It is becoming increasingly evident that leading with heart in a balanced and effective way is the most empowered path a leader can take. I have researched various cultures’ views on leading with heart in my personal, professional, and academic studies. This week I invite you to contemplate, investigate, and question how you live and lead each day with or without your energy of the heart. One thing that I have gleaned from my experiences and studies is the Japanese view of the heart. Japanese culture sees the heart as an essential organ of life and the source from which all action should emanate. Their term used is a word that vibrates the resonance of the warrior. That word is Kokoro.
Kokoro describes a person’s way of being. It means “heart, mind, and spirit aligned in action.” There isn’t one word in English to capture this essential nature. Most believe the mind is the end all, be all. As we evolve in our understanding of the body-mind-heart connection in the Western world, we use the word energy more and more commonly, just like the Japanese use the word Kokoro. For example, you may hear someone say, “She has good energy,” or “I don’t like their energy.” Also, the word spirit is thrown into the mix, which somewhat embodies what Kokoro means because it’s really about a person’s essence: how they feel, think, and communicate when operating from their higher Self, with aligned body language, words, and actions.
If you have been following Unbeatable Mind for some time and doing the practices and exercises offered in my book and training programs, you have been developing your Kokoro intelligence by climbing the other four mountains (physical, mental, emotional, intuitional) with or without realizing it. The integration of the first four mountains in the Unbeatable Mind system creates mastery at the fifth mountain, the “Kokoro-spirit” level.
With your physical, mental, emotional, and intuitional intelligence all working together as a team, your blockages don’t stand a chance. You are becoming limitless, and life a you once knew it will be forever shifted in a positive trajectory. You are acting from your whole mind, like the Zen enlightened masters. According to the great Buddhist teacher Suzuki Roshi, the mind is a universal “Beginner’s Mind,” which is always on your side because a Zen mind is on the side of truth. It’s the “mind” that just knows what is real and what is not real.
And when you have strong Kokoro, you will know your calling, your why. Your purpose will reveal itself to you. If you’re still unsure at this point, no worries. Keep up the self exploration and discovery. Stay the course! Give it more time, remain focused, and you’ll get there.
“What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself?”
—Eckhart Tolle