Inner tools for leadership and life
about the May 1 launch of Miriam's Wisdom
Good morning, my friends,
You’ve probably seen the teasers I’ve posted in the last couple weeks about the upcoming changes and rebranding of this Substack. Let me share a little more of the backstory.
I’m pretty sure I’ve shared that I’m neurodivergent. Autism runs in my family, and I also have an auditory processing disorder, an eating disorder, and a mood disorder. (Plus a couple of disabling physical conditions as well, but who’s counting?) I don’t say this in a bid for sympathy, but to tell you a little about the journey to where I am now. In fact, I don’t even want to call it a journey: it’s an adventure!
What do I want to be when I grow up?
Right now, I’m 54 years old, and I’ve worked in software development for 31 years. In my early 40s I took disability leave from work, starting with a few weeks of no work at all and gradually rebuilding from 12 hours a week to 16, to 20 and 24, to 30 and 32. After I resumed a full 40-hour workweek, I found myself sort of itchy and uncomfortable. Working in this field didn’t fit well, and I didn’t know why… until I found the website of a woman who does life coaching for women who took disability leave, returned to full-time work, and realized that their values and beliefs had shifted while they were on leave, that they no longer believed in the same things and valued the same things as before. I asked myself, “Is that really a thing? Is that what’s happening here?”
The answer was yes.
As a result, I went back to school and earned an MS in mathematical sciences, writing a statistics-heavy thesis based on original research. I completed a graduate certificate in epidemiology and have since completed the coursework for a PhD in epidemiology… with a 4.0 GPA. I don’t say this to brag, though I’m proud of my accomplishments, but to tell you more about the adventure as I’ve explored it.
The goal was a move into academia. However, the field of health research has had its funding slashed by the current federal administration, and it’s hard for many health professors and researchers to continue. In fact, my sister works in public health research and is scheduled to be laid off this summer. So I’m working on my dissertation now, not knowing whether there will be anywhere for a 50-some-year-old brand-new epidemiology academic to work.
Leadership
Over time, I have encountered the same thread running through my life: leadership. I’ve taken courses in leadership in public health (not to mention the MBA I started back in 2006), and I’ve taken several courses from Stephanie Ockerman of Agile Socks.
The most important concept I’ve taken from these has been interior space. To lead from our best self, rather than reacting (often with a jerk of the knee) to what happens to us. By creating and cultivating this inner space, we can hold ideas that might seem opposing together in one place. We can examine them, reflect on them, decide how to handle them… instead of reacting in a way that might be unproductive.
I’ve also learned that the tools and techniques for becoming a better leader are the same tools and techniques that help us to become better people, wiser people, even deeply grounded spiritual people. We may use different words for these tools and techniques depending on whether we’re in the office or at home or at a PTA meeting or at our spiritual home, but they are largely the same.
It’s all connected
My spiritual adventure has been an interesting one. I’m a mystic, someone who experiences transcendence and finds deep meaning in it, someone who stands with one foot in this concrete world and one foot in the realm of metaphor and symbol. I was a cradle Episcopalian, even a Sister under vows for several years, and have recently begun a conversion to Judaism. Having read many works by mystics over the years, I was unsurprised that many of the spiritual practices of Christianity align with many of the spiritual practices of Judaism. All of which align with practices in mindfulness, presence, self-compassion, and yes, leadership.
It’s all connected. The brain bone is connected to the heart bone, the heart bone is connected to the spirit bone, the spirit bone is connected to the leadership bone, and this sounds like a terrible version of an old spiritual. But it’s the truth: all these parts of ourselves are connected. They come together at that space of inward capacity, where in the seeming contradictions among them, they live in companionable paradox.
Inner tools
And this is what brings us here today. I’ve learned many inner tools that can help us develop into wiser people, who are more mature, more compassionate, more thoughtful, better parents, more effective leaders. When we invest time into these tools and practices, we become the ones who are sought out when our friends or colleagues have questions. We may not become Vice Presidents of Fortune-50 corporations, but our lives and the lives that touch ours can become fuller, deeper, better.
I’m not offering a silver bullet. What I am offering is some wisdom I’ve gained over 30-some years in the workforce, a life dedicated to spiritual practice, and years of schooling and learning from others.
Are you ready to join me on this new adventure, at Miriam’s Wisdom? I can’t wait to set out with you into the unknown. We start in 8 days! Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single article.