What does it mean to be an integrated human? The process is a deep inquiry into how our multi-faceted systems are both organized towards expressing our authentic self and away from this towards ideas of who we think we should, could, or ought to be.

Anger is something that everyone experiences, at one level or another, and it needs to be expressed to maintain emotional health and intimacy. Most people have a murky relationship with anger and how to express it in a way that isn’t hurtful to oneself or others.

How does the journey of wild salmon reflect the path of living an authentic life? The journey of the salmon is one of the most amazing phenomena in nature. How is it that after years in the sea, they can locate the exact stream in which they were born, and pursue their upstream return home?

Much of what we’ve been taught to value points us outside of ourselves and increases a sense of feeling separate and alone. If we can’t force a system to change then what can we find inside of ourselves that carries us through the storm of collective change? How can leaders challenge the old paradigm and support a collaborative and wisdom-oriented approach towards effective change?

When we embrace the view that our shadows are as significant as our joy and passion we are on a different journey than the traditional one of ‘avoid feeling and exploring your fear, create illusions of control, and pretend to be what you think is acceptable’. Opening into and witnessing what is present in our experience is the entry point to a path of deepening into an authentic relationship with ourselves and all of life.

Have you longed for a particular relationship, job, creating a family or a spiritual realization only to discover that after achieving these things you’re still struggling; still not happy? You discover that these accomplishment themselves are not inherently the key to your deeper sense of happiness?

How often do we sense a longing from deep within and find ourselves gently holding it like an exquisite hummingbird that startles us with her beauty as swiftly as she disappears? How often does it crack us open to something bigger that we sense, but don’t yet know as intimately as we would like to?

We are entering a time when acknowledging the pain of how the ‘lone wolf’ archetype plays out individually and collectively is an imperative catalyst to mobilizing a new world and a new way of treating ourselves and every living system on earth and beyond.

Traditionally, the path of awakening was limited to monks and monasteries. Fortunately, it has blossomed into areas such as corporations, intimate relationships, educational systems, family, friendship, and community. Through our direct engagement with life, we’re invited to practice remembering the essence of who we are.

It is common to grasp towards something in an attempt to end the uncertainty. How do we discern the difference between when we’re grasping, and when we’re effortlessly drawn into action? How many of us have experienced the mystery unfold, and doors open, to presents a path we never could have imagined with our mind and intellectual analysis?

Have you noticed that loss, change, and transitions invite the opportunity to drop the veils and get down and dirty with what’s really important? Simultaneously, what do you notice about all the ways you try not to be where you are, embrace what you’re feeling, or face what is in front of you?

The roots of the restorative justice process come from the lineage of tribal cultures and the practice of ‘council meetings’. On the surface, the intent is to provide an alternative to the criminal justice system, however, it’s laced with the profound impact of personal transformation, community building, and healing.

As we learn to respond to that which arises in our daily life without our manipulation or guarding against, we receive the gift of unshakable confidence that we can meet anything that arises even when it hurts. This is how we build confidence to meet whatever arises.

Have you ever found yourself sensing that something or someone simply didn’t resonate with you but you bypass this information and listen to what you ‘should do or feel’ instead? This happens every day. Our mind can be as fast as a hummingbird.

What does it mean when life, as you’ve known it, suddenly changes in a blink of an eye and you find yourself dropped into the desert and the unknown? Or maybe it happens so slowly that you wake up to realize everything in your life has been dying for months or maybe even years. However you find yourself here, you are now standing at the threshold of realizing that what was previously so important to you no longer holds its place on the trophy shelves.

When we cultivate enough awareness to investigate and witness the default patterns of the mind, we can begin to make new choices and rewire the neural pathways in the brain that impact our emotions and physical vitality.

Anxiety and fear are common emotions many of us experience in response to our life circumstances and the uncertainty of transitions and decision points. These emotional states can feel disorienting and we may find ourselves acting out in behaviors or activities that are not healthy or supportive.

To travel the terrain of an authentic leader requires a level of listening, witnessing, and an open-heart similar to that of a Samurai. The unwritten Samurai code of conduct is known as Bushido, which holds that the true warrior must possess loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor above all else. How can we apply this code to all the parts of ourselves and others that we defend, judge, or reject?

Leaders today face a rapidly changing world with greater demands, challenging circumstances and broad cultural implications. The result is overwhelm, stress, declining health and imbalances. These factors require a new way of viewing problems, creative approaches and integrated wholehearted thinking.

Embodied leaders are willing to travel the vulnerable and courageous journey to expand their awareness and capacity to respond consciously in each moment. This path of expressing our uniqueness, and leading our lives in a genuine way, is a journey of the modern day pioneer.