inner compass – Ruthann M. Wilson

Harvesting Inner Wisdom: A Year-End Practice for Clarity, Resilience, and Inner Alignment

You have grown more than you realize. Not through milestones or metrics, but through the wisdom within. This month’s reflection invites you to gather and honor what has shaped you this year.

As the year begins to wind down, we are invited to pause and reflect, not on what we have done, but on what has deepened within us. Perhaps it’s gentle truths, clarity, vision, purpose, the ability to name what truly matters, or practices that offered steadiness when the path felt uncertain. This is the harvest within.

We often overlook the quiet growth: the subtle shifts in how we speak to ourselves, the times when we paused, listened, and discerned what was true, the moments we honored what felt true, even if it wasn’t popular, and the ways we affirmed our sense of worth in a world that often moves too fast to honor it. These are the harvests that often go unnoticed, yet they shape how we lead, how we live, and how we show up for others.

There is wisdom in our everyday experiences. It’s quiet but steady, the kind that reminds us of who we are when things feel uncertain and helps us return to what is true. And we are living through uncertain times, personally and collectively. These inner truths, quiet and easily overlooked, are the ones that shape how we live, how we lead, how we listen, and how we return to what matters and stand rooted in it.

The wisdom you have gathered through experiences is worth honoring as you reflect on the year. It lives in quiet choices and the grace you have extended to yourself: the moments you realigned, the truths you returned to when things felt off, the times you allowed yourself to grieve a loss while remaining hopeful about what’s ahead. You have grown more than you know. This is the harvest: not what you have achieved, but what has taken root within you and now shapes how you live.

May you honor what has quietly grown within you this year. Perhaps it’s your ability to name what truly matters, the practices that steadied you, the clarity and discernment that have taken root. You have gathered more than you realize. And it’s enough to carry you forward.

Why Pausing to Harvest Inner Wisdom Matters

Pausing creates space for clarity, integration, and emotional resilience. It honors growth through gratitude and invites quiet wisdom to surface. This rhythm of reflection helps us move from rushing to discerning, from reacting to responding, and from effort to embodiment.

Inner wisdom is nurtured through personal practices like journaling that helps you notice what’s unfolding within you, meditation that steadies your breath and invites calm, listening to your body’s quiet signals, and rituals that help you return to what is true for you.

These practices are not just pauses; they are invitations. Invitations to notice what has taken root, to listen for the quiet truths beneath the noise, and to honor the wisdom gathered through experience. As you move into this space of reflection, let these journal prompts support your inner harvest.

Journal Prompts for Inner Harvest

From disempowerment to insight
What feels out of my hands? What shifts when I ask, “What is this here to teach me?”
Integration
What experiences from this year feel unfinished or unprocessed? What might they be asking me to notice?
Clarity and discernment
What truths have emerged within me? What decisions felt rooted in what truly matters to me?
Emotional resilience
When did I choose to be responsive rather than reactive? What helped me stay grounded in what felt true?
Gratitude and growth
What has quietly grown within me? How might I honor it as the year winds down?

I hope what you have gathered continues to steady you, guide you, and enrich your days.

Thank you for pausing here. If something in these words offered insight or stirred a shift, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

You are welcome to follow the blog to receive notifications of new reflections, subscribe to the newsletter, or connect with me on social media, whatever feels most supportive.

May what is true carry you,
Ruthann

I am holding space for your highest good, and for the highest good of all.

Leading from Within: Why Personal Leadership Comes First

Inner clarity ripples outward.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase leading from within? I invite you to pause, take a deep breath, and reflect on what that phrase stirs in you. Whether you’re guiding a family, a team, a community, or a congregation, authentic leadership begins within. It is shaped by inner clarity, rooted in vision, and attuned to what feels most true for you.

Guiding ourselves is a lifelong practice, shaped by reflection, realignment, and the courage to return to what feels true. This inner work is what shapes and builds integrity. Integrity is not a fixed state. It is a return to wholeness, a noticing of misalignment, and a gentle guiding back to congruence.

Personal leadership is the practice of living in alignment with your values, your rhythm, and your truth. Your values act as an inner compass, guiding what you embrace, what you release, and how you show up each day. Your rhythm is the pace and pattern that honors your energy, your seasons, and the flow of feeling. And your truth is what feels real and congruent. It is inner knowing that lives beyond performance and outside of the need for approval.

