Are You the Right Person?

There’s a kind of optical illusion of consciousness that occurs in life: when you look out at the world you see everything but yourself.

You see other people, trees, the sky. But, not you.

At work, this same illusion of consciousness persists.

You’re in a meeting and it’s droning on and on. So you look around the table and wonder, “Why are they being this way? Why doesn’t somebody get us back on track?”

It takes a leap of consciousness to see how you’re contributing to the boring nature of the meeting.

Now, it’s not just “them” that are creating the boredom. It’s also “you”. Your thoughts, what you say, your silence – are all part of the total meeting.

This leap of consciousness shifts your perspective to include “you” as one of the people at the table. Rather than only viewing the process of the meeting through your own eyes, you can take a kind of bird’s-eye view of the situation.

In meditative traditions this is called witness consciousness.

Witnessing is a perspective that includes both the objective dimensions of what’s happening:

• What you and others are actually doing and saying.

And the subjective dimensions:

• What’s happening in your thoughts and feelings.

By cultivating witness consciousness, you are able to experience how your experience of the meeting is a complex fabric of objective and subjective elements.

And you’re positioned, through this heightened awareness, to begin to make conscious choices that can change that meeting.

From the witness consciousness, you see how making small changes in your own inner state or outer behavior can alter the course and quality of the meeting that you are part of. You no longer have to wait for the “right person” to step up and do something different.

Because, you see that you are the right person, not because of title or position, but because of awareness.

Questions for Reflection & Action:

• Where have you been waiting for someone else to be the “right person” – and make a difference?
• What would it look like for you to be that right person?

Related Posts:

• Back away from the desk (and nobody gets hurt)
• What are you doing?: The power of purpose at work
• How the power of “naming” expands your influence
• Can I be powerful and still be nice?
• How to stop spinning your wheels