July Inspirations for your Soul and your Business

By yollana | Published: July 31, 2011

Thanks for coming back to the Soul Business blog... I'm touched that you're resonating with it. Hey if you haven't already, do you think you could pluck up the courage to leave a comment on a post you like? I'd love to have your contribution...

Some inspirations that came my way in July…

5 Gateways: A full length Youtube documentary on Awakening

This is an inspiring film, both in it’s content and it’s production. Kudos to my dear friends at Smiling Dragonfly media productions.

Does your business have a transformational message? Are you looking to powerfully transmit that message to the world? Consider video marketing, and even better… Consider Smiling Dragonfly, eh?

Meeting Fear with Love

The Amnesty International USA blog recently recorded these quotes from Norway’s Leaders.

1. Mayor of Oslo: “We shall punish the terrorist, and this will be his punishment: more democracy, more tolerance, more generosity.”

2. Norwegian Prime Minister: “…the answer to violence is even more democracy.”

3. Diplomat Steinar Gil: “Norway will not change. Evil will not prevail.”

4. Norwegian Prime Minister: “With the strongest of all weapons — the free word and democracy — we stake our course for Norway.”

5. Crown Prince of Norway: “Tonight the streets are filled with love. We have chosen to meet hatred with unity. We have chosen to show what we stand for.”

When you face competition, fear or scarcity in your business, how do you respond? If you could respond with this level of grace and love, what would you do/say?

What hidden treasures will you find?

These beautiful crystals are actually tiny grains of sand, from a thimbleful of beachsand in Maui, magnified over 250x. You can see them, and more, at www.sandgrains.com

Aren’t they exquisite?

What beauty can you find in your business when you look even closer? What about when you look closer at your clients? Or even this moment now? Look closer.

Wishing you an inspired month!

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

When to let it rest…

By yollana | Published: July 21, 2011


Have you ever had the experience of powering along in your business, then suddenly running out of steam before the project’s complete? Do you push on through, or give up and lose interest?

Neither option is really very satisfying, is it?.

A key skill to success in your business is knowing how to ride the wave of momentum when it’s carrying you, and knowing what to do when you come sliding onto the shore.

The Universe breathes in and out

Here’s the thing. Everything expands and contracts… From the universe, to the smallest atom. The tide comes in, and goes out again.  Flowers open to the sun, and close as night falls. You breathe in and out, with a momentary pause before the next breath. It’s natural.

Inspiration, flow, rest.

Inspiration, flow, rest. This is the creative cycle. With inspiration, like an in-breath, you are filled with possibilities, ideas and the clarity to move forward. Following inspiration, there is an outward flow, like an out-breath, of action and implementation. And when the flow is finished, there is stillness. Rest.

What can be frustrating and confusing about this cycle is that it may complete itself before your project is complete. Let me give an example.  A client of mine had been working on her new business. She knew what she wanted to offer, she had identified who she wanted to work with, and how she would deliver it. When she arrived at her new office space, even the where was crystal clear.

So, it was time to get started, right?

No. She found herself paralysed. She literally could not begin. She had no energy to start spreading the word about her new business and attracting clients – even though this had been exactly what she had been working towards. And she was confused. Was this procrastination? Should she push through it? Or was her longing to rest now a deep inner calling that she could trust and follow?

What you need to know…

There are two things she needed to know.

1. You can complete an inspiration cycle before completing a project. And if this happens, then yes – it’s natural to rest at the end of a cycle. But don’t give up on the project. Rather, wait for the next round of inspiration, flow and rest to carry you through the next phase. And, if you are serious about your project, you will want to wait in the most active sense of the word. If you actively make space and time to be very still, and very open, the inspiration will come.

2. Life is rest. Rest doesn’t always mean sleep. The nature of life is rest. Beneath all the busyness that we see in our world, there is an essential stillness… a quiet foundation of Rest, from which everything else arises. Open to it, and you can allow it to nourish you in all your activity – whether moving or still.

So with these two keys, like my client, you can allow yourself to rest into the natural pause in your momentum, letting it be the ground from which a new wave of inspiration, flow and rest comes. And – if you really must ‘do’ stuff in the pause – then see if you can find a way to embrace the quality of rest within the action.

When you align your actions with your own soul cycles, you can ultimately be more productive and more efficient… Not to mention more inspired and rested!

Posted in Effortless work | Leave a comment

Are you doing what you love?

By yollana | Published: July 15, 2011

When I was seven someone asked me “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I thought about it and replied… “I want to be an artist, a writer and a dancer!”

