43: Self-Care as Sensitive Leadership
With Tara Jackson, Embodied Leadership + Creativity Coach
Do you constantly push your needs or ideas aside? In this episode, I talk with Tara Jackson about caring for yourself as a form of sensitive leadership and:
• How prioritizing self-care and your own sensitive rhythm is helpful for everyone
• Trusting your intuition to rest or to follow a creative idea in your work
• Why HSPs make excellent leaders and the various ways you can take a leadership role in your personal or professional life
• Allowing spiritual and somatic practices to guide you in creative ideas
Tara is an embodied leadership and creativity coach. She supports her clients to create in alignment with the seasons and rhythms of nature. She supports them to step into and embody their true authentic power so they show up from a place of wholeness and alignment. She invites her clients into deeper connection with their bodies, trusting themselves, as a basis for everything they do. She is also the author of four books, and creator of an oracle card deck.
Keep in touch with Tara:
• Website: https://empathpreneurs.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empathpreneurs
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisatarajackson
Resources Mentioned:
• Tara’s Books and Oracle Cards: https://empathpreneurs.org/books
• 1:1 Consulting with Tara: https://empathpreneurs.org/offerings/embodied-power
Thanks for listening!
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This episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for treatment with a mental health or medical professional. Some links are affiliate links. You are under no obligation to purchase any book, product or service. I am not responsible for the quality or satisfaction of any purchase.
Episode Transcript
Tara Jackson: 0:38
leaning into your gifts and what you are here to share and do. That is leadership, but it doesn't have to be this grand big thing, just being more you and showing up.
April Snow: 0:55
Welcome to Sensitive Stories, the podcast for the people who live with hearts and eyes wide open. I'm your host, psychotherapist and author, april Snow. I invite you to join me as I deep dive into rich conversations with fellow highly sensitive people that will inspire you to live a more fulfilling life as an HSP without all the overwhelm. In this episode, I talk with Tara Jackson about why HSPs are suitable for leadership roles and the many ways that can take place, starting with modeling of self-care for others, trusting your intuition and the ideas that come from it, and making space for rest and recovery. Leadership and creativity coach, she supports her clients to create an alignment with the seasons and rhythms of nature. She supports them to step into and embody their true, authentic power so they can show up from a place of wholeness and alignment. She invites her clients into deeper connection with their bodies, trusting themselves as the basis for everything they do. She is also the author of four books and creator of an oracle card deck.
April Snow: 2:06
For more HSP resources and to see behind the scenes video from the podcast, join me on Instagram, tiktok or YouTube at Sensitive Strengths or sign up for my email list. Links are in the show notes and at sensitivestoriescom. And just a reminder that this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for treatment with a mental health or medical professional. Let's dive in. So, tara, could you start off by telling us your HSP discovery story, how and when you realized that you're a highly sensitive person?
Tara Jackson: 2:59
So I think I've probably always known. You know, as a child I was quite different from my siblings in particular. I was definitely more sensitive, like clothes were uncomfortable, itchy fabrics got to me. I loved being alone a lot more than them and often would stay back and read when they went to friends' houses and hung out with the other kids, whereas I like to be alone and reflect and create, paint, read, that sort of thing.
Tara Jackson: 3:26
But back when I was growing up we didn't really have a label for it as such. So, yeah, it definitely took me a while to realize that it was highly sensitive and I think it was during a sort of a women's spiritual circle when I was living in London and someone recommended Elaine Aaron's book, the Highly Sensitive Person. So, of course, that kind of snowballed from then and I realized it had a name. I wasn't so weird feeling all the things I felt and I wasn't this, you know, the things that I had felt were too much or made me fussy, all those labels that were given when you're so sensitive to things you know were actually a thing and it was because, yeah, I was highly sensitive. So it was a bit of a journey, but definitely something I think I've always known inside.
April Snow: 4:13
Yeah, yeah, it is quite a journey, isn't it? Just those early signs that, okay, something's different about me. I'm a lot. I like to reflect more and go inward more and do things that are different, and then to finally have the language for it. So helpful to know okay, not alone, there's nothing wrong with me. I am still different, but there's a reason for it. Yeah, it can be quite a moment to realize that.
