Show Up

This four quadrant map helps us to recognize each dimension as part of a vital whole. By investing in all four, you create resilience that no single success could ever deliver.

• Mind–Body Awareness — Tend to your inner world of emotions, spirituality, mindful awareness, and mind-body connection.
• Work & Wealth Abundance — Create work that inspires you and learn the fundamentals of financial security
• Heartfelt Community Connection — Build authentic relationships and belonging.
• Whole Systems Learning — Grow your capacity to see the bigger picture and your place within it.

When you practice Show Up, you discover not just balance, but a deeper unshakable contentment and a happiness that comes from taking care of your whole life.

The Four Quadrants framework is so illuminating. It allows us to “see” parts of our lives that may previously have gone unnoticed. We can actually discover the answer to the existential question, “What’s missing?” And, like the shape in a Rorschach test that someone points out to you, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

We all know how it can be incredibly challenging to juggle all of our professional responsibilities while also trying to take care of ourselves and our loved ones and to construct some semblance of a balanced life. 

The goal here isn’t to make you feel bad or to insist that you should somehow juggle even more. No. What we’re talking about is broadening our perspective, so we can make more conscious choices—more skillful choices—with our eyes wide open.

Here’s How It Works: This practice is a great place to begin is to orient yourself to the Four Quadrants. Identify which quadrant you’re most at home in, which might need some extra care, and which quadrant is more like a distant land that you barely knew existed.

Ask yourself the following questions to understand not only where you’re out of balance but why. You can simply reflect on them, or take time to write your responses:

• Of the Four Quadrants, where do I spend most of my time? This is your dominant quadrant. Has it always been that way? Is there a compelling reason for this? Or is it just a habit?
• If  money or resources weren’t an issue, where would I like to spend your time? What would I like to do, explore, or experience in that quadrant? Why?
• Is there a quadrant that I resist? Has it always been that way? Why?
• Is there a quadrant that could significantly enhance the quality of my life if I grew stronger or more present in that one area?
• What single action can I take to Show Up in a new or neglected quadrant?

These questions are deceptively simple and unexpectedly profound.

• Ken Wilber: Integral Meditation: Mindfulness as a Way to Grow Up, Wake Up, and Show Up in Your Life
• Ken Wilber: Showing Up for Life - Future Thinkers Podcast