We evolve one catharsis at a time. Catharsis triggers an internal 
release, an aha moment that can as subtle as a whisper or more like fireworks disrupting your whole life. Catharsis usually involves an epiphany, a transformative insight that breaks through your status quo consciousness.
Catharsis happens by staying with an emotion, a strong feeling about a person, idea or situation. It requires following that emotional trigger down the proverbial rabbit hole, until the emotion or thought pattern releases its hold and you have an epiphany that takes you to a new place of understanding.
It happens most often in dialog and less often alone. A cathartic moment usually involves a profound shift in beliefs and/or feelings, a shift that involves letting go of ideological and/or emotional baggage. In the void of the released energy, new possibilities and new truths show up.
The cathartic experience is visceral — you may feel a heightened sense of relief, clarity, or physical relaxation. It might tingle, or make you smile or take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. Or it could be just a sense of your gut and your heart expanding as you relieve the burden of ideas and emotions that no longer serve.
Catharsis exposes a new level of consciousness that transcends your current understanding. We evolve by catharsis because it’s how we release ideological and emotional in-completions that block our ability to function at our highest capacity.
Good leaders evolve. Great leaders consciously evolve. Catharses are powerful mechanisms for evolving leadership — great leaders seek them early and often. Great coaches and consultants guarantee them.
By Dr. Joni Carley, Consultant
Author: “The Alchemy of Power: Mastering the invisible factors of leadership