Soulfluent Leadership: Creating What Works for Everyone with Priscilla Stephan

Today’s Guest

When entrepreneurs want to double their profits without working harder and burning out, they work with Priscilla Stephan, Intuitive Business Strategist and creator of the Soulfluent Leadership Archetypes™.

Priscilla’s holistic and pragmatic approach to business and leadership allows her clients to live their dream lifestyle while confidently sharing their soul’s work to make a big impact and increase their profit and growth.

Originally from Brazil, San Diego is now her home base as she works with leaders from a wide range of industries who have one thing in common: they have the desire to create a global impact and live a life of purpose without sacrificing their time, relationships or well-being.

To discover your Soulfluent Leadership Archetype™ and how it can help you double your profits while living the joyful life you’re craving, visit: http://www.priscillastephan.com

RESOURCES

Soulfluent Leadership Archetype Quiz

episode transcription

Heather Clark 

Welcome to Unshakable Being, inspiration and practical tools for purpose led helpers, guides and leaders like you to shift out of stress, stop going in circles, and get what you want in your life, body and business. I am Dr. Heather Clark, and I’ll be your host.

Heather Clark 

Hello, and thanks for joining us today we have Priscilla Stephan. She is an intuitive business strategist and creator of the Soulfluent Leadership archetypes. And she helps entrepreneurs double their profits without working harder and without burning out. Priscilla, welcome to the show.

Priscilla Stephan 

Hi, thank you so much for having me, Heather.

Heather Clark 

I am delighted to have you on um, for people that don’t know Priscilla is just such a lovely human being She is such a treasure.

Priscilla Stephan 

I’ll receive that.

Heather Clark 

I am fortunate to have her in my life and very fortunate to have her on the show. So This is gonna be fantastic. So, as I was thinking where to start, I think why not start with Soulfluent Leadership. Tell us a little bit about what that is and how Soulfluent Leadership is different than just leadership?

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes. And I’d like to say that this body of work was given to me in the Akashic Records three and a half years ago when my guides sneakily and naughtily said, Oh, just go write down a little book and it became this 165 page mammoth of a body of work, and I went, Oh, holy shizz. And, and so and just recently, so really, the body of work is helping us to understand who we are as leaders, leadership is defined as contribution which I think helps to create new space to define leadership for ourselves and ultimately it is a sacred safe space to inquire and explore for ourselves what contributing from the soul can look like for us at this time in our lives, without the shoulds without the old paradigms without without the whole, I’ve got to put a suit on and look perfect and be a certain way and sound a certain way to be accepted and paid for my genius in particular, circles or fields and industries.

Priscilla Stephan 

And Soulfluent was the word that came in the Akashic Records actually, just last December, actually became my new business name and the name of this work because I’ve been waiting for the name for it for all this time, and then they like soul fluent, becoming fluent in the language of your soul more specifically the language of your contribution, which is how the archetypes helps. Three years ago, I asked my husband I said, I know I’ve heard of archetypes through Carolyn Myss and the sacred contracts book that she has. But then I literally had to say, husband, how do you define an archetype? And he and I loved how he described what he said, it’s just accessing energies that already are present within you think, okay, I can start with that.

Priscilla Stephan 

And so I think really the archetypes are a great framework to help us understand ourselves better in terms of our unique talents and energies and gifts. And, and all the magic that we have to make a contribution in the world and the work itself is here to help us decide, okay, if I have all this magic, then now how do I want to apply it in my life from a very conscious, aware, genuine, truthful energy, which I think is really important, and the beauty of Soulfluent, and the word the word itself in this ultimate leadership is that it’s a A opportunity to decide how to contribute in a way where everyone wins. It’s what it’s called in the work, the 360 win.

Priscilla Stephan 

It’s a mindset really where your choices, inform everything that you choose, and where you’re making choices that will benefit everyone. Starting with yourself, your business, your company, your employees, your team members, your organization, your community and the planet. So it creates a positive ripple effect. And it just the idea sometimes kind of just like my mind goes like, what, how do I do that? I don’t I don’t know what that takes. I don’t know if I want to do that.

Priscilla Stephan 

You know, it’s certainly as I start to enter that conversation for myself. I notice all these some of these beliefs and these fears, but it’s really an opportunity to look at if it is possible for leaders today to create a world that works for everyone, including the planet. What would that take What would that look like? And what would my role be in that if I wanted to actively and consciously choose to operate in this, in this inquiry and in this question, and so also Soulfluent Leadership is about a new way of doing leadership and how to do that in a way that works for everyone means that the old model of leadership becomes just defunct and debunked and all of it, you know, so it’s about flow. It’s about inclusivity. It’s about taking care of yourself and operating from a space of joy instead of hustle. And it’s about equality versus hierarchy. It’s about bringing all of you to the table and collaboration instead of competition. Just some of the ideas is this. I know this was a mouthful, is this somewhat understandable and helpful?

Heather Clark 

Oh, absolutely. And there’s really there’s a lot of really wonderful things in there. Just right off the bat I like reframe the reframe of leadership into, like choosing from Benefit leadership as a contribution. And to me, that’s more of what I would refer to as true leadership. Not people in a leadership position but actual leaders. And it’s not terribly easy to find a lot of great examples for that. So So I love it. And I love the 360 win. Because what would it be like if people were choosing from what works for everyone? And so tell me more about Soulfluent Leadership being about bringing it all to the table, bringing all of yourself to the table.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes, and one of the initial experiences for people to interact with this work is in the Soulfluent roundtables, which is a three hour virtual experience for up to six women where we look at the soulful archetype that will move your vision of contribution forward based on this current moment in time. Because sometimes what we find is that when you take the quiz, you can identify the primary archetype that you’ve been leading from. But the interesting thing is maybe where you’re not, you’re now and what you’re being called to create is asking for a different archetype with different energies, strengths and assets. Right?

