We all have experienced difficult events, emotional hurts, and serious mistakes. Life is never without struggle, and the way to live it on life’s terms is to accept ourselves as we truly are, and embrace the journey.
The heart of struggle is an important part of our leadership’s journey. It identifies our limitations and our pain—and our quest to move through them despite of them.
[quote]Life makes senses when we are centered in our heart, it leads us to our own unique journey.[/quote]
Here are some steps to follow on our path:
Awakened HEART. Many of us suffer and when we do we numb ourselves and reject what we feel, and so, we get stuck where we are. To awaken our heart is to see reality.
Committed HEART To commit our hearts is to allow whatever may come. It’s a requirement for acceptance of self.
Experiential HEART. In accepting our struggles, we experience our heart in a new way. We observe ourselves, to find new frontiers to embrace uncertainty.
Enlightened HEART: Thoughts can become saboteurs, wounding and demonizing. Allow your heart to be the source of light that drives away the shadows.
Identified HEART. Struggle means getting rid of the old and trying on something new. To Identify your own heartbeat, your own gifts, is to bring your truest self to this task.
Returned HEART. The returned heart is a homecoming of sorts, its about processing what you’ve learned on your journey and sharing, teaching, and allowing others to benefit from your journey.
Our journey is filled with never ending struggles, we must meet them with an open heart.
The mind will not get you through at the heart of struggle, but getting closer to the heart’s wisdom will let us learn from its intelligence.
The heart knows what the mind struggles with.
Lead From Within: At the end of day, our suffering is a signal that we are misaligned with our calling, and it’s the heart of struggle that helps our leadership to unfold, as we put to death some parts of ourselves and give birth to something new.
N A T I O N A L B E S T S E L L E R
The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness
After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.
Additional Reading you might enjoy:
- 12 Successful Leadership Principles That Never Grow Old
- A Leadership Manifesto: A Guide To Greatness
- How to Succeed as A New Leader
- 12 of The Most Common Lies Leaders Tell Themselves
- 4 Proven Reasons Why Intuitive Leaders Make Great Leaders
- The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
- The Deception Trap of Leadership
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
Be loyal to the nightmares of your life’s choices.
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
See you all on #leadfromwithin chat tonight
THE HEART OF STRUGGLE starting at 8pm est.
Martina
20. Aug, 2013
Great post Lolly. Yes, the heart (and the spirit) know the way. We overthink situations and allow our doubts, negative thoughts, and the voices of others to interfere. Unfortunately too often we allow our fears to rule our actions. We demonstrate our true hearts by our ultimate action.
This post is important in knowing and following our own hearts, as well as interacting with other people.
“If people show you who they are, believe them.” Maya Angelou
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
I hope Martina,
You had a wonderful birthday yesterday.
You are a stunning soul that shines bright among us.
The distinct message of our journey is following our own heart beat to our own path. Uncover our own uniqueness
Love the Maya Angelou quote!
Thanks so much for your loyal support and gracious wisdom.
Lolly
J. P. Lucas
20. Aug, 2013
Thanks Lolly – I enjoyed your post!
You Tweeted yesterday, “We are sometimes taken into troubled waters not to drown, but to be cleansed.” What a powerful and inspiring perspective of living life from the heart! My favorite part is the opportunity “to be cleansed” within the struggle.
When we view our struggles as opportunities, we shift our focus away from fear and unworthiness. In turn, we free ourselves to live true to our purpose and passions.
As leaders who practice this perspective openly, we inspire others to confront their struggles with an open heart and experience the same personal growth and freedom.
– J. P.
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
Very true J.P.
if we live with an open heart, we can inspire others to confront their own struggles.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your insight with us.
I hope to see you tonight at #leadfromwithin.
Looking forward to your comments.
Lolly
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
“Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it.”
― Henry James
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
When we struggle in our hearts—-all it takes is LOVE
Because Love opens the doors into everything,
as far as I can see, including and perhaps most of all,
the door into one’s own secret, and often terrible and most frightening onto something great.—- our true self.
Lolly
Garren Fagaragan
20. Aug, 2013
aloha Lolly…
The heart of struggle…for me implies an
inner game…an inner world of habitual
thought and emotional patterns.
Your steps to follow on a leaders path are
insightful and helpful…as always.
Yes… life provides unending situations that
tweak our inner world.
Personally…the key question is…how do we relate with them?
