At INSPIRIT, we believe that by saying “yes” to ourselves – embracing our humanity and authenticity, and reaching our potential – we can live fully, enjoy greater wellbeing and become more effective in our lives and work. We can also find our true purpose and make a unique contribution to the world. These may sound like lofty, unattainable goals. However, each person has a wealth of inner resources and intelligences that lie beneath their ordinary consciousness and become accessible as they accept and integrate who they truly are, and become congruent in their thoughts, words and actions.
INSPIRIT’s coaching philosophy recognizes self-knowledge as the foundation of personal growth and transformation. Gaining self-knowledge allows us to begin living authentically in alignment with our inner truth. Over time, this results in our having an influential presence. Presence is what enables us to consciously employ our gifts and skills in ways that will best serve ourselves and others. Presence grants us access to innate, deep wisdom that helps us navigate conflicts and challenges with acceptance and greater ease. The starting point for this process is the Enneagram.
Below are expanded definitions of important concepts at the core of INSPIRIT’s philosophy:
Enneagram
Developing self-knowledge is an enlightening process. It requires effort and commitment because our egos are skilled at keeping us unaware of anything that doesn’t align with our self-image. Forgetfulness, repression, denial and projection are a few of the mechanisms our egos use to avoid self-awareness. As a result, some of us may not develop self-knowledge and will remain unaware of our potential.
The Enneagram is an excellent tool for developing self-knowledge and self-acceptance. We start the process of self-discovery by identifying which of nine archetypal personalities our ego pattern corresponds to. This reveals our strengths, core emotions, thought-processes and ways of being in the world. It also reveals the impediments to our development and provides direction for growing in self-knowledge.
Read a deeper discussion of the Enneagram.
Self-knowledge
Self-knowledge is an awareness of our attributes, abilities, feelings, emotions, thought-processes, deep motivations and ways of being and operating. It is not static. Rather, it is moment-by-moment self-awareness and self-attunement. As we become more self-aware, our self-knowledge increases. Greater self-knowledge leads to greater consciousness and, eventually, to self-mastery. With self-knowledge, we can make choices freed from automatic ways of responding to conflicts and life events in ways that are kind, compassionate and caring to ourselves and others. Self-knowledge is the beginning of a process that can lead to presence, authenticity and wisdom.
Presence
Presence is the ability to summon all our inner and outer resources to project a quiet inner strength that impacts others viscerally. Presence is a grace-filled quality that is accessible when we have a quiet, attentive mind and are fully present to the moment. Presence is possible when our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual intelligences are aligned. With presence, we can transform inner and outer conflicts and influence positive change. The more authentic and conscious we are, the greater the strength of our presence.
Authenticity
Authenticity is the capacity to be true to ourselves – free from our conditioning, others’ expectations and internal judgments – and to assume authorship of our lives. Authenticity arises when we operate spontaneously and congruently from our inner essence. Essence is who we truly are under our personality, or ego-structure. Authenticity stems from a deep knowledge of self and from disidentifying with our personality’s automatic preferences, which are geared towards security and survival rather than individuation and authenticity.
Wisdom
Wisdom arises from a dimension of consciousness beyond ordinary thinking. It is accessible to us when we are fully present to the moment, disidentified from our personality’s preferences and internally aligned in our mental, emotional and physical intelligences. Our spiritual intelligence then becomes the master of our intelligences and ordinary thought processes. It enables us to access a deeper knowledge that is beyond analysis, deduction and inference. It is a highly creative state that provides deep insights and enables us to take right and timely action.
Take the first step toward greater presence, authenticity and wisdom in your personal and professional life.
Schedule a no-cost consultation by calling 204.470.6460 or contacting us.