Priscilla Stephan 

And so I’ll give it to all this to answer your question. Yesterday, we had the second round table and one of the ladies has been a leadership and business strategist for very large corporations for about nine years. And she found herself precisely at this intersection where she’s like, I’m feeling this call to talk about mindfulness, about intuition, in business and, and with these massive companies and I’m absolutely terrified to do that. Because my persona is like I have literally not allowed my true beliefs about conscious leadership to shine through because I think people are going to think I’m crazy, or it’s going to affect their perception of me and my reputation. I don’t know how to do this. I know what I believe I know what I know is possible. But damn when it comes to communicating this and the expression of this, I’m really, really scared.

Priscilla Stephan 

Because she said, I’m tired of, you know, and I looked at her LinkedIn profile. I said, Yeah, it all sounds great. But where are you here? Where is your expression? Where are your beliefs? And she said, I know I’ve been purposefully hiding that because I thought that, you know, these companies aren’t going to want to hear about intuition or woo and they’re not going to, they’re going to hate me and I’m going to lose, you know, and so she has been actively for at least a decade at this point. compartmentalizing so much of her out of who out of her business and her business. Just visibility because she’s been afraid that that would that is not acceptable for her for certain certain level of clients that she’s looking to, to work with.

Priscilla Stephan 

And so we had to have a heart to heart yesterday, you know, in her Hot Seat about what does it really what’s more important to you? Really? And are you ready to have that internal conversation with yourself about? Is this really Are you ready to answer the call and what is that going to take? You know, she had to kind of her she had to have her own come to Jesus conversation, you know, of getting real with herself not that she doesn’t know what she’s where she’s going. But she needed to have make that internal shift for herself make the internal decision that she was willing to walk on this path of really being herself and making that sole contribution that she wants to make. And that will ask her invite her to make some difficult kind of scary choices at first you know, because it’s going to be unfamiliar. And these archetypes and this framework definitely pushes us to our edge, right? Because that’s where our growth and our contribution will be at, its most potent.

Priscilla Stephan 

And so it was really interesting because I’ve gone through this too with this work, you know, I dance with the terror daily of people thinking that I’m ridiculous, or that I don’t know what I’m talking about, or some kind of Pollyanna that thinks, you know, world that works for everyone, like, great. What planet are you living on? Are you living under a mushroom or like a Carebear rainbow cloud? You know, and that’s actually one of the points of, of what makes a Soulfluent Leader so potent, is that they are deeply grounded in the vision of what’s possible for the world. You know that. But they’re also hyper aware of all the multi facets of what’s actually happening in reality on the ground now. So it’s the yes and they’re able to see and acknowledge all of the previous Truth of what’s happening and still hold that vision of something greater. That’s possible that transcends the reality of today. Right? So they are the visionaries, the hopeful ones, but it’s not some la dee da, you know, let’s go Kumbaya and meditate. It’s like, I am fully aware of what’s going on. And I know we can create more. And let’s, let’s do that together. Does that make sense?

Heather Clark 

It does. It does. It sounds like she was able to use the archetype information to discover Well, what is my leading edge here? What is the archetype to bring in to shift and allow people to hear this new message? Because Yeah, that’s a fuller expression of her. And I think maybe in the past, she may not have been wrong, that corporate America was not ready to hear about intuition. I think over the last decade, they’ve been more ready to hear about mindfulness, but I think it’s interesting over the last year I don’t know, five or six years, there have been more people more willing to talk about intuition and soul in more contexts. So I think that’s really important. Do you honestly run into people who don’t believe that the world can work for everybody? Like why not have a world that works for everyone? Are you running into people who don’t believe that or tell me about that?

Priscilla Stephan 

Well, I think that the reason that I’m concerned is because I still think that there’s a part of me that thinks that that’s just impossible in my generation in one lifetime, or given where we are today you know, it can feel like the world is upside down and inside out and but I also think I know in my soul and in my heart that it’s absolutely possible. I think that that is always been the possibility and we’re hopefully we’re moving towards and at the same time if I’m not careful, and I see all that is happening in the world, it can be easy to be jaded, cynical. And pessimistic at times. And I in some ways, I deeply believe in the human spirit for greatness.

Priscilla Stephan 

And I also have a Hobbesian feeling of humans suck, you know, they’re selfish bastards. And they’re not going to, to wake up and, and all of that. So I think I have both of those in me, I am certainly an optimist. And that’s why I believe in this work. And I believe that this is important in our conversation to at least awaken people into the possibility versus just staying into a world of Well, I guess this is just the way it is. Because if we just stay in that space, well, nothing changes or we start to move backwards. So and of course, there I’m sure there are tons of people.

