This is an article about one of the virtues necessary to be a Noble and Inspiring Leader-particularly for oneself and also, if necessary, for others.
This is about the VIRTUE of HARMONY.
One of the important virtues in both life and self leadership is HARMONY. Harmony is more commonly used in music and in this case it is the use of chords and their construction. Harmony is said to be the "vertical" aspect of music. In many types of music, for example romantic or modern, chords are often augmented with "tensions". A tension is an additional cord that creates a dissonant interval. When there is a balance between a consonant and tension (dissonant chord) then we have harmony and thus we have sounds and music which is very pleasing to the ear and makes us feel good and relaxed and invokes very pleasant states of mind. Such states can lead us to transcend our usual states of mind which may be stressed or agitated. So the creation of harmonious music places us into a harmonious state of mind. We feel good, we feel relaxed and calm and we can think very clearly and calmly.
So Harmony is a state of mind and like music can invoke within us harmonious states of being. The origin of the word HARMONY is Greek with the meaning of "to fit together". When we apply this to ourselves it means that within us -within all our parts when our mind, body and spirit and all of their various component parts are "fitting together" in accordance with each other and, if you like making pleasing music, then we can say that we are in Harmony.
If we look at each of these parts such as body-when we consider our body we already know that if the organs of our body are not in HARMONY then illness and disease can arise. If our Mind is not in Harmony within itself and with all things around it then it will not be in HARMONY. When our body and mind are not in HARMONY then further complications with illness and disease will eventuate. When we do not feel that we are in spiritual HARMONY we will also feel a psychological emptiness and perhaps even fall into some state of suffering. So it clear that when our Mind, Our Body and our Spirit are not in HARMONY then we will not be well on any level.
We will not be in HARMONY with ourselves and we will not be in HARMONY with others and with all aspects of our lives. If we apply the analogy back to music the sounds will be terrible-the outcomes will not be pleasing and we will not feel good about ourselves, others and our lives.
Like music that is pleasing to the ears we need to be in HARMONY within and with all around us. So how is this achieved and why is it important?
Let us look at our lives and our condition when we are not in HARMONY. Nothing seems to be going our way, we become tired and agitated, relatively easy to be distressed, we lose hope and simply we do not feel good about ourselves and about others. We may become critical of others, we are not calm, and we do not feel peace. Sometimes we feel very stressed and anxious. We know that something is wrong and our mind bounces from problem to problem, looking for the source of the complaint but we find no answer. We often blame others or the situation around us but ultimately this does not satisfy our need. We are "out of balance" and as long as we stay in this state then further difficulties will arise. We will become stressed, suffer anxiety which may lead to severe depression and on the way we may have issues with blood pressure and the possibility of heart disease may eventuate. We lose friends even family. Our World becomes dark and very distressing. We have lost our HARMONY.
Unfortunately as we progress through life particularly within our usual lifestyles of today we started losing our HARMONY a long time ago. We gave no consideration to our internal harmony (mind+body+spiritual), because our lives have been so demanding and busy we have given little or no consideration to HARMONY with others and we have virtually no time or no understanding as to the benefits of HARMONY with nature.
For some in the modern World our approach to HARMONY with others is often in the context of our "interpersonal relationship skills" within the workplace. People in Business Development roles need to develop and even exploit the relationship development with others but often this is superficial-"I am happy to develop a relationship with you as long as it is to my advantage but when I see that this cannot be achieved or cannot be easily maintained then I will move on"-and so we exploit this human quality. Instead of being a natural process of human relations it becomes a business objective. Our spiritual side or intuitive side of our nature is aware of this and so we start to unconsciously become uncomfortable with our superficial ways-DISHARMONY arrives.
Every year we look for the opportunity for a Holiday-to be free of our usual daily hectic lives and to find a place where we can just relax, calm down and enjoy ourselves. When we do this we usually look for places such as the Beach or the Mountains. We take ourselves out of our usual environment and (although we do not necessarily recognise it) we turn to nature because within this environment we find a sense of HARMONY.
What we have done is look for HARMONY outside ourselves not understanding that its real source lies within. For most people we need to go "outside" ourselves in order to find this HARMONY but when we return from Holidays we usually fall quickly back into our old stresses, anxieties and disharmonious behaviors.
Firstly we need to recognise the need for HARMONY. The external places where HARMONY can be found are in the environment but they are also in the way that we relate to the environment. We need to embrace simplicity in all that we do. We need to declutter our lives, our workspaces, our homes, our cars and of course our mind. We need to simplify and aggressively remove all the clutter from within us and around us.
We need to make time for ourselves -to sit quietly-to be with our loved ones-to be with our animals and to walk slowly and learn to breathe calmly and peacefully. We need to take the time to see nature within everything. As in music HARMONY is seen to be the "vertical" aspect-and so it can be with us. In HARMONY and being in HARMONIOUS states we will also be "vertical" and "moving upwards" out of our agitations and aggravations, frustrations and anxieties.
From this will flow many things. Our energy will change, the attitude to ourselves will change and people will see the change within us. No longer will we be agitated -no longer will we need that after work drink "just to relax". We can always be relaxed by always being in HARMONY with ourselves, with others and with our Environment.
We can make beautiful music and be in perfect HARMONY. It requires only practice and perseverance. When this is achieved we will be well on the way to becoming a Leader of ourselves-we are more in control and we understand ourselves much better. We will find a sense of purpose and enjoy life.
We will have found true HARMONY.