Tara Jackson: 4:40
Absolutely yeah, and that that there's a gift in that.
April Snow: 4:44
That's the bit that really got us to shift things, yeah yes, that's the gift is when you realize that this was a trait, is that when you started to kind of connect with those gifts or realize that there are some positives in it?
Tara Jackson: 4:59
absolutely. I mean, interestingly, my business kind of. First the iteration of it was actually self-care for empaths. You know know all highly sensitive. So it was definitely through that realization that this is a thing and I need to look after myself a bit differently.
April Snow: 5:12
So it was, yeah, I started leaning into that take a different approach to how we care for ourselves and considering those deep parts. And I know in your work you work a lot with HSPs and leadership roles and I think for some folks that might seem counterintuitive. Oh, I don't think of sensitive people as leaders. I don't know if we're capable of that. In what ways are HSPs actually suited for leadership roles, would you say?
Tara Jackson: 5:39
Yeah, and this is a thing I think. The world we live in today is so chaotic, so crazy. I think HSPs are needed as leaders. I really really do. The way we perceive the world, we're sensitive to all the different nuances, the feelings, all the things going on, and so we can come at it from such an empathic, compassionate approach, which is so needed. Just that in itself is what I feel the world needs more of, and so, number one that on its own is a reason for it just needs to be needed, I think, personally, yeah absolutely Right.
April Snow: 6:13
We are compassionate, we can see people what they need, not just in the world, but the people that we're leading or working with and we do notice those nuances, what problems need to be solved, getting ahead of issues before they happen, coming up with creative solutions and ideas and innovations. Yeah, there's so many parts of us that actually make great leaders, bringing that empathy, that emotion, that depth of processing. It's pretty phenomenal when you think about it.
Tara Jackson: 6:44
It is yes um ideas as well, because we can see what's needed and what's not ready. So we create these new ways, new programs, new offers, even tiny little things in your community, whatever it is new writing things that can help the world in different ways, because we can feel that and sense that much more, so we can do that.
April Snow: 7:04
Absolutely, and you just mentioned writing. So it makes me think about what are the different ways that we could step into a leadership role that we may not think of, because when we think of leadership I often think we think of like a manager, a politician, something like that, where you're in this very kind of typical leadership role. But are there ways that hsps could step into leadership roles that are more subtle?
Tara Jackson: 7:27
I think it's just really leaning into your gifts and what you are here to share and do and show up with in the world, because that is leadership and inspiring others to them to be themselves in the world, or whatever it might be. But when we say yes to our soul callings, what we feel we are here to share and do and be in the world, that to me is leadership ultimately. So it doesn't have to be this grand big thing. It can be 100% yes, but just being more you and showing up, taking that action is so powerful in becoming a leader.
April Snow: 7:59
I feel that's true Right just living in our own rhythms, taking care of ourselves, modeling that for others. That's leadership too.
Tara Jackson: 8:07
Absolutely.
April Snow: 8:08
Yeah, Leaning into our gifts, our creativity, whether it be writing or teaching or activism inside of work or outside of work, you're just kind of really opening my mind up to all the possibilities of sensitive leadership. It's pretty amazing. And as we're going into those roles, what does it mean to be an embodied leader? Because I've heard you talk about that some and that sounds pretty dreamy. So I'd love to hear more about that.
Tara Jackson: 8:34
Well, I think that's it. It is like a dream, but it's not, because it's the holistic encompassment of everything you know, of our whole selves in leadership or as we show up in the working world. We're so used to doing it from a headspace only, neglecting our health, and that's why there is so many health issues in that space, in particular mental, physical, emotional, spiritual. So to me, embodied leadership is really considering the whole of ourselves and definitely the body as well. Number one, first and foremost, is our vessels for how we show up in the world and leaning into the gifts of our full selves. So I know in my work I definitely get people to really tune into their bodies, the wisdom of their bodies, to let that lead, lead from that space.
