You are a lion

Every morning I pull a tarot card. It’s part of my morning practice of sourcing wisdom from outside of myself to prepare for the day ahead. I rotate which deck I use and recently found my way back to the Osho Zen tarot deck. 

Within days of revisiting the deck, I pulled a card that’s supported me for years: the card of conditioning.

This card recalls an old Zen story. A lion who was brought up by sheep thought he was a sheep until an old lion captured him, took him to a pond and showed him his reflection. 

Many of us are like the lion. The image we have of ourselves comes not from our own experience but from the opinions of others. A personality imposed from the outside replaces the individuality that could have grown from within. We become just another sheep in the herd, unable to move freely and unconscious of our identity. 

It’s time to take a look at your reflection in the pond and make a move to break out of whatever you’ve been conditioned to believe about yourself.

We’re all born lions

The card of conditioning reminds us we’re all born lions. Society’s rules, imposed on us, transform us into sheep.

Over time we forget we’re lions. We continue to live the life of sheep. We oblige because we believe we’ll be alone if we don’t. 

It doesn't work. When we abandon our nature as lions and walk among the sheep, we feel alone. We’ve abandoned our very nature. Loneliness will follow us until we again see ourselves as the lions we are. 

Our mission is to remind women like you that you’re a lion. We help you uncover your nature as a lion and support you in living your life as a lion. 

What it feels like to be a sheep

I began working with a new client earlier this year. She was mid-career, but after having worked for many years, her career felt disjointed. She was longing for a thread that connected it all. 

Her inability to find that thread was disrupting her ability to pursue a new position with focus. She had no enthusiasm or direction. She’d been a sheep many places and could no longer see the lion inside of her. 

The cost of being a sheep 

We started our work by shedding her conditioning about how to approach a job search. She unplugged from her computer. She immersed herself in experiences and conversations that gave her energy. She was able to find pleasure and excitement that shifted what had been a long and taxing job search. 

When she brought that lion nature forward, she remembered her longings and dreams. She secured a job that delivered what she’d forgotten she wanted. And it was the right amount of stretch: a new industry and the first in her role at the company. 

Within the first two weeks of joining her new small team. My client had again lost sight of the lion. She was again following her conditioning of the “right” things to do in a new job. Her effort was falling flat against her idiosyncratic boss. She could feel it wasn’t working. 

She found herself being the diligent worker her conditioning suggested was right. She kept her head down, worked long hours and updated her boss at the surface level. She showed that she was checking off tasks and moving things forward. 

Disconnected from her lion nature, she questioned everything. She didn't feel the purpose behind any of her work. She buried her ideas about how to strengthen her initiatives. She expected herself to navigate into success without bothering anyone. She created distance between herself and everyone else at the company, especially her boss. 

Like all sheep, she felt alone. 

Rediscovering the lion

In a session where she was feeling low, I asked this client to set aside her boss’s needs for a moment. I invited her to give herself full permission to be and do whatever pleased her. I asked her to imagine that whatever wild ideas she surfaced would work out. Like any lion coming back to her nature, she felt both giddy and scared at the possibility of what she uncovered. 

She committed to a few small but meaningful changes. Within a week she emailed me to report that she was again feeling confidence and ease. Things didn't feel hard. She had more clarity.

The herd of sheep will always call

Society’s drive for you to be a sheep is strong. Finding your way back to the lion inside of you requires daily unlearning. It requires challenging what you’ve internalized as “right” from the sheep herd. 

Some days your lion will feel alive, and other days she’ll be hard to find. Keep going.

Call for reflection:

If you gave yourself full permission, what’s one thing you’d change about what you’re doing before the end of the year?

Shine On,

Alicia