The Warrior's Calling

The Warrior's Calling

I realized one of my dreams this summer by attending a Summer Institute in Halifax, Nova Scotia hosted by the ALIA Institute. ALIA strengthens and builds on innate leadership capacities such as mindfulness, systems awareness, creativity, courage, and resilience.


The track that called to me was called, “Leader as Spiritual Warrior: Transforming Difficulty into the Way of Generosity and Power” led be Jerry Granelli and Margaret Wheatley. Yes, you read that right—Spiritual Warriorship—leaders who are warriors of the human spirit.

Finding my “inner warrior” has been a quest ever since I experienced a life-defining moment by becoming a young “brave” at summer camp when I was in seventh grade. Accepting this role continues to grow me as a leader insofar as I can learn to STAY with discomfort, maintain a powerful VISION and have the COURAGE to honor my deepest values, while also finding the physical strength, grace and stamina to pass the daily tests of warriorship.

Today, warriors are needed more than ever—warriors whose weapons of compassion and insight help them lead with a big heart, let their vulnerability be a badge of honor, is willing to risk comfort for inner knowing and understands that hope and fear are two sides of the same coin. Warriorship calls for a mindset that reaches beyond hope… finding a place where doubt does not give way to aggression.

I could write tomes about my experience. But what I most want to celebrate here is my deepened learning of how to mindfully remain wildly curious at the same time as staying with a sense of deep pain and sorrow. Sounds fun, huh? I know that I’ve found my warrior’s work because I know there is nothing else I could be doing.



If you’ve read this far, my call to action is to ask what in your life calls you to warriorship, and to assess how you’re responding. Post your answers here!