Through meditation…like shamatha (calm abiding)
one can relate with them like a dance rather than
struggle…which implies a fight.
The approach is when the outer world “churns up” our inner world…allow things to rise…move towards it gently…grab an arm and waist and dance…until the song ends.
do this again and again…and guess what. Our
inner world settles down…becomes our friend…
and our true nature is revealed more and more
giving us more confidence in that.
thanks again…
see you tonight on your tweetchat…
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
There are two struggles:
an Inner-world struggle and an Outer-world struggle…
as leaders, humans, parents, teachers, spouses, lovers, partners, we must make an intentional contact between these two worlds.
only then will we be able to mesh the one World into another which we call the HEART.
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
True Garren,
it is an inner journey, but much more than that too. first within; then outside with others.
I am so happy you stopped by. I look forward to seeing you this evening.
I hope all is well in your neck of the world.
Lolly
lollydaskal
20. Aug, 2013
…….. struggle as an opportunity to grow.
True struggle happens when you can sense what is not working for you and you’re willing to take the appropriate action to correct the situation.
Those who accomplish change are willing to engage the struggle.
LaRae Quy
20. Aug, 2013
We don’t seem to take life as seriously as we do when we are struggling…struggle forces us to forget ourselves for a moment and dig down to find purpose behind it all. I appreciate the way that you encourage people to take a closer look at struggle and not try to whitewash it. Struggle is the only one predictable thing in this life, so we might as well learn from it.
Thanks, Lolly!
Siva
26. Aug, 2013
Yes, Struggle is the only predictable thing LaRae…you are right.
Panteli Tritchew
20. Aug, 2013
Hi Lolly:
Many of us who face struggles tend to externalize them as something “out there.” Perhaps the reason that we struggle with compassion for others is that we don’t open our own hearts to our own selves. You have beautifully captured “the heart of struggle” that is part of the journey within. Thank you, Lolly.
Karin Hurt
22. Aug, 2013
Love, love, love this list. I’m not sure we’re ever fully awakened to our heart. I feel like I’m always in an awakening process.
lollydaskal
24. Aug, 2013
the fact that you are aware of your heart. you have awakened your heart.
Terri Klass
23. Aug, 2013
Beautiful post, Lolly! The heart of struggle can be so difficult to harness and realign in a more meaningful direction that really suits us better. I love the idea of an identified heart- saying goodbye to a past, unfulfilled life to welcoming a new one, filled with hope and promise.
I think we all owe it ourselves to find that new direction and walk down that piece with an open heart and mind.
Thanks for your amazing wisdom.
Terri
lollydaskal
24. Aug, 2013
Terri,
sometimes when we struggle the last thing we seem to realize we have another path, another road, all we are concerned with is the pain in the moment.
it takes enormous discipline to move past yourself and awaken yourself to something new.
Thanks for sharing Terri. as you know I appreciate you greatly.
Lolly
Siva
26. Aug, 2013
Very True!
john paul
23. Aug, 2013
. . . and the Healing Heart of a wounded warrior.
lollydaskal
24. Aug, 2013
are we not all wounded warriors John?
Raj Kumar Bangia
24. Aug, 2013
‘Once this heart of mine was barren like a desert.Lacking in grace and lacking in life;
Till the stream of love made it fertile,
It was full of waste and unlovely land.
The stream of love hath transformed my barren grounds,
To a flower garden and a fruit orchard’
With Love and best wishes.
Rosa
24. Aug, 2013
Thank you for this post. Lolly. Very timely for me in my journey I have chosen to take. Today I feel how by looking at my struggle and facing it, I am more at peace with myself. My heart beats a different beat today.
Siva
26. Aug, 2013
Excellent Post Lolly, I fully accept the following of what you had written “Our journey is filled with never ending struggles, we must meet them with an open heart” Looking forward to read more of your works.
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Dawood Chishti
30. Aug, 2013
Lolly,
You have realised much awaited dream of affection and love for humanity. It is is product of your passion and honesty to help others.
Your flag may fly high upto sky!
Dawood Chishti
Simona Rich
29. Sep, 2013
Hi Lolly,
I completely agree with you that any kind of suffering is a sign that we are out of alignment with who we really are.
I witness many people scared to show their real selves to themselves, let alone others!
However only when this happens one can achieve inner integrity and cause a positive change in one’s life.
Thank you for your wonderful post.
Simona Rich