Visionary
Definitions:
Oxford learner’s dictionary: “A person who can think about or plan the future in a way that is intelligent and shows imagination”
Urban dictionary: “A bullshit artist, who snowballs people that don’t know better.”
Wikipedia: “Visionary leadership involves leaders who recognise that methods, steps and processes of leadership are all obtained with and through people. Most great and successful leaders have aspects of vision in them. However, those who are highly visionary are the ones considered to be exhibiting visionary leadership.”
The song of a visionary
The song that most speaks to me about vulnerability is “This is me” from The greatest showman. I listen to this song every time I go on stage. It fills me with strength and courage to be vulnerable and tell my story.
Here are the lyrics for you to enjoy. You could even get it on Spotify and listen to it.
Reset… rethink… respond
To create a new earth, new era, a new way of being we have Corona to thank for the devastating reset it has caused to many. Humans are interesting creatures. It’s almost as if we need a crisis before we will take action and make changes. When that crisis happens we look around for a visionary leader to follow. I believe we all are a visionary leader. I also believe it is time to become true to ourselves and embrace self-leadership. We do this through self-care from a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual focus.
Once we have created a spacious, self-loving and nurturing life then we can extend this to others. Each person’s self-care looks different. In my practice as a coach, I do not cookie cut a self-care practice that is the same for all my clients. We work out which practices resonate with each person and then create a daily ritual/ practice specific for each client. I do not believe we can show up powerfully in our own lives let allow others, without a self-care practice. From this place of peace and serenity from following a self-care practice we can see the way forward clearly. Each of us has the opportunity to be visionary leaders, in our homes, businesses and communities.
The youth as our teachers
Yesterday I read on a friend’s Facebook thread how she witnessed a man beating a woman in the street. She quickly pulled over her car to try and stop the man. People around her said to keep moving, don’t get involved and out of nowhere a 15-year-old boy pounced on the man tearing him off the woman he was beating. He is a visionary leader. For he would not stand by and just watch another person being hurt and degraded. He actively got involved in changing things. It is small acts of kindness like these that like the rings in a lake once a stone has been tossed creates ripples. His selfless act showed grownups how to behave.
Visionary leaders do not ask permission to lead. They take action. Just like this teenager. They are risk-averse, in that his safety isn’t more important than the women’s. He believed that his life was as precious as hers and he would not sit at the side-lines and watch her get hurt. He was bold, focused and inspirational. The hallmarks of a visionary leader.
Visionaries are spiritual warriors
Visionary leaders are spiritual warriors. They have access to another dimension. The collective unconscious as Jung called it. They can tap into a future reality that is better than the present or current place they find themselves in. A place where they are looking to inspire their followers to go to. A better place than here. However, to be a spiritual warrior I believe we need to cut through the bullshit of our limiting core beliefs and to see the essential pure nature of our most sacred self.
Pure potential, light, love, Grace, Spirit, Soul. That place within that has no attachment, no judgement, full compassion and serenity. Spiritual warriors have a gentle place within where they can find refuge from the slings and arrows of life and breathe. And with that potent breath of peace, we can lift the veil of this world and peer into the new world and see what our heritage is? This ‘seeing’ is the very visionary sight I refer to what a visionary leader owns. A leader with this sight is what helps us to see a new dawn, a new way forward, progress and freedom.
A vision also requires that it is spiritually led or inspired. It is connected to something greater than us. The vision is not of us but through us. Seeing the vision doesn’t make you a leader, but having the courage to take action to help that vision come to fruition that is what makes a visionary leader. Vision alone is powerful but taking action is impactful and life-changing, not just life-affirming.
Leigh Joy Inspires & Associates vision for 2025
In November 2019 I attended a Brian Welsh event held at Montecasino in Johannesburg where Dr John Dimartini was the featured guest speaker. He took us through his brilliant values-based goal setting questionnaire. There were many gifts of insight that I walked away with that day and the biggest and most scary one was my vision. The vision I received was to inspire, empower and transforms 1,000,000 people’s lives by 2025. Going through 2020 as we did with very few opportunities to speak on stages how was I possibly going to reach a 1,000,000. The beauty of this vision is that it was what kept me going. I knew this vision was man-made so Corona couldn’t destroy it. It was given to me from the spiritual realms, so it had truth at its core.
Throughout I saw the vision of speaking to 1,000,000 and thus I was able to co-host the Feminine Leadership Online Summit in 2020, I started the podcast me 2.0 (being real & authentic) with my brilliant and funny friend Nick Smit, I created the Youtube The self-care diaries, I finalised my self-care kits and couples revolution card deck which are for sale on my website www.leighjoy.co.za. I had an incredibly productive year. In part, I believe because I had a vision. Something greater than me leading me in the dark towards a greater future for us all.
Leigh Joy works intuitively
I am intuitive and I see in visions when I am with a client. I will be given a picture of something that might be helpful to my client. These visions do not always make sense to me but they do to my client.
Meditating as a tool
Meditating is a very powerful tool in getting in touch with our visions that God plants in our hearts. Check out the app insight timer they have thousands of meditations to help you centre yourself to be still and hear that small still voice which will give you your vision.
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
