#MondayInsight:

Recently my guidance said to me, “Jeffrey, you help your people sing their songs without shame – meaning without apology, without hesitation, without ornamentation. But to sing their songs honestly, because honesty is where one’s power lies.”

That’s really what they want me to talk with us about today is where your power lies.

So where does your power lie?

Is it in the game of ornamentation or the game of rootedness? 

The game of ornamentation is when you put things on top of something to dress it up, the way you put ornaments on a Christmas tree.  With leaders it’s when you ‘pretty yourself up’ to be presentable. This includes ‘prettying up’ your ideas, how you talk about what you do, what you see in the world, and what you know you’re meant to be talking about.

Do you ever feel the need to put ornamentation on top of who you are or what you do to dress it up?

They’re asking you to look at your own life – particularly your public life, your business life, your life as a messenger in the world as a paradigm changer and ask yourself, “Where do I continually seek to put ornamentation on what I do, on what I say, or how I say it?” Wherever that is, you may be trying to increase your power or influence by having the right ornamentation.

But of course, as a paradigm changer, the game of ornamentation and winning at the game of ornamentation always feels hollow, disjointed, and incongruent.

So what’s the other game?

They’re calling it ‘the game of rootedness.’

See a big majestic tree with deep, deep roots which are interconnected and interwoven with the other trees for collective support and nourishment.

You know this analogy, but the thing that we often fail to look at is how much attention you are putting on growing your own roots deeper – particularly around power, authority, sovereignty and standing tall with what you’re here to share, to see, to do, to name, and to bring into being.

How deep are the roots of your own authority? The more rooted you are, the less focus you have on it. It just is. You simply walk in it the way a tall tree simply stands tall. You develop supreme freedom to sing your song without shame – to bring your voice to the world without the need to ask for permission.

If you want to move from ornamentation to rootedness, look at where and how you ornament yourself, and ask yourself, “In what ways (no matter how subtle they may be) am I apologizing for who I am?”

Because what we need, now more than ever, are leaders who are deeply rooted and their own authority. Leaders who have the freedom to speak a new reality into our collective consciousness. Leaders who aren’t looking to be acceptable or even for themselves to be accepted. Leaders who can lead.