As I spoke these words, they felt bold and almost cheeky. For me at that time, there was a kind of headiness in dreaming so big. I mean, who had ever heard of someone being all those great things at once?

Three things at once

In the many years since, my work with clients has actually brought me back to this place again and again, delving into the nature of life purpose and happiness – and where it intersects with business creation and career satisfaction.

And although I can’t quite claim to be a professional artist, writer and dancer in this moment… (and although I’m not so sure that this is my life ambition anymore!), I am surprisingly much closer than I ever was.

What I mean is this: If I were to think about making a living doing these things: writing, dancing, making art… I can conceive of it now from quite a grounded place. And it no longer seems so crazily bold. It now seems very possible,very doable. I can see the steps involved. I can see the elbow grease required.

Out here on the fronteir

When I was about fifteen and someone asked me what I wanted to do with  my life, my answer had changed a little:

“My  job hasn’t been invented yet,” I smiled.

Saying that felt exciting. I could feel the powerful wave of innovation that it was my luck to be born into – an age of technology, connectivity and creativity…

Many of my friends and mentors make a full time living today doing things that were pretty much unheard of fifteen years ago. Blogging. Not conforming. Video marketing. Being a goddess… Among my clients, there are coaches who are embracing their art in their business. Artists who are embracing coaching. Intuitives embracing their writing and yoga teachers embracing their theatrical skills. When I say ‘embracing’, I mean, they are actually finding a place for their passions within the vehicle of their business, integrating it into their products and services… and getting paid.

The job that hadn’t been invented

At 25, I was busy with a new baby and working on a new business, an online bookstore, on the side. At the recommendation of a friend, I had a reading with Mike Starman, an Australian clairvoyant and psychic who had given my friend helpful business advice. Among other things, he said that I would be doing a kind of ‘Spiritual Business Coaching’, working by phone with people, similar to what he was doing with me at the time…

I honestly couldn’t comprehend it.

And although I had learned profound healing skills, I couldn’t imagine having a deep enough grasp of business to be able to coach others. I put it aside as one of those ‘strange things that psychics say, that may or may not hold water’…

But a few years later, here I am.

So this is my journey. My evolving understanding of career, vocation and business over more than 20 years brings me to here.  And brings me to asking you: Do you love what you do?

There really are endless possibilities… SO many opportunities. You could be doing what you love and earning a living at the same time. Are you?

Posted in Being Yourself in Biz, Joy at work | Leave a comment

June Inspirations for your Soul and your Business

By yollana | Published: June 29, 2011

Your monthly dose of Soul Business inspirations… Enjoy!

Laura Dance Festival and Split Rock Gallery

Well, my biggest inspiration this month is our holiday! It deserves a post of it’s own, but the short version is we hired a campervan and drove up the east coast of Australia to the Laura Dance Festival in North Queensland. It was such a privilege to sit out on that country in the dust and watch indigenous dancers from all over the region performing traditional dances… keeping their culture alive through story, song and dance.

Here’s some footage of the Lockhart River Dancers -- this years winners of the dance comp -- from the Festival before in 2009.

 

After the festival we went over to Split Rock Gallery and sat before a cave painting thousand of years old. We sat by one big rock face, watching layer upon layer of image reveal itself as we looked. Like a mysterious history unfolding.

Split Rock Gallery (Photo by Ludo Kuipers, 1984, from www.ozoutback.com.au)

Although I can hardly understand it, let alone explain it here, I will say that there’s ancient wisdom in nature and culture, all around us. (You can check out some photos of the gallery here, but I really recommend visiting it in person!)

Indigenous Australians believe that their ancestor-spirits watch over them and guide them to live in harmony with their spirit and land. Can you connect through your heart to your own ancestors? What strengths and/or guidance might they offer to you and your business right now?

At the Laura Festival, we watched Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander groups use art, music and dance to transmit stories, teachings, messages, codes of conduct , spiritual and practical information about their country and community. How would you use art, music or dance to transmit the key messages in your business?

Roger Hamilton and Wealth Dynamics

I recently discovered Roger Hamilton’s work on Wealth Dynamics and it’s rocking my world!

Based on the ancient Taoist wisdom embodied in the i-ching, RH describes eight Wealth Profiles or eight ways of approaching life and business from a place of strength and flow. For each profile, he describes a wealth strategy that enables you to stay in your flow and play to your strengths.

I wholeheartedly recommend reading Your Life Your Legacy, which you can download as an ebook or audiobook for under $10. And if you’re keen, take the Wealth Profile Test to find your flow.

