear is not the motivation behind your decisions, you are free to choose what is best for you, be it a partner, a job, a business, or anything else. You allow life to happen as you learn what needs to change, from within you, to effect any external change. This love-fear polarity determines how you create your life as the planet shifts to a higher state of consciousness.
I you let go of fear, you can no longer adhere to the rigid, outdated patriarchal ways of perceiving life and others, because those are based on fear and its allies: stress, guilt, shame, anger, and the need to control. Love allows you to embrace feminine, fluid qualities and bring balance to everything you do, with flexibility and openness, to become the vessel of Consciousness you really are.
Love Makes You a Peaceful Warrior
The word ‘warrior’ usually refers to those engaged in warfare, willing to fight for what they believe in. It brings images of courageous or wrathful men ready to kill and be killed to protect or defend what they cherish. So how can a warrior be peaceful? Indeed, to become a peaceful warrior you must first fight your own negative tendencies and wrong beliefs. Your toughest battles are internal and your victories translate into increasing clarity, wisdom, peace, faith, and compassion. Your main weapon is love, and your worst enemy fear.
Like the samurai of old times, you must commit to the mental self-discipline of being a witness to yourself and discriminating between what truly serves your highest purpose and what doesn’t; between what is true to your nature and what simply feeds the ego-mind out of conditioning or habit; and you must be willing to accept the pain of letting go what needs to go—your self-images and toxic relationships.
A peaceful warrior is an inspiring leader. Not the on who rallies up the masses to do what he or she wants; this is just politics or, as I see it, the art of manipulation—no matter what the cause. Rather than directing others, a peaceful warrior uplifts them with ideas, words, or actions, and inspires them to take full responsibility for their own peace and happiness—to lead their own lives.
In this sense, leadership is not something you learn or need briefing for, like politicians do, because it arises from the light within. And since we are all connected, your inner work helps with the transformation of humanity even if you do not have any seemingly prominent roles in the world. Peaceful warriors lead the silent, spiritual revolution occurring now, but of course, they can also take a more active part in social change. Being spiritual doesn’t mean being passive.
The mission of a peaceful warrior is inspiring, serving, and empowering others without excluding him or herself (no martyrdom here). This is a more feminine leadership model than the one we are so familiar with in the corporate-type world we live in. There is great respect for individuality within the collective, without ever feeling more important than others, while a clear sense of purpose prevails, to move forward.
True Leadership Is Mastery In Service
To be a peaceful warrior, you must turn into a vehicle of light, allowing the understanding and wisdom acquired through your self-exploration to shine through, without any appropriation of it. In other words, your sense of purpose and service becomes stronger than any idea about yourself or your roles in the world, as you develop the humility to lead through example, with no personal agenda or self-interest—no ego.
This can only be accomplished when you gain enough self-knowledge and self-love to stop being attached to your false self-images and worrying about the opinions of others: when you are ready to shed the self-importance of ego and focus on serving Divine Consciousness in others, without neglecting your growth and self-expression—what makes you unique.
These are other characteristics of a peaceful warrior and inspiring leader:
1. Your success serves a higher purpose: that of helping others grow and succeed. You find great satisfaction and joy in serving and empowering others while maintaining clear boundaries and a strong sense of self.
2. You act with an abundant mindset, not a sense of lack, knowing that what you need is always available to you—once you remove any fear blocking it—and all energy is meant to be shared and exchanged.
3. You are grateful for and appreciative of what life has given you—from hardship to material resources and human interaction. You know everything serves a purpose and helps you and those around you grow.
4. You develop your unique gifts without a sense of competition or envy. Nobody is better than anyone else, and no matter who is where, there is always room for improvement and growth.
5. Your knowledge comes from experience, not concepts; that is, you walk your talk, without attempting to impose or convince anyone of anything.
6. You express empathy and compassion without a sense of obligation and are willing to drop your wrong perceptions and desire to control.
7. You don’t brag about yourself or take credit for someone else’s work or creative ideas. You know nothing really belongs to you—only to Consciousness.
8. You take full spiritual responsibility for your life and do not blame anyone to make you feel more important or a victim. You comprehend that your perception shapes your reality.
9. You embrace your emotions without dwelling or identifying with them to feed a false self-image, while acknowledging that all feelings and emotions are valid and deserve expression—both yours and those of others.
10. You accept life as it is, without trying to control anything or anyone, and perceive it as a mirror that shows you what you need to see and learn about yourself—to heal and release the past.
11. You keep a keen eye on the greedy mind and let go of your attachments to people, stuff, money, praise, respect, fame, and anything that conveys excess or lack.
So how close are you to becoming a peaceful warrior in charge of your own life(-movie)? Contact me today for the guidance and support you need to remove the mental stuff that prevents you from creating more joyful, peaceful, and meaningful experiences and relationships, in alignment with your soul!
© 2012 Yol Swan. All rights reserved.
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