A language for my Essence
Engaging with the Essence module as I begun my Leadership Accelerator was a magical experience for me. It’s almost like for the last 10 years I’ve done the work to get to know my Essence and understand its different facets, but our expedition gave me an avenue to communicate, call by name what has happened to me, and to express just what I’ve gone through. With the conclusion of my undergraduate degree being just around the corner, I felt my perspective about moving forward and the future shifting away from fear and worry, toward a realm of wonder and possibilities. To frame the next chapter of my journey with leading in mind and the 4Es feels right.
The map I couldn’t draw on paper
I’ve never viewed myself as an artist. When our expedition set me up to create an Essence Map, I first tried to draw my map on paper with markers, paper, and pen. It didn’t work for me. I felt like the 2D limited my expression. So, frustratingly I went back to reading through the Essence chapter, listening to the podcasts, and going deeper. It was hearing the women of the first expedition discuss their Essence. To hear their voice, their diction, their tone, their thinking… I felt their intent to share. Share their experience, their knowledge and themselves. I was moved by their Energy. Then just like that, I could see in my mind’s eye my Essence Map, and I saw it in 3D. I got so excited because I realized I had a tool that could help me to create my 3D Essence Map: a VR headset!
Building it in three dimensions
So, I downloaded Open Brush on Meta and started. In three hours, my Essence Map manifested itself right there in my living room. It was such a different experience. Here I am, I’ve been convinced I’m not an artist and frankly, I didn’t really think of myself as inherently creative, but my Essence Map begs to differ. I chose to make my map me-sized. So, in those three hours I was enthralled in reaching up, bending down, resizing, choosing different brush strokes for different parts of my Essence.
I realized the placement of each part of my Essence was deliberate and purposeful. Body, I placed right at torso level. Body cannot be separated from who I am. It is the biological medium that allows me expression, interaction and connection. Education, I placed right above Body, at head level. Education teaches you fundamentally that there’s always more to learn. An opportunity that keeps giving once accessed. The Sacred I placed beside Education, because it is the connection to knowledge that is intrinsic, within us and old. The Sacred frames and guides the part of us that knows we cannot possibly know everything.
I placed Trauma at the other side of the Sacred, just a little below. Trauma we all carry, it sets an undertone and fundamentally changes us. Trauma can be sobering and an opportunity to be resilient. I placed Ancestors at the level of my feet because our ancestors always walk with us, even if we don’t heed their council, they do not leave us. Motherness, I placed just above Ancestors. Motherness is one I am still processing, unpacking. Nature, I placed in close proximity to Body because of its ability to revitalize the Body. Nature stands firm and beyond social constructs. It just is. I chose to draw these parts of my Essence to be the same size.
My intent is to continue to develop all these aspects of my Essence openly and draw upon them when the circumstance calls for me to be dynamic, creative and innovative. Then, there was one more, something that has been a part of my Essence since I was a small girl, that has influenced so many things. This one was “Fear”. Fear, which in the past has been a source of inaction and compliance, was present in my Essence but life has taught me and continues to teach me that Fear can be a source of power and guidance. Fear can be a guiding light, so long as you do not indulge it and allow it to paralyze you.
What the medium taught me
It was such a personal process. Tshepo, the WE Leadership Accelerator Community Manager, in guiding me with this process, asked me the question, “What does it tell you about the parts of yourself that haven’t had the right medium yet?”, my answer begins with, “Then I just haven’t found them yet but they’re out there.” Finding my Essence Map showed me that the medium makes a difference, so be open. Be open to something that “isn’t you”, be open to sources of knowledge that are untraditional, be open. It’s a truly remarkable and refreshing way to get to know yourself.
About the Author:
Joanna Lopez is a soon-to-be graduate of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program at Queen’s University, Canada. Her journey reflects the strength, resilience, and leadership of mature women in higher education. As someone who has been successfully led to realize, know and experience that human potential is only ever limited by one’s own actions and/or inaction, she knows the transformative power of understanding one’s own capacity, potential and trusting oneself. Joanna endeavours to pass this experience forward to empower others to make a difference in a way that matters to them. Her story is a testament to the impact of women who rise with purpose, lead with resilience, and create meaningful change through education and application.
