There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have to face some big issue that wants to derail me. I feel anger, shame and a million other emotions that could hijack me from where I need to be focusing. These emotions are often a wake up call that deeper insights and consciousness shifting are underway.
One of my teachers was a volunteer at an art studio where I worked. I remember one day running into him when I was feeling overwhelmed, triggered, and other “stuff,” that affected all of us who worked there.
He had a sense of calm about him; peacefulness and stillness. He was like a mirror for me and when I looked in his eyes I was keenly aware of my own mental tangles and messiness.
I asked him how he did this. I was only 24 and was impressionable. As it turns out he was doing transcendental mediation and had been for over a year. This was a new thing in the early 70s so I was impressed and I signed up.
I am very mental so I struggled to quiet my monkey mind, but I stuck with it and to this day I still fall back on some of the things I learned from this younger version of myself.
In my business today often my mind wants to freak out and take over and it’s disaster when this happens. In fact, it’s just not a good idea.
The thing with growing a business is that the garden becomes full of lots of stuff that needs doing and its easy to feel overwhelmed. This is me last Monday!
Now I know that running a solo business is always a spiritual practice, all of the time. Like any practice, it requires maintenance, which for me means:
• breathing
• discipline
• balance
• retreat
• meditation
• affirmations
• self-expression
• nature
• mantra
• creating a temple
• belonging
• music
• compassion
• reflection
• rituals
• creativity
What do you think of this list? All of these practices will keep you in a more joyful, balanced state, connected to your soul. How many of them do you do regularly?
Do you notice a difference in your state of mind and your ability to stay on track? 
Joy and balance isn’t something you attain and then have forever. It is another way of being and it takes spiritual practice to maintain it.
My little dog is my bliss guru in a way. She absolutely lives in my spiritual circle. When I’m working from my home office and I’m having a hard time, feeling stressed or overwhelmed, she shows up and says, “Lets go for a walk.” I look into her dark eyes and realize she is a Spirit Dog.
In these moments I think I don’t have the time because I’m frantically trying to get something done. I’m sure you’ve been there: you can barely see straight but you keep working. Crazy Woman is in full force and when she shows up, my little dog reminds me I need to get out and walk.
Usually by the time we get to the corner, I am already getting back into center and can feel the connection again. In her doggie energy, she is so happy running and sniffing, it reminds me that this is what I also need to do.
Now I help my clients with how to BE the kind person they need to Be in order to create the kind of business they want. The Beingness is the foundation and from that place you can much more easily develop your marketing plan, do sales, or whatever. It works!
Let’s talk if you want to know how to make this shift.
I offer a Wise Woman free call. I would so love to talk with you.
I know I need more meditation and celebrating rituals. What’s been stopping me is a combination of the chronic pain sapping me for energy and a long list of urgent todo’s. I plan to do a ritual, meditation or shamanic journey, and another task pushes it out of the way. These aren’t menial tasks like housework. That’s not on my list of priorities. It’s usually something like someone I have to call to fix the car, something that needs to be picked up at a certain time, or some kind of official meeting.
My dog has been a great teacher. I’m working hard on a new project involving a farm. Every now and then I turn from my whacking away with a machete on the invasive plants and I see her watching the sky and trees intently, sniffing, tasting. It reminds me to stop and listen to the variety of bird calls, the breezes rustling the leaves.
I suggested to my partner in this project that we create a ritual of blessing for the farm, dedicate it, put it under the protection of the Mother.
Thank you for your regular emails that keep me in awareness.
And a big thank you for the clarity of your website, its ease of navigation and its beauty.
Liked your comments on farm life. I was a city girl who married a farm guy and before I knew it I was left running an 80 areas of wheat, barley, a 3 areas of garden, canning, irrigating, chasing animals and kids 10 miles out of town in Willcox AZ and oh yes teaching art at the local college. It was quite a journey. I was studying Edgar Cayce, went to one of Wayne Dwyer’s first workshops, Attending sweat lodges and tuning into Joseph Campbell’s first TV appearances. I was only 32 and the world was full of wonder and frustration as my husband worked all week away from home. The irrigation pumps would malfunction and burst the PVC pipes, my now teen daughter was flushing tampax down the septic system and I was latterly up to my waist in poo. This was when geomancy was calling me and there were not enough hours or days to take it all in. I hiked and 4 wheeled by myself in Cochise Stronghold and made it home to fix dinner from the gardens and the meat with harvested from the wild learning from my days in a grocery store butcher shop…..I butchered and swept the blowing sand from the house, raised every kind of animal it seems and healed their wounds with my newly learned herbal classes. The sunsets still live within me and my coyote who I rescued from the irrigation ditch taught me even more life lessons than I could ever imagine. Your farm will teach you everything life has to offer. I just wished I had known more about feng shui at the time, but that came a bit later…
Blessings, Caroline Patrick