Square Squad

This reminds me of the exercise of the ‘Square Squad’ suggested by Brené Brown in her book Dare to Lead. When it comes to the people you go to for advice she suggests taking a one-inch square of paper and list the people whose opinions really matter to you. This list will purposefully be very small. You’re only looking for the people who love you for your strengths and struggles; those who will hold you to account and can be clear, because to borrow another Brené maxim, clear is kind.

These are people who will both pick you up and dust you off when you fall, and respect you enough to tell you when you are acting in a way that’s out of alignment with your values, and support you to put right your mistakes. This should be an exclusive list, no one gets onto this list easily, even family members have to earn their place.

My list is indeed very small and something I hold close to my heart, it is not for sharing here, but I definitely recommend trying this practice, it is a useful reflective practice.

This prompt also made me think of a song lyric by Don McLean, which I’ve slightly reworded below:

“The three people I admire most are the father, son and holy ghost.”

This is a line that I think about a lot, it is certainly helpful when it comes to my own reflective practices; it reminds me that faith is an active thing, which we must study and learn, it reminds me that we must continue to strive to learn more about ourselves, that  we must hold onto our values but also be prepared to be moved by the spirit. We must also always be flexible when it comes to hearing other people’s perspectives.

Thanks to Quiet Connections for the reminder of the definition of the Square Squad. And thanks to Brené Brown’s book Dare to Lead.