This YouTube video is a short monologue by Diana (from a video uploaded by Dave Kashen) introducing a simple practice for "conscious leadership" built around four self-inquiry questions: (1) Where am I? (presence: above-the-line vs below-the-line), (2) Can I accept myself for being where I am?, (3) Am I willing to shift? (with explicit allowance for "no"), and (4) How will I shift? The speaker demonstrates the practice onstage, noticing nervousness, accepting it, choosing willingness to shift, and returning to presence; she argues that practicing these questions broadly would change interpersonal dynamics and leadership.
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You know, I really think this idea of conscious leadership, I love these four questions that we've been sitting with that I think all conscious leaders are asking themselves. And the first question is, where am I? You know, and what we mean by that is, where am I in relationship to presence? Am I in presence, or have I left presence? And my experience is that hardly anybody ever asks themselves or each other that question of where are you? And we're always having these conversations with each other. Life is, I would argue, one big conversation, either with somebody else or in my own head. And this content is so fascinating, we all think, but the where is this conversation coming from? Is this coming from. And we like to use this model of the line. Is it above the line in an open, clear, trusting place? Or is it below the line where there's some constriction, some defensiveness? So that's the first thing that I love talking to people about, is where are we in this now moment? Do you know where you are? And do you have the skill set to catch that? So I was watching myself when I was getting ready to start talking, sitting here on the stage, I was checking in with myself, and I was saying, diana, where are you? And I noticed I was below the line. And so I just checked what's going on? And I could feel this place of nervousness. And I watched myself. I could feel it. It was in my body. It felt tight, a little tight. It felt anxious. And so first, the next question then is so I could recognize I'm below the line. And the next question is, can I accept myself for being just where I am? And, you know, especially for a lot of us who are seekers, who are interested in personal development, it's often, you know, I should be someplace else. And I'm really excited about letting myself be exactly where I am and letting everybody else be exactly where they are. So I let myself just accept, oh, I'm a little scared. I can notice this part of me that wants to be accepted and wants this to be valuable for you and for those who would watch this. And so I just let myself be in acceptance of that part of me that wants to control. And then the next question is, am I willing to shift? And the important thing about that question is no has to be just as valuable as yes. Because if no isn't okay, then you can't really, truly have a whole body. Yes. And I argue that about anything. If I can't say no to walking into my job today, I can't really be there from my yes. So I checked to see would I be willing to shift? And I said, yes, I'd be willing to shift. And then the final question is, how do I shift? And what I noticed is just checking to see if I'd be willing to be the source of my own approval and my own control and my own security. And I asked that question, and I said, yes, I would be. And I noticed the whole body relax, and I come back above the line, and I come back to present. And so that process where am I can I accept myself for being right where I am? Am I willing to shift if I am in a place of any kind of constriction? And then how will I shift? And that that's the simple practice that if we all were just spending time putting attention on that and learning to develop that skill, I think it would be a very different world. We'd.