Tara Jackson: 9:17
And more often than not, because so many of us are coming from exhausting careers and ways of doing and being, often it's actually slowing down and resting and allowing the body to really recover and regenerate, sort of reset, all the things to come back to itself and then showing up from that place. You know this grounded, embodied, old place, and showing up in the world from there is so different and so powerful compared to just doing everything up here. It's slower, but to me that's what deep embodied leadership is, I mean, and it goes beyond that, but beyond just the self, I think it's really about considering the whole as well the earth, the planet, the cycles, the seasons, if we are off the earth as well, our connection with the earth. We can't keep ignoring that. You know and so many of us don't, but so many do so. To be embodied is about that consideration as well as others. You know, the people you work with, your communities, the world as a whole, the microcosm and the microcosm.
April Snow: 10:17
Ultimately, is what I feel it is yeah. Yeah Right, being a a part of the cycles, the communities that you're in, and not ignoring that or denying that, because those pieces are impacting you. And you talked a lot about recovery, which is so important for us as HSPs. We have to have space for recovery and for reflection and going inward. What does body recovery look like for you personally?
Tara Jackson: 10:39
me okay so and it's evolved and I think it evolves all the time. You know it does. The phases we're at in our lives and I'm I've got quite a few hormonal things going on right now. I'm kind of paramenopausal, so definitely having to make some shifts and changes and how I recover in my body, you know, requiring a lot more than even in the last five years it's changed dramatically for me.
Tara Jackson: 11:02
So I mean, I have to get into nature daily. That's part of my well-being, but also inspiration for work too. But daily walks in nature, a lot of yin yoga, is another one for me. That one is a few, yeah, just, I mean any somatic kind of practices as well, but yin yoga and walking in the forest are my two current kind of non-negotiables at the moment to really recover. Honestly, food is another one too. Um, you know, the older I get, the more sensitive to foods I become. I've had to cut out quite a lot of things over the years and it sort of just seems to get more and more that affect me so much, more. So before I could have a cup of coffee, now it's like half a cup, yes, and it's like, oh, unless I know, if I have too much, I'll be wired and, yes, it won't be as much in my body. So, yeah, just those are the kind of things I keep up for myself regularly.
April Snow: 11:56
Yeah, yeah, really attuning into what your body's needing, adjusting that as you go, yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just slowing down and using nature, using somatic practices to reconnect to ground yeah, so important exactly and it seems counterintuitive.
Tara Jackson: 12:13
The restful stuff, but it is energizes me the most. Honestly. It really, ah, yes, it gives me the most energy, actually not the kind of high intensity, and but that's me personally. We're all different.
April Snow: 12:24
It's about you know, like awareness of your own body and what your needs are that's such a good reminder that for you, that's getting into nature, that's doing yoga, that's paying attention to what you're eating, but for someone else it could be something totally different, completely. Yeah, and I'm curious how spirituality comes into this as well. If you would like to share about that yeah, no, of course.
Tara Jackson: 12:45
So I think I that my connection to my spirituality definitely comes from movement and being in nature. And yes, so when it comes to spirituality, I connect with like things like the soul of my business, the soul energies of each individual offer within it. The books I write have energies. So I use spirituality very intertwined with my kind of myself but also my work. So it's a flowing movement with me and what I do and how I show up, and I don't do one without the other. So I use it to support me and my well-being, but then I use it to bring into my work as well. So that's the kind of a holistic piece as well.
April Snow: 13:21
I think that yeah, I've never heard that phrase, soul of my business, and it feels so good. Just speaking of your books, would you mind showing folks the books that you have to offer?
Tara Jackson: 13:34
I know you have quite a few yeah, okay, so we have the first one here, which is embodied yeah you can't use the self-care guide for sensitive souls just kind of at the beginning of my journey and really learning to take care of myself in that way, and includes a number of spiritual and physical, mental, emotional practices in there that support me. Then I kind of switched gears a bit. This one's in body business and this is all about like looking at the chakras actually in the body. So comes in, but in terms of the business, so what blocks you might be holding that could be stopping you from showing up in the ways that you want to. So maybe, and I kind of tied them and linked them to chakras. Of course you might feel it in a different chakra. Nothing is prescriptive, it's just an idea. So things like taking action, feeling worthy boundaries, some of the things that can come up on the entrepreneurial or business, journey.