Priscilla Stephan 

You know, I do live in the coaching world bubble, you know, in the spiritual world bubble where we’re all about personal development and growth. And I was talking to a lady who has a networking organization here in San Diego and it she was like, Oh, that’s right. I forget to stop and think about how I’m feeling. I’m always thinking and overthinking and running around busy and I’m like, Oh, god, yes, we’re all doing that. But I forget this. Sometimes people don’t have added tools, or awarenesses to to mitigate some of the patterns and patterning and conditioning they have. And I don’t I feel like I’m sounding better than her, which is not what I’m trying to do at all. Because we all have our strengths and our attributes and our challenges, but I was like, Man, you know that. So I say this only because there’s there’s a big world, lots of cultures, lots of perceptions and points of view. And and I think that if we’re, you know, even have family members, you know, oh, you know, like, Oh, it’s unemployment. This is a bad world. And this is like, they don’t question much. It’s just, it’s It’s just like, it’s almost like, they just keep playing the same piano key over and over again. But I’m like, there’s, there’s 88 keys on the piano. And there’s other pianos, there are other instruments. There’s a whole orchestra. There’s a whole universe, like, let’s see what’s rounding out, you know, but um, not everyone thinks that way. You know, and so, I think it’s

Heather Clark 

at no point does it ever come across that that’s a value judgment, at least to my ear, or it could be just because I know you’re not like that. But what’s really surprising to me is people who are like, Well, you know, I don’t need to do that soul stuff. Great. Then don’t if, if your life is working, if you’re happy, then that’s functional for you. Fantabulous, just love and light all as well. But if it’s not working, maybe it’s a time to just question Okay, well, what, maybe not what isn’t working but what is available to me? What else is possible here and That’s why I like a lot about your work. But with these Soulfluent archetypes, it gives a different structure and framework. It’s like putting on a different pair of glasses. Okay, well, if I saw the world through the mystic archetype, what would I do? If I saw through one of these other archetypes? What would I do? And I like it because it really feels like you’re helping people apply their magic.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes. Mm hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

Heather Clark 

So, let’s, I’m going to give you a second to think of, I’m going to ask for a tangible example. Because this work is can really be powerful. If you relate to the work, oh, that’s really interesting. Okay, great, then it’s going to be less powerful, but there are people who have been able to take this work and create some really amazing things. So can you share for us what people have been able to do with the knowledge and experience of these archetypes and then leading from the soul.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yeah, so our mutual friend Angella is a good example, right? And the roundtables are in their infancy now. And in some gaining real life data, as we speak in terms of people’s awareness of the the archetype that they had been operating from into the end the what opens up for them when they step into the archetype that’s ready for them. And in some cases, it might be the same one that they’ve leading from, and it’s just an opportunity to amplify it. In other cases, it just might be an opportunity to really make some shifts. I see an archetype really almost like an ecosystem, right? It has beliefs, energies, gifts, challenges, and all of that, you know, and so it’s a very rich and robust, fertile ground for us to explore  and to play in. But for Angella, she has been feeling kind of burned out and isolated in her work because she was operating more from the visionary architects.

Priscilla Stephan 

There are five Soulfluent Leadership archetypes. There’s the Mystic, the Visionary, the Strategist, the Explorer and the Divine Feminine. And so she had been operating from the visionary, which is very much Let’s bust out to create, you know, bold change in the world. But the visionary tends to do things alone and be the one that builds everything from scratch. And that can be exhausting. So once you realize that you’ve been operating from the visionary architect and the Divine Feminine architect to someone that’s pulling her forward, it really was kind of a watershed moment and I’ll share why she had this idea for a collaborative project. That’s not mine to share the details of yet but it’s very much deeply collaborative, and it is completely about the 360 win and where everyone wins and a different level of community building.

Priscilla Stephan 

And once she realized because the Divine Feminine is all about collaboration, and community building, It’s about flow. It’s about beauty and self care and connection, love and mastery. Right? Those are the core tenants of the Divine Feminine archetype leadership energy is. And just like, well, these are innate talents that I already have, she has done events for years. And it’s, um, so it just kind of gave her permission to lean into this so that she can now co create with others, even though she’s the one that’s creating the this grouping. She’s co creating with everyone else instead of trying to feel like she’s the one doing everything by herself.

Priscilla Stephan 

So what opened up for her was a lot more spaciousness and ease. And what she also noticed was that was that she actually now has a seven figure business model that she can actually step into, and that feels a lot more doable and fun and closer to being real. than she had ever imagined. But it was because she was really applying the gifts of bringing people together and of co-creation and collaboration. And she created a model a business model for this, this kind of side business in a way that is new and completely without even realizing it. And she kind of brought her to tears like, yeah, I’m truly creating a 360 win model here, and it’s bringing me joy, money, opportunities, and the win win win, you know, so it was it. That’s just one example of what’s possible, you know?

Heather Clark 

So she did this archetype thing. And then now she’s like, on the cusp of making seven figures. Yeah, it’s just a no big whoop, no, that’s really powerful. That’s really amazing. Do you find that people do we have within us all these different archetypes or maybe one or two archetypes that we really don’t resonate with at all? Does it change over time, like

Priscilla Stephan 

Yeah, you know, it’s a funny thing for me right? Because I tend I’m a mystic, right I am a transformational leader. And I tend to be surrounded by other mystics some visionaries and maybe some divine feminine but the strategist and explorer until maybe just a few months ago remained kind of like this. Oh God, I don’t want to touch them I don’t understand them kind of things, you know, but as I as I was deepening into their energies and also realizing My husband is a total strategist.

Heather Clark 

Total.

Priscilla Stephan 

And I mean, he’s also so got so many other talents, but it helped me to understand the beauty of these, and also know that it’s it’s okay you know, it’s so funny too, because in this roundtable there were the six ladies I think there actually which is so funny there were about three former mystic energies that were really being asked to step into divine feminine and the strategist and one of them said, I don’t I don’t get the strategist thing that’s just so not me. I don’t resonate with it. And that’s It’s okay. But the point is that it’s about going deeper archetypal work is so deeply layered. And it’s a percolating integration process of really understanding the nuances and how to apply it, and how to implement a business, a message, your marketing, how you show up through the lens and the energies and the attributes of that particular archetype.