Lil Buck Mama

I’ve said before that I love fusions -- this is an exquisite fusion of breakdancing and ballet… check it out!

And the question for your business… Sometimes when you slow things down, they become more elegant, more beautiful… What could you slow down in your business, so that your clients can enjoy it even more?

That’s it for now… But I’d love to hear what’s inspiring you this month. Post it below or email me and I can share it in the Soul Business Inspirations post for July.

Wishing you an inspired month!

Love Yollana

Posted in Inspirations | 2 Comments

Climbing gear (for when you hit a wall, and it all feels too hard).

By yollana | Published: June 22, 2011

Have you ever been moving ahead with a new project that you are truly passionate about… and hit a wall. Because it’s new, it’s probably been a stretch the whole time, but you were optimistic, you thought you could do it… And then suddenly, whether it’s the costs, the logistics, the people, the skills… Suddenly you don’t feel like you have what it takes anymore.

I was talking with a friend about this recently. She’s been starting a new business on a shoestring, getting her website together and all her foundations in place, but yet to bring in a steady flow of clients (it takes time…) and meanwhile, her debt has been weighing on her. Ouch.

She shared with me, through tears, the terrible fear that she wouldn’t be able to make this work.

Have you heard of “Transition’? Read More »

Posted in Emotions in Business, Moving through blocks | 3 Comments

When You’re Caught in the Rush: the only real choice to make…

By yollana | Published: June 8, 2011

When life is pulling you in a million directions, and you are overwhelmed by choices, there is really only one choice that you need to make, and it is this.

Just for this moment… I will rest in the stillness at the centre of my own being,

Life in Full Color

One of Cara Brown's exquisite paintings, called "Awakening"

One of Cara Brown's exquisite paintings, called "Awakening"

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Cara Brown, an incredible artist whose work has a depth to it that is truly stunning… And she shared with me that when she went on holiday, she had completed an entire painting (that would usually take her a month) in a week! A week. So what happened? What was her secret?

She rested.

It wasn’t like she was lazing around the pool all day (although I hope she did a little of that!)… but she was on holiday with her family, away from the everyday stresses… so she let go into her own unplanned and unscheduled self… and Whooosh! Vibrant creativity came rushing to the surface.

Like the flower, the fruit.

I know this from my own experience. When I get caught up in all the details and decisions and doingness of my life, it’s easy to lose sight of the inner flow of joy, peace and creativity. But when I am still, even for just a moment, it comes.

And what’s beautiful is that  when I step back from the ‘outcomes’ that I’m striving for, and really do stop and tune into the ‘process’ – where I am now and how I want to be in this present moment… Well, somehow the outcome gets taken care of too.

It’s like the saying that the nature of a plant determines the nature of a fruit… In the same way, if you are stressing out about something that you need to produce, and you choose to connect with your center and to stay in alignment with that, then right actions naturally spring forth. And these actions naturally lead to wonderful outcomes, perhaps even beyond what you might have originally intended or expected.

It’s so easy to get focused on the outcome. But when we rest into the ever present stillness inside, our process takes care of our outcome.

Is this your experience too? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below :)

Posted in Effortless work | Leave a comment

Sweetheart, it’s not about you…

By yollana | Published: June 1, 2011

When you are in the early stages of a new business or project, it can be easy to fall prey to self doubt… Will this really work? Is it any good? Will any of it make a difference anyway? … Sound familiar? Sometimes it can seem like the business or project that you hold most dear, is the exact same place where you doubt yourself the most.

My budding book

I recently signed up for Christine Kloser’s Transformational Author Experience – which is free – and decided to pay the upgrade to a version of the course where you get some one on one coaching with important book people, and enter your manuscript for potential publishing. And then I freaked out.

I freaked out because my book is so new and tender and half formed. Because I probably can’t get it finished enough before the submission date and because I’m not even sure if it’s any good, worth writing, worth reading, will it make a difference? Will anyone even care…?

(Oh my god! I feel exhausted just reading all that. I used to subject myself to this kind of internal mind talk, like, all day long. Thankfully, in the last ten years it’s been rare enough that it only comes up when I’m really stretching out into new territory.)

Anyway, then I had this flash…

Like the glimmer of a treasure seen through the water….

Beneath the fear and the self doubt and the uncertainty, I saw something.

The book has it’s own energy, it’s own being. Just like my – and your – business does. Like any creative idea, it has it’s own destiny. I can plant the seed, watch it sprout and nurture it’s growth. But I can’t know exactly when or how it will flower. And I don’t know where it seeds will spread… That destiny belongs to the book itself. In fact, there’s a way in which it’s none of my business.