Tara Jackson: 14:34
I've kind of linked them to a chakra and given them tools, tips, prompts, meditations, etc. To support you to move through them, that you can, yeah, help yourself to show up as you're being forced well yeah, I love that just going deeper into this internal blockages the spiritual, yes.
April Snow: 14:53
The energetic, energetic, yes.
Tara Jackson: 14:56
We need that so much, yeah I think so, yeah, I spend a lot of time. Definitely I've done. Yeah, absolutely this. This next one is actually. This one is actually more on. This is the third one. So this is actually.
Tara Jackson: 15:10
It's called embodied creation beautiful and it is about creating with the soul of an offer, the soul of something as seeing it as an energy to co-create with ultimately, but it also really invites you to tune into the earth and what she's calling for any guidance in terms of what creations are needed in the on the planet ultimately as well. So kind of it's trying to bring in this more holistic body, wider approach to it that can the whole as well.
April Snow: 15:38
Oh, that's so beautiful so it feels like you're giving us a roadmap for connecting to self, but then bringing that full embodied self into business and then deciding what to put out into the world that's yeah, I love that.
Tara Jackson: 15:51
That's a great way of saying it. Definitely, I found that just amazing, so it's lovely to see that, just seeing this, unfolding this journey that's going through to self and then outward to others.
April Snow: 16:02
Yeah, that's really helpful. Yeah, and then you have one more book as well, right, yeah, so Embodied Wealth.
Tara Jackson: 16:07
Embodied, wealth, beautiful. What is this one about? It's actually about creating wealth on your terms. So, wealth being, what does wealth mean to you? Is it time, freedom? Is it nutrition, nourishment, energy? What does wealth mean to you? Is it time freedom? Is it nutrition, nourishment, energy? You know what does wealth mean to you, so it's creating a life on those terms for yourself. Also, I've trained in sort of color psychology, a system called color mirrors, which is a spiritual color system, and it also so it includes some guidance. When you look at certain colors you're drawn to what certain ones you might be repelled by. It can actually say things about what needs to be healed within, as well as give you guidance if you're open to it. So this one includes some more stuff on that to help you align with yeah, maybe your, your soul formings and what you're here to do or want to do next, even oh, I love that.
April Snow: 16:55
So just having these kind of systems or tools to help you uncover what you're needing, what you want to elevate or guide you, exactly because we react to color in our bodies, like we have such a response to it yes that you can get tap past that, you know, the conscious brain into the subconscious.
Tara Jackson: 17:14
So when we are like drawn to certain colors, it I mean color is like a system of bottles, colored bottles with um oils in, so you look at them and you can look at them online as well, you can draw on to repel by because the body is telling you ultimately, and so maybe there's so, for example, let's say purple, like I loved purple for a long, long time, I was addicted.
Tara Jackson: 17:34
I'd literally not purple, you know, and it can be about being school, but I mean there's a, there's a thing, isn't it? But also about grief, deep grief, and actually I fell in love with purple when my mom passed away as a child and I literally almost went from loving red to the next overnight loving purple. I mean, it was like a blanket of covering, like a purple blanket. I just wanted purple and it was quite interesting to tie that together. Yes, quite a significant moment, you know, and quite a significant change. So, yeah, you can just bypass the conscious and it can give you an understanding of why you've done certain things or maybe what right, maybe what you're doing as well yeah, right, what's happening internally for you that you may not be putting those pieces together or where you're wanting to go?
April Snow: 18:16
okay, I'm really drawn to this particular color and I've had that too happen in my own life, where very quickly, I'll be drawn to one color and then the next, moving right on.
Tara Jackson: 18:25
And now I'm curious to see I'm curious is there a color you're drawn to? Yeah, is there a color you're drawn to now?
April Snow: 18:30
For years it was blue, and then it's moved more to purple, which is interesting. But I don't know. I'm starting to kind of pull away from purple. I feel like there's something that might come next.
Tara Jackson: 18:42
I don't know what it is yet, though, but you can also relate it to the sharp curves as well. So blue is your throat, you know. Communication speaking.
