'Mothers see the reality of their children, fathers see their potential.'

This line stopped me dead in my tracks when I first read it (I can't remember where, if you know, please tell me and I'll credit it). We were having some worries about one of our kids and it became plain as day to me – I was trying to guide our child through the reality that I perceived they were in, cautious about planning ahead too far, and my husband was guiding based on the potential he could see in them.

I don’t take the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ too literally in this context – even in children’s lives where both parents are not around all the time, there are those people present that embody masculine energy a lot of the time and those that embody feminine. And there are those magic humans that exude both and flex between the two. In case we all forgot (I suspect most of the modern world has), every human, regardless of their physical sex, has both masculine and feminine energy within them. An ancient risk management system buried generations and layers deep that guides us about when to push and when to pause in any given circumstance, in moments of risk and uncertainty.

This balance shows up everywhere — including at work.

In male-energy-dominated environments, my experience has been that talking about 'risk' was often perceived as negative, as stopping growth, cutting off potential. Talking about the reality of the costs of pursuing a growth opportunity, which were there whether we wanted to acknowledge them or not, was not regarded well. In the female-energy-dominated space, I found there was often so much focus on the reality in the present moment that we became paralysed and just couldn't visualise a future nor make a decision or take any movement toward that future. Generalisations, yes, but these trends are my lived experience.

There is a time and moment for both approaches, for masculine and feminine energies. Balanced teams, organisations and communities respect and make room for perspectives that honour the current moment and its reality as well as perspectives that promote growth. It's a balance that ebbs and flows, not one or the other. What's needed, changes, moment to moment.

When it comes to living with risk and uncertainty, there are times for analysis, frameworks and risk registers. There are also times when connecting with and following our intuition, our ancient risk management system that emerges when our nervous system is regulated, is the only way to decide the next step.

Let me leave you with one thought for this week — is your perception of our current 'uncertain' times real, or is your brain and body just responding to reading and listening about the pendulum swinging too far towards the potential of everything that could go wrong? Close your eyes, still your mind, focus only on this present moment.

Do you feel uncertain now?