The Power and Problem with Groups and Leaders

©2010 Joan M. Newcomb

Group energy can be very helpful. Joining a group of like minded people can both validate your reality and help move you forward on your path. Groups can be supportive when dealing with life's difficulties. Groups can also help accelerate your growth, opening doors to new possibilities you may not have discovered on your own.

Leaders can be positive influences. They're boldly going where you haven't gone before, providing an example of how to do it. Leaders can be inspiring, encouraging you to bring the best out in you.

And sometimes groups and leaders just seem to be wonderful, but lead you down a garden path instead. The flowers and shrubbery look beautiful, but you're in a back yard and not on your own path.

Sometimes initially groups and leaders provide you a boost. They raise you to a new level of growth. They help you through a transition. And that's as far as they're meant to go, for you.

In the past, we had to band together in groups and follow leaders for survival. You were expected to stay with them for your entire life. In terms of countries, politics, and religions, you were expected to follow the same groups and leaders as your parents.

In terms of employment, you were expected to stay in the same career (the one you studied for) until you retired and they gave you a gold watch.

In terms of family, you were expected to stay in relationship with all your family of origin members, and stay married to your original spouse and in contact with your offspring.

Of course, society has changed. People are expected to switch jobs every few years. People who stayed loyal to one employer have been rewarded with the loss of their 401K, being laid off because the business collapsed or their position was outsourced.

In terms of family, people have woken up to not tolerating abuse (you don't have to stay in relationship with all your relatives), marriages rarely last a life time, children and parents change.

In terms of personal growth and spiritual development, groups are meant to be outgrown (if you are truly growing). You can only follow the leader so far.

We're stepping into a time of increased Consciousness. We're being expected to take more inner responsibility. We need to align with our own Inner Wisdom.

It's important to maintain your own seniority when it comes to groups and leaders. Trust your inner B.S. meter. Stay true to yourself.

I like the slogan 'take what you like and leave the rest'. You don't have to buy everything being told to you. All religious and spiritual teachings are being filtered through a human understanding. Human beings are fallible, therefore what they say can't possibly be 100% Truth. Interpret things for yourself, put it into your own words and language.

I believe we're stepping into a time where we have to blaze our own trail. We can't follow just one path, and not one made by someone else. We all benefit from multiple tools in our backpack.

At the same time, don't dis your stepping stones. Those groups that helped you transition from one experience to the next, appreciate them. Even the ones that seemed to be dead ends, they were learning experiences. Those leaders that turned out to be fallible, who were communicating through their own distortions, were sharing the reality they believed in at the time.

It can be tough knowing when to evolve to the next level. We settle into 'comfort zones' because they're familiar, not because they're comfortable! If you're feeling cramped, if you're questioning everything, if someone or something is completely against your personal values, it's okay to move on.

Staying within one group, following one leader, sticking solely with the precise teachings and not varying from them, is like taking ballet lessons from the same teacher for years and never stepping outside the classroom to dance.

You need to put the teachings into practice and make them your own. You need to embody what you've learned and have it move you to the next level.

Jesus said, 'What I do you can do also'. His disciples went forth and performed miracles, they just didn't get the same publicity He got!

Abraham-Hicks talks about your Internal Guidance System. I've talked about you being Essence, greater than your body-personality.

You don't access your Internal Guidance System by looking at someone else's. You don't align with your Essence by looking outside of yourself.

You *are* Consciousness. You not only can access the Cosmic Internet, but you *are* the Cosmic Internet.

So this week, separate the wheat from the chaff. Drop what isn't working for you. Have a lot of conversations with your Self. Take yourSelf for walks or journal/blog to yourSelf. Let your Inner Voice take prominence inside your head.

Try this for a week and notice what happens!