A Talk on the “Leadership of the Self”
On 1 December 2020, Dasho Karma Tshiteem, the former Chairperson of the Royal Civil Service Commission, currently serving in His Majesty’s Secretariat Office in the Gyalsung Project, delivered a highly engaging talk on the “Leadership of the Self” to the faculty, staff and MEd in-service students.
Dasho began his talk citing an example on the role and significance of leadership. He said the success of containing COVID-19 pandemic in Bhutan to a maximum level is not luck rather a vision and heartfelt leadership of our belove King. “When we think of leadership, it is not power. It is more of individual actions”, he further shared.
Dasho dwelled on various aspects of personal attitudes and practices which contributes to the making of Leadership of the Self bringing in lots of anecdotes from Buddha’s teachings and wisdom. Dasho was emphatic in stating that as an individual, one’s life journey is so special that it has the potential in unleashing the benefit not just to oneself but everybody around. And he also highlighted that people should be open to learn, relearn and unlearn.
Dasho asserted that the knowledge of oneself or ‘self-awareness’ is the starting point to achieve extraordinary success and achievements in our journey of life of the Leadership of the Self. He said engaging oneself in mindfulness practice is the beginning or starting point of knowing our own selves or developing self-awareness. Dasho explained that instead of operating our life on an auto pilot mode or a monkey mind that is untamed and distracted, cultivating mindfulness – a state of being aware of the present moment and living your life on the “here and now” can help an individual know and underatand oneself at a more deeper level. He said that meditation is the approach that can help cultivate mindfulness and emphasised the importance of inculcating meditation as a sticky activity in our lives because with meditation, an individual can cultivate mindfulness and with mindfulness, one can enjoy life in a different way as things become better and more beautiful with mindfulness.
Another stimulating idea Dasho passionately talked of was the “Thought Model” derived from Lord Buddha’s teachings namely – circumstances, thoughts, feelings, actions and results and their interconnectedness in determining the quality of our lives. Dasho said understanding this model will improve one’s quality of thinking or problems of faulty thinking.
Dasho concluded his talk by emphasizing that as teacher educators and teachers, it is not enough to transfer knowledge as education to students but there is a need to do more than just teaching content knowledge.
Dasho was on his way back to Thimphu after talking to Desuups undergoing the 43rd Specialised Desuung training at Tashicholing and Tendruk under Samtse Dzongkhag on the same subject “Leadership of the Self”.
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