How amazing would it be to live in a world where you felt completely accepted, for exactly who you are?

Imagine if the love and acceptance you felt for yourself, and from others, allowed you to uncover and reveal the hidden strengths, talents and gifts that you’ve always known you had, but never been brave enough to really share with the world.

Imagine how amazing it would feel as you began to share your deeper gifts with the world, to find yourself living on purpose, inspired, flowing and powering forward.

This is a world that is being created right now.

… By people like Meg Worden with her recent blog post, and Kristin Noelle with just about everything she writes… And they’ve inspired me to finally break the long silence that’s been deepening here on my blog and to write this post to you.

I was inspired by their willingness to be authentic, vulnerable and to show up in service anyway. I feel that this is a quality that the world is needing at this time. Our hearts are thirsting for this – to see each others humanness, and to meet it with courage, openness and compassion. Together. Yet it doesn’t make it any less scary to do.

Why I’ve held myself back…

This is a vulnerable post for me for a couple of reasons. One, like Meg, it’s been a long time since I wrote. That’s just a little but embarrassing because one of the things we teach over at Heart of Business is that the most powerful thing you can do to be in service to folks through your website or business, is to show up. Like, Consistently. So my fear of being judged as not practising what I preach has had me avoiding writing this post for a while. And that, of course, has just deepened the silence. Ah well.

My fears were kind of silly now I think about it. Because I also teach that as business owners we each need to find our own way, and to choose the activities that work for us and are appropriate to our circumstances. Until quite recently, I have had no need or desire to grow my business, as looking after my current business coaching clients, managing our land, showing up in our community, parenting two small kids and supporting a husband engaged in full-time work plus study is – well, that’s kinda enough for me!

But that brings me to the other reason for writing to you now. And the other reason why writing this is vulnerable. Amidst all that outer activity, I feel like I’ve been in a kind of emotional and spiritual pressure cooker. And I’ve been uncovering deeper layers of myself, seeing freshly my path and my purpose, and hearing a new calling to share more of who I am with you, and with the world.

It’s time to release those fears…

Releasing my own fears of judgment has been an essential step in revealing more of who I am to myself and others… In my experience, true letting go only works in the context of love and forgiveness. So this week, as a way of consciously letting go, I wrote this letter of love, apology and forgiveness to my own self.

I share it with you now in case it inspires you to do the same.

My precious heart.

 

Your nature is love – pure, devotional, unlimited, unbounded and free.

 

Yet I have tried to limit you. Please forgive me.

 

I have tried to limit you because I thought that it was not safe to express your fullness, depth and wildness in the world.

 

I have tried to limit you because I thought that if others saw how deeply you love, how unconditionally you surrender, how completely without reason you abandon yourself to the guidance of the Great Mystery…. Well, I was afraid that they would fear you. They might fear your unstoppable power and unknowable depths. And in their fear they would judge you. Judge me. I was afraid I would be ostracized… and deemed not worthy of my place as mother, lover, friend, teacher….

 

In my fear I forgot that the source of Love and Fear is the One source. And it holds me in the deepest safety and sees beyond all judgment.

 

Oh, my precious heart. I was afraid that if I let the fullness of your light, love and magnificent intelligence shine in the world, that you would surely guide me to unspeakable joy and great worldly success. And I was afraid that this success would make others feel insecure and would cause them deep suffering.

 

In my fear I forgot that in your Light is inspiration, and in your Love is compassion – a bridge of safety for those who feel insecure.

 

Please forgive me, my heart, for all the burdens I have unconsciously placed around your neck. I release them all.

 

You are free to be and express your unlimited nature. Your love and your light is needed in the world now. I need it. And I am blessed by it.

 

Thank you. I love you.

Thank you for reading this.

Simply by your presence and attention, you really are helping to create the space of openness, honesty and deep compassion that allows old wounds to heal and new gifts to surface.

