New Leadership: Transcending the Parts to Connect to the Whole

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few.” —Shunryu Suzuki, Zen teacher

Separation, in the form of inequality and discrimination, has come to the fore of our conversations around the world. The truth is that the world is changing right in front of our eyes and irremediably affecting not only the reality around us but also that of the whole world. Since the pandemic began, this change has been spreading like an expanding wave. The question here is, How can we as leaders (parents, creatives, influencers, and community leaders) adapt and use this as an opportunity to bring positive change for the greatest good of all? And what exactly do we need to change inside ourselves to allow this change to happen? The answer—we need to resonate with the whole. 

Ancients referred to the whole as the whole universe—all existing matter and space. They knew that the whole somehow was linked to its parts and vice versa and that imbalance was closely related to our disconnection from the whole. Today, thanks to science, we understand why—99.9999999 percent of our reality is energy. Although our naked eyes cannot perceive this, each and every one of us is literally borderless, transparent energy. Even though we have learned to identify with and think we literally are our bodies and that the world around us is matter—what we define as our solid body and our surrounding reality is really energy.

Without exception, in the energy world, we are already interconnected. What we perceive as separation and inequality is really an illusion. If we don’t perceive energy, it’s because our brain decodes the energy through our five senses into objects and familiar ideas based on the information stored inside the mind. From this perspective, separation is the lack of information inside our minds.

We resonate with separation if that information is inside our mind, and we don’t resonate with separation if we lack this information and vice versa. The information we are resonating with is the information we have been exposed to since the moment we were in our mother’s womb—from the different “tribes” (or groups) the people who raised us belong to, such as family, society, and culture, and from the subtribes we identify with, such as ethnicity, gender, and so on. In this way, the tribe or the small world you live in has become your limited container, continually influenced by others’ emotions, behaviors, and beliefs. The problem here is that every bit of repeating information you were exposed to—in this case, separation—became the filter and lens through which you perceive, react to, and live your reality.

If you were an unwanted child, that is recorded in your energy field—and it’s resonating within you and attracting separation. If your parents had a difficult relationship, that is recorded in your field and attracting separation. If you and your family were discriminated against or discriminated against others based on gender, religion, skin color, or any other divisive categorization, separation will follow you. And as we self-identify with many other different tribes, this ads to our separation consciousness. Self-identifying with more and more tribes gives us more reason to see others as different from us and a greater tendency to identify with people in the groups we see as “ours” and to discriminate against the people we see as “not ours.” Set response systems—in which energy or beliefs are simply circling around—don’t allow space for expansion. The energy is stagnated! That’s why there’s so much separation in the world right now.

Did you know that the same area of the brain that is affected when we have physical pain is activated when we feel emotional pain or feel excluded?

Our world’s current challenges have opened us up for change. The question here is, how can we as leaders use these times as a catalyst to bring the type of lasting change that will make the world a more inclusive place—a place that is able to support the health and well-being of all of us?

What really makes us resonate with other energy fields is what we have in common, and that is our transparent energy. So, the first thing we as leaders need to do is to resonate with energy. The moment we choose to transcend our inner divisions, we are also able to expand, support, and nurture our connection to the whole, which is closely related to our well-being.

How we can recognize what we need to work on?

By recognizing what triggers us. Our triggers show us where we are misaligned or disconnected from the whole. An example is when you unconsciously play a power game you learned through your tribe. This is when there’s a part of you that likes to impose only your ideas or control people and forcefully transform others’ perspectives. You cannot really control what awakens others. You don’t have power there, and you have to be okay with that. When you are aligned and self-connected, you have much better discernment as to whether what you say is for the greatest good of all parts involved. Being connected to the whole is much more powerful than being connected to the limited parts. This, by itself, can bring healing, shift consciousness, and ensure lasting change.

For this, it’s important to distinguish between what is yours and what isn’t yours. In what isn’t yours lie the clues to recognizing where you need healing or what you need to transcend in order to connect with your wholeness. Whatever you need to shift is already with you in your room. You can recognize it because it’s what makes you sad, angry, anxious, hopeless, and powerless—out of balance. 

There is a lot of drama and there are many wounds in the world. How can we come to a level of compassion and open-mindedness and be willing to listen or explore different ways of doing things? How can we meet and understand each other and not force our views on others? How can we approach this neutrally? How can we integrate wholeness as a new system by which to live our lives?

From an energy perspective, we all are already interconnected—we are already whole! Our identification solely with the parts is what prevents us from perceiving and experiencing this wholeness.

It’s important to identify not only with the limiting parts (tribes and subtribes) that separate us from others but also with the broader part of us—the whole that is all of us. From the whole perspective, all parts are equally important!

If there are a hundred different perspectives on one story, there are hundreds of ways to be right. That’s why it’s so important to stay out of judgment, observe, discern, and accept that others might have different stories, experiences, and journeys. Remember that we reject what we lack. Look instead for a common ground that connects you to your well-being. Focus on what you agree on. 

We must each open ourselves up in order to expand our narrow perspectives and integrate different views. 

We have to hold ourselves accountable for creating a better world by releasing our inner barriers or divisions. We should prioritize, first and foremost, asking ourselves questions that will lead to the better world we all want to be a part of: How inclusive am I? What is standing between me and a holistic connection to the world? This is our challenge. 

Studies have proven that the more connected we are, the happier we feel, and the healthier we are. 

We have to build a world where everyone has a sense of wholeness, where we care about a person in any part of the world as much as a person here where we live. For this new world to exist, we must care about and connect with a person no matter what our families told us or we learned in other tribes about the person’s gender, skin color, religion, political preference, or any other “category” connected to a limiting belief. That’s how we’ll bring the world closer together. That’s how we’ll achieve our greatest opportunities and build the world we want for generations to come in this community called planet Earth. 

In my more than 20 years as a holistic practitioner, I’ve learned that connection and peace begin inside each of us. Thoughts are what separate us, but thoughts are also energy. 

Change starts locally! As a leader, choosing to heal and shift your limited perspective using a holistic approach could be a great first step. We can more easily connect to others when we first connect to ourselves. 

I believe the most important thing we can do is bring people closer together—rather than separating them more. The next stage to improve our world should involve transcending our limits and searching for more authentic and wholesome skills of being. Holism draws from collective intelligence. Connection is crucial. Inclusivity has a positive impact on people. It inspires people. 

We now have an opportunity to grow in the midst of the circumstances. Remember, we are we! We are interconnected energetically. Allow your energy to touch the lives of others. Let’s bring love where there is hatred. Let’s bring harmony where there is discord. Let’s bring wholeness where there is separation. Bring the parts together; connect to the whole! Lead by example. The world needs you!