Latest / The Humanistic Leader Podcast- Dr. Craig Nathanson / What Are You Feeling Right Now? A Quiet Leadership Pause

Transcript

What Are You Feeling Right Now? A Quiet Leadership Pause · The Humanistic Leader Podcast- Dr. Craig Nathanson

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Humanistic Leadership Podcast, a quiet reflective pause on leadership,
• 0:06
  life, and just becoming more human in a world that often pushes us to react
• 0:10
  before we think. I'm Dr. Craig Nathanson.
• 0:14
  Today, I want to begin with a very simple question. What are you feeling right now?
• 0:19
  Not what are you thinking, not what are you doing, and not what is on your schedule,
• 0:25
  but what are you actually feeling?
• 0:28
  Many of us move through life so quickly that we stop checking in with ourselves
• 0:33
  emotionally You know, we wake up, we check our phone, we answer messages We,
• 0:38
  you know, solve problems and tend meetings and pay bills And move from task
• 0:43
  to task without ever really pausing long enough To understand what is happening
• 0:47
  inside of us And over time,
• 0:50
  when we stop recognizing our emotions Those emotions do not disappear fear.
• 0:54
  They simply begin driving us in the background.
• 0:58
  I've noticed this throughout my own life. Sometimes I would feel frustration
• 1:02
  and not fully admit it to myself.
• 1:05
  Sometimes sadness, even sometimes uncertainty, sometimes, you know, just exhaustion.
• 1:11
  And because I didn't slow down long enough to recognize the emotion,
• 1:15
  it would show up in other ways.
• 1:17
  I would become impatient, withdraw, overthinking, restlessness.
• 1:23
  One of the most important parts of self-awareness is learning how to name what
• 1:28
  we feel without judging ourselves for feeling it.
• 1:31
  You know, that sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult.
• 1:35
  Especially in a culture that often teaches people to suppress
• 1:38
  emotion instead of you know really understanding it
• 1:41
  but emotions are information and they
• 1:43
  tell us something important about our experience and
• 1:47
  you know the most the more self-aware we become the more choice we we can gain
• 1:52
  and how we respond for example i went to a track meet the other day i love going
• 1:56
  to track meets it reminds me of my my youth and and i was at this meet and i
• 2:01
  was watching you know younger athletes at their championships, at their peak.
• 2:05
  And it reminded me of, you know, my younger days, racing, winning medals, getting praise.
• 2:12
  And it's funny, when I got home, I decided to try to run again.
• 2:16
  Now that sounds simple, but I've had back issues the last few years,
• 2:20
  and I didn't think I would ever run again.
• 2:22
  So I started to run, well, jog, well, shuffle for 30 seconds.
• 2:28
  And I did this a few times.
• 2:30
  And when I was jogging, I noticed something.
• 2:33
  The same feeling of inner joy returned. The same feeling is when I won those
• 2:39
  medals decades earlier.
• 2:41
  So I asked myself, you know, what am I feeling right now?
• 2:45
  It was clear. I had, you know, rediscovered a part of myself that I thought
• 2:50
  had, you know, had been lost.
• 2:51
  But now no bullhorn was needed. It was just, it felt like a small whisper in
• 2:56
  my ear to acknowledge myself that, you know, I can do this.
• 3:01
  So the more self-aware we become, the more choices we can gain in how we respond.
• 3:07
  And I think this matters, you know, even more in the age of AI.
• 3:10
  As technology becomes faster and more integrated into our daily lives,
• 3:14
  there may be fewer opportunities for this quiet reflection, like I did on that running trail.
• 3:20
  Because we have more than ever these days, more stimulation,
• 3:24
  more comparison, more pressure from others, more noise.
• 3:26
  And that's why emotional awareness I think may become one of the great human
• 3:32
  skills of the future And this is what I tell my students,
• 3:36
  So, and I don't mean, you know, emotional perfection And I don't mean constant
• 3:41
  happiness That's hard to achieve,
• 3:42
  but just awareness You know, the ability for us to pause and honestly say This
• 3:48
  is what I'm feeling right now Sometimes during my walks or now shuffling jogs
• 3:54
  I ask myself that question very directly What am I feeling right now?
• 3:59
  And interestingly, once I identify the emotion, it often loses some of its power over me.
• 4:05
  So in other words, awareness creates space. And inside that space,
• 4:10
  we often make much better decisions.
• 4:12
  We have better conversations. We make better leadership choices.
• 4:17
  And we make better life choices.
• 4:20
  So I'd like you to pause for a moment. Stop whatever you're doing,
• 4:23
  unless you're driving, of course.
• 4:25
  And take a slow breath. Let's do this together. Let's do once in through your nose.
• 4:35
  And now through your mouth. One slow, deep breath. And I want you to simply
• 4:39
  ask yourself, what am I feeling now?
• 4:43
  So no judgment, no fixing, no pressure.
• 4:47
  Just your own awareness. And then ask yourself What might this feeling be trying to teach me?
• 4:54
  You see, sometimes our emotions are not interruptions to our growth Sometimes
• 4:58
  they are invitations to it One of the things I've learned later in life Is that
• 5:03
  self-awareness is not weakness,
• 5:05
  It's strength Because when we understand ourselves more deeply We become less
• 5:10
  reactive and more intentional with others And maybe,
• 5:15
  perhaps, that is where humanistic leadership really begins That's why I place
• 5:19
  self-awareness on the top tier of the humanistic leadership model And it's not
• 5:23
  about controlling others It's about understanding ourselves,
• 5:27
  Well, thanks for joining me for this reflective pause This is Dr.
• 5:33
  Craig Nathanson And wherever you are in your journey Just remember,
• 5:37
  be your own best friend It's so important Learn to lead yourself before leading
• 5:41
  others And keep becoming more human in a rapidly changing world Until next time.