Of course, if fear of judgment is holding you back from living deeply in some way, of bringing your gifts to the world, it’s probably in a different way to me… But I wonder if you could relate to the feeling of what wrote?

If you would like to share your story here in the comments, or in a private email to me, I welcome you.

And I invite you to stay tuned to this blog and my email updates as I find my true voice and new way of sharing from my deeper heart.

Love Yollana

This year, we bought a home in a sustainable living community in Northern New South Wales.

Six years ago, I was pregnant with our first daughter. At the time, we living in the inner city of Brisbane, yet even then we were dreaming of making a move to be living in community, closer to nature. I remember a particular weekend on the beach… Being pregnant created a kind of quickening within me – I knew that I wanted to bring our children up with easy access to natural environments where they could experience and explore the many gifts of the  natural world. On this particular weekend, I made a vow that we would make it happen!

Two years ago we moved to a rental house in a beautiful little bush oasis, a few minutes from the regional town centre, and began the search for our own place…

Our new home is a beautiful, hand-crafted home in a stunning bush location. Of course living so close to nature comes with it’s gifts as well as it’s challenges – snakes, tics, leeches, bushfires and mowing are the main ones that come to mind.

And the gifts – the wallabies and kookaburras, my eyes filled with green, the crickets that chorus with the frogs at night. Full moons and fireflies, bright bright stars and the deep quiet of home.

…And my daughter will start kindy at the local Steiner School next year where the value for raising children in harmony with the natural world is aligned with our own.

So… Here’s to a new home and a new beginning.

Here I am in my new home, filled with gratitude at all the blessings in my life.

As I was packing, I uncovered some vision boards that I made 6 and 12 months ago… It’s always amazing to see these and realize how ‘right on track’ I am.

When dreams don’t come true…

Yet I remember a time when I looked back on a vision that I had made twelve months earlier, and saw with dismay at how few of my dreams seemed to be actually coming about. So what was missing? Looking back now, I can see that there were three or four things that needed to be in place, in order for me to really appreciate what I had and create what I wanted: Alignment, Surrender, Patience and Gratitude.

Let me unveil these four for you.

Four-part Remedy for Broken Dreams

Alignment.

When I first started setting goals for the future and dreaming new possibilities for myself, I was more externally focussed than I am now. I was less connected to my own heart and soul. My vision board was more a reflection of what I thought I wanted, then what I truly deeply wanted. It needed to be in alignment with my deeper wishes… with my soul.

Surrender.

In order to move into closer alignment with my deepest desires, with what my soul was most longing to unfold in the world, I needed to surrender. Thankfully, life gave me plenty of opportunities. A ‘failed’ vision board was one of them. Watching other people’s wishes coming true, while my dreams appeared to remain unanswered was incredibly humbling, and it forced me, you could say, to keep letting go of who I thought I was, and surrendering to discover what my own soul was showing itself to be.

Patience.

When you witness other people’s success, it often appears to happen quickly and easily, leaving you wondering (even doubting) whether it will ever happen for you…

It’s a funny thing that. Many of the wonderful things that I enjoy in my life now appeared to come suddenly when they came, but were in fact decades in the making.

Just imagine if you had a dream to be able to eat homegrown apples from your very own g apple tree. There would certainly be a long process involved! Planning and acquiring the seed, preparing the soil, planting and watering and feeding the pot as it became a sprout, then a seedling then a small tree, perhaps replanting and continuing to nurture and nourish the growing tree until it finally matured enough, waiting for the season to turn… and then one day “Pop!”… ‘Suddenly’ an apple!

And just like an apple, a great dream can take a long time to come to fruition, but can appear suddenly when it comes.

So often, our dreams are actually coming to fruition, they are just on a different timeframe to what we had hoped or expected… Just because a fruit has not ripened yet, does not mean that the tree will not give ripe fruit.

Gratitude.

There’s no way to make a tree bear fruit before it’s ready. Yet if you have been noticing all your broken or unfulfilled dreams lately, then you might have been missing what has come to fruition. When you turn your attention to something whole and complete, something already accomplished… no matter how small…. you cultivate the state of grace and gratitude which draws like unto itself.

