Fire - The Passionate Purposeful Self

"I have a dream……."

Through the Fire element we access our passion for life. We connect to what really matters to us, to our core values, and to the sources of inspiration that bring us most to life.

The Fire element brings meaning and purpose to our lives. It strengthens us and gives us courage.

"I have a strategic plan" is Air. "I have a dream" is Fire. They are equally important, but fundamentally different.

What is our 'dream'? What is that gives us a sense of purpose? What is it that, at least on a good day, gives us a sense of meaning and a fire in our belly as we walk into and through the world?

Are we aligned with our dream? Did we betray it somewhere along the line? Did the many forces, pressures and responsibilities of life bend us out of shape? Have we betrayed our 'soul's calling'?

Do we create the spaces for ourselves in our busy lives to listen to our calling, to check in with ourselves, to have that conversation with ourselves?

Are we caught, however subtlely, in living someone else's dream, perhaps the dream of our father, or mother, or our ancestral family, a dream that in the end is not truly our own?

And when we are in touch with our Fire do we show up with it? Can we express it in a way that warms rather than burns people, that inspires rather than alarms? Do we let people see what we stand for, and what we stand against?

Do we experience a sense of personal purpose that is linked to larger purpose? What are the times and the ways in which we experience ourselves as a vehicle for some kind of bigger purpose, when we feel connected to the larger family?

What are the stories, the narratives, the myths that animate our life?

It is a natural part of our journey that our fire burns more strongly at some times than at others. We may live through periods where the flame is very low, almost extinguished. These periods can become 'dark nights of the soul', difficult to bear yet also somehow essential. The experience of emergence from a dark night is often one of rebirth, in which the fire has been refined or re-defined, often both simpler yet stronger.

This is an excerpt form an essay titled Elements of Leadership written by Nicholas Janni. Nicholas is the founder of Core Presence, a leadership consultancy. Over the past twelve years he has gained an international reputation for his seminars and coaching, in which he bridges the worlds of creative, personal, spiritual and professional development in a uniquely powerful, accessible and relevant way.