Written by: Caroline Lewis, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I know the rugged individualist hero archetype well. There have been times in my life that I pushed through life’s challenges by pulling up my bootstraps. I participated in programs that taught me wilderness skills as a form of leadership but a neglected song, dance, ceremony, and true surrender to the power and wisdom that naturally flows when connecting deeply to the Earth in the community together. We are TOO often taught that leadership is an individual endeavor, one that prioritizes more masculine qualities, such as rationality, stoicism, aggression, strength, hierarchy, and endurance.
“Leading from the feminine is bigger than leading from the heart. It includes leading from your connection to the divine or sacred as well and also from intuition and your body’s senses and awareness. I believe that women’s amazing capacity to heal, grow and strengthen each other is likely the single greatest underutilized resource we have, as a species, for transforming our world.” — Nina Simons
But this current leadership paradigm is no longer serving our larger Earth community.
Instead of a hierarchical model, the Earth is desperately seeking to re-balance itself which includes a call for all of us to rebalance our own inner masculine and feminine energies.
Cultivating the inner courage to step forward as a leader is important, but so is working together, bringing forth all of our own unique talents, co-creating a new vision for the future that surpasses anything that we could have ever previously imagined.
And this is not out of reach…
Last summer, I participated in two River Trips for women and non-binary folks.
On these adventures, I technically “led” and organized the trips.
However, I was in awe of the grace that can happen when women come and lead together, directly fed by the divine feminine well of the River’s waters.
These River Trips were a shared leadership experience.
Though I may have had the vision, ALL other group members stepped forward with their own unique gifts and magic in order to create and manifest a transformative community journey of a lifetime.
And I am convinced that Wildly Sensitive people will lead this way forward together.
By cultivating a sensitive collective in nature, we can learn and embody leadership that is shared through reciprocity, mutual care, and a true honoring and uplifting of highly sensitive gifts such as intuition, empathy, and heightened sensory awareness. As an empath, you can learn to communicate and lead from the vulnerable places where your heart breaks for the world while remaining grounded and centered when the Earth needs sensitive and feminine leadership the most.
The current paradigm of leadership is not designed for sensitive folks.
Sensitive ones learn and process differently than others.
Instead of prioritizing only masculine qualities, it is necessary for you as an empath to learn to lead from your inner feminine, held by your masculine. When your feminine and masculine wisdom rise directly from Earth’s source, they flow beyond the binary ‒ supporting you in emerging and leading from your wildest true nature.
Caroline Lewis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Caroline Lewis (she,they) is a psychotherapist, energy healer, and wilderness guide. She believes true embodied joy is rooted in the courage to embrace sensitivity, opening our hearts through the necessary risks to love, grieve, hope, and transform. Through healing and sacred nature connection, Caroline guides wildly sensitive leaders with aligning with their true purpose and souls' wisdom during this time of ecological transition. She is the founder of Root Awareness which offers transformative experiences through nature adventures, meditation, process groups, and 1:1 healing and coaching sessions.