This kind of knowing becomes the foundation for making decisions that align with your values and support your growth. It nurtures relationships that feel safe and rhythms that sustain rather than drain your energy. When we lead ourselves with clarity, its impact begins to ripple outward. Outward leadership becomes more trustworthy, attuned, and sustainable so others may lead with clarity too.

This kind of leadership feels especially important right now. Many of us are rethinking how we live, work, and lead. Many of us are also feeling the pace and the pressure to perform, and finding reason to pause and reassess.

In a time when everything seems to be moving faster and trust feels fragile, inner clarity becomes a source of steadiness. It helps us shape lives that feel true and relationships that feel safe. It allows us to lead in ways that energize and inspire others.

Inner clarity shapes how we show up, how we speak, move, and reset. When we honor our personal rhythm, we show up with more presence and ease. When we speak from a place of alignment, our words carry weight and the potential to shape trust and what comes next. When we pause, reflect, and reset, we return to ourselves, able to lead from a place that feels steady, true, and sustaining. How we live becomes how we lead. And how we lead authentically begins with clarity within.

Reflections on Personal Leadership, shared in support of your leadership journey.

Personal vision begins within
Personal vision is inner clarity about what matters and what is yours to bring to life. Leadership guided by inner clarity offers steadiness, not because every step is mapped, but because the direction is true.

Values are your compass
Values are the principles and priorities that shape how you live, work, and lead. Values guide not only what you say yes to, but also what you release. When your values are clear, decisions become less about seeking approval and more about honoring what is true. Leadership begins when you choose alignment instead of approval.

Emotional clarity is foundational
Emotional clarity begins with noticing what feels true, what feels stirred, what feels off. This kind of clarity allows you to respond rather than react. It helps you lead with steadiness and create space for others to show up fully, because you have made space for yourself first.

Boundaries protect your energy and enable integrity
Boundaries clarify your role and create the conditions for sustainable leadership. Clear boundaries allow you to lead from a place of wholeness. When you honor your own rhythm, you lead in a way that feels true and steady.

Presence is powerful
People feel when you’re fully engaged: not distracted, not performing, simply present. Whether it’s in a meeting or a conversation, your attention communicates more than words. It shows that you’re listening. It shows that you care. Build trust by consistently offering others the gift of your full attention.

Leadership inventory offered as a way to reflect, realign, and return to what feels true.

What values are guiding me right now?
Are they clear, or do they need revisiting?
Where am I honoring my rhythm, and where am I overriding it?
What shifts might support more ease?
What feels congruent in how I’m showing up?
What feels off or performative?
Where might a boundary support my energy or integrity?
What would it look like to honor that boundary?
How does my presence feel to others?
Am I leading with attention, or distraction?

Move through the questions at your own pace. Let them deepen your inner clarity, and help guide how you lead from within.

Lead with clarity. Make space for others to do the same.

Thank you for pausing here. If my writing has offered meaningful insight or sparked a shift in you, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

You are welcome to follow the blog to receive new reflections, subscribe to the mailing list for updates in your inbox, or connect with me on social media, whatever feels most supportive.

All the best,
Ruthann

Fall Reset: What to Release and Welcome This September

Do you love September as much as I do?

September invites an intentional return: to steadiness, to routine, to a rhythm that restores balance. As nature begins its quiet transition, we’re invited to notice the shift. Mornings grow cooler. Sunrise arrives later. Sunset arrives earlier. The landscape shifts, slowly but surely. What is ready to be released begins to fall, making space for what is ready to return.

Seasonal thresholds mark natural transitions in the year. Each one carries its own rhythm and invitation: to reflect, to release, to begin again, or to expand into full expression. September offers a moment to pause, reset, and align with what feels true in the new season, not through urgency, but through an intentional pause, awareness, and inquiry.

The Fall Equinox arrives Monday, September 22, 2025: a moment of balance between light and dark. It is a natural invitation to pause, reset, and align.

Each season brings gifts and opportunities for growth as we journey through the year. Let’s explore these gifts through an intentional framework, one that invites pause, awareness, inquiry, and alignment with what feels true in the new season. This framework includes:

Wisdom Seed – a grounding insight to center your attention
Seed Question – an inviting inquiry to stir awareness
Simple Practice – a simple way to engage the senses
Journal Prompt – space to name what is ready to be released and what is ready to emerge

Wisdom Seed

September is a month of return: to rhythm, to routine, to practices that restore balance. The air cools. The light shifts. Nature shifts. This threshold invites us to notice what is changing and respond with intention.