Priscilla Stephan 

Which is a big thing to trust, you know, because it really means looking at things from a different lens. But the thing about the strategist in this woman’s case was, they’re so good at being both big picture visionary, as well as detail oriented. They’re amazing at condensing, refining and defining complicated concepts and data and creating them and boiling them down into simple digestible materials for the greater good. So you can find them in science and finance and academia and law. You know, any area where you think God that you know Lot of science, and they’re also fabulous teachers, they have this innate ability to explain something complicated in a way that you can understand like, Oh my god, that was so easy, I can totally get it right.

Priscilla Stephan 

And in her case, the thing about also the strategist is that they’re really great at developing processes and structures that make things more streamlined and more fluid off, they operate more easily. In her case, she was very much a teacher, and she’s very much about mastery, and it made sense, but I needed to explain to her more of the nuances and look, you’re not just an analyst crunching numbers, that’s not who you are. But there is there is all these energies and talents and nuances that you apply now into your business model in particular, and your marketing will actually make you a lot more efficient because a strategist is also about efficiency and maybe things work better. Does that make sense?

Heather Clark 

Yeah, it does. Absolutely. So what I’m hearing is probably she’s had access to that all along. But now is the time that that archetypes been called forth for her to explore and apply.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes, absolutely. Because that’s the beauty right is that we have all these archetypal, this library of archetypes within us already. It’s just that it’s not always conscious. And so part of this work is to make people aware of what’s possible, teach them how to access it, and then activate that energy by applying it in real life in real business in real time.

Heather Clark 

Beautiful so I want to hear your origin story. How did you come to be doing this work?

Priscilla Stephan 

Oh, boy, so many dark nights of the soul. This is my third slash, third and a half fourth career path. I wish had been I’ve been one of those times. people that knew that they wanted to be an astronaut or a singer since the beginning I didn’t. I thought at age nine, I would be an astronaut or a nun or a ballerina. Those were my choices. That wasn’t an option, but I do good or maybe astronauts. Well, you know, I still love looking at the stars, but I’m not I don’t think I’m going to go there or have the money to do a SpaceX anytime soon. And ballerina Well, I’m just not great at it, but I love the arts and beauty.

Priscilla Stephan 

So, um, I did 10 years of environmental policy management, I’ve worked for World Wildlife Fund and the inter American Development Bank in Washington DC. I have a graduate degree in International Environmental Affairs, but I completely burned out from it and I just didn’t feel like my contribution was really making a dent in the industry. It just seems like it just took so much effort to make some headway only to have a new president. Or a new set of politicians come and try to just dismantle all of it.

Priscilla Stephan 

Um, and then I had five years of just not knowing what to do with my life I did event planning, I tried to do executive admin work, which is totally strategist kind of work and for a mystic it’s not great. I got fired twice from two jobs in the same year, took a sabbatical, found health coaching as a way to kind of overcome my overeating and emotional eating, made it a business as well because I thought, Well, that sounds like fun and three years in and found out about the Akashic records. And I that was the missing piece that I had been waiting for that felt like that was really the thing for me. And after doing 100 free sessions in about two and a half months, I realized that I had a particular knack for helping people live their purpose through business and giving them a lot of specificity, practicality and guidance on how to build a soul led business that allows them to do their souls work with joy and money.

Priscilla Stephan 

And then three years into that, I was given this body of work completely melted down, had a meltdown was just a hot mess did not understand this did not want the work in three and a half years ago, this work already felt like it was just ahead of its time. But thankfully, I just kept with it and and now I feel like it’s time has come these conversations with everything breaking down, melting down being deconstructed. People reevaluating, reprioritizing and questioning so much, and feeling a deep call to do something to make the world a better place. If they don’t feel like they can be on the sidelines anymore, or they feel like their time has come that it just feels like it’s it’s timely. And I’m very grateful for that.

Priscilla Stephan 

You know, and certainly Now just develop the quiz so you can identify your Soulfluent Leadership archetype. And then if people want to go further into identifying the archetype, that’s right, that’s ready for them to move forward, then they can join the roundtable, which is a beautiful co creative mini experience, and then go on from there. But the roundtable is the initial introductory path, to really understand some of the core tenants of Soulfluent Leadership. And then to ask those poignant questions of Who am I as a leader do I want to lead and what is that going to look like? And then how to apply the archetype into their life and business and real time and to really begin to embody this new energy in this new way of being that will create deeper alignment and more of what they want.

Heather Clark 

I love that. I really love that. Yeah, I remember when this first came to you had some feelings about that.

Priscilla Stephan 

You ended up you had a huge role to help me. I mean, last year, I was Just I mean, you’ve seen the meltdowns and boy, they’re ugly people. They have been ugly. And you know what I’m grateful for it now to some degree is because I’ve noticed that there is an ascension and emergence and an ascension process for leaders that starts with kind of an awakening and initiation. And then as they ascend, you know, through different phases and levels of their leadership, inquiry, it can get pretty ugly, you know, like I had major tantrums, meltdowns, massive resistance. And I’ve noticed that that I’m not alone in that so I can have compassion and understanding for people. And we’re putting together a visual to help people understand the six layers of soulfluent leadership, ascension and emergence into a new level leader that you’re stepping into. So it gives context so you don’t like for me I had no context of what was happening to me. It just felt like my world was completely imploding. So It was definitely It was definitely a really rough ride.

Priscilla Stephan 

And I’m grateful to you because it was in one of my two hour meltdowns in our conversation that you helped me truly define leadership for myself, which is it’s the conscious choice to contribute. And that’s how I define leadership for myself like you’re willingly and able you enter contribution, willing and able to do it. And even though you’re scared, you’re also excited, you know, so that’s how I would describe it all.

Heather Clark 

And thank you for flattering me with a tiny bit of credit, but I do remember that conversation.

