The Universal Impulse: Reincarnation and Renewal
From the dawn of human history, cultures across the globe have been obsessed with the concepts of Reincarnation, Rejuvenation, and Rebirth.
Think of the lotus flower in Buddhism and ancient Egypt: sprouting from the mud to bloom as a more perfect being, symbolising a constant renewal. A new beginning, every single day.
But perhaps the most powerful metaphor for personal and professional growth is the snake shedding its skin. In classical Greece, the god of healing, Asclepius, held a serpent-wrapped staff, as the snake’s ability to rejuvenate itself mirrored his own power to heal the ill.
The question is: Are you, your team, or your organisation stuck in your old “skin”?
1. The Discomfort of the Known
Imagine yourself as the snake. Your old skin—your current habits, your comfort zone, your legacy mindset—is dull, worn, and tight. It has endured much and protected you, but now it’s an irritant, a constant state of discomfort you can’t ignore.
- The Trap of Familiarity: You bear the stress and the feeling of “wrong” by staying within the “safe” and familiar routine. You tell yourself you’re safe, even as your worn-out skin feels like it’s imprisoning you.
- The Constriction of Potential: You hide yourself away, keeping yourself small and quiet. You might poke your head out to wonder “who can I grow to be?”, but your old skin constricts you. You know you’re vulnerable, and you can’t risk new threats.
Ask yourself: In what areas of your Neuroleadership or team management are you prioritising perceived safety over necessary growth?
2. The Crisis Point: Blindness and Forced Action
Staying stagnant eventually leads to a crisis point. Metaphorically, you may wake up one day almost blind, your vision clouded by the same dullness that has consumed the rest of your old “skin”. Your ability to clearly see threats and potential is gone.
This is the moment in a business where a trusted strategy suddenly fails, or a critical Employee Engagement metric plummets.
You feel trapped, unable to see a way out. You are faced with a choice:
- Stay in your hide: Stay with what you know and remain trapped forever.
- Take the terrifying step: What do you have to lose?
The moment you leave your hide is when the process of renewal begins. It’s hard to take that first step—to begin the laborious, terrifying process of beginning to strip away what you had been for so long.
3. Embracing Vulnerability: The New Growth Mindset
As you force yourself to keep rubbing against the “rough stone” of necessary change, your old skin rips away, and you feel exposed. Your new skin is soft, fragile, and vulnerable as it meets the harsh air for the first time. This is the discomfort of change—a moment caught between the perceived safety of the old and the fragility of the new.
- The Power of Clarity: As you scrape the old scales from your eyes, you look at the world with new, rejuvenated vision. You suddenly realise how long your vision had been clouded.
- The Path to Leadership Resilience: You know you can’t go back. You have to keep going, no matter the fear of the unknown future. Slowly, you grow accustomed to your new, reborn self. It is beautiful, supple, and free from the burdens that dulled your previous self.
Your shining, new skin hardens, and it shields you. You feel free, no longer trapped in a stiff prison.
The thought of outgrowing this new skin one day doesn’t frighten you as it once did. You know you’ll be reborn again.
Ready for Your Organisational Rebirth?
Every leader and organisation reaches a point where their established strategies become the very thing holding them back. Your old ways of thinking were needed once—they kept you safe—but now they only keep you stagnant, hurting, and small.
At 21 Triangles, we leverage Neurobiology and behavioural change science to help you not just shed the old, but to design the new.
Are you ready to stop adapting to your circumstances and start creating your own future?
Discover the non-conscious drivers of motivation and performance that are keeping your team trapped, and reveal the potential you haven’t seen before.
- Take Action: Explore our NEURO-M Assessments to gain the crucial, deep insights into your team’s temperament, motivation, and Workplace Culture.
- Lead the Change: Talk to us about our Neuroleadership training programs to equip yourself with the skills to design, implement, and lead your ideal work-group culture.
Contact us today to begin your transformation.
