Outside the Victim, Villain, Hero Triad… the Leader Awakens
A vision for personal and political transformation.
Below is my journal entry the morning after attending a Full Moon Sound Bath this past spring (tweaked for context and clarity). I am sharing it as it was a major turning point in my life and an early motivating moment in my decision to enter politics.
After decades of unconsciously shifting between the roles of victim, villain and hero, this experience helped crystallize my vision of the kind of leadership I want to see in the world, the kind of Leader I aspire to be.
Thanks for reading!
Rachelle
(p.s. If you have never tried a Sound Bath, I highly recommend it! If you live in the Kelowna/Lake Country area of BC, Ashley Sprenger’s sessions at Invati Yoga are absolutely sublime.)
March 15th, 2025
Wow! The Full Moon Sound Bath last night was intense. Before starting the session, Ashley presented three questions for the participants to journal about and which would potentially act as seeds for revelations during the meditation portion.
Where have I shown up as a victim?
Where have I shown up as a hero?
Where have I shown up as a villain?
Some obvious places came to mind immediately as I had recently come to turns with the fact that a pesky eating disorder had reared its shadowy head after decades simmering below the surface of my awareness. Even though I am also over two years alcohol-free, the return of my eating disorder has made me feel anxious about maintaining my sobriety.
With the lights turned low, I quickly scribbled my answers in my special Sound Bath journal:
Victim: Blaming others for their role in our disintegrating relationship while avoiding mine, feeling powerless over my food cravings, fearing the slippery slope of addiction, clenching onto past traumas, seeking sympathy from others.
Hero: Thinking I need to save others (including all Canadians!), being overly protective of my younger students, seeking validation and appreciation from the outside (i.e. others), overcommitting, and suppressing my own wants, needs and desires,
Villain: self-sabotaging, burning myself out, self-doubt, being destructive vs. empowering to myself, procrastination, addiction, gossiping, watching the news.
After a few minutes of refection, Ashley invited us to lie on our backs as she started playing the crystal bowls.
As I fell into a deep meditation, I had a vision of these three roles, or more accurately characters, pulling and pushing each other in and out of my mind while shouting their accusations about each other at each other. It was a lot.
Then the big aha came: No wonder I have been so confused, unmotivated, exhausted lately - these three ‘characters’ have been fighting for centre stage in my consciousness, in my life!
I realized that what I have been consuming lately — not just unhealthy food but negative media, conversations, energy — has been feeding these characters’ insatiable hunger.
But then things opened up and illuminated my mind, an epiphany.
There is a whole realm outside of this disempowering triad, and this is the realm of LEADERS.
A Leader doesn’t impose limitations on themselves or others (like a villain does); or try to save others from theirs (the definition of a hero); or fight for their right to stay in their limitations (playing the victim).
A Leader lives their most thriving life, while inspiring and empowering others to live theirs. They create space for growth and opportunity but acknowledge that every human being has the right and responsibility to live their life as they wish.
They have the innate freedom to experience and self-express; to become the Leader they were born to be - not a victim, hero or villain - a leader.
A Leader knows they have 100% autonomy over their health – mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.
A Leader acknowledges they have the right and responsibility to learn how to have thriving health and chooses to make their health their number one priority. By making their health their number one priority, a Leader can transform their immediate surroundings, what they consume. (food, drink, ideas, media, etc.) and what they create.
They take 100% responsibility for their role in their relationships, their career/work, their finances and their schedule (time) and surrender any desire or expectation to control the outcome of their efforts or the behaviour of others.
Leaders hold in their mind the delicate balance of agency and humility.
Because of all of this, a Leader thinks, acts and speaks from a place of love, joy and confidence. They have inner peace and freedom, and teaches, inspires and empowers others to have inner peace and freedom as well.
Imagine this world; a world filled with Leaders.
Leaders in our families, friend groups, communities, companies and yes, governments, but most importantly, Leaders in our own experience of life.
Imagine if this type of leadership was what we taught in schools, encouraged in the workplace and shared in the media.
Obviously, if we did this there would be a social impact but an economic one as well. Not only on our individual finances as we become the Leader of our personal prosperity but at the political level as well.
As the dependence on Health Care and Social Services gradually diminishes the budgets of those ministries would massively decrease as well. The short and long-term ripple effects on Education, Child and Family Development, Justice and Public Safety would be immeasurable.
A large portion of government revenue would be freed up to invest in the policies and programs dedicated to economic prosperity for all, providing some predictability for families and hope for our younger generations. The government's role would be to create an arena for thriving, eventually lowering personal taxes, which would feed back to the individual’s prosperity and reinforce their role as Leader of their own life.
I’m not saying that some people wouldn’t still need support but policies and decisions would be made from a purpose of empowering everyone to become Leaders instead of staying Victims. The divisiveness of our political landscape would lessen as the parties wouldn’t portray each other as Villains, with each side claiming to be the Hero.
Instead of a platform for blaming, complaining, and the sharing of doom and gloom, social media could become a point of connection and community with in-person gatherings re-emerging as the norm.
There would be a shift in spending — from overconsumption of wasteful products to investing in meaningful services that support our health, wellness and community. (This could reduce our dependency on foreign goods while stimulating local entrepreneurship - more on this theory another time.)
Right now, the world is a prison for Victims, Villains and Heroes. What would it look like with 8.2 billion free Leaders?
Hmmmm… I think I would like this world.
Wow, thanks Ashley… you beautiful little divine messenger, you.
It’s time for me to take 100% responsibility for my choices, my health, my relationships, my career, my finances, my life.
It’s time to become the Leader I wish to see in the world; the one I was born to be.