With so much going on work-wise, I have felt like I need a way to keep myself in check. It would be easy to get carried away and lose focus, so, I recently decided to make a new daily practice.
My practice is to ask myself the following question: Am I doing everything I can to increase my business opportunities?
I currently have 3 businesses on the go: a meditation group called the Love Circle, a new massage and reflexology practice, and an online business called thebigswell.com. Each project is at a slightly different stage and each of them require regular tending otherwise there is a risk they will die.
But where to start? I've got a history of having at least two projects on the go at any one time and it can make it difficult to know which one to focus on. Having too much on your plate can lead to procrastination and a tendency to ruminate without actually taking action. Fortunately I'm a "take action" kinda girl, but with three streams on the go at once, I have found myself going somewhat round in circles. Hence, not doing everything I can to tend to my businesses.
So today I chose one project (my massage/reflexology practice) and did the following:
1. Checked in with my heart and soul.
Goal setting is all very well and I'm a great advocator of the volume model e.g send out 100+ letters to local GPs and chiropractors informing them of my new massage practice, then make phone call follow up list and cross fingers for 1-2% response rate. But today I took a "heartfield" approach. I figured my services are in line with a selection of specialist practitioners so I asked my heart to show me a connection that would prosper.
As I sat in my office (Gertrude & Alice cafe in Bondi), I stepped away from my Mac and spotted a business card that had been posted on their noticeboard from a local psychologist. Instantly my soul told me this was someone I needed to connect with. Trusting my intuition I researched their website and felt Yes, this is someone I align with. I subsequently emailed them and have offered to provide a complementary treatment with a view to being added to their referral list of allied practitioners and vice versa. I will call them later to follow up.*
Who knows if this person will feel the same alignment as I do, but I trust that my heart will always lead me in the right direction and I feel good about connecting with a therapist whose vision and message match mine.
2) I followed up on my To-Do list…
Second on my list was to Take Action. As well as contacting the psychologist I sent an email to the owner of the practice that I rent my massage room from with some marketing information for her next newsletter. Again, it's a simple step that has enabled me to tick something from my To-Do list and is increasing the energy I'm putting into my massage practice. Law of Attraction here I come.
3) Stepped outside my comfort zone
Every moment is an opportunity to meet someone and make a new client but it's also an opportunity to fulfill my personal vision: To Help As Many People Heal Themselves As Possible.
On my way to work this morning I passed a beauty therapist that I've known for 15 years. Her name is Judy and she is a truly angelic soul. Her partner is unwell at the moment and she had to close her business for a few weeks to look after him. She was opening shop as I walked past so I stopped to check in with her.
I could see a great sadness in her eyes so I gave her a hug. As a therapist Judy is naturally aligned to giving, but like many healers she is not so ready to receive. I know how she feels, although I've worked hard on learning to accept love from others. (Feel free to read any of my previous blogs for evidence…)
As we hugged I saw tears in Judy's eyes and I knew I had fulfilled my soul purpose by helping her to feel and know she is loved; and therefore helping her to heal.
In the past I would have left it there, but today I took that communication one step further. I told her I had opened a new healing practice and gave her my card. With love being the overriding motivation, I knew that it was OK at that time to offer my services to help heal her pain on a physical and emotional level through massage, reflexology and/or spiritual healing.
I no longer view my healing practice as a luxury and felt comfortable passing that on.
If any of us want to heal we need to make a commitment to doing so, and that includes treating our body and mind well. It also includes an energetic exchange: in most cases paying for whatever therapy we choose. What I offer is an incredible gift: I am lucky enough to have "healing hands" and an ability to understand people on a deeply kinesthetic level. I used to let my ego get in the way of that. I would regularly (albeit unconsciously) devalue my gift with an overriding thought of Who am I to heal others? That thought previously stopped me from promoting my services.
But really, who am I to not heal others? I'm a healer. I was born with this gift so my not promoting my services is actually doing a disservice not only to others but to myself.
What sort of egocentric tomfoolery is that?
We often consider the ego to mean bigging ourselves up, but it's also the opposite: belittling our talents and gifts because we've been led to believe that saying we're good at something means we think we're better than others. Not so. In this context the ego is the mind - your ideas and thoughts, but what about when there is a heart and soul being diminished as a result of those thoughts? That's also the ego at work.
Whatever your gift is, be it helping others, being a great writer, a closet artist or poet, having the ability to connect with people, being a great dancer or soccer player – whatever it is You Do Not Have The Right To Keep That Talent To Yourself.
We all have gifts and we must learn to openly use them.
Tapping into your uniqueness and acknowledging that who you are is a gift in itself can require a shift in consciousness. Take my friend Marc Nemorin for example. Marc is an incredible artist. Last year he recognised that his talent was laying dormant under a graphic design business (which he's also amazing at). Since releasing his gift from its box he has already created some amazing portraits that are selling like hotcakes. Just like Marc, I long thought that my innate ability to heal was something that was too easy for me and therefore not valid as a business and should remain small and hidden.
Luckily, I now see it differently.
With that in mind, I was able to lovingly offer my services today to someone in need. Whether they book in for a treatment is entirely up to them, but I can now sit comfortably in the knowledge that promoting my services is not something that I should hide. My gift, is just that: A Gift. I have many gifts and so do you. What are you doing about yours?
What innate gifts and talents are you hiding from the world for fear that you don't have the right to be amazing? It's probably something that is so easy for you and that you see as simply being part of who you are that you've boxed it up into a "Save For Retirement Hobby" fund. But I say open that box TODAY and look at those talents and gifts as gems, because that's what they are.
And just imagine, if we all played to our natural strengths with no fear of rejection, can you see how all our lives could turn around in a really positive way? And just think how HAPPY we'd all be!
I already feel blessed to have love what I do, but equally I'm looking forward to this new take on what is essentially my right to Be Me. If I can stay in a heart-centred space and simply let people know I am here if they want to heal then I figure the Universe will hear that call and rejoice in the fact that another person is willing to Be Free to Shine.
And on that note, I invite you to recognise your amazingness and let it out of the box. What are your gifts and when will you set them free?
Whatever they are, I'll be watching with a smile on my face as you open your talented heart and Shine.
* PS, Mary Sutherland (psychologist) contacted me an hour after I sent her that email. She came in for a treatment today and as far as I can tell, this could well be the start of a very special working relationship. [Insert HUGE thank you to the Universe here.]
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