Seed Question

What subtle shift in rhythm or routine is calling your attention this season?

Simple Practice

Take a walk: no destination, no agenda. Notice the subtle changes of the season: the light, the temperature, the landscape. It speaks in subtle ways. Open and receive the wisdom of the season.

Journal Invitation

Whether you pause now or return later, let this prompt meet you where you are:
- What are you ready to welcome?
- What are you ready to release?

Thank you for pausing here. September, too, is a pause, a subtle, transitional threshold for resetting and aligning with what feels true in the new season. If this reflection feels meaningful, please share it with others.

Ways to engage: follow the blog for new posts, subscribe to my mailing list to have posts/updates delivered directly to your inbox, or connect on social media.

If my work has offered meaningful insight or sparked a shift in how you see, feel, or move through the world, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

All the best,
Ruthann

Envision the Month Ahead: Four Questions to Ask Yourself

As we begin a new month, I invite you to set aside a few minutes to start the month with the end in mind. Ask yourself the following questions with the end of the month in mind.

What meaningful accomplishments will I have achieved by the end of the month?
With whom will I have intentionally spent time, and how did those connections enrich me?
What will I have released because it is complete, no longer brings me joy, or serves my highest good?
What daily practices will have kept me grounded and present throughout the month?

Consider making a vision board that includes words, images, and symbols representing your desired outcome (click here to see my post on vision boards).

If you need help setting goals, check out my post SMART Goals: Bring Your Desires to Life, where I share the SMART approach to creating written goals and structuring your time. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Evaluate your progress on a weekly basis. In evaluating progress, think not only about what you have accomplished, but who you have become as a part of the process. Reflect on the changes in your mindset, your habits, as well as your overall outlook on life, as these are just as important as tangible accomplishments.

Acknowledge the challenges you’ve faced and the strength you’ve gained from working through them. Be patient with yourself and trust the process. Recognize that growth can sometimes be slow and nonlinear. Allow yourself the grace to evolve at your own pace. Take the first step, write down one thing you intend to accomplish.

Thank you for pausing here. If my writing has offered meaningful insight or stirred a shift in how you see, feel, or move through the world, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

You’re welcome to follow the blog to receive notifications of new posts, subscribe to the mailing list to receive new posts and updates directly to your inbox, or connect with me on social media, whatever feels most supportive.

All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace

Winter Reflections: Rest, Renewal, and the Inner Journey

Each season brings gifts and opportunities for growth as we journey through the year. December 21 marked the beginning of the winter season in the northern hemisphere.

Winter is a season of rest, renewal, and going within. Give yourself the gift of silence on a daily basis to cultivate patience, peace of mind, and trust in inner guidance. I invite you to read my post Give Yourself the Gift of Silence for inspiration for creating and maintaining a daily practice of silence. You may want to consider practicing silence in the evening as a bridge to nighttime, a natural time of deep renewal that enables you to begin anew in the morning.

If you are located in the southern hemisphere, I invite you to embrace the essence of the message. Winter is a great metaphor for being still and silent; however, the practice is relevant throughout the year.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you know someone who might benefit from reading it, please share this post by clicking on a share button below.

All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace

Career Journey: Things I’ve learned along the way

I’m grateful for a fulfilling career across multiple industries. In this post, I’ve shared a few practical lessons that helped me grow, adapt, and lead with purpose.

Be where you are

Know what’s expected of you and do it well. Being present means making the most of your current role: learn, grow, excel, and enjoy the work in front of you. It has a way of opening doors and drawing people and opportunities to you that will enable you to grow into your next role.
Learn from the past. Plan for the future. Live in the present by making the most of where you are right now.

Develop transferable skills

Develop skills that are relevant across roles and industries (e.g., communication, collaboration, problem-solving, adaptability, etc.). My career has spanned several industries including pharmaceuticals, telecom, consumer goods, and hospitality, made possible by developing and applying transferable skills.

Stretch Through Projects and Roles

Welcome assignments that help you stretch and grow. Growth doesn’t always come through promotion. Sometimes it’s a lateral move or a stretch assignment that helps you build new capabilities and prepare for what’s next. Embrace the journey of growing into your next role. Be as open to a lateral move or stretch assignment in your current role as you are a promotion if it will help you grow and ultimately achieve your career goals.