Tara Jackson: 18:49
Yes, that makes sense yeah, and then the purple is up here. You've got your third eye middle purple on the crown, of course. So, yeah, the deep purpose connected for all spirituality. I mean it can be there's sort of positives and negatives for all colors, but it's what resonates and it's just a different tool, as you said, to navigate and help share deeply understanding. It's always fun for me too.
April Snow: 19:12
I love to have those kind of ways inward to support that deep kind of introspection that I always want to do as an HSP, exactly.
Tara Jackson: 19:20
Oh, I love it so much. Definitely, it's like wanting to understand and yeah, all this.
April Snow: 19:27
Definitely, definitely, yeah. So that book could be a great way for folks to kind of get an idea of that practice and, yeah, see what comes through. So, once we're doing this work, we're going inward, we're taking care of our bodies, we're recovering, we're connecting with those deeper parts of our experience and we have this little intuitive hit to this dream, this idea. How can we start to bring it into the world, into action? What does that process look like?
Tara Jackson: 19:55
So and I so. I think for me personally, it's when you get that intuitive hit. It's nurturing in that to begin with, absolutely so. I mean I do it through connecting with the soul of it, the essence of it, so seeing it as an energy. And, for example, I've brought in, let's say, an offering in my business by connecting to the energy.
Tara Jackson: 20:14
I saw this vision of and I'm quite a visual person, so you might just feel it, you might know it, you might even hear it.
Tara Jackson: 20:19
I sort of saw this, yeah, this like actually it was a spaceship coming over the mountain and I connected to this vision every day and basically the spaceship landed and it then turned into it sort of grew roots and started to grow into a tree, and then the tree developed these like colored pods which were chakra colors. Eventually, I mean this happened about over the space of about 15, 20 days, and then I realized it was actually an offering and it's a course I offer, basically helping people look at blocks with the Ganeet chakra. But it was really nurturing and connecting to that energy ultimately for me, until it was ready to share with me or I could intuitively feel what was needed, what was coming from it. But so that's how I work with it. And so then I was literally given the program outline, the dates, et cetera, the times, what it was going to be, the structure, ultimately the practical parts, and that's how I did it. So that's one way of doing it.
April Snow: 21:11
I love that. And how are these visualizations coming to you? Is it in meditation? When you're on a nature walk, when you're doing your yoga? When do you connect to these? I mean, mean it can be any and all of those, all of the times, yeah, so being receptive, it changes, yeah, and you can figure out what works for you.
Tara Jackson: 21:29
So with that one particularly, I was sitting and just taking myself in and connecting back to what I'd seen the day before. No, took some notes so I could remember if I needed. But for now, like I'm writing my next book and it is coming to me only through walking in the forest and I say my chakras as I walk in a moving meditation and then I ask the book energy to join me and someday I don't feel it and I can feel the energy of it and I talk to it a bit. I kind of feel it moving in my body. It's very embodied. My books are all embodied, of course. Yes, then it's, I can.
Tara Jackson: 22:00
Just it's taking a lot longer this one it's already been a year as of time recording this so yeah, it's slowly working its way through and I'm hearing it writing notes, recording things as I go, and I. It will eventually turn into a book, but that's how it's kind of coming to me. So there's no right or wrong way to do this. It's how you connect and you know and experiment.
April Snow: 22:20
There's ways to experiment and play with it, definitely yeah and it sounds like you start with inviting something in inviting the messages for the book or just maybe being receptive. I would like to connect with an idea. Is that true?
Tara Jackson: 22:36
yes, absolutely. I mean, I have free meditations as well, which?
Tara Jackson: 22:39
you know, even guide people in to start with, just to begin, because meditation doesn't work for everyone. So, yeah, maybe walk with it yoga and yeah, invite it in and just trust what comes for you. Maybe in the beginning you feel a bit of cold energy and then it's like, okay, that was a bit different, let's try again today. And you, it's just like when you're connected to intuition, it's like trust or a muscle. You have to keep doing it and then the stronger it gets, and so I've been doing this for quite a few years now, so it definitely has shifted and changed, you know, and so it's gotten easier for me in some ways, but not always. I've had times, even the last 10 years, where I've had nothing, and that's intuition in itself, you know to do nothing right, do not be alarmed if there's nothing.