So there it is. The Remedy that I wish someone had given me all those years ago, as I reviewed my unfulfilled dreams and promises. The Remedy that I gift to you now.

May all your deepest dreams come true in 2012 and beyond.

Love Yollana

Here’s some inspirations for your soul and your business for this festive season, focusing on the qualities of love, trust and gentleness.

Shawn Gallaway, I Choose Love

This powerful song, I Choose Love, by Shawn Gallaway is – to me – an anthem for our times. It’s a reminder that in any challenge we are facing, and in the face of any fear or suffering, we still have the power to choose love.

At Heart of Business we’ve adopted the vision that every act of business can be an act of love. Would you like to join us in this journey?

Reflections: What would that mean for you to choose love throughout the festive season? What would it mean to choose love in your business?

Kristin Noelle, Trust Tending

Another great writer whose gentle voice shines forth with wisdom… Not to mention her gorgeous illustrations. Take a look at the Trust Tending blog for her reflections, conversations and art to nourish life beyond fear.

Trust is a powerful quality to cultivate in your life and business.

Reflections: Where do you struggle to trust? Where do you find the small seeds of trust growing? How would you water them?

Amy Palko, Less Ordinary Living

I recently downloaded Any Palko’s Less Ordinary Living: A collection of essays on life, yoga and femininity. I’ve only just started reading but I’m deeply touched by the beauty and soul in her writing. Do yourself a favour and download her beautiful book – her gift to you.

Reflections: I’m curious, are you writing in your business? Are you telling your stories? If you could speak from the soul, what stories would you and your business tell?

I hope you enjoy these November Inspirations for your soul and business. Take time to explore them and, if you feel inspired, please share your reflections in the comments below.

Love Yollana

Recently, a new Facebook friend wrote that he was busily, preparing for a public speaking opportunity where he would be presenting the message of his transformational book to an audience of over 800 people. Naturally, he was a little nervous!

I was instantly reminded of other times when I, my clients or friends had been in that same position.

Another friend rang me for help with her nerves the week before a presentation to a much smaller group, but they were a high-profile corporate audience… and, frankly, she wasn’t used to presenting to ‘men in suits’.

Whether it’s the number or type of people you are speaking too, or the content itself, lack of confidence can be uncomfortable and debilitating. And if you don’t get it handled, you can end up feeling disappointed. Like you missed an opportunity to really shine.

You know you have an important message to share, so how do you really shine with it, in the way that message deserves?

Why we stumble…

Here’s the thing. When you are in the spotlight, presenting an important message to an audience… Well, it’s a big energy. And if you don’t make time and space for it, that energy can feel uncomfortable. And that discomfort can have you racing through the presentation, disconnected from your own soul, your deeper message, and your audience.

And it can be kind of disappointing, because even if you say everything you wanted to say, you can still finish feeling empty if that deeper connection is not there with your audience.

What you can do…

So here’s what I do when I want my soul to really shine through when I’m speaking.

1. Give it sweet time… and silence. You know the saying “take your own sweet time”? Well, it feels good to do something in your own sweet time, doesn’t it? You feel joyful and happy, and others enjoy you more because of it.

For some reason, when public speaking, whether it’s in person or online in a teleclass or interview, it can often feel like you need to  ”keep talking” no matter what. To avoid that uncomfortable silence. You don’t. Give yourself permission to stop, be silent, take a deep breath. I learned this from Mark Silver at Heart of Business. I love listening to him in a live class or telecall, because he’ll actually make space for silence. If someone asks him a question, he’ll take his own sweet time to really connect with his own heart, before he answers. And then – of course – his answers just shine.

The other thing that happens when you take your time and make space for the silence, is that you give your audience space to show up in your own presentation. In the spaces and moments of silence they can more fully experience their own thinking and feeling responses to what you have spoken. Their own soul can begin to see itself in the light of what you are saying.  So even in the silence, you shine.

