When we begin to expand our consciousness, we begin to notice connections between the way things work on a large scale and the way things work on a small scale. This in turn makes us continue to notice how things are connected, and then allows us to begin to see how everything is actually connected on an energetic level. Then, when we get deep down to the atomic level, we understand that everything in existence is part of a whole. Everything in existence is connected. So, of course something that happens in one place or time can affect something in another place or time in ways we may not even be able to grasp at this stage in our human evolution. To expand your understanding about this idea, keep reading for some practical aspects of marco and micro parallels that may open your mind to a whole new level of understanding of how your life and the universe work, and how this may pertain to the ripple you are sending out into the universe as a mindful leader every single day.

When we make a comparison between how things work on a microscopic as well as a macroscopic scale, we will oftentimes find ourselves in awe as to the mysteries of the universe, especially at first. As with many other pieces of information, if it doesn’t resonate right away, then you may need to be exposed to it several times in order to fully allow the information to sink in.

First, I’d like to talk a little bit about fractals and how this idea can actually help you to grasp the eternally expanding nature of the universe, as well as everything within the universe. A fractal is essentially an infinite repetition of the same or similar patterns as programmed or created by the same or similar previous patterns. This doesn’t always have to be perceived by our physical eyes, so we can then begin to see patterns of existence everywhere, on small and large scales.

For an immediate example, we can take into consideration the earth as a whole. She is inhabited by various life forms, all being sustained by her in some way, shape, or form, from the air we breathe to the water we drink, to the food we grow and consume. Not much that lives on earth can survive in space, so we can probably all agree that in a sense, earth is a body. A celestial body, to be precise. All of the beings living on earth are part of her, including human beings.

Now, what about the human body? We are individual, sure, but we are all connected to the earth, for one. Then there are all of the living bacteria and cells that thrive within us… trillions of them, all on task as per our mostly unconscious order. At the core of everything that has form is something formless: energy. The core of everything we are. We are atoms powered by resonance, light turned perceivable by sound waves, and inhabited by consciousness.

There are infinite fractal universes within universes, always expanding on the smallest as well as largest scales. Also, all of these different layers and scales are connected to a source that is also constantly expanding and growing and evolving. Infinite, in all directions. As above, so below; as within, so without. These ideas can become so much more than words now.

Are you still with me? Here comes the fun and slightly less complex part.

The best aspect of all of this is that you can actually have an influence on your life and consciously help yourself out, so to speak. Knowing and beginning to understand how everything is connected via energy (atoms) is an excellent way to get to a point of manifesting your desires more quickly. This is also a great way to create positive and conscious ripples out through whomever you interact with on a daily basis.

There are a few ways in which you can help yourself to be more conscious of what you’re bringing into the world and spreading around out there every day, so to speak. We can create positive or negative energies that will flow and influence others, and your energies depend a lot on how you’re feeling. It’s important to purify your feelings and make sure they’re not being influenced by past negative experiences, which we all seem to hold on to and carry around with us like they’re badges of honor, when really they just weigh us down and make life so much more challenging and full of struggle. To purify your feelings, a few realizations must occur about things that can influence your energy.

Things That Influence Your Energy

There are a few things that I would consider thought and emotion combinations that can have a powerful influence on the type of energy you hold and radiate. Being a mindful leader, you probably already practice meditation and self-awareness. These are wonderful practices because they will lead you deeper and deeper as you learn and practice more. Here are a few realizations and ideas that may help you to refine your discernment about your own energy signature and how you can influence it.

Your Intent

Your intent in each and every moment, no matter what or whom you are interacting with, will influence the ripples you send out in your everyday life. When your intent is based in love and compassion, your ripple will have a positive influence on everything around you and your life as a whole. If your intent is to harm another or your decisions are based in fear, then your ripple will not have a positive sphere of influence in your life.

This usually happens on an unconscious level, because most of us humans are reactive, meaning something happens and we react to it. We are driven by stimuli rather than becoming the stimulator of our own realities by tuning our frequency or resonance consciously. It’s up to you to change this as an individual, from within yourself, by choosing a different way in the moment and not reacting unconsciously. “Think before you speak,” put into practice via nonjudgment.