April Snow: 23:23
That could just be a time to say it's time to pause, to recover and that's what it has been.
Tara Jackson: 23:28
Yeah, and I push through often, and then nothing comes through it.
April Snow: 23:32
So right it's to learn that the hard way too yes, not to force it, but just to be in that stillness. And it sounds like after we're inviting, we're kind of trusting the idea, but also trusting when there's pause. Yeah, I love that like really letting yourself be in the process, whatever the process is, even when it's not what you wanted.
Tara Jackson: 23:54
Yeah, yeah, exactly letting go of that.
April Snow: 23:56
That's a big one for me and have learned yes, so let's say we are getting those ideas are coming through and sometimes it can be quite a lot to sit with. It can be overwhelming, not only processing the information or the intuitive gifts that come through, but also taking the action. So how do you find that balance between recovery and putting something into the world? How do we deal with that balance as they just I'm still letting this one, I mean I don't know.
Tara Jackson: 24:27
We I think we all are yeah, so like, yeah, totally, if someone knows, please, please, share with me as well. Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's a combination of things and it's, isn't it? It's that constant awareness, self-awareness and, I think, really slowing down more than anything to check in with yourself, and it's easier said than done and, trust me, I'm quite a fast person that can't get stuff done, so it's not the easiest for me, though, but then I tend to plan out. So, yeah, but I know it's like I'm learning.
Tara Jackson: 24:59
It's still really slow down, checking in, and I think taking more time than you think sometimes is needed to really feel what the idea is. And, as I said you know, nurture it. Hold it to yourself for a while, because it's so easy to want to get it out in the world and share it for some people not for them, but holding it and being with it will help it to mature, to grow, to root, etc. Absolutely one. You'll be looking after yourself as well, because you can check in, and then you'll know when to take action. I mean, actually, one thing I do do with the checking in, with the soul of it. When you connect to it could be connecting to your intuition as well as asking what do I need to nurture myself, to support myself as a co-creator?
Tara Jackson: 25:42
and sometimes even the guidance might just be which I've had for some other offers is just look after yourself, like I've actually been guided to do fasts or cleanses, for example, sometimes for maybe two weeks. Or if I did a 30-day juice cleanse at one point and that was the guidance not to do anything on the offer, but I needed to support me, to be a better, stronger vessel, to bring it through when it was time. So there's a mix of things you can do. Does that kind of make sense?
April Snow: 26:12
Absolutely does, because you're right, there can be this rush I have to get this out right away but is it supporting you or is it depleting you? Right in that process? And it just reminds me that this is what we need to do in every aspect of life, not just when we're putting something out or stepping into a leadership role, but taking care of ourself first, right Nurturing ourselves, before we're then giving to others. Such a good reminder Absolutely yes.
Tara Jackson: 26:37
From that place?
April Snow: 26:38
Yes, you said something which was I'm a co-creator, and I'm wondering if you could say more about that.
Tara Jackson: 26:47
So I see it as, when you are connecting to the energy, the soul, the spirit of whatever it is, it's in co-creation with you, so you are working with it. It's not, yes, you're the physical part, bringing it through and doing that, but if you really see it, it's that part, part, whatever you want to call it as your. You know it's like having a business partner, ultimately, or, you know, a teammate, a ceo or something. See, really see it as that.
April Snow: 27:12
There's something about that kind of acceptance that also makes it more powerful as well, in that you know being working together, co-creating yeah, right, I love that because you're not in this alone and you can lean on the energy that's coming through your intuition, your spiritual practice, your connection to earth, to whatever it is that is guiding you. Yeah, that feels, I know, comforting it is.
Tara Jackson: 27:40
It's so comforting, especially when you work alone and for now so many of us are, especially in the days and so having that such a sort of a life-changing moment for me in my business? Definitely yeah, because I could point to something or someone when I had no one else right exactly right.
April Snow: 27:59
Was there a point in your business before this where you felt like you were alone and you were kind of floating without that anchor?