And with that flash, came peace. Instant. Quiet. Mind.

Oh the blessed relief of a quiet mind.

So, what about your project or dream? How do you deal with doubt when it arises?

Try it Out.

Why not take a moment right now to connect with that project, as if it had it’s own soul and it’s own destiny.

What if it wasn’t all about you? What if it was really about the soul of the project, and the lives that project is destined touch… No matter who they are, nor how many?

When you are no longer responsible for everything, does the doubt start to ease up for you too?

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

May Inspirations – for your Soul and your Business

By yollana | Published: May 24, 2011

Here’s a wee round up of inspiring things that I’ve come across in May :)

Blue King Brown and Gurumul Yunupingu

I love world fusion music… And this song is a brilliant example -- Blue King Brown’s Natalie Pa’apa’a brings her reggae rap to Gurumul Yunupingu’s incredible traditional indigenous vocals, ancient languages mixed with new beats and inspiring young and old to the power of family and connection. Awesome

Are you opening to new influences in your business? Is there an opportunity to bring in something old, something new, something different that will help you stand out, improve your service, reach more people or have more fun?

Echolocation: Blind people who see with sound (like dolphins and bats)

This is Ben Underwood (b 1992, d 2009) -- the teenager who could freely walk, skate, surf, play video games and more using echolocation. He was an amazing young man and his mother is an extraordinary woman. Inspiration.

And here’s Daniel Kish who has developed echolocation skills to an incredibly fine grain of detail, and teaches it to others. Awesome.

People with a ‘disability’ are often inspiring because they end up developing profound skills and showing us the depth and breadth of human potential (another example is 15 yr old Jessica Parkes who has no arms, but can even put her contact lenses in with her toes). Anyone with working ears has the capacity to use echolocation to see the world, but most of us don’t bother to use it, because we can see with our eyes. It remains an untapped potential.

Are there untapped potentials in your business? If you’re struggling with something, is it possible that there is another way around it… utilizing skills or talents that you hadn’t thought to use or develop?

Some resources for changing the world…

If you like to read, write and/or are aspiring to change the world in some way, these three are for you:

Christine Kloser’s Transformational Author Experience is starting this week. It’s a series of FREE online classes with a bunch of New York Times best-selling authors and leading book experts between now and June designed to help you turn your transformational book ‘idea’ into a published book, and a thriving business! Looks like a great lineup and a lot of fun.

On the writing theme, Pace and Kyeli from www.connection-revolution.com have created a great little free ebook called 6 steps to worldchanging writing. Check it out.

And on the worldchanging theme, if you’re not already familiar with it, check out www.worldchanging.com, who released an updated version of their worldchanging book earlier this year.

And a note on humility:

Michael Spandel is lighting up my Facebook feed with comments like this:

‎”There is a lovely root to the word humiliation -- from the latin word humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in effect returning to the ground of our being.” David Whyte

(That quote is, I believe from David Whyte’s 6-CD collection, Clear Mind, Wild Heart: Finding Courage and Clarity through Poetry).

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The structures that help you tap your creative flow

By yollana | Published: May 17, 2011

Confession time. I’m not that big on structure. I get resistant when someone wants me to plan (the life out of) something. I have trouble sitting down to meditate for any long period. (Or at least I have had trouble with that since I had kids, but maybe that’s normal for a mother of small children?) Anyway, I love being in my creative flow.

Still, I also recognise that structure is important. And there are some structures that allow me to flow even more. Here’s one teeny example. I am not a cook-by-recipe kind of girl. I like to look at what I’ve got in the cupboard and then just make it up. But I don’t like cooking at 5pm with two tired kids whining at me and causing mischief because I’m not paying them enough attention. That really stresses  me out.

Solution. A little bit of structure. If I think about what I’m going to cook in the morning, and start preparing it somewhere between 3pm and 4pm, I just feel more relaxed, I can be in my flow with my creative make-it-up-as-I -go-along cooking, and everyone’s happy.

Structure enables Flow

When a dolphin gives birth, she is vulnerable. She is soft. She is flowing. Creating. Other female dolphins form a circle around her, facing in, and when the calf is born they may help it to the surface to breathe. Male dolphins form an outer ring of protection around the dolphin mother and her calf, to keep them safe from sharks or other predators.

It is the same with humans. In order to really relax, in order to be creative, we need to feel safe. Creativity and the protectiveness are two different functions, two different energies that reside within each of us.