Nonjudgment

How to become nonreactive is by practicing nonjudgment. Don’t judge anything immediately, and any conclusions your mind begins to jump to, talk them down. Allow yourself to just not know everything. Allow yourself to stop worrying about anything outside of yourself unless or until there is cause for concern. Typically speaking, it won’t have anything to do with what you are truly responsible for, anyway, and you are actually resisting what you want by radiating negative energy or emotions.

Your Resistance

If you are emotionally attached to one specific outcome and not creating that outcome would be world-shattering for you, then you cannot expect your desired outcome to actually arrive. It is not the desiring of it that keeps it away from you; it is the charge of emotion you imbue it with that determines whether it will manifest in your experience or not. If you imbue it with passionate desire and obsession and want, you will also imbue it with the opposite side of that same coin: the fear of not receiving it. The stronger your desire and emotional reliance on this outcome for your happiness, the stronger the same opposing fear will be, and these emotions will need to be purged before your desire can manifest in your experience.

This is why it’s so important to relax and surrender to the process; let it be. Don’t attach such heavy, burdensome emotions to anything. After you make known your desire, send it off with feelings of gratitude and knowing that you already have it in some other dimension. Since all possibilities exist always, the only thing you should focus on is pulling that dimension closer to your experience by being grateful for what you already have and feel that same feeling when you ask or emotionally send a desire out into the ether.

How does this affect your ripples? Well, if you are resistant to the process, you tend to be impatient, aggravated, irritable, controlling, feeling like you’re losing control (that’s the purging part), and then finally some major thing will happen to break down your life and make room for your manifestation, especially if it’s something like a new career or another life-altering shift.

The ripples you send out during this period of time can also come back to you, so if you’re interacting with others with a lot of fear or anger energy, then you may also begin to feel like others are attacking you simply because they have been feeling attacked by you, and the cycle can become vicious until it gets to a breaking point. The key is to realize when this is happening and take a step back and observe. Zero response or reaction until you have a moment to process, and then your reaction can be loving and compassionate or hateful and fearful in return. Nonjudgment allows you to essentially referee yourself so that you can make the wisest and most educated decisions as to how to respond.

Your Integrity

When you stand in your integrity, you can stand by every single action you take and decision you make without faltering. To do this, you must know what you don’t agree with and believe in so that you can begin to understand what you do stand for and believe in, and then live each moment from that place.

In order to truly stand in your integrity, you must have integrity not just in the sense of morals as we understand them on a superficial level, but also in the sense of being completely unified within yourself on each decision, action, thought, and in each moment. That’s the part that’s usually missing, as these definitions of integrity have been separated as if they are two different things; they are not.

You as a human being must not be divided in your beliefs or understanding so that you can stand in your true integrity. If you are barely scraping by, making decisions every day after having to battle with yourself in your mind, then that indicates there might be too much inner conflict in your day to day decisions. You may need to determine and refine what your values and beliefs are so that you can make the best decisions possible, for yourself as a mindful leader as well as for those whom you are leading. If you are a conflicted leader, you will not be a very effective one and can expect your inner conflicts to manifest themselves as external conflicts because of the law of attraction.

Have you ever noticed that if you expect someone or a group of people to be offended or upset at something, then they typically will be? This is partially due to your expectation in and of itself, because the energy of that expectation translates and is communicated via your interactions with those people both in person as well as online, over the phone, over email, and even if you’ve never interacted with that person but they have caught wind of something you’ve done that they disagree with.

By expecting disagreement, you are creating and attracting disagreement via the energy you send out and it making its way back to you because the universe says, “your wish is my command,” to your emotional energetic signature or vibration. By standing in your integrity and having a firm understanding of what you are basing your decisions on each day, you can make any decision you need to without inciting a riot by accident, because people will know you are in charge, period.

Thanks so much for joining us here today on the Mindful Leader Blog! We hope you’ve found this information useful and that you’ll join us next week for the final article about the ripple effect and how you can affect your life and the lives of everyone around you. We wish you a wonderful week and hope to see you back soon!