Heather Clark 

I remember–

Priscilla Stephan 

Hard to forget

Heather Clark 

what came out of your mouth, like it was so charged, but positively It was like that Thunderbolt, and we’re like, Alright, well, there it is. Yeah, and it was just gorgeous. And I really love this articulation of the ascension process for leaders because that’s one of the things that I have noticed when people have a lot of stress, a lot of burnout and they get that bigger Identity Gap, which then limits the amount of vitality in their life. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. But what’s really happened is their soul went and evolved. And I love that you’re discovering that that Ascension type process for leaders as well, because that can be super distressing. Like all the stuff that used to work fine. Now actually doesn’t work and or makes things worse. So it sounds like leaders have a similar and probably somewhat more specialized evolution. Is that what you’re finding?

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes, it’s definitely I mean, I think that once I found the word just to say, look, it’s an initiation people, you know, and it really can feel that way. There was nothing pretty or easy or fun about my process. And maybe not everyone’s is this this charged or resistance filled. But it triggered a lot of trauma, a lot of imposter syndrome, you know, triggers the visibility pieces, no joke of like, what are people going to think of me? You know, not from necessarily an ego place, but can I can I even transmit this? How do I convey this?

Priscilla Stephan 

I guess my big one of my biggest hindrances was I didn’t understand why this the bigger picture of the work and is only in the last four months that so much of this has become more clear to me you know, because like, this is the thing too is like maybe other people have had a body of work is like when you you have a body of work that’s channeled through you. Like I write it down and then I’m like, wait, what, what is what is this like, it’s not coming from me and just the the conduit and so it just takes time to understand the concepts and then to be able to formulate them in a way that people can understand and then market it, you know, and then sell it and then refine it.

Priscilla Stephan 

I mean, it’s, it’s a process, you know, and just to come back every day and say I’m recommitting to this, I’m committing to this. And I’m grateful that our mutual colleague and who’s also been my coach Angella said, you know, Priscilla, there was just a 5% chance that this work could work in the world. Like if there’s just a 5% chance of success. Is that enough? And I’m like, Oh, hell yes. Because the idea of the regret of not doing this would haunt me forever. I would just never be able to handle that. You know that the competitive part of me is like you watch me; but it’s been you know, before yours in September at this point that I started, you know, September of 2016 that I sat down on my laptop opened the records, okay. And I was given this long outline have a trilogy of books one was on soul leadership one was on soul entrepreneurship. One was about soul purpose. And believe me, I’m still trying to figure out like soul leadership, you know, there’s Can you imagine like getting to the other two books and what that’s going to mean? I don’t even want to think about it.

Priscilla Stephan 

For now there’s like a decade where it’s just in this one and like all the applications in terms of corporate and teams and, and I haven’t even touched that yet, you know, it’s really a slow and steady process. And but one that I feel like now that we have a name, it’s been spun, trademarked and and from that process, it feels like some core pieces that needed to be anchored in that hadn’t yet are now coming into fruition. And there’s a deeper sense of alignment and spaciousness, and I’ve had to do a lot of kind of trauma work and inner work, to work through some very paralyzing triggers.

Priscilla Stephan 

You know, I think that the beauty of doing our souls work and going through this ascension is that we we have to confront some truths that are ourselves, we have to be willing to look at things and programming and beliefs that no longer work and serve us. And then kind of let shed that part which is the identity crisis level. And then really step into Oh, I can see a light here. And there have been some very dark nights of the soul. And, but you know, my motto is you just keep going. At some point, if you keep going, if you keep doing the work and the inner work, something will change. And that’s just really honestly the grit of it that has been keeping me going.

Priscilla Stephan 

Because it’s, I couldn’t even touch the work for a year and a half. It was so debilitating. So nothing about this has been easy. And I’m beginning to finally see the reap some of the true rewards. And we’re just in the baby baby phases now. And believe me, I’m grateful for every bit of it.

Heather Clark 

I appreciate this so much. So, so much. Because, as you know, I’ve gone through a lot of very similar things. And I wonder if that’s the case. For most not all people who receive a divine download of a body of work that maybe they didn’t expect, maybe at first they didn’t really want. I know, when my first came in, I was like, what I what? What am I gonna do with that?

Heather Clark 

And I don’t know that there’s a lot of people at least in the coaching and transformational space, that are talking about what it really requires to bring it into the world. You know, working on those inner traumas and then the whole imposter complex and, and then when you look around at what appeared to be peers, these people act like oh, now this was just nothing like what really and maybe it was for them, just nothing but *sigh*. I so resonate with you had shared how, you know, I tried to just drop it. Because this is hard people don’t understand. It’s hard and you don’t understand the deep soul level satisfaction when you’re actually in the work. Because I know for myself I’ve been like alright this this kind of sucks

Priscilla Stephan 

No shit. The first thing I couldn’t help myself sorry.

Heather Clark 

And and it sucks so badly maybe this isn’t worth it maybe I should just do something else. And then at least for me it’s like a full body no like no, no, you’ve been selected for this.  Like really? And I don’t think we’re alone on the planet. But I don’t think people are talking about the trauma triggers. I don’t think they’re talking about the visibility issues at least Not from a place of Oh, do you have visibility issues? Let me sell you something. It’s more like no, no, this happens to a lot of us. And there’s some different paths through.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yeah, and I don’t say this in any way to say oh my god, this is to kind of activate the the drama trauma of it. But simply to say that as it’s been hard, you’re not alone. And that just sticking with the process can be worthwhile. And I think it’s important to come back and say, do I really want to do this? Do I really want to do this? I think everything about having a body of work or a download comes down to like that sense of contribution of asking yourself, Am I willing to do this? Do I am I willing to keep going and just to be brutally honest, because if you’re not, there’s nothing wrong with it.