Tara Jackson: 28:07
absolutely. I've always kind of used my intuition in business from quite an early stage, but it was different. That was when I did more of the you know, when my intuition said nothing, pushing ahead, still trying to put things out there, going back to how I'd been taught. Business doesn't matter, you know, and there's nothing wrong with some of these things, but they didn't work for me, this who I am. It didn't work for me to keep pushing trying things just for the sake of doing, etc. It didn't work for me, yeah yeah, that's.
April Snow: 28:32
It sounds like a straight road to burnout. Honestly, completely yeah, what I think you shared about that potentially that you've been through a burnout phase- I've definitely had periods where, yeah, I've had to take some because it was too much and too intense definitely.
Tara Jackson: 28:48
I mean working. The working world did that to me a bit definitely as well.
April Snow: 28:51
So yes, it does then the thing is is not carrying those bad habits and bad ways of doing into your own business, which is easy to do it really is, especially when we're looking and seeing how everyone else is doing it or we feel like we have to take to keep up with a certain pace exactly. We can slow down, we can have pauses in between. You can take time to reflect and connect inward, connect to something beyond ourselves honestly, I think this is the greatest challenge on it.
Tara Jackson: 29:21
Honestly, especially as an hsb2, we all need to relearn how to do this because we're not conditioned to. I mean, still now I struggle with this in all honesty, not feeling like I should be doing more and letting myself slow down, and but I know the power in that, yet I still have conditioning that's telling me that you're not doing something today. What's going on? You know?
April Snow: 29:44
oh my goodness, those stories run deep, that conditioning runs deep they run so deep, don't they all the way back to when?
Tara Jackson: 29:53
well, I'm gonna just guess when you were a child and seeing your siblings go out and socialize when you just wanted to read but it's societal ancestral condition, you know it's so deep right I see it everywhere, even in your day-to-day life, being different to those going out with job, with jobs you know, who have to work five-hour days, whatever they're doing and you're not doing, that it's even that. It's in itself can still be triggering sometimes to make me think I'm not doing enough because of we've grown up?
April Snow: 30:23
I think, Absolutely. You know, working for myself, and my wife goes out to work every day and I think am I doing enough?
Tara Jackson: 30:29
Exactly, Exactly, totally get that.
April Snow: 30:33
Yeah, but we're still doing a lot, and a lot is subjective. Enough is subjective.
Tara Jackson: 30:41
Yeah, well, this is it Exactly, and it's this is why I think it's the hardest thing. It's learning to trust what you are doing, how you show up what you do, who you are, even, yes, we also, you know, we could get into so many other topics, but it's like we're placing our value in what we do as well, which is a whole other piece that's so integrative, I think you know, and so, yeah, a lot of unlearning, a lot of unlearning and trust seems like a theme today trusting yourself, trusting your process, trusting that you're doing enough, you don't have to push, you don't have to do what everyone else is doing.
Tara Jackson: 31:15
Yeah, and trust your way, because I really do believe we're here to lead a different way, as highly sensitive as part of our gifts as well. We are here to lead a different way that is slower it's part of our gifts as well. We are here to lead a different way that is slower, more cyclical, with rhythmic, whether it's our inner cycles or the cycles around us of the earth, the sun, et cetera. Yeah, we're here to do it a different way and we have to lead that. It starts here, trusting that, yes absolutely.
April Snow: 31:45
And just thinking about what you said at the beginning of our conversation, which is that self-care, that modeling leadership yes, absolutely. And just how important that is for everybody, not just fellow HSPs Exactly exactly Right, especially in the world that we live in.
Tara Jackson: 31:58
Totally is. And so I mean one of my next sort of intuitive guidance pieces or you know where I'm being guided to go is, as well as the work I'm currently doing is to start bringing what I'm doing into the corporate world and so going back there, which is scary but it's time. It's been nudging at me intuitively for a few years now and I've pushed it down, but it's time, but I think that's it. You know, we need to first feel good, embodied in ourselves and strong in a belief in doing it for ourselves, and then take it if we're being called to. Some people will, some won't, but I do believe that some of us are here to go back into that system because we've come from it as with what we've embodied and become and who we are today, to start to shift things.
