Leading with Vitality
Why Feeling Better May Have Little To Do With Your Emotions
What is vitality? Daniel Stern defined vitality as “a whole. … It is a Gestalt that emerges from the theoretically separate experiences of movement (In life, I move), force (I am powerful and act powerfully), time (I am my past, present, and future and own all of it), space (I connect to and belong to the earth and this universe) and intention (I proceed with a knowledge of what I want)”. When these facets join within you, vitality abounds.
A great metaphor for vitality is “racing to the finish line”, which describes the energetic outburst that is distinctly different from ‘checklisting’ your way through life.
Psychoanalytically, George Klein explained that when you experience vitality, a sensual pleasure from body sensations affirms your sense of physical and psychological identity. This sense has much to do with the pleasure of experiencing yourself as an effective agent of change. A child’s first grasp or walk creates a sense of delight that is wholly representative of the vitality to which I refer. Screamingly exciting, vitality is the connection to “source” that moves you. As wonderful as this sounds, it’s a very rare commodity these days.
Vitality is distinctly different from emotions: While delight and joy may frequently be seen as correlates of vitality, feeling…