Priscilla Stephan 

But I think that’s what this whole work is about is like, you can choose to contribute or not, you can choose the scope, the size or whether you’re in or out But just don’t stay unconscious about it, don’t go in denial or just go just stupid on us, you know, because that’s just, that just is so much energy that’s wasted, just say, you know, just be honest and start where you are, you know, and for some contribution means just taking care not and I say just I think that’s unjustly like, I want to take care of my family, that’s where I’m at. And that is perfectly okay if that is truly what contribution right now for your phase of life is like, you know, that is still massive contribution.

Priscilla Stephan 

But we’re so programmed to do you know, to go bigger, better, higher, whatever. And, but I think that’s where we have to use our own sense of discernment and honesty to say, Well, what is the truth here for me and for right now, and that takes some honest truth telling because you’ve got to look at yourself and the truth of where you are. Not from a place of limitation but what is the truth? And that is very freeing, ultimately, once you kind of looked at yourself and I have a colleague who’s in her mid to late 50s. And she said, Look, I’ve raised millions of dollars for charity through my nonprofit work I’ve done so much. Right now my contribution is keeping my business growing and simpler, and paying off my mortgage and taking care of the financial health of my husband and I, that is where my leadership is focused. And she said, it’s taken two damn years to get over the guilt. And the film, oh, I’m being selfish about it, you know, but no, it’s not. You know, she is really taking care of herself, and she’s just honest. And from that space, then you can create so much because you’re just you’re not, you know, sorry to say it dicking around, you know,

Heather Clark 

well, and it’s you’re accessing your actual power. What do you really want here? What’s important to you? To hell with everybody else. All you’re doing with your life. Yeah, it’s what I want. Yes.

Priscilla Stephan 

And excuse me, and because when we’re that congruent and we’re so clear for ourselves, sure, we might get a little, you know, funky when somebody says something stupid, but it’s not going to derail us, right? We’re going to live from that soul aligned place, not from what we think we should be doing or pleasing someone else. And that’s what surfaces when we start to do this honest work is realizing, where have I been following someone else’s agenda or a pathway of, you know, allowing an old pattern to run the show instead of my truth, my awareness and my ability to be sovereign and the authority of my own life, you know, so that’s the key and that’s a big part of what this work is. Is, is it is a demand of us really, like wake up, make a choice, a conscious choice and go live your life your way period end of story. We’re done.

Heather Clark 

Exactly. And that is the most freeing. Really, that’s, I think that’s a big component of sovereignty, like, this is what I want and done. Or even if you’re like, I don’t know what I want, okay, so I’m going to actively choose, I will revisit this decision in two months. I had a colleague who was like, should I keep going with my business? Should I close it should I do but but but but back and forth? Like why don’t you put it on your calendar? So three months from now, you will consider revisiting this decision. Because the idea back and forth for a couple of months, it’s stressing you out. There it’s It must not be time to make the decision. So put on Oh my God, and the peace and ease that that ushered into her life was magical. And, like because who says you need to decide in this moment Maybe this the decision in this moment is to revisit it later to put off the decision but consciously

Priscilla Stephan 

yeah

Heather Clark 

and actively. Yes. Like, well, I don’t know. I haven’t really decided but more. I’m like, that’s on my October calendar.

Priscilla Stephan 

I’m so sorry for any tapping a little pause, but my cat is kind of a little wild over here. Bohdi says hi, by the way, I’m really trying to keep him quiet, but he’s just flopping everywhere.

Heather Clark 

Cats are gonna cat What are you gonna do?

Priscilla Stephan 

Yeah, so I apologize. I’m not trying to be, you know, a bad guest here. But, you know, they had something come say hi. What can I say? The dog is out but the cats going crazy. Yeah.

Heather Clark 

So so to paraphrase what I believe about dogs, there are no bad cats. There’s just maybe bad cat behavior. I’m teasing.

Priscilla Stephan 

There you go. It is poor catty kitty behavior, but he So happy he’s being he’s purring. So that’s a good sign.

Heather Clark 

I love it. Well, we’ve explored a little bit of choices and decisions but but let’s back up and I want to hear you tell us a little bit about questions and the power of questions and how to apply that to become a more powerful leader.

Priscilla Stephan 

Thank you and I think you are masterful question asker. And, and the thing about questions is that it opens us up to new possibilities into consider imagine ponder, explore things that without the question we might not have been present or available to think about. So, there are four questions that I offer people to amplify your leadership, simple questions, like you know, for example, like whatever whatever situation might be present business or life or relationships you can

Priscilla Stephan 

The first question is: what kind of a leader do I want to be in the situation? I actually don’t remember all four questions but I’m but questions invite possibility and and that’s a big part of what the soulfluent leadership work is about is to live in joyful possibility, not from what we know has been created, which is an expression of past behaviors and patterns and beliefs, but of new opportunities, and ways of being and creating and, and having that and receiving that we haven’t been open to. So questions, create possibilities, and statements, and oh, it just is the way it is. Or I guess it’s never going to work. Those just shut down possibilities. Whereas questions invite things.

Priscilla Stephan 

It’s something as simple as: what else is possible here. What kind of a leader do I want to be? How do I want to show up in this situation? What can we create through our business now that we haven’t created before? Just notice it as I’m asking these questions, the mind will go into Oh, what is that and so it just kind of creates space and expansion.

Heather Clark 

I love it. And it sounds like it’s great when you get an answer. But it isn’t about the answer.

