Moving From Personality To Presence

Imagine you are in a meeting with teammates to discuss a very important project – one that is critical for the success of the company.  As the discussions progress, you notice a few type A personalities trying to take control of the meeting.  Their intent is obviously to dominate the discussion.  Perhaps to get the credit for the outcome.  The mood of the meeting becomes tense, and no one wants to put forth their thought and ideas, because they know they will not be heard.

So what is a better to way to handle a situation where multiple dominant or egoistical personalities are in play and you are the person that has to ensure that the project, people and the company are successful at the end of it all? Certainly taking an adversarial tone to mute the Type A personalities will only deteriorate the situation further, not to mention you may not be able to solicit ideas.

It helps to know more about what an egoistical personality is :

• seeks to accumulate, creating a sense of fear and dissatisfaction.
• not inclusive, because it is inherently insecure.
• needs constant attention and upkeep.
• out of tune with the inner self.
• can easily get into conflict with everything around it.
• usually successful within a limited sphere of activities.
• fearful of stepping out of the comfort zone.
• does not nurture growth.

If you are interested in expanding your capabilities and exploring new horizons then having too much of an egoistical personality, one that is affected by external influences (praise or reprimands), will not help you succeed in the larger game of life.  Creating a personality that is in tune with your inner self aligns you with the Universal or Cosmic Consciousness, which is abundant and infinite. This gives you access to the intelligence that is far more intuitive and compassionate giving you the necessary wisdom to manage any type of situation, enhancing your Presence.  When you consciously create this alignment, living life becomes joyful, unencumbered, and fulfilling.  Managing any type of situation that involves people is no longer intimidating. When you are like this you will notice that you care more about creating an environment where all types of people – including the Type A personalities – can succeed.

As long as you have the skills and competence, the power of Presence is such that you emerge as a leader who genuinely cares about others. Everyone around you will start enjoying your company and valuing your input. Without your intending to be that way, everyone starts looking up to you, simply because they know you are not a threat, but an opportunity for them.

Here are a few ways to align yourself to your Inner Self.

1) Practicing meditation regularly helps you to become mindful of when you out of tune with Inner Self and when your personality comes to the forefront. This helps you take corrective action.

2) Doing Hatha Yoga regularly brings alignment of your mind, body, emotion, and energy.  This enables you to function in this world effortlessly.  Everything in existence, every physical form, has a certain geometry. Whether something functions smoothly or not depends upon the perfection of its geometry. The whole system of Hatha Yoga is to fix your geometry in such a way that your system will function without any friction within itself.

3) Volunteering is another beautiful way to shed unnecessary parts of our personality.  A volunteer essentially means someone who is willing to do something that benefits someone else. Becoming a volunteer 24 hours of the day at work, home, and in social situations means that you have gone far beyond looking out only for yourself.  You have begun the journey of becoming inclusive of everything and everyone and are prepared to give up something of yourself to contribute towards a larger purpose.

4) Generally people think “what’s in it for me?” before getting involved with anything.  If you constantly have this thought it is your limited personality rearing its ugly head. Dropping this one calculation empowers you to become part of the bigger solution.  Great inventions like electricity happened because someone was willing to invest themselves for the betterment of all mankind.

Becoming a Presence means you are inclusive, unfettered, flexible, and available to manage the situation as needed. So, if you are able to maintain that constant awareness of when you are out of alignment with your inner-self, and keep the limited personality in check to be Present, success follows in whatever you do.