How will you respond today? And tomorrow and the next?
I’m writing you here from Mexico – I am on retreat with my team. We are diligently working (and some play) on our 2017 plan for how we can support retreat leaders at the next level in the coming year.
Today in the wake of the election results back home, we are no longer joking about whether we’ll make it home before they build a wall.
I voted for Hillary. She won my state.
I have maintained the perspective throughout the election that the candidates we had were a gift. Just like any healing or transformation that we as individuals experience, before we are willing to change, the pain of where we are must become greater than the fear of change.
And in order for that to happen, we must become aware of the pain. The pain of America has been revealed. The pain of disconnection and judgment and fear are at the surface.
The dynamics of this campaign have given us a new awareness of the thoughts, beliefs, and values of our country, and of the qualities and energy that we ALL live in.
It’s easy to feel that we are separate from the qualities that we perceive to be the shadow side of humanity. Yet we all live here and we are all energetically connected. I read an article awhile back entitled “I am Trump” and I appreciated the perspective that all qualities we judge in him, are qualities we also hold. The qualities we judge in our fellow Americans who voted differently than we did are also qualities we hold.
STEP ONE: Own Your Own Shadow
We must constantly be doing our own work on ourselves. We need to be diligent about participating in our own healing, retreats, etc. that allow us to see the Truth of our own beliefs and ways of being that that are hidden from our view. Each individual who heals by taking 100% responsibility for ALL of their qualities, including the shadows (like jealousy, anger, racism and more), raises the vibration on the planet, and DOES have an impact.
STEP TWO: Do Your Work In the World
Allow your feelings about what you’ve seen happening in our country – our election and beyond… Hate crimes, depression and suicide rates, etc. … motivate you to get out of your own way and MARKET and SELL your services. Your work heals. I am certain that this is true. I’ve seen over the years that many entrepreneurs stop themselves from showing up out of fear of doing it wrong, being seen and judged, or otherwise worrying that they can’t succeed.
If any time is the time to say this to you, with love, now is the time. Get over yourself. Seriously. Every single day I get up and get over myself. I give up my need to look perfect and do it right. I stop worrying about what people will think, I quit making it about me, and I get up and serve as best I can. And when something happens like Trump winning the election I can sleep at night because I know that every day I do my part to make this world a better place.
And I will allow this to spur me on further. To get more real, to create more opportunity for the members of my tribe.
STEP THREE: Uplift Your Fellow Lightworkers
Since the beginning of my business, I’ve always believed in love over fear, and collaboration over competition.
Yet I always must be honest with you. In the beginning while I would never hesitate to interview or promote my ‘competitors,’ there was a part of me that wanted to make sure that I was ‘better’ than others who do similar work. We are often trained that it is a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world out there and if we aren’t better than someone, we will get eaten. I was no different.
And in my initial years in the world of transformation, I found no shortage of others who were trying to be better than their fellow teacher, coach, consultant, or service provider. In fact I found myself in circles where people shared with one another what was working for them primarily to look good. In those places it was rare that I felt people truly wanted to uplift me and my work in the world.
To take ownership of my experience, I clearly was not yet at the place in my own growth where I was ready and willing to be uplifted. My own hidden fear of competition created that community.
Today I swim in communities of some of the most generous business owners I’ve encountered. I love it. I also focus my energy on how to have us all win. My business goals are around increasing the demand for transformation, not vying for clients.
The old me would read Facebook posts of other business coaches with a critical eye, looking for evidence that my approach was better, prepared to judge their progress. If you ever find yourself doing this, I’ve been there and I get it.
But if there were ever a time to transcend that energy it is now. Make a commitment to like, love, comment, and share when you see someone putting their transformational work in the world. It is ALL needed and there is enough to go around.
STEP FOUR: Keep It Real
When you experience those around you in judgment or fear, making racist comments or spreading hate, say something. Come from an energy of simply bringing your Truth to the table, not from an energy of judgment. But don’t let it slide. When we let it slide we collude with, or make an agreement with, those lower level energies. What we don’t speak Truth and love into becomes part of the fabric of our subconscious.
Start conversations with people about how they are feeling. Get curious about their experience with (race, sexuality, abuse, lack, etc.) and be a safe space for their voice to be heard. Only when we get real about what’s so do we have any power to shift it. Don’t concern yourself with trying to fix someone else’s perspective. Allow Spirit do that work. Simply go out of your way to give opportunities for keeping it real.
(By the way, I believe that small retreats are one of the best to do this.)
What’s YOUR advice?
I know that within this community we collectively have the brainpower and heart power to make a profound difference on the energy of fear in our country today. I am SO PROUD of the way so many of my friends and colleagues are responding and pouring love out onto my Facebook wall. What’s your stance? How can we come together to make a dent in the Universe? We’d love to hear! Pop on over to the Aligned Entrepreneurs Tribe to share your stance.