Priscilla Stephan 

No, and there are two things to that. And as you know, sometimes the answer comes right away. And sometimes it takes time. And so just having a sense of not feeling attached to a particular timeline, or and sometimes if you do need a question more quickly, it’s about, you know, what action can I take? Is there any action I can take or person I can talk to that can help me right. So that can be, you know, help us think of what’s that next step? And also, I think, a huge thing for me it was that this work? I think, leaders when I think of leaders they have experienced, they have the answers, right? They’re like consultants or strategists and people that you go to for the answer.

Priscilla Stephan 

And while there might be times when that’s the case, I have found that this body of work is about creating leaders that ask questions versus leaders that feel like they have to have the answers. And having that distinction just even a few months ago, created so much more space for me, because I felt like I had with this work to prove that I knew what I was doing that I had all the answers. And rather, I can present the work in it from a space of you explore this for yourself and see how this lands, because it puts the opportunity for for growth really on the other person. I present, I showcase the work and invite them into possibilities. But I’m not here to define for themselves, what leadership or any of that is because the whole point of the work is for them to access that soul guidance and that soul knowing for themselves and having the framework as the tool to help them explore that for themselves.

Heather Clark 

So it’s more of an invitation to growth, not a demand for growth. Well, if you want to grow, you got to do X, Y and Z. It feels like it’s more of Okay, you’d like to grow Beautiful.

Priscilla Stephan 

Like it is. Absolutely. And that’s, I think something that I wanted to say earlier that I forgot to say is that one of my key, this is my point of view. I think that so many times we feel like, you know, it’s our obligation to make a difference. We have to do all the things and, you know, be a part of a board and then, you know, make meals on Sundays and then go to church and then, you know, and then what if contribution is a choice, not an obligation?

Heather Clark 

Yes.

Priscilla Stephan 

Because then, hello, there’s space now you can actually be autonomous and sovereign in being the authority of your choosing of what that’s going to look like. And that’s where it gets the rubber hits the road because sometimes it can be easy or we’re just so kind of an automatic pilot to just do what we’ve been told to do. And this work really is a demand for you to think and believe in follow your own path. And oftentimes, it’s a path that you’re creating, you know, you’re creating it as you’re doing it. And it’s not going to look like everyone else’s. And that’s where the courage to follow your own soul’s path and your own knowing, especially when it goes against stuff you’ve done, believed, patterns you’ve operated from. That’s where the courage piece comes in. And it’s totally worthwhile. But, you know, there’s that too, to contend with.

Heather Clark 

Well, and that can be challenging if your path looks different than everybody else’s. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, am I truly making progress? And how do you help people stay out of the trap of comparisonitis?

Priscilla Stephan 

Well, I think everything about this work– awareness, access and activation so everything starts with an awareness. What are you aware of our I’m comparing myself Okay, so what’s triggering What’s that? really about? You know, and the comparison itis is often a belief about yourself that isn’t most likely. beneficial, oh, I’m not good enough. I don’t know enough. And so that’s where exploring Well, really what, you know, let’s, let’s dive deeper into that. And then ultimately by what I found for myself as an FM, if I’m comparing myself to others, there’s an opportunity to explore and transmute a belief that no longer serves me into something better. And also, sometimes it can be a trigger for me to so ya watch me if she’s doing it, I can do it too, you know.

Priscilla Stephan 

And so I have both, I navigate that on both spectrums. And now just with the current climate that we’re in, I have done something I’ve never done before I began to actually unfollow a few quite loud voices, maybe a half a dozen on my Facebook feed of other coaches and colleagues that will trigger me enough to you know, just in good ways, and honestly I don’t have the bandwidth for that. So I’ve just kind of muted them. And it’s just been nice to just be in my own energy more, and to. And just to trust myself even more in my own voice and in my own ability to create to be myself. And, and there you have it. And sometimes sometimes the best way is not to try to fight yourself through triggers, and it’s just like, Okay, I’m just shutting you down, and shutting you off.

Heather Clark 

Yeah, well, yeah, that’s self leadership, curate that feed, because I started curating that feed very aggressively a couple years ago. And now when people are like, Oh, I have so many terrible things in my feed. I’m like, what, why? You know, I, I feel like I’m in touch. But if I get triggered, then that’s my opportunity to really go inward and explore. That’s just what I do. I use triggers as a tool and I Shift and I clear and then I noticed that some people continue to trigger me. And it’s often because there’s some disingenuous something or it shame based selling and I’m just like, No, no, no, but that just allows me to bring more baby goats and puppies into my feed. So,

Heather Clark 

um, but but Yeah, why not? Like, it’s my, it’s my way of leading myself through it. Yes, it’s okay to run into situations that are triggering or upsetting or whatever, but then I can use it as a tool. But if it keeps going on that’s like, I don’t have to put up with it. There’s no obligation to keep things on my feed.

Priscilla Stephan 

Oh, no, absolutely. And that’s part of like, you know, what we have done does not have to be what we continue to do the you know, just, there’s, that’s part of it. Like what works? What doesn’t Clean it up, move on, you know realign.

Heather Clark 

Yeah. So I have a question.

Heather Clark 

Is everybody a leader or only some people leaders?

Priscilla Stephan 

Well, by the definition that leadership is contribution then by default, in my humble opinion, we are all leaders because we are all contributing to the janitor, the mother, the teacher, the CEO, the technician, the gardener, you know of the friend. We all contribute just by by breathing and living. And so the government worker at the DMV, even if you don’t like them, you know, the customer service agent, they’re all contributing the volunteer at the church, you know. And so by default, we’re all leaders and I think that’s, that was a big one for me, because when I got this work, I’m like, yeah, Hell no, I’m not a leader. No, thank you. Goodbye.

