The Medicine of True Leadership

Part Three: Staying with Discomfort

From the kitchen table to the board room. Discomfort is where the real work begins.

When the body tightens, when emotions rise, when your thoughts start spinning that’s not a problem, it’s a doorway.

Most people rush to fix.
We medicate, rationalize, or run.

But what if the body isn’t asking to be silenced.

What if it’s asking to be seen?

For example, in Zhineng Qigong (a powerful moving meditation practice developed by Professor, Dr. Pang Ming), we don’t separate body, mind, and spirit. They are one system.

So when discomfort shows up, it’s really not a problem. It’s communication. It’s the body delivering information that the mind has been too busy to hear, or misinterpreting.

The practice is simple. Profoundly simple.

Stay.

Become aware of your reaction.

Notice your breath.

Let the stories surface without believing them.

You’re not your feelings. You’re the one witnessing them.

This is what creates space between you and the story.

Because there are usually two things going on.

What’s happening and the story you’re telling.

And, between them, that’s the space for healing.

It’s where Qi starts to move again.

Note: Qi is often misunderstood. Obviously not an English term, it’s a Chinese character. And, in Zhineng qigong, Qi is information.

Most people think healing is about doing more.
But in truth, it’s about becoming quiet enough to let the body’s intelligence reorient itself.

When I work with clients, I often see this shift happen in real time.

A headache softens. Breath deepens. Thoughts and speaking become clearer.

It’s not magic. It’s physiology responding to presence.

Every time you meet discomfort with curiosity instead of fear, you strengthen your internal authority.

That’s leadership-whether you’re running a business, a family, or your own healing journey.

The more you practice, the more your roots grow.
Conversations that once triggered tension now unfold with ease.

Decisions that felt impossible become obvious.
You stop reacting and start responding.

The mind quiets.

The body listens.
Qi flows.

This is the medicine.

It’s not found in a pill or a strategy.

It’s found in your willingness to stay present, to work with what is, and to remember that you are the embodiment of life itself.