April Snow: 32:38
I feel that intuitively yeah, yes, right, take a different model back in there and shake things up a bit. Exactly. Oh, I love that. When you say go back into the corporate world, do you think that you'll consult or you'll go back in the system as a?
Tara Jackson: 32:55
yeah, no, I think that's 100%. Let's say yeah, 100%, no, I, I can't go back and consult.
April Snow: 33:06
Yeah, yes, right right, bring things in, but at your own pace, on your own timeline yeah, yeah, yeah okay that makes sense, but we can be again that's another way to lead right and to take in a different point of view and, yeah, work with leaders, that's part of it. I think when you work with the leaders, that's it right it's that advisor role that we are destined to be.
Tara Jackson: 33:32
Yes, I love this.
April Snow: 33:33
I love that. Well, tara, is there anything we didn't touch on that you feel is important to share before we start to wrap up? I think that we didn't get to no, I just.
Tara Jackson: 33:41
I mean just to reiterate I think sensitivity is a gift. I really do Our unique way of experiencing the world through our sensitivities, even though it can be so hard at times and so challenging. It is so needed. I really truly believe that, and so, if you're feeling called in in some way to lead with your sensitivity, to bring how you experience the world out in some way, your sensitivity to bring how you experience the world out in some way.
April Snow: 34:07
Please do. That's all. Yes, please do. We need your voices, we need your leadership and folks can start stepping into that role in very small ways in their own lives I thank you so much for sharing this guidepost, this vision for how we can step into our calling, our purpose.
April Snow: 34:31
We can reconnect with ourselves, and I'll definitely share all of your. You have a lot of wonderful resources. I'll share all those in the show notes, your website, your books, your Oracle deck. You also work with folks one-to-one. Could you say a little bit more about that? Yeah, yeah, and I love the one-to-one. Could you say a little bit more about that?
Tara Jackson: 34:44
yeah, yeah, I know, and I love the one-to-one work, you know, because you get to go deep. So, yeah, absolutely if you are feeling cold and would like support to go deeper in your work or your next level or bring more of yourself into work, trust yourself more. You know you're sensitive. I love working one-to-one so I'd be super open to, obviously, exploration conversations, all that kind of thing.
April Snow: 35:06
Yeah, I love that and who should reach out to you one-to-one. So who? Who do you love to work best with?
Tara Jackson: 35:14
yeah, I mean sensitive leaders. It's a mix of entrepreneurs, but also leaders and businesses as well, who are sensitive and are pushing against the system that does not cater to their needs. It's a mix of the two. I just sensitive leaders is. You know who you are.
April Snow: 35:30
You know who you are.
Tara Jackson: 35:31
You just know who you are you resonate with this sort of different, intuitive way of incorporating these you know, the spiritual parts, embodiment parts into your work and knowing that that will give you such a rich way of doing business that feels good as well. It's a different way that's it yeah that resonates.
April Snow: 35:49
Just check in with your intuition. If you're being called to work with tara, it's right. Yeah, exactly, it's so beautiful, and will you share? Hold up your book one more time so we can take a look at that body business yeah yeah, some body business. Look at that beautiful cover. So this is a great place for folks to touch in with working with you as well and get a sense and then also deep dive into working with you directly, and I assume folks can work with you from all over the world.
Tara Jackson: 36:18
Yeah, absolutely wonderful.
April Snow: 36:27
Thanks so much for joining me and Tara for today's conversation. What I hope you'll remember is that it's okay to listen to that call from within, whether it's guiding you to rest and go inward or to pursue a creative idea out in the world. If you're seeking more support for your business or stepping into a leadership role of any kind, reach out to Tara for a one-to-one consultation or pick up her book Embodied Business. Links for both are in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the Sensitive Stories podcast so you don't miss our upcoming conversations. Reviews and ratings are also helpful and appreciated For behind-the-scenes content and more HSP resources. You can sign up for my email list or follow Sensitive Strengths on Instagram, tiktok and YouTube. Check out the show notes or sensitivestoriescom for all the resources from today's episode. Thanks for listening.
