what all this groundwork means for our business ... the part I which is really part V

nan lawson's latest locket - you are deeply loved

There are the obvious ways all this grounding helps us as a maker with a maker business -

we can build a much stronger structure on solid ground than shifting sand after all.

But there are some less conspicuous ways grounding ourselves as human beings (as we become the human-doings this 3rd dimensional world still requires us to be) makes this whole thing run smoother.

1. Grounding Creates Focus

When we take care of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual spaces we are not running around trying to figure out what we should be doing - we are not running around trying to figure out what our business should be doing either.

The people who get what they want, take the time to figure out what they want first.

The process of grounding ourselves creates the space for us to get clear on what we want.

This is how we do it. We practice grounding actions. It is virtually impossible to ground ourselves and end up with splintered thinking. This doesn't guarantee a "happily ever after" for every decision we make - expansion requires conflict after all - it does guarantee a "happily in the moment"which is the space of real happiness anyway.

This "not knowing what we want" thing is an epidemic. One reason I think is an overall societal lack of contrast (a really big reason we have to allow our kids to fail; to not have too much - getting what we don't want creates the space for us to figure out what we do want) plus the unending choices. It's a first world problem - no one going to bed hungry tonight has any problem knowing what they want.

Without a clear focus for our maker business - an intention for why we do what we do and what we want from this experience of creating and growing a business (and by growing I don't mean getting bigger and bigger and unsustainable - I mean expanding and changing and living - think tended garden, not overgrown yard filled with weeds here) - without this clarity we will not be able to make the clear decisions we need to make as a business owner.

If we are asked to fill an order that would require an entire weekend of work, a weekend we had family plans for, we will make a different decision depending on whether our focus with our business is paying our electric bill or being able to work at home to spend more time with our children.

And we have to allow this stuff to evolve - our focus and intention for our business will change. Sometimes the space of time when things are changing can make even grounded people feel very out of balance - that is perfectly OK. It's like the space when we shift from one foot to another, that shifting space (which is actually a great metaphor for the times we are living in, too) is the very space that allows us to expand. 

2. Grounding Creates a State of Allowing

Negative emotions always mean that we are thinking a thought that has us in a state of resistance. Positive emotions always mean that we are thinking a thought that has us in a state of allowing.

Grounding which is really all about self-love (knowing the way we handle what appear to be the unimportant things in life is the exact energy that creates the important things) creates a space for the positive emotions to expand.

A state of allowing doesn't mean we get played by life like a knight on a chess board. People are always saying things like "well, I guess the universe wants me to do this or that" as if we have nothing to do with it. We are the universe. There is only one of us here.

Allowing isn't a state of inaction. It's the opposite of that. It's a state of inspired action and deliberate focus. Forget the "life is a school" metaphor (although there will certainly be lessons). We are here for experiences.

Life is a playground.
If we are not playing our part -

there is no momentum -

 we are not giving the universe any energy to play with.

It's like we are holding the ball

and waiting for life to throw it back to us.

Allowing isn't a stagnant energy - it's a very forward moving energy.

People sometimes say that whatever happens is meant to happen. And while it's true that we can definitely know what should be happening by what is happening - there is no way to make a mistake here after all - sometimes, though, this way of thinking is used as an excuse to back away from being the creators of our own lives; to step away from our responsibility.

When things are going wrong this way of thinking can be a comfort to us and can help us to release resistance (a good thing) - turning a negative thought or situation over to the universe is exactly what we should do with it,

but if we live our lives in a place where this way of thinking makes us feel powerless - we are forgetting that we are extensions of this very universe.

No one else is deciding what we get and what we don't get. It might appear that someone has to choose us (or our work), but this is only because we have set it up this way - we can choose ourselves. The only reason we are here is God/Life/The Universe (pick your comfort zone) knew the universe would benefit and expand by us being here which leads us to ....

3. Grounding Creates the Space for Us to Be Ourselves 

Authenticity is a powerful word; living authentically is a powerful place to live.

(how do we live there? ground ourselves emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually and take action from THERE - it's a space that feels like home - and even if we have not had a wonderful homelife in this lifetime, trust me that we have magical roots and are familiar with this energy - we will know this space when we feel it)

Younger people who know more about the things that change can feel the truth of it and older people who know more about the things that do not change can feel the truth of it, too.  It's taking root and it's changing everything.
 
I went to a Chamber of Commerce meeting back in my banking days and actually maybe it wasn't a Chamber meeting but a Women in Business meeting because it was all women and the Chamber meetings were mostly men.

Anyhoo, the topic of Oprah Winfrey was brought up and women were talking about Oprah's accomplishments (which are many) and her skills (which are many) and the gist of the conversation was how we could all be Oprah if we worked hard enough - look at her beginnings, everyone said, "if she can do it, we can do it".

There are some problems with this way of thinking about other people. Someone else having done something actually doesn't mean we can do it - we are all here for different things.

(and I'm not meaning that some people get the BMWs and some people get the Chevys - because our soul work has nothing to do with what we get and everything to do with what we are here to give)

We can be inspired by other people and some people are certainly here to be catalysts for others in exactly that way, but our real job is just to be us, comparing ourselves to other people doesn't work.

And you don't have to resonate with this, but maybe you do, Oprah didn't really start out as a poor girl in Georgia - she is an infinite being (just like the rest of us). We don't have the lifetimes and experiences she has had - we don't have the soul contracts, we aren't Oprah.

(As an armchair astrologer I have an obsession with north and south nodes and Oprah's north node is in Capricorn which means she chose a career focus for this lifetime - this puts Cancer in her south node which is the symbol of the mother - this is her been there, done that energy. She was no doubt a mother in many lifetimes. Choosing not to be one in this lifetime and taking the gifts she has accumulated with this mother energy and applying it to career - focusing on positive Capricorn stuff and releasing negative Cancer stuff allows her to get the gifts of both signs)

If we are trying to be someone else or doing something in the way someone else has done it - we don't create the space for what is authentically ours to emerge.

Imagine before we came to this planet we were shown a chart of the history of planet Earth.

(picture a beautiful vintage scroll being unwound in front of us)

The space on the left showed a world with alot of problems, the kind of problems that seemed insurmountable to the people living in that world. 

Next we were shown the space on the right of the chart - a beautiful, joyful utopia and we were told this space is the planet's future

then an area right in the middle of both these places lit up - a transition period - and we were told

"this, this space, this is where you come in." 

Next up the part II that is really part VI - OK, so I'm not Oprah - where do I come in.

Also Saturn has moved direct so if you know which house this is in your chart or if any area of your life has been at a standstill since February, it will start moving forward now - putting the focus squarely on us!