water2Hi there! Ilean here and I wanted to share something different with you today. I know that a lot of women juggle both business and family.
That is why I have an awesome guest blogger that will share with you the lessons she learned as a parent and how you can use those to help support you in your business.
Remember, you can have it all: faith, family, and business.
XO,
Ilean
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Dear Suzanne,
You are embarking on yet another journey, just as your heart and mind crave. You are in the midst of growing so much internally that you are wondering if it is all worth it. I know you feel 5000 puzzle pieces have been dumped on the floor and you don’t know where to begin. You feel overwhelmed and tired and pushed with no idea of where to start. I am here to remind you that, YES, it is worth it.
That your feelings of being overwhelmed are thought processes and belief systems that keep you stuck. If your tired, get more sleep. And, when you are feeling pushed, its really just your soul wanting to expand and grow this human life thing. Suzanne, you know that you never wanted or expected it all to be easy. You even know that there is a part of you that loves a good challenge, even when you think you can’t possibly do it.
When you decided to start a business that helps parents connect more deeply with their children, you knew it was because that was what you needed once in your life as well. You knew that the work of paying attention deeply to your own thoughts, judgements and limiting beliefs was the doorway to freedom. So, my question is, why would it be any different with starting your business from the ground up? Isn’t it similar to welcoming another child into the family?
Just as the first step to conscious parenting is paying attention to the thoughts and the feelings you are experiencing when you are challenged or triggered, the same holds true for the business you are creating. Are you afraid that no one will listen to you? Are you afraid that your not good enough? Are you afraid that you won’t say the right thing?
Well, as you know the inner work is just as important as the outer work. Remember to look at your fears as they arise and reclaim your power from them. You are just as much human as you are divine, just as much dark as you are light. Use your awareness to distinguish what is real from smoke and mirrors.
Don’t be afraid to break the rules. For the first few years of raising children, you played by the rules, spoken or unspoken, of what society said you needed to do. You punished, bribed, and con sequenced your children into getting them to comply with what you wanted. Suz, I know you are cringing at this now, but there was a time when you thought that was the only way.
It wasn’t until you decided to break the rules and try connection over consequences, empathy over bribery and exploring solutions together over punishment. This relates to your new business as well. Don’t be afraid to break the rules and create a business that feels good to you. Your mind will tell you you have to do it this way or that way. Trust me when I tell you, that mentality will squelch your creativity and leave you feeling depleted.
Explore how you want to set your business up and how you want to feel in the process of it. You can allow your feelings to be your compass and when feelings of being overwhelmed come up, go back to step one and see what your are thinking and telling yourself.
Lastly, do you remember when your midwife handed you your first born child? You never thought, “I am going to fail”. Instead, you welcomed that beautiful child into your heart and soul and loved that baby with all your being. Looking back, you know you have stumbled many times on this parenting journey and have made mistakes (and will continue to) so don’t be afraid to fail in your business.
You will make mistakes, you will have wished you had done some things differently, but you cant be paralyzed with a fear of failure to not get started. Jump in. Be easy on yourself and learn from your mistakes. You’ve got this. You can do this. You have a dream and all the strength you need to carry it out.
Suzanne Pittman is a certified Yoga teacher and a Parent educator in compassionate parenting. She coaches parents around the country helping to change the paradigm of parenting from a dominant model into a partnership based approach. She has witnessed many powerful shifts in parents because of the work she feels blessed to be doing. Her website is http://www.devotedheartparenting.com
ilean