What We All Long For
My Longing
I was having coffee with a friend the other day, chatting about the season of transition that my business and personal life are both in, when he made an encouraging comment about his confidence that I will accomplish my goals no matter what.
Oddly, as he spoke those words a deep, visceral wave of emotion washed over me. Tears came to my eyes and my throat tightened as I could literally “feel” my longing for a very specific goal. And it wasn’t a job or a client or anything external. It was a craving for peace.
Every cell in my body has been yearning for peace lately. I’m weary… exhausted… I feel fractured and distracted and disoriented. I have occasional glimmers of hope and passion and energy followed by days of discouragement and confusion and frustration. Do you ever feel the same?
My goal isn’t more followers or more revenue or more visibility or more of anything, really… except peace! Clarity! Calm! Centeredness! Less striving and more living….
I think this is what we are all longing for… One might even say it’s what we were created for.
The Universal Longing
Across centuries and around the world, it’s called shalom, shanti, ubuntu, aloha, hozho, wolakota, harmony or simply nervous system regulation. But wherever you call it, peace in some form is in every ancient and modern wisdom tradition. And it’s not just spiritual.
Peace is a Biological State – A regulated nervous system fosters connection and social harmony.
Peace is Social – Trust, cooperation, and reciprocity are essential in communities.
Peace is Systemic – It emerges from complex, adaptive interactions between individuals, societies, and nature.
Peace is Restorative – Healing and reconciliation create sustainable harmony.
Peace is Embodied – Practices like mindfulness, movement, and nature immersion cultivate inner and outer peace.
It’s clear that we are spiritually, socially, biologically WIRED for homeostasis - for balance - for calm. In fact some days I feel like I would do literally anything to have it. Can you relate?
So why is it so fleeting?
And why would I talk about this on LinkedIn?
What Should Be
Over a decade ago, in my early days as a people leader in a contact center, I heard this quote from pastor Andy Stanely at a leadership conference: “Bold leadership is clarity around an unreasonable commitment to what should be.”
At the time, I witnessed daily the awful treatment most contact center employees endured—constant micromanagement, criticism, and sales pressure masked as “coaching.” They were measured against shifting metrics that didn’t reflect their behaviors and were often beyond their control—like after-call surveys, arbitrary handle times, or schedule adherence. They were blamed for inefficient systems they had no power to fix—because no one was listening.
I knew in my gut it shouldn’t be that way. Those employees were the heart of the organization—the face and voice of the CEO to the customer —yet they were underpaid, undervalued, and practically expected to burn out. I believed not only that we should do better, I believed that we could.
So I did—first with my own team, then through peer coaching and internal workshops across the company. I committed to a strengths-based approach that helped people feel seen, heard, and empowered. I lifted up our mission and the value of relationships over the pressure of numbers. I researched and taught on resilience and psychological safety and trust. The result? A high-performing, engaged team in the contact center, and a career path that led me into an Organizational Culture role in that company and ultimately to launch Regenerative Workplaces… and to writing this post.
Systemic Peace
I’m writing about peace on LinkedIn not only because I personally crave more of it in my life, but because I have clarity around my own unreasonable commitment to creating systemic peace in the workplace. I believe that ALL employees everywhere should feel safe, seen, heard, empowered, energized at work.
According to Gallup’s most recent workplace needs study, employees are longing for this too - only they call it hope, love, compassion and trust. Are you surprised? I’m not.
So when I get discouraged and feel weary and I think about my goals, I reach inward to what truly matters. I get grounded in my purpose. And I get to work helping others get grounded in theirs.
If you’re longing for more inner peace…. If you’re committed to building more balance, equity, and harmony and humanity in the workplace… please reach out for a conversation. I’m on a mission to fuel Trickle Down Humanity. How?
Anchoring to peace within myself
Offering sacred space leaders to find calm and clarity within themselves
Operationalizing the things that every human heart is crying out for
Measuring and celebrating progress.
Tickle Down Humanity not only CAN be done. It SHOULD be. I’d love for you to join me.