‎2. Get Grounded. I learned this from sacred musician Eliana Giliad from Voices of Eden, who shared with me how she always does this exercise before she sings… because it improves her stage presence and also her voice.

Very simply, close  your eyes and feel your feet. Breathe into your lower belly. Feel your energy going down into the earth, like tree roots, tapping into the soil. And feel the earth’s energy coming up into you, just like the nutrients travel up through the roots into the tree.  When you are rooted firmly on solid ground, you can hold the energy of your presentation more fully and easily. You can shine.

3. Remember the message. The whole reason you are giving this presentation is in order to share a deeper message that is important to you – and to your audience. You are just the messenger but the message that you bear will change people’s lives. So don’t worry about your own flaws or talents, just focus on the message you are offering.

‎4. Feel your invisible support. If you believe in guardian angels, know that yours will be with you that day. You also have the support of your ‘lineages’ (explanation) . Feel them stretching behind you, supporting you (like standing on the shoulders of giants).

Finally,  give yourself permission to take a moment for a good long pause at any point in your talk to repeat steps 1 to 4.

And 5., 6., 7., …?

These are the simple ways I know, by which you can access the confidence and presence that will allow you to really shine brightly in your business, as you share your deeper message with the world.

… But perhaps you even know of other ways? ….Perhaps you’ve also experienced some stumbling – or shining, as you went to bring your soul’s message to the world ? …Perhaps you’d like to share your response to this post in the comments below? (I’d sure love to read ‘em!)

Love

Most of all, what I am inspired by this month, is Love. This words has so many meanings, from the impersonal force that powers all creation, to the very deep and personal feelings between family, friends or lovers. I’m interested in how these many aspects of love can support the unfolding of a business. .. And particularly how the dance of the masculine and the feminine might support that. It has me delving back into the world of David Deida…

How does Love light your business? Do you notice the play of masculine and feminine there?

The World’s Biggest Summit

The Gorgeous Goddess Leonie pulled together over 100 inspirational speakers and artists from all over to share their wisdom with you through audios and videos. I’ve had the blessing of participating and you may already have seen my video. If not, you can still sign up for the Summit, and get the backlinks for every presentation… Then pick and choose what inspires you.

Just a couple of highlights: Personally, I loved watching Mollie Gordon talk about niches, and hearing Julia Cameron explain how she wrote the Artists Way for a romantic interest who wanted to shine as an artist, but lived overseas and couldn’t do her in-person class…

Have you also been watching and listening at the Summit? What inspired you and your business?

A Quote

 

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us”

~ Joseph Campbell (via We Are One on Facebook)

I was really getting a good rhythm here with my blog and newsletter, and then I lost it again. Why?

Well, I could make some excuse about buying a house, minding kids or some other thing. But it’s not that. The truth goes a little deeper.

I’ve been musing on the highest and best offering that I can make through this vehicle that is Soul Business for some time. I have so much to offer, and yet that offering is not static. I find myself  constantly feeling called to go deeper into who I am and how I work. And it seems that in the last month or so, this inquiry has been intensifying.

Turning Inward

This process has my energy turned inward, like a butterfly in a cocoon, that is doing the important work of gestating a new life…. I find myself drawn to a place of deep stillness, silence and rest.

I’ve written about rest here before. It’s common to try to skip over this place, or avoid it altogether. Especially in the business world. We know that if we focus always on productivity, action and getting things done, we will burn out. But often we wait until the very last possible moment to really engage the silence, the rest.

Perhaps we are afraid that we will never have the inspiration and energy again to move our business forward, when in fact, it is the opposite. Good, deep rest creates space for inspiration to arise.

The Rest of the Cycle

Last week, Arion from The Art of Living Awake, shared with me his understanding of how we move from stillness to divinely inspired action and back. His model is powerful and deserves more space than I can give it here, but the essence of it was that when we Rest deeply, we Fill with energy and