Remembering Your North Star
There’s a quiet truth I keep returning to, both in my personal life and in the lives of those I walk alongside:
We each carry a North Star within.
It’s not something we earn through experience or effort. It’s not given to us by others.
It is born with us. It is us.
Our inner compass. Our original knowing. Our true leadership.
Recently, I found myself in the middle of a personal crisis—a moment where the path ahead disappeared. A moment when all my usual ways of navigating felt inadequate. And what remained—what I returned to—was that quiet, unwavering light inside. It didn’t fix anything overnight. It didn’t promise certainty. But it was there. Steady. True.
This experience, though deeply personal, reminded me again of what I’ve known and taught for years: Our natural leadership lives in our ability to trust that inner light, especially when the world goes dark.
Indigenous Wisdom: Navigating in the Dark
In many Indigenous cultures, the North Star holds sacred meaning. For the Inuit, it was a navigational guide in the vast Arctic landscape, a point of orientation when everything around seemed to shift. For many Native American tribes, it represents constancy—symbolizing ancestors, guidance, and the still point in a turning world. Unlike the sun, which moves and changes with the seasons, the North Star stays fixed. It teaches us something profound about leadership:
True direction is not always loud or visible. Sometimes, it’s the still point inside that holds everything else in motion.
In times of transition, these ancient ways invite us to remember that stillness is not passivity. It is presence. It is connection. It is the space in which we hear the voice of the Earth, the ancestors, and our own soul.
Leadership from the Inside Out
In the Lead True Model, we speak of leadership not as a role or a title, but as an act of alignment.
Alignment with who you are (I), how you relate (We), and what you stand for in the world (It)—all within the context and timing of what life is calling for now.
Our North Star lives precisely at that intersection.
It isn’t just intuition. It’s a form of consciousness that helps us discern what truly matters and invites us to take responsibility for it. In moments of challenge, this model doesn’t ask us to push harder. It asks us to listen deeper.
Fear as a Portal to Guidance
Here’s the paradox I keep learning:
To surrender to our inner guidance, we must first become intimate with our fear. Not to conquer it. Not to silence it. But to sit with it and let it speak.
Fear often arises when we’re on the edge of growth. It signals the unknown.
But if we can stay with it long enough, fear eventually gives way to clarity. It shows us where our attachments lie. Where our false identities are crumbling. Where something old must be released so that something true can rise.
In that space of surrender, the North Star becomes visible again. Not because it wasn’t there before, but because we’ve finally cleared the sky enough to see it.
Becoming a Light for Others
One of the gifts of walking through darkness with our North Star intact is that we become a source of light for others—not through perfection, but through presence.
As the Wisdom of the Hidden Realms oracle says:
“Just as the North Star is a beacon for travelers in the dark of night, you are a beacon for others. It’s time to step into the light and take your leadership role.”
Leadership, in this sense, means becoming available. It means allowing your truth to be visible. Not as a strategy—but as an offering. A form of service.
When we live this way, our leadership is not something we do—it’s something we are.
A Practice of Re-Alignment
If you’ve felt far from your North Star lately, I invite you into a simple practice:
1. Pause.
Create even a few minutes of stillness. Breathe. Drop your attention from your mind into your body.
2. Acknowledge what’s here.
Especially the fear. Let it speak. Listen with love.
3. Ask: What is the deeper truth beneath this fear?
Not what do I think I should do, but what feels true in my bones?
4. Remember.
You are not lost. Your North Star has not moved.
You’ve just been weathering clouds.
You Still Know the Way
Our world is in a time of deep transition. The structures and stories we’ve relied on are shifting.
But this is not the end—it’s a return. A remembering.
The leaders we need now are not those with the loudest voices, but those who have made peace with silence. Who have met their fear and chosen love. Who trust the light within more than the noise around them.
If this resonates with you, you’re not alone.
You’re part of a growing constellation of true leaders—each one a quiet, steady light in the night sky. Keep turning toward your true light—it has never left you.
Reflection for You
When was the last time you paused to notice your North Star?
What fear might be asking for your gentle attention so that your inner light can shine clearer?
About the Author
Lead True Global Leader Andrea Henning’s vision is that when people discover their authenticity and dare to follow their bliss they are happier and more successful in their lives while serving as an inspiration to their communities.
Read more from Andrea Henning below.