For more information about the Mindfulness Movement or the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:

http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement

We each have the ability to create a ripple effect with each interaction we have on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed how a seemingly benign interaction can make your whole day better sometimes? Now, what if you actually purposefully initiate some kind of ripple effect to help facilitate change in a system that doesn’t work or create solutions for a problem where there are none? Oftentimes, the biggest changes are initiated by small groups, and now that we are all connected via the internet, facilitating positive change on purpose has become more and more possible, realistic, and doable. I bring this up for one reason only: creating positivity and positive change is good karma, and when you send out positive intentions coupled with inspired action toward a goal, this will return to you in ways you may not even be able to imagine at this stage in your life. To better explain this, we’ll discuss certain laws of the universe such as the law of attraction and the law of cause and effect. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of how and why the energies you send out in each moment (in thought, word, deed, or emotions) return to you.

Now, at first, this may seem overwhelming or sound impossible to master. Monitoring all of your thoughts, words, emotions, every layer of your being so you don’t end up attracting things you don’t want? How ridiculous, right?

Here’s where we run into our first misconception or the first conditioned flaw in our thinking. When you perceive the process of cultivating inner happiness through mindfulness practice as trying to forcibly control your entire self from an external perspective, you end up trying to think of it like something that you have to do actively, on the outside of yourself. While there are some things like exercise that are excellent for helping you to maintain your health and emotional balance, this isn’t the type of “work” that will allow you to master any and all ripples you send out into the world.

The simplest solution is usually the most sound, so for a moment, just sit there and breathe. Try not to think about anything and if you catch yourself thinking thoughts, bring your focus back to your natural breathing. Don’t force or strain anything; just allow your breath to move in and out and through you naturally. This is how you go within and master your thoughts so that they no longer run you. When you can quiet the mind on command, eventually you won’t have to quiet your mind anymore. You will reach a point where it’s quiet in your head unless you don’t want it to be, and then it’s more likely that you’ll be doing something creative or productive in order to use your mind the way it was always intended to be used: as a tool.

We were never meant to be slaves to our thoughts, but that is how we have been conditioned over the course of centuries and lifetimes. Our beliefs are not our own, but we are brainwashed from birth based on the input we receive from outside sources whom we have no reason not to trust. After all, these are our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and people whom we are told care about us. We trust their experience and judgment, but their experiences are typically different from ours and we then begin to draw our own conclusions. Some of our new conclusions may not resonate with what we once accepted as truth, which can create resistance, especially if we aren’t aware of our own internal processes, but this is all part of the learning process so that we may be more aware next time.

Let’s talk a little bit about certain laws of the universe. The concepts that are covered can be applied to our experiences, but sometimes this isn’t obvious without prior practice. However, once you can associate some of these concepts in a way you understand, they will be much easier to remember and therefore apply.

The Law of Vibration

One important foundational law to know is the law of vibration. This law can never be and has never been changed, and is not able to be transcended. This law states that, at its core, everything has a vibration, a frequency. Science has now proven that everything is energy, which is amazing because we are able to more easily “believe” this without necessarily having to see it. Many also now understand that our senses are extremely limited in allowing us to perceive the world around us. Like energy attracts like energy, and everything is energy, so it only makes sense to try to be at an energy that feels like your current desires are already yours.

The Law of Cause and Effect

“Every cause has its effect, every effect has its cause.” Because everything is energy, our thoughts, emotions, words, and deeds send out ripples on many different levels or layers of reality, seen and unseen, whether we realize it consciously or not. Everything you send out and therefore experience reflected back to you originates from within you, and once you understand this concept more fully, it becomes obvious that the easiest way to consistently send out positive ripples is to consistently practice being mindful, kind, patient, and loving with others as well as yourself. That’s not to say that you have to subject yourself to being abused or mistreated; on the contrary. You should be firm in your boundaries and if you see red flags of a personality disorder or toxicity, you have the right to stop associating with this person so that you don’t end up being drained by them. Sometimes they will still be able to energetically drain you, but only if you continue to give them your focus. So, don’t worry about it. Focus on being your best self instead, and watch everything fall into place.

