Broken Signals
How the Body Recognizes Bad Leadership
The hands get clammy. The shoulders tense. In the stomach, a gigantic, potent stirring— and yet my body does not move. It’s a lockdown. I notice the jaw tightening, the belly suctioning inward, as if the body is bracing before the mind catches up. I hear a noise— like a magnetic field of cicadas, but not rhythmic. Not song. More like the feeling that you are being attacked without knowing from where. There is bigness here. Not presence— weight. A force that wants to dominate the room, to press, to overtake, to make itself the center of all attention and movement. The air thickens. I can smell BS—Broken Signals. The smell is soggy, like a bus ride in the hot summer in Tirana— nowhere to land, no clean exit. I can taste it too: the tartness of yogurt gone bad, interfering with desire itself. It tries to pass as cherry— real cherry flavor, like the ones from Northern Michigan— but the body knows this sweetness has turned. The corner of the eye is always looking to the side. No full-on handshake. No meeting of palms. A story justified in many ways. Questions not answered— only avoided. Gossip circulates. The self works hard to appear great. Decisions never quite arrive. These are Broken Signals. Words and gestures misaligned. Tone overriding meaning. Power expanding without coherence. I have learned to observe. Not to merge. Not to resist. To remain neutral so judgment stays clear. The body still receives the signals— the energy, the pressure, the distortion— but I do not take it in. My work is to metabolize, to receive information, to discern without absorbing what is not mine. I let it pass through. I release. The body keeps noticing. Signals rise as felt sense, as memory association. One quadrillion pieces of information across a lifetime— each a multisensory resource of data and input, each with its own language, its own quality. Unique to this moment, Emerging as a pattern over time. This is the process of discernment. And from this place— clear, unentangled, unclaimed— I can name the smell of bad leadership.
Discernment, Broken Signals, and the Practice of Naming
Discernment is not a single insight; it is a capacity developed through repeated noticing. In the presence of broken signals, the body often registers misalignment before the mind has words for it. The work is not to name quickly, but to stay with sensation long enough for clarity to form.
Naming begins with description. Early in the practice, language stays close to the body: tightening in the jaw, shallow breath, pressure in the chest, a sense of bracing or contraction. These descriptions are not interpretations; they are direct reports of sensory information. At this stage, naming is simply noticing.
With continued practice, patterns emerge. Certain sensations recur together. Certain atmospheres carry a familiar weight. Over time, the body recognizes these configurations as meaningful before the mind explains them. This is when discernment deepens—from isolated sensations to relational signals.
As this capacity matures, naming becomes more precise. What was once described as tension or confusion can now be recognized as misalignment, distortion, or broken signals. These names are not judgments of people; they are observations of field conditions. They allow leaders to remain neutral, clear, and unentangled, even in the presence of dominating power or incoherent authority.
The purpose of naming is not to fix or correct, but to orient. Naming helps the leader metabolize information without absorbing it, receive signals without taking them in, and act from coherence rather than reaction. Discernment is complete not when the situation resolves, but when the leader’s nervous system settles and clarity remains intact.
Practice: Discernment Through Broken Signals
This practice trains your capacity to read broken signals clearly without absorbing them. It develops naming over time, through repetition and precision. Use it next time you want to be intentionally discerning of a situation you are dealing with, or you simply want to practice receiving information.
1. Notice (Sensation First)
Begin with the body, not the story.
Notice:
tightening (jaw, shoulders, belly)
changes in breath
pressure, heaviness, or contraction
the urge to brace, freeze, or scan
Do not interpret.
Simply describe what is happening in your body.
Jaw tight. Breath shallow. Belly pulling inward.
This is data.
2. Stay (Do Not Rush to Meaning)
Resist the impulse to explain, fix, agree, or oppose.
Say inwardly: I am noticing.
Staying allows sensation to complete itself and prevents premature judgment.
Discernment requires time inside sensation, not speed toward conclusion.
3. Name (From Description to Signal)
Naming evolves through practice.
Early naming = describing sensations
Mature naming = recognizing patterns
Over time, repeated sensations begin to cluster:
tension + pressure + avoidance
sweetness + sourness + misalignment
urgency + delay + lack of movement
When a pattern is clear, name the field condition, not the person:
Misalignment.
Distortion.
Broken Signals.
If the name does not feel clean in the body, wait.
Naming should settle, not escalate.
4. Release (Receive Without Taking In)
Discernment is complete when you do not carry what you’ve named.
Exhale.
Let the signal pass through rather than lodge inside.
Say inwardly: This is not mine to hold.
Release is not disengagement; it is sovereignty.
5. Orient (Return to Coherence)
You know the practice has worked when:
your nervous system settles
clarity remains without urgency
you can act (or not act) without reactivity
Resolution is not required.
Coherence is.