Listen & Learn

Feedback is a gift. Be open to constructive feedback from peers, managers, leaders, etc. Solicit feedback in a way that it is constructive and enables you to grow (e.g., behavior-based, example-based, suggestions for improvement, etc.). Ideally, leaders should include feedback gathered from business partners, peers, etc. as a part of mid-year and/or year-end conversations. If you’re not receiving regular feedback, ask for it, and be open to what you hear.

Surround yourself with people who want to see you grow

Spend time with people who genuinely want to see you grow. We all need inspiration, encouragement, reality checks, and people with whom we can be vulnerable in our personal and professional lives. Spend time with people who genuinely want to see you grow and be that person for others too.

Own Your Career by Knowing Yourself

Know your values, gifts, talents, passions, abilities, and areas of opportunity. Define what success means to you and revisit that definition as you grow. Your vision may evolve, and that’s part of the journey. Create a plan of action to bring your vision to life. Consider working with a mentor and/or coach. Know the difference between the two and work with them accordingly.

Thank you for pausing here. If my writing has offered meaningful insight or sparked a shift in you, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

You are welcome to follow the blog to receive new reflections, subscribe to the mailing list for updates in your inbox, or connect with me on social media, whatever feels most supportive.

All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace

Career Clarity through Values: Charting Your Path Forward

Clarity is powerful, and it begins within. This post was inspired by a question: can my book, Be True to You: A Practical Guide to Pursuing an Authentic Path, support career development? The answer points us back to values, the foundation of both life and career clarity.

Thank you for taking the time to watch this video. If you know someone who might gain from the message, please share by clicking on a share button below.

Learn more and purchase a copy of Be True to You: A Practical Guide to Pursuing an Authentic Path through Amazon.com.

All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace

Winter Reflections: How to Go Within for Inner Growth

I received the Chrysanthemum plant in the picture as a birthday gift three months ago. It was filled with beautiful white Chrysanthemum flowers in full bloom. It was given to me by someone special who knows how much I love flowers. It brightened the room for weeks. I was sad when the flowers began to wither and die. I know it’s a part of the cycle of life; however, it still made me a bit sad to watch the plant transition to its current state. My sadness has shifted to acceptance and I am now sitting with this beauty each day during meditation as a reminder that winter is a time of rest, renewal, and going within. It is a necessary phase of the cycle of life that requires strength, patience, and trust in the process to begin again.

Each season brings gifts and opportunities for growth as we journey through the year. Winter is a wonderful time of year to commit or re-commit to a daily practice of being still and silent. I invite you to read my post “Give Yourself the Gift of Silence” for inspiration in creating a daily practice. You might want to consider practicing silence in the evening as a bridge to nighttime – a natural time of deep renewal that enables you to begin anew in the morning.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you found it helpful. You can receive notifications of new posts by clicking on the follow button or click here to join my mailing list to receive email updates. If you know someone who might benefit from reading this post, please share it by clicking on a share button below.

All the best,
Ruthann

Winter Reflections: Rest, Renewal, and the Inner Journey

Each season brings gifts and opportunities for growth as we journey through the year.

Winter is a season of rest, renewal, and going within. This is wonderful time of year to give yourself the gift of silence by creating time in your day to be still and silent.

I invite you to read my post “Give Yourself the Gift of Silence” for inspiration in creating a daily practice.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you found it helpful. If you know someone who might benefit, please share this post by clicking on a share button below.

All the best,

Ruthann

Tapping into Your Heart’s Wisdom: Your Inner Compass to Truth, Values, and Guidance

Are you aware that you have a built-in guidance system? Your heart is your spiritual core, center of truth, inner compass, and guide to living your highest potential. You invoke the wisdom of your heart when you ask yourself questions like “What is true for me?”, “What do I value most in life?”, “What is best for my life?”. Your heart intuitively knows the answer.

We are all gifted with intuition; however, we are not always tuned into it or open to receive it. Your intuition is a rich source of information that is always available to you. There are many ways to tap into your intuition. Here are a few:

Questions: Ask your wise self a question and listen for an answer. You may receive an answer immediately or it may take a few days or even weeks. Be patient and trust the process.
Silence: Give yourself the gift of silence on a daily basis so that you can hear your inner guidance.
Keep a journal: Put your thoughts on paper without filtering what you are writing. Review and reflect on what you have captured in your journal on a regular basis.
Take action: Taking action on guidance opens the door for you to receive more.

A new way of living begins when you choose to live from the heart and guidance within. I’ve included a link to my Living from the Inside Out video for your reference.

Thank you for pausing here. If my writing has offered meaningful insight or sparked a shift in you, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

All the best,
Ruthann