The Law of Attraction

This law, while not listed as one of the seven universal laws, is a sort of connection between all of the laws, as you must master each one in order to master your life and your ability to manifest on purpose. Whatever you send out comes back to you; yes, people talk about the law of attraction as it pertains to abundance, but this law also applies when it comes to lack. If you are trapped in a lack mindset, you will attract circumstances and situations into your experience that will reinforce that lack mindset. If you are in a mindset of being victimized by life or an illness (placing control over your life in things beyond your control to avoid taking responsibility for your part), then your energy or vibration will attract more of the same. Rather than trying to pin your happiness on something external and wait begrudgingly for it to manifest, creating resistance, it is much more effective to daydream or practice visualizing and feeling as though you already have the desire you’re working toward. This will bring you to the same vibration as your desire, which attracts you to it and it to you. Practicing is the keyword again here, but don’t practice by feeling like you desire something. The most important part is to feel gratitude for it like you’ve already received it, and whatever other feelings might go with having it already. This is the practicing you want to do in your mind because this allows you to more easily manifest without consciously trying. The more you practice the techniques that work for you, the easier they become.

The Law of Polarity

This law states that every opposite is actually different degrees of the same thing. Hot and cold are both still temperatures; love and fear both emotions. By understanding and knowing that two opposites are just extremes of the same thing, you can begin to transcend your emotional responses to circumstances as well as interactions with others, as tempting as it may be to go off on someone rather than wishing them well and letting it go. That’s where you must ask yourself in the moment what types of ripples you want to send out into the world. Would you like the negative ripples to stop with you? Maybe even be reversed or counteracted? Or would you like to add to the negative pot of energetic and emotional baggage we all throw at each other on a daily basis without realizing it? It will come back to you either way.

One practice that makes it much easier to get a grasp on yourself as well as your ability to manifest intentionally is a practice of detachment. By detachment, I don’t mean that you suppress or ignore your emotions and pretend to be perfect. This defeats the entire purpose and is a way for you again to attempt to control your inner world through the outer layers of your being. This never works as all change originates from within on an energetic level, and you cannot reach that by simply appearing calm on the outside. It isn’t what’s going on out there that matters; it’s what’s going on within you that really counts for your life.

By detachment, I mean a practice of reserving your reaction or response while you either contemplate or let something sit so that you have time to process whatever emotions may arise before doing anything. A practice of detachment allows you to become the observer of your emotions rather than allowing them to take over, which in turn allows you to make better decisions and refine your discernment. As a mindful leader, this is especially important because people aren’t likely to trust in leadership that doesn’t handle things well. For example, if employees are reprimanded for asking questions or making mistakes they couldn’t have avoided with their level of skill or expertise, then this could create a fear of asking for clarification and a fear of sharing ideas. Everyone’s input should be acknowledged and validated, but not all suggestions have to be implemented. However, simply by allowing everyone to participate, it creates rapport between everyone as well as a spirit of cooperation and encouragement.

When we approach a situation with a sense of inner peace and without being attached to any one outcome, which is equivalent to letting go of control, then we have the ability to remain calm and peaceful and lead well when it matters most: during challenging or stressful times that emotionally ramp everyone up. People also feed on each other’s energies, so if one person gets up in arms about something, it is very likely that others will soon follow. The more detached you are, the more you’ll be able to make the best decisions for everyone involved, no matter what the circumstances might look like.

Practicing detachment also allows you to make sure you aren’t sending out any negative ripples because rather than acting out intensely based on your emotions, you will be allowing those emotions to simply exist without “feeding the fire,” so to speak. You won’t allow your thoughts to even begin spiraling out of control and pulling you into a negative thought cycle that keeps your emotions looping, too. This will no longer happen within your being because you will have learned how to quiet your mind, which means the intensity of your emotions will seem less because they aren’t being perpetuated by your pesky mind.

Once you’ve begun practicing detachment, you may also experience an increase in confidence and self-trust because you will be able to trust your own memory, intuition, emotions, and so on. You won’t let yourself down, so you’ll be able to trust yourself more and more as time goes on, which in turn allows you to naturally inspire everyone you lead simply by being your incredible self, and what a beautiful ripple that will send out in each moment.

Thanks so much for reading! Please join us again next week for a new article about the ripple effect.

