Wisdom prevails when solutions fail

We aim to solve the problems before us as leaders. We seek new knowledge, turning to the latest book, workshop, or process. When that doesn’t work, we may look back at ourselves and ask, “What did I do wrong?” We may look forward and ask, “What should I try next?” 

 After a while, we are in a cycle of increased urgency trying to find the solution that evades us. We may work with increased fervor, passion, and frustration to no avail. 

 When this happens, pause. 

Dov Seidman writes, “When you press the pause button on a machine, it stops. But when you press the pause button on human beings they start. You start to reflect, you start to rethink your assumptions, to reimagine what is possible, and reconnect with your most deeply held beliefs.”

When solutions fail, wisdom prevails. 

Inside this pause is the invitation to sink into your own layers of inner knowing. Perhaps looking all the way back across your life for a story, a moment, where you were perfectly at ease and knew exactly what to do. 

Perhaps you’ll go all the way back to your earliest memories, or even before. 

Perhaps you’ll sink into the feeling of floating in the warmth of your mother’s womb and relish in the miracle that is perfect knowing. Knowing without knowing how – to grow, to nourish, to wait patiently as each cell develops and grows and waits until just the right moment to be born. 

May your solutions arise from the wisdom of your pause; trusting that the next step in uncovering the answer comes from within.