Awakening Your Senses
The Leadership Practice You're Missing
Part 2 of Summer Slowdown Series: A three-part series on how slowing down accelerates your leadership growth
Hey y'all,
Two weeks ago, I shared how my dog Nemo taught me about incremental courage. In that newsletter, I shared how I learned there's a third option between forcing ourselves forward and avoiding challenges entirely.
Walking across the flood wall with confidence opened my senses to what else I'd been missing in my familiar surroundings.
This brings me to the second lesson from my summer slowdown: the leadership practice hiding in plain sight every morning.
What Slow Mornings Taught Me About Leadership
Instead of my usual pattern of waking up and immediately diving into work (driven by that familiar scarcity mindset of "I don't have enough time, I must do"), I started embracing slow mornings.
Devotion first. Then Nemo and I would head out for 45 minutes to an hour of walking through the neighborhood, which was still quiet (and fewer dogs to distract Nemo).
At this time of day, the pace of everything is slower. I could hear the cardinals chirping and mourning doves cooing. I could smell fresh air, pollen, and dew. I could see things because I wasn't distracted by all the activity around me.
Here's what started happening: I began witnessing the seasons change daily instead of feeling like it happened suddenly. I noticed the sun rising a little later each morning. The absence of honeysuckle flowers I could no longer smell. Bunnies that only appear in this season.
Those little noticings of what's newly there or what's no longer present.
But the moment that really shifted something for me was following a trash truck for several blocks, watching two young men jump out and empty the city trash bins along our walkway.
A wave of gratitude hit me. It was the recognition of all the ways things work on our behalf that we're not even privy to. Work that we'd definitely be complaining about if it wasn't happening.
I felt gratitude for all the individuals doing unseen work in our city. Very thankless work. But essential to how we live.
The Leadership Connection: Inspiration Over Distraction
When I'm constantly on the go as a leader, I miss opportunities to celebrate the small things - especially personal growth or growth in others around me. The rushing from task to task breeds overwhelm and exhaustion.
But this slow pace inspired me to breathe into the transitions between tasks.
Instead of feeling distracted, I felt inspired. By slowing down, I was allowing my environment to inspire, teach, and show me its beauty.
I developed an ongoing appreciation that chipped away at any tension I held. It reminded me that I am but a speck in this big, beautiful world - and my problems are so minor compared to it all.
That's a powerful destresser.
Your Leadership Practice: Intentional Transitions
As we move deeper into Q3, here's what I encourage you to try over the next two weeks:
Be intentional in your transitions.
Between tasks, pause. Take a breath. Notice what's happening in your body and your surroundings.
Be intentional about what you want to do before you move to the next thing.
Explore what it feels like to rest in between instead of packing every moment of downtime with another task.
Get inspired by nature, your peers, and your environment. Play a game and see what new things you notice when you slow down. Doodle or sketch them out.
Grant yourself permission to pause, play, and rest.
Our senses give us information that our rushing minds miss. What if the leadership insight you've been searching for is waiting in the space between your meetings?
And as my senses awakened to the world around me, I began to see strength in the most unexpected places... (Part 3 coming in two weeks)
Speaking of Awakening Your Senses...
This reflection connects beautifully with the first principle in my Abuntu Affirmation Card Deck: "Assess Your Well-Being." One of my favorite cards from this section is "I listen to my body's wisdom."
Your body holds intelligence that your mind sometimes misses. These slow morning walks taught me to pay attention to what my body tells me - and it's transformed how I lead.
The deck launches...next week 😯🙌🏾, and I can't wait to share these tools with you. Join the waitlist below to be first to know when pre-order doors open.
What will you notice this week when you slow down between tasks? Hit reply and share your insights with me.
Here's to awakening all our senses,
Tamisha
P.S. - In two weeks, I'll share the most surprising strength lesson of the summer. It came from my garden hose and a spider web, which might change your thoughts about resilience.
