Transformational Presence
A Compass for Our Times
Welcome to Transformational Presence on Substack. We’re living in unsettling and disruptive times. Living and leading while navigating constantly changing terrain requires grounding, attention, awareness, creativity, intuition, resilience, and being at home in our own skin. We’re challenged to meet the realities of the moment while staying in integrity with ourselves and true to the callings of our hearts.
That’s what this new Substack newsletter/blog is all about. Over the last 15 years, I’ve created a body of work I call “Transformational Presence.” It’s an approach to life and leadership that calls forth the best from people, situations, organizations, and societies in service of a greater good and the well-being of all. It offers a foundation of tools, skills, and approaches for living and leading with awareness and intention. It helps us find direction and focus to move forward.
Like a compass, Transformational Presence points the way. A compass is a navigation tool. It helps us orient ourselves for location and direction. It doesn’t tell us what to do nor does it solve our problems; it simply points us in a direction. For many people all over the world, Transformational Presence has become a compass for our times.
Transformational Presence is a practice—a way of living. It’s not unlike tending a garden. When you plant seeds, there is nothing you can do to make those seeds grow. However, there are many things you can do to encourage them to grow. You can plant them in rich soil and make sure they have the proper light and water. You can fertilize the ground. You can pull the weeds so the young plants don’t have to compete for space or nourishment. In other words, you tend the garden.
Your personal presence—what others feel and experience when they are with you—becomes increasingly transformational as you practice being conscious and intentional about how you tend the gardens of your personal and public life. The keyword is practice. The more you practice living consciously, the better you get at it.
Three Fundamental Questions
Transformational Presence starts with Three Fundamental Questions. Our answers to these questions “activate” the compass—they point us in a particular direction by showing us a next step. They broaden our perspective and understanding of situations and our part in them. They’re “discovery” questions, not “analyzing” questions. Our job is not to “figure out” the answers, but rather to stretch beyond our assumptions and opinions and allow the situations to show themselves to us.
1) What wants to happen?
Most of us are accustomed to asking: What do I want or What do we want? However, the first question in Transformational Presence is: What wants to happen? It’s not just about us. What wants to happen in service of something larger than us?
Variations on this question could be: What is trying to get my/our attention? What is trying to shift? What is this situation trying to show or tell us?
If we’re caught in “figure-it-out” mode, the rational mind might be confused by this question. However, if we pause, step back, and take a couple of deep breaths, we create space for the situation to talk to us. Chances are, something is trying to get our attention. There is usually a deeper message under the surface that, at first, is not so obvious. Our job is to listen, sense, and feel. The nature of the question can take us beyond the rational mind to the larger intuitive mind.
Take your time with this first question. Don’t be in a hurry. If your analytical mind is on overdrive, go for a walk. Breathe into your bones, feel how your feet meet the ground heel-toe, heel-toe. Notice the natural movement of your body, how your knees and ankles flex, and how your arms and upper body move as you walk. Open all your receptors and see what shows up. Then when you are ready, continue to the second question.
2) Who is that asking me to be?
How is “what wants to happen” asking you to show up? What role is it asking you to play?
Perhaps it’s asking you to be honest, courageous, creative, or playful. Or maybe it’s asking you to be a leader, a mediator, a deep listener, a witness, or something else.
Once again, the key is to let the situation and “what wants to happen” talk to you. There is nothing to figure out. Trust that there are answers present in the energy field of the situation. Step back, listen, and observe.
3) What is it asking me to do?
This third question is not asking for a quick fix or even a multi-step plan. It’s just asking for a next step. Maybe that next step will be something simple; maybe it will feel so big it takes your breath away; maybe it will be something in between. It’s all ok. If the step feels bigger than you are prepared to take, give yourself a little time. Let your system get used to the request and how it feels before you jump into action.
After you have done what it’s asking you to do, take another breath and return to the first question. Something will probably have shifted because of these Three Questions. So now what wants to happen? Who is that asking you to be? What is it asking you to do?
The Three Questions can be deceptive in their simplicity. Yet that’s part of what makes them powerful. They can bring new insight and awareness and put us on a path toward more conscious living and conscious leading in any aspect of our personal or public lives. The more you practice asking these questions, the easier the answers come.
A First Step
The Three Questions are a first step in living Transformational Presence. Who are you called to be in your life right now? What are you called to do? What is the gift or service that is yours to bring?
The time to step up is now—to stand tall in the fullness of who we are, to be love in action, and to let our light shine to the world around us. Please join me by subscribing below and let’s continue this journey of conscious living and leading together.
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Transformational Presence is a simple and yet such a powerful compass 🧭 Thank you Alan for your always very insightful words ! 🙏
I can still hear your voice as you would be reading the article out loud. That’s how deep tranformational presence can be anchored in body mind and soul. Thx Alan, with Love, saskia.