The 2023 word of the year was authenticity. It is a brilliant word and in many ways reflected our natural desire to remain human in a digital world. I cheered for that word’s proliferation. I have been called authentic for much of my leadership journey. Early on, I absorbed it as a testament to being slightly different, which truth be told made me feel exposed and uncomfortable, almost like I was doing it wrong. As if authenticity in and of itself meant that people could see that I was an amateur dressed up in a leader’s clothes.
But as my leadership, comfort and confidence developed, I learned it was more. I learned it was the fact that my feelings and energy could not be hidden. That even when I thought I was conforming or performing, my true nature could be felt and seen underneath. I came to recognize that authenticity was a personal imperative because I felt guided by something bigger than myself. So that when I stood in front of 3,000 people to speak, I was speaking from a space of flow and trust, believing that this was the message I was meant to give. And that although it exposed parts of myself others may not make visible, I trusted it.
And today, I am building a movement called Psi. Psi is an integrated state of being that allows us to intentionally hold ourselves in spaciousness as we move through the world. As I initially describe Psi to others, people often nod in understanding and distill it down to authenticity. And while I love authenticity and consider it an incredible value, Psi is not authenticity. It is more like the next stage, more like wholeness, where authenticity can fully land.
For, I have always been authentic, but I haven’t always been whole. I always tried to operate from truth and vulnerability, but I only knew and recognized a sliver of myself. For much of my life, I was operating from fragmentation, so my authenticity was partial. I was authentic in that moment, but only from one vantage point. I now understand the value of going beyond that sliver of authenticity to identify all the parts of ourselves, pulling them back together. This takes our authenticity and our leadership to an entirely new level.
We can offer pieces of ourselves or we can give all of ourselves. Most of us are well-intentioned and believe we are giving all of ourselves, but we have actually never taken the time or figured out how to discover the whole truth. As I’ve taught and explored Psi, I’ve learned that a greater sense of wholeness becomes an amplifier. It amplifies the incredible gifts, insights, and wisdom we carry inside. I can’t help but think of the world we create if each of us harnesses the totality of our internal intelligence and disseminates it into the world with aligned action. We are on the precipice of something grand and I believe it can create a new design for our world.
In 2019, I received a call from Sister Janice Ryan, a leadership and community hero. She had never called me before, we had only exchanged pleasantries at community events. However, on this afternoon, she said, “you are coming up in my prayers morning, noon and night. I feel the need to ask you, is there something in your life you’re not paying attention to?” I was flummoxed by the question, but told her everything was fine, my life was full and fulfilling, there was nothing to worry about. I spent a week considering her question, but came up empty. So I moved on. Little did I know the extraordinary gift she was trying to send me.
There is so much to do, so much required of us, so much noise to distill, so many tasks to accomplish. And yet, underneath all of that, lies our own wholeness, waiting to beckon us back to ourselves. Waiting for us to authentically distribute our most expansive selves out into the world. I believe this is the greatest leadership call of our time.
I finally hear you, Sister Janice. And in your memory, I spread the good news.