Diane Dreher

Lately, we've seen too many people who lead with ego. These are shadow leaders, who try to impose their will upon others which can have  disastrous results. 

 

As I write in The Tao of Inner Peace, the Tao Te Ching offers a holistic and creative vision of leadership. Instead of exercising top-down power, Tao leaders work with the cycles of nature, respecting the energies within and around them.

 

They include, inspire, and empower people. As the Tao Te Ching tells us:

 

"With the best of leaders,

When the work is done,

The project completed,

The people all say,

"We did it ourselves."  

                           (Tao Te Ching, 17)[1]

 

Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers carried this quote in his wallet. In his person-centered therapy and peace negotiation, he saw his own role in the Taoist tradition of leader as facilitator.

 

Tao leaders bring out the best in people. They cultivate a culture of inclusiveness, trust, and empowerment where people can flourish and think more creatively. This is especially important as we face the complex problems of today's world. With Tao leadership, everyone's perspectives become part of the process, leading to more effective solutions than any one person—no matter how well meaning—could come up with alone.

 

If we look beyond the shadow leaders who often fill up the news, Tao leaders are all around us. Think of someone in your life—a teacher, family member, coach, minister, or mentor who brought out the best in you. This person is a Tao leader.

 

Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching as a handbook for leaders, inviting us all to be leaders. So when you take on leadership roles at home and at work—as a committed employee, professional, manager, parent, community leader, or engaged citizen—ask yourself:

• How can I help create an atmosphere of greater trust and commitment?
• How can I help others do their best?
• How can I work with the natural energy cycles within and around me to create greater harmony?

Our world needs your leadership now more than ever.

 

I wish you joy on the path.

[1] From the Tao Te Ching, 17. An earlier version of this passage appeared in Dreher, D. (2000). The Tao of Inner Peace. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam, now available as an ebook and a new audiobook edition, published by Penguin Random House in January 2022. 

 

In the past two years with the COVID pandemic, political polarization and conflict, our lives have been turned upside down. Most of us have been in a state of chronic stress. As I write in The Tao of Inner Peace, the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching can help us recognize when we're triggered by stress and restore our peace of mind to deal with our challenges more effectively.

 

Stress puts our brains and our bodies in an emergency reaction that bypasses our higher brain centers. Cortisol and adrenaline flow through our bodies, our heartbeat and breathing rates increase, our blood pressure rises, our immune and digestive systems shut down, and our muscles tense up—to deal with the perceived threat. This survival reaction can save our lives when we're walking in the woods and run into a wild animal or when a car  speeds towards us in the crosswalk—and we jump out of the way.

 

But when stress becomes chronic, it becomes problematic. It can impair our health, resulting in anxiety, depression, metabolic and inflammatory disorders, and cardiovascular disease.  Bypassing our higher brain centers, stress can undermine our perception—our ability to see, hear, and understand the people around us. It can impair our judgment, triggering defensive reactions whenever someone disagrees with us or does something unexpected. It can weaken our memory and cognitive ability—so we can't recognize patterns of cause and effect, engage in long-range planning, or see the larger implications of our actions. And, ultimately, stress can sabotage our relationships with ourselves and one another.

 

In The Tao of Inner Peace, I explain how to create greater peace around us, we need to create greater peace within us. By dealing with stress in our own lives, we can begin to restore our peace of mind to think more clearly and  create new possibilities for our time. In the book I offer several that involve taking slow deep breaths and focusing on peace.

 

The Tao Te Ching asks us:

 

"Can you go through your days

Holding fast to the Tao?

Releasing your tension

As you focus your breathing?

Can you clear your vision

And open yourself to life?"

                               (Tao, 10)[1]

 

Recent research shows how we can begin relieving our stress by focusing on our breathing. The national Hopeful Mindsets Project[2] recommends pausing for 90 seconds when we feel triggered, then taking slow deep breaths to get ourselves back to a state of calm and clarity. Research at Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education has found that slow, mindful breathing is the first step to developing greater understanding and compassion for ourselves and one another.[3]

 

I invite you to try this practice:

• Take a slow, deep mindful breath and release it.
• Focusing on your heart as you slowly breathe in, say silently to yourself, "Breathe in peace."
• Then slowly breathe out anything you need to release.
• Continue this practice, slowly breathing in peace and breathing out a few more times until you feel yourself  becoming more peaceful, relaxed, and centered.

 

As the Tao Te Ching reminds us, we can make a difference in our lives by consciously cultivating greater peace within us.  And now, more than ever, our world needs us to do this.

 

References

[1] From the Tao Te Ching, 10. An earlier version of this passage appeared in Dreher, D. (2000). The Tao of Inner Peace. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam, now available as an ebook. A new audiobook edition was published by Penguin Random House in January 2022. 

 
[2] For information on the Hopeful Mindsets Project, see https://hopefulmindsets.com/experts/

 
[3] For information on Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, see http://ccare.stanford.edu/