Discernment is the ability to perceive, understand, and judge things clearly, especially those that are not obvious or straightforward.Discernment emerges from unbiased awareness. It involves seeing the whole panorama clearly and recognizing what matters most within complex contexts. Discernment enables sound analysis and assessment of information.

Discernment: The Key to Incisive Decisions

<ul><li>Balance involves continuously re-centering oneself when external or internal forces push us to extremes. </li><li>It enables equanimity and fluid, agile responsiveness rather than a rigid, moderate stance. </li><li>Balance allows catching ourselves when off-center and returning to centered presence.</li></ul>

Balance: Developing True Confidence

If we're not self-aware, we're not able to self-correct.

Unbiased awareness gives us the perspective to see things more clearly and fully—without judgment.

Our actions and efforts are directed by intentions, whether conscious or unconscious. When intentions conflict, it diminishes our effectiveness. For example, trying to simultaneously satisfy needs for connection and control results in confused actions. <ul><li>Bringing full awareness to our intentions allows consciously choosing the one that best serves our interests. </li><li>When we align our intentions, the impact of our choices and efforts flows from clarity of purpose. </li></ul>

Intentions Guide Outcomes


Presence and clarity arise when our brains feel safe enough to be in "mammalian mode", sending and receiving cues of safety and connection. Without this regular reassurance, our brains default into fragmented "survival mode" which limits attention, clarity, and awareness.

Presence: The Brain Is a Social Organ 

<ul><li>Clarity reveals conflicting intentions underlying actions.</li><li> Consciously choosing an aligning lead intention, instead of trying to satisfy conflicting needs, increases impact. </li><li>When intentions align, the result of actions is empowered.</li></ul>

Application: Leveraging the Power of Intention

True leadership agility comes from self-awareness, which allows self-correction and the ability to shift perspective to see the whole picture. Developing awareness over time is key to empowering oneself as an effective leader able to adapt and evolve.

Leadership Is an Inside Job

Being present and grounded in the here and now allows our brains to shift out of reactive, survival mode and into a more expansive, flexible mammalian mode. When we pay mindful attention to our bodies in the present moment, we receive mostly reassuring cues that we are alive and well. This diet of safety cues over time lets us ground our minds in reassurance, creating the clarity and open awareness conducive to nimble attention and broad consciousness.

Presence Promotes Clarity of Mind

Ordinary awareness filters experience through implicit biases. Unbiased awareness sees reality as it is, without preconceptions or programming swaying perception. It is present to nuance and complexity without judgment.

Unbiased Awareness: Escaping the Trap of Fixed Judgment

Boundless Leadership is a book written by Joe Loizzo and Elazar Aslan . It provides a method to realize your vision, empower others and ignite positive change. The book was published in 2021.

Gold Nautilus Book Award Winner Realize your fullest leadership potential, claim your boldest vision, and prioritize the well-being of your team and world with this new science-based approach to leadership.   Boundless Leadership provides a complete and systematic roadmap to finding meaning in your work, realizing your full leadership potential, and inspiring your team with resilience, innovation, compassion and confidence. Contemplative psychotherapist Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD, and executive advisor Elazar Aslan, MBA, PCC, offer a new science-based vision of leadership that prescribes disciplines of mind, heart, and body to help leaders cultivate clarity, compassion and fearlessness for themselves and throughout their organization.   Boundless Leadership offers accessible, real world applications to bring ease to leading oneself and others, and provides examples from the authors' experience with clients, including CEOs of multi-billion-dollar businesses, entrepreneurs and managers trying to balance the complex challenges of work and life in our interdependent age. Each section includes a range of practices based on neuropsychology and contemplative science, including guided meditations to improve focus and awareness, cultivate empathy and compassion, and build fearlessness and flow. Each section also offers a practical application to ease daily challenges, including clarifying intentions for better decision-making, improving accountability and responsibility for better team collaboration, and embodying purpose to optimize impact on one’s organization and society at large. Boundless Leadership is especially needed during this explosion of remote working and provides advice and guidance to remain productive and joyful when your work environment is in flux. Whether you're a CEO, manager, team leader, consultant, coach, social entrepreneur or community activist, this book offers the tools you need to clarify your vision, lead others, and ignite positive change in the world--giving you a much needed advantage in today’s fast-paced digital age.

JOE LOIZZO

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