SAWUBONA

Do you feel seen? Do you not even see yourself? Who in your life can you commit to truly commit to seeing today?

I’ve only just discovered the word Sawubona through the work of Susan David

Sawubona is an African Zulu greeting which translates to:

“I see you, and by seeing you, I bring you into being.”

I know there were huge stretches of my life where I felt invisible. This was rooted in my struggles with self-esteem and a whole raft of beliefs about self-worth and not being enough.

I was voiceless, powerless, unable to be seen, such was my fragility. I felt like I did not exist. Think about that – if we feel this way, how alive are we?

Perhaps you have known this in your life.

Perhaps you know someone who at their core, behind their struggles, their unstable emotions, simply does not feel seen. They have no voice. They feel unheard.

We can learn a lot by sitting with the implications of bringing the spirit of Sawubona into our day to day living.

What is its opposite?

Denying, ignoring, NOT seeing.

Staying wrapped up in our own thoughts, automatically responding to any stimulus that our unconscious mind determines to be uncomfortable or ‘too much’.

This is linked to the #toxicpositivity that we can all default to, when in the presence of somebody who is really struggling, who does not want advice, a technique or a positive reframe. As Susan David says, in those moments…

Our comfort is more important than their reality (insert bomb emoji!)

This is not just a core coaching skill, but a hard (not soft) human skill.

Want to play?

Today I invite you to say Sawubona to three people. And mean it…