For more information about the Mindfulness Movement or the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:

http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement

Each interaction has the ability to influence others on a physical as well as energetic level. If you’re unsure about what this means, think of a time when someone’s words didn’t match their actions or you could sense that they weren’t being sincere. Maybe they were even flat out lying—maybe even doing it well—and you got this nagging feeling that they were being dishonest. This is how we communicate on at least two different levels each time we interact, and of course, it isn’t black and white; everyone’s energy and personality exists on a spectrum, so there is no way to categorize human beings in such simplistic black and white terms. However, we all have a balance of energies which we can maintain through mindfulness habits, and the better you become at mastering your own energy, the less trouble you will have when interacting with those you lead. Let’s take a look at some of the levels of communication and how they might be affecting your efficacy as a mindful leader. 

Now, if you’ve ever spoken or interacted with someone who has a tendency to drain others by playing mind games, using manipulation tactics, or habitually being dishonest or withholding information, then you will understand that too much time around someone like this will take its toll on your energy. This is equally true for those you lead, and as a mindful leader, it is up to you to realize if you’re sending out ripples of this type of energy yourself.

The first step is always awareness, so if you find that you’ve behaved in ways that aren’t true to who you really are, it could be time to change the habits you rely upon in your everyday life. Do you belittle those you lead (e.g.: “I can’t believe you screwed this up. You had one job!”)? Tell different people different stories about an event to inspire arguments or drama between coworkers? Do you ever lie to those you lead or withhold information that would make their work easier? Even if you have seemingly legitimate reasons, none of this type of behavior—no matter how well-intentioned— inspires any trust in leadership, so anything like this can create conflict in the workplace, even if no one is aware exactly how or where this energy is coming from. As a mindful leader, it is your job to lead by example and make absolutely certain that you have your own behaviors in check.

Keeping your intentions and actions in alignment with your words can work wonders in building trust and rapport with everyone you lead. No matter the environment, even if it isn’t a workplace environment, trust is of the utmost importance, and you cannot build trust and solidarity with fear. It must be built with a foundation of love and cooperation, a focus on the win-win for everyone if at all possible.

Psst… here’s a little secret: a win-win is always possible. However, it may not be easy to discern if you’re not in the right mindset or energy, as this alters your perception. We see what we seek, so if all you expect are problems, then all you will see are problems.

The fact is that all human beings pick up on the energies of others to a certain extent. This is due to the electromagnetic field emanating from the heart of every human being, which extends out anywhere from 4-10 feet or more. Some people have wider energy fields than others do. However, this electromagnetic field is now being studied in conjunction with neuroscience because the heart also has its own brain cells and brain-type functions, so the implications of this from a practical standpoint are phenomenal.*

This energy field can be influenced by things in the environment as well as by your own mood and ability to maintain your frequency during your everyday experiences, including those that are less than pleasant. It’s all about gaining so much clarity and balance within your own being that it radiates outward and assists in comforting others, while also not allowing outside energies to influence your balance excessively. This is a constant, continuous, flowing process, the exchange of energy and the key is to understand that each individual is responsible for maintaining one’s own energy, both to help oneself as well as to help others. 

Knowing this, we can begin to understand just how important it is to maintain a balance and stability within your own being as naturally as possible. This is an emotional and mental process first, but your physical body also plays a role and should be kept somewhat healthy in order to stay in balance.

But we already know that part, so let’s talk about some of the realizations you may have on your way to understanding how you might be affecting the world around you as well as other people, and how that could ripple outward to affect numerous other people. This is especially true with the dawn of the internet, where we can share and exchange either positive or negative information along with its corresponding energy, either to help the collective or (even if inadvertently) perpetuate fear energy within the collective.

Three Revelations for Creating Positive Ripples

1. What you focus on grows. If you’re constantly focused on a problem, you cannot create space within your life or experience for the solution to present itself. The problem must be “released,” so to speak, on an emotional level, so that a solution can come forth as the opposite side of that coin. This duality is a law of the physical world, so while both things exist within our reality and one cannot exist without the other, the energies that exist within you work slightly differently because fear and love cannot exist within the same being at the same time (this is what influences how you react to things). Problems and associated emotions come from a place of fear because they typically create a need to control your external world. Solutions, however, stem from a place of love and a calm knowing that everything will work out exactly as it is supposed to. This letting go makes room within your perception to allow solutions to present themselves at precisely the times when you are ready to receive them.

