I heard myself say that twice this week to different people and meaning every syllable of it.
Business is a spiritual journey.
There’s no avoiding or sugar coating your business or the work you do.
Business is either slow or its abundant. You are either doing work you love or you’re not. You are either working with people you connect with or you’re not. You’re either erring on the side of happiness or on the side of sadness and frustration.
Oh yes, business is the ultimate feedback mechanism.
‘cos wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, you can guarantee your spirit is talking to you.
Your business is right there in front of you, mirroring every part of your psyche.
Your interests
Your relationship to people
Your relationship to money
Your relationship to yourself
Your focus
Your energy levels
Your self-care
Your internal conversations
Your daily choices
Your self-belief
Y’see, our insecurities and fears are on blast when we run a business.
We worry about sales, cashflow and legalities
We fear what people might think
And sometimes we shrink and become inauthentic.
Sometimes we lack the confidence to get our idea off the ground.
Sometimes we fear rejection. Being judged. Not feeling enough. Being too this or too that.
Friend, can you see what your spirit is going through?
A lot of people talk about authenticity. But in a world where there’s pressure to be professional, look good, and always have it together, authenticity is a BATTLE GROUND.
It’s facing the things you love about yourself and the things you hate. It’s having the courage to call your own bullshit when you’re faking it. It’s admitting to yourself when you’re unhappy or out of alignment. It’s asking for help. It’s daring to say what you really believe. It’s feeling exposed.
Authenticity isn’t a tagline.
It isn’t a clever bio.
Or a photo that captures a natural moment.
Authenticity it’s standing in the face of judgement and showing up as a human being – flawed, imperfect, not wired with all the damn answers but being open to connection anyway.
When we realise how we show up at work is an extension of our journey as a soul on this planet, we can look at things differently.
‘cos when we’re standing in our truth and business is flowing and we’re feeling clear, confident and on the right path, its because we’ve done the inner work.
We’ve faced the demons.
We’ve confronted our fears, or at least beaten them back for a while.
Because that’s the thing about authenticity – you have to keep checking in with yourself to see if you’re still on course. Authenticity can turn its back on us the moment we drop our awareness.
We all fall off-course now and again. It’s called being a human.
It’s important to remember we’re human. And that our clients, suppliers, facebook fans and twitter followers, are human.
Business does a good job of helping us forget that.
Because business can get fixated on creating the perfect image and strategy.
Rather than accurately translating what’s going on within. Or sharing our humanity so we can move beyond the limits of commodity.
We are all people with a brief time on this planet. We are all people who contribute through work. We are all people who crave love and meaning.
The future of business is the process of aligning our outer self with our inner self.
Where we bring reverence, self-awareness and self-compassion into our work and where our spirits walk the tightrope of self-love and contribution.
6 Comments
Beautiful, heartfelt post – love your new website and wishing you every success!
Thank you Anne! Much love to you <3
Beautiful, totally agree with what you’re saying Amanda… All the best to you! 🙂
<3 Thank you Tina x
Brilliant blog! Spurs me on! Thank you!
Awesome! Let’s fly x