CONNECTION – What Happens When I Quiet Down and Listen to Myself

Before you can create genuine connection with others - your team, partners, or organization - you must first connect with yourself. I know this because I’ve experienced it. After two quiet weekends at a cabin, a deeper inner space opened up. I hadn’t been searching for anything in particular, yet I found more than I could have imagined: a new kind of connection that permanently changed my world.

When you make space for yourself - in nature, in silence, in solitude - things begin to happen. The brain shifts away from the linear, left-hemisphere dominated mode toward a more non-linear flow. This is beautifully described by Iain McGilchrist in his work on the roles of the brain hemispheres: how Western culture tends to overvalue the left hemisphere - the analytical, performance-oriented side - while losing touch with the wisdom of the right hemisphere, which connects to intuition, lived experience, and the understanding of the bigger picture.

When we reconnect with ourselves by being present and embodied, creativity begins to flow as well. Breathing, movement, meditation, writing - all of these bring us back to what truly matters. For me, this happened in the midst of burnout. I began to write - first to survive, then to understand. Writing helped me turn insights into action.

Reconnecting with oneself can often begin powerfully through coaching. When, in a safe space, we momentarily let go of linear thinking, space opens up for intuitive thought flow. From there often arise the insights that don’t come from logic, but from presence. It’s there that a person meets themselves again.

From a leadership perspective, this has fundamental significance. Neuroscience increasingly shows that trust, presence, and connection are not only emotional experiences but also concrete regulatory states between brains - they activate, among other things, the prefrontal cortex and the vagus nerve, which enable collaboration, creativity, and resilience.

If a team is not connected to itself - or to each other - it cannot navigate complexity, innovate, or take the necessary steps toward excellence.

Connection is the foundation of all growth.

Connection is not a “soft thing.” It is the hard core upon which a sustainable future is built.

In this state, it feels good to be - present, creative, and connected.