When you approach any kind of problem with this deep, inner confidence, you will inspire anyone and everyone you lead on some level. You will find it easier to be nonreactive and completely clear-headed and focused, without a hint of anxiety or jumping to extremes to control the situation externally. Not only will you be communicating peace through your words and behaviors, but you will also exude that energy from your heart center and anyone who is in your proximity will likely calm down as well. This ability to comfort and solve problems at the same time will serve you extremely well as a mindful leader.

2. You don’t know how you might affect others if you don’t pay attention. Even if you do, you may still not know how you affect others energetically all the time. However, when someone picks up on frustration and gets frustrated in return, it tends to escalate a bit before one or both individuals carry the interaction around with them throughout their day, sometimes even longer. They then take this frustration home, and it may affect the way this individual treats their family, in turn affecting the way the family interacts. Depending on how practiced they are at being emotionally and energetically balanced, this could translate into children acting out at school, which then spreads the negative interactions into more families, more workplaces, and so on. A ripple of fear-based energy.

On the other hand, if someone picks up on love, sincerity, acceptance, gratitude, peace, and other positive and unconditional energies, they will likely have an incredible day, and if they choose to, can then carry that energy around with them all day.

The unfortunate aspect of this is that people are much more likely to wallow in the negative experience than they are to bask in the positive because we are programmed and conditioned to think that if we don’t give our focus to all the bad stuff then we don’t care about it happening, and therefore it won’t ever stop. This is a conditioned belief and a manipulation tactic, because the truth of it is that if we focus our attention on the negative, it will get worse and worse, while if we acknowledge what’s happening but send it love and let it go, we don’t obsess over whatever it is and can more easily focus on something that’s better for us. Then, before we know it, the issue has faded into the background of our lives and is no longer a big concern for us. This allows us to focus on the thing we can control: ourselves, our own energy, and our own behavior. It’s important to be selective about what you give your energy to so that you don’t give it more power.

3. Everything you send out will eventually make its way back to you. From an energetic standpoint, you are always sending out signals about what you want to attract by the way you feel. These feelings are seemingly “simple” to explain, but really getting the balance right is a bit more complex than that when it comes to manifesting on purpose. However, for the purposes of this piece, it’s so much easier to make it a general rule to be kind, assertive but loving, have strong boundaries, and treat others the way you would want to be treated in every situation you encounter than it is to constantly worry whether you are, in fact, doing the right thing because you aren’t feeling sincere about yourself or confident in your decisions.

This general kindness creates a highly positive and supportive work environment, making everything else so much more easily manageable. The biggest problem with leadership is if you create an environment of conflict and competition, everyone will fend for themselves and people typically won’t be interested in collaboration or cooperation because of the competitive energetic undertones. This type of environment is a breeding ground for developing bad habits, treating others badly, and even manipulating, lying, or taking other damaging measures in order to advance. This vibe in an environment also causes people to suppress their empathy, sensitivity, and caring, which in turn has massive effects on them, their personal lives, and anyone they come into contact with. Some people may not be able to handle a stressful or energetically draining or toxic environment long-term.

A positive environment encourages collaboration, understanding, patience, and independent thought, and this positive environment can be established by focusing on a win-win attitude rather than a competitive one. As simple as this sounds, it takes practice in every moment, especially if you’ve never been really self-aware before. That’s okay; practice is the best way to get there for everyone, and you can begin from exactly where you are.

As a final thought, trying to pretend to have it all together is much more difficult and filled with resistance and effort (exhausting!) than practicing mindfulness in each moment and daily meditation. These simple but profound inner habits will get you to a point where you don’t just look like you have it all together; you become an embodiment of peace, wisdom, and guidance to be sought out rather than “advice” to be pushed away or rebelled against. It all begins with you, mindful leaders, and as always, it begins from within.

Thanks so much for being here and reading our articles! We hope you’ll join us again next week for a new article on the ripple effect. For now, keep practicing and allow yourself to take notice of any positive effects you may be having during this process to help you realize its impact. This will help you to maintain your emotional balance even in challenging situations.

For more information about the Mindfulness Movement or the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:

http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement

*More information about the heart and its influence on communication: https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/science-of-the-heart/the-energetic-heart-is-unfolding/