Priscilla Stephan 

That was just now because my perception of leadership, were very masculine, driven, you got to know things, you know, you’re up on a pedestal. And and then I also had to look at, I didn’t think that my contribution really was worth a lot. And so that was a whole that has been an ongoing exploration. And I’m very grateful to my mystic archetype because it really was a catalytic moment once I realized that bit one of the mystic superpowers is their ability, innate ability to hold sacred space that transforms people, because I always have this need to prove like I had to stick content and make things look a certain way and really robust in order for people to get you know, value and transformation for me.

Priscilla Stephan 

And once I realized that one of my superpowers is holding space for people and letting them ask them some questions or giving them some intuitive guidance in the records, you know, which is so easy and fluid and nourishing for me as like, Oh, I don’t have to do all the things. I already do this naturally. And so that gave me permission to Honor the value of my contribution. And I think for many who also think up but I, you know, had someone on the roundtable yesterday, I mean, I feel people so easily, it’s just feel so effortless and like, yeah, let’s make sure that you really get how that is not innate for a whole bunch of other people, and the value that it brings to other people’s lives so that you can get paid for it well, and to offer your contribution in a way that’s conscious, prosperous and nourishing.

Priscilla Stephan 

And so it’s definitely a conversation. I mean, I feel like I don’t do farming, but it feels like the image I’m getting now is like when someone’s like, tilling the soil, and, you know, they have to like turn the soil over, you know, like, it feels like that, like we’re bringing the stuff that’s underneath to the surface to be fertilized in a good way and then we get rid of the stuff that we don’t need anymore.

Heather Clark 

Love that.

Heather Clark 

I want to talk about holding space. What? Because you and I have talked about this before. And just here’s the setup, I’m going to want a little definition, I’m going to want a little description. And then some of the power of that, because one of the things we’ve talked about before is I think it’s one of the most powerful things that we do. But I don’t like I’m still trying to get my head around how to talk about it in a way people are like, really, because this is one of those things that I think for you and I both like I don’t know, we just, we just do it. So what is holding space to you?

Priscilla Stephan 

It’s literally creating a space of love and non judgement for someone to be fully seen, heard and witnessed.

Heather Clark 

Yeah, that love and non judgement. It’s so powerful. And that true listening not I’m waiting for my turn to talk. But the Yeah, sure.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yes, exactly.

Heather Clark 

I love it. And it just brings to mind I had a conversation with someone who was a helping professional and I had commented like, I just feel like you haven’t really worked at learning to hold space. And she was like, I What is that? What? What? Okay, let’s have that conversation because, you know, in the coaching world, we talk about it a lot. So it’s nice to put some definitions on it.

Priscilla Stephan 

Yeah. And I think that holding space means there also, I think an important distinction is that there is no agenda, right? You’re not here to talk to prove to, to share anything. You’re it’s all about that person that you’re holding space for. And in a world where everyone is talking at us, or having an agenda, or trying to get us to do say or be something holding space means it’s open free space for you to simply be and with whatever is present with no judgment and to be witnessed.

Priscilla Stephan 

And, and to receive yourself and it can be so incredibly healing that a short period of that time and we did this just before interview when you help me just get present to myself again, it just recalibrates us and bring gives us our power back, which I think is incredibly, incredibly potent. And it’s just not something that we get to have a lot of in this in this in this world, you know?

Heather Clark 

Well, unless you’re carefully curating your life as well as your feed. That’s true. It’s not as common as I wish it was. But I think it’s fun to just hold space like in line somewhere, just holding space for like at the grocery store. The cashier she’s doing the best she can. We all want her to go faster, but she can’t let’s just all hold space for her and it just really helps settle. It just helps bring peace to everybody, we’ve just like, you know what, whatever’s happening is fine.

Priscilla Stephan 

Exactly.

Heather Clark 

Beautiful. So I’d also like to know, what does being unshakable mean to you?

Priscilla Stephan 

To me, I equate it to the word resilient, and I don’t I realized that they might be different. But to me unshakable means that no matter what comes your way, you get back up, and it doesn’t define you, break you. Even if it does for a while that you get back to center, you get back to yourself.

Heather Clark 

And how could someone utilize the information they learned through your archetypes through the soulfluent archetypes? How could they use that to build their resilience and get back to themselves more quickly?

Priscilla Stephan 

I find that it’s in leaning in the strengths and the knowing of who you You are and the strengths and gifts and talents and the value that you bring that when you are clear on who you are to the best of your ability at this particular point in time that outside influences can rock you. But when you remember the truth for you, the truth is unshakable, the truth of you the truth of who you are. And what’s true for you, ultimately is what creates unshakability, and therefore resilience to keep going and to come back stronger.

Heather Clark 

Yeah, definitely. I love that. And for me, it’s almost and it’s just letting people feel about it however they want to. Which isn’t always easy, but yeah, that’s a great way to key into that like, nope, this is the truth. Okay, feel about it. How you want to that’s all right. Love that. So where can people find you?

Priscilla Stephan 

They can go to priscillastephen.com and I would love to invite any of you listening if you haven’t taken the Soulfluent Leadership archetype quiz takes about I don’t know maybe three minutes to identify the primary energy that you have been leading with and then you get a lovely you know archetype guide with lots of information and all for free and can go to priscillastephen.com or just priscillastephen.com/quiz.

Heather Clark 

Beautiful. Thank you so much for being here. You are such a joy.

Priscilla Stephan 

So are you! That’s why we’re friends. It works well.

Heather Clark 

Love it. Love it. And thanks again.

Priscilla Stephan 

Thank you.

Heather Clark 

Thank you so much for listening to Unshakable Being. You’ll find more information in the episode show notes at unshakablebeing.com. Subscribeto the podcast, and share with your friends. May you be unshakable, unstoppable and vibrant again. Until next time.