But it can be hard to hold structure and flow at the same time

I experience creativity at its best as a process of surrender to the “inner muse”, to divine inspiration, to the creative genius that dwells within each of us. Although this may sound active, it is actually a receptive process, of receiving inspiration and allowing ideas and activity to flow.

Structures are an expression of the protective function. Whether physical or temporal, they create a container that we can relax and feel safe in. And this relaxation and safety is what enables creativity.

So when you can’t do both at once, how do you do both? In the absence of a circle of male dolphins to swim around you while you create brilliant things, you can still embrace both structure and flow to enhance your creativity and productivity. Here’s how.

A time for everything.

Structures – goals, plans, frameworks, boundaries can be born from a creative process. And then they need to be actively implemented. There’s a systematic bit – seams sewed, corners tied down, holes plugged.

You need to give time to creating the structure. And once in place, a system or structure kind of has a life of it’s own. Some need more tending and nourishing that others, but a good solid structure holds space over time, and then you can give time to your creative flow.

Let me give an example.  I’m writing a book. I have to admit, I feel precious about it. It’s a sacred work to me. It’s art. And so I’m wanting it to flow in a very special way. But it’s easy for me to get distracted when I sit down to write.

So here are the structures that I create to support me: I create a set time and space. I’ve planned out chapters, themes and topics I want to write about, so I choose one. I make a prayer and set an intention for this time. I unplug from the internet – no distractions! And, finally, I surrender to the creative flow, writing what comes,  curious to see what emerges, open and ready to explore in the divine mystery.

A baby bird needs it’s nest, until it can fly.

One more thing – Your relationship to structure and creative flow can change over time.  The more confidence and experience you have in surrender and creativity, the less structure you need to create the relaxation and safety that will support you to flow.

Make sense?

Over to you:

What are your creative projects and what kind of structures do you use to support them?

Posted in Effortless work, Time management, Work-life balance | 3 Comments

How to turn your skeptics into allies in your business

By yollana | Published: May 10, 2011

This post was inspired by a comment on a recent post – Thanks Natasha! May your business blossom!

Have you ever had a great idea or plan for the next stage of your  business, and come rushing to tell your best friend or loved one about it, only to find their face drop, and their subtle body language moving away from you as they begin to pick holes in your brilliant masterplan, raising every reason why – and way in which – it might not work.

… Yeah, that really sucks, doesn’t it?

When you most want support and encouragement for your tender but brilliant plan, having someone poor water on it can put the pressure on you and your business. You might cave in and bury your dream back under the carpet. Or pull yourself up by the bootstraps and forge on, alone with your dream and determined to prove that it can work.

Neither is very satisfying.

But skeptics ask good questions

What can be hard to see, from under the bucket of cold water that just got tipped on your grand plan, is that your beloved skeptics questions are usually quite useful and important to you and your business:

- How is that actually going to make money?

-What if no one buys it?

- Is that really the best use of your time right now?

- You seem so busy already, do you really have the capacity for this?

Yeah, it’s not what you want to hear when you’re full of the magic of a new idea, with light bulbs going off above your head and stars shining in your eyes…. But they are good questions.  They are questions that are designed to protect you, keep you on a sure and steady path, and help you succeed. In fact, these are the questions that skeptics use to say ‘I love you’.

So if you ever get hit with a barrage of these, remember to take a deep breath and say “Thank you!”

It’s really a matter of timing

When a seedling is really young, it needs water – but not too much! And even before the water, it needs to be planted in some good fertile soil. It needs nourishing.

When an important idea is first born, it is often tender and not fully formed. Like a small child or a tiny seedling, it needs nourishment first. You don’t want to drown it with hard questions before it’s even started out.

So do yourself a favour and give yourself time to celebrate and flesh out your brilliant plan a little, before you expose it to the elements.

If you really do want to share it with a beloved (skeptic) friend, it can help to just let them know that this idea is tender, and that you would love their great, practical, down-to-earth, what-might-go-wrong kind of input… tomorrow. For now, you just want to hear them say “Wow, great idea!” and then go make some notes somewhere on all the questions it raises for them.

Later, when you’re feeling more confident, you can ask your skeptic friend to tell you the holes they see in your plan, and together you can look for solutions that might answer some of those important questions that they’ve raised.

In this way, I’ve learned to love the skeptics in my life for “keeping me honest” and grounded, and helping me firm up the foundations of my bright ideas… What about you?

Posted in Emotions in Business, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
  • Ajax CommentLuv Enabled 7203bf45faa96ab3c3766c67124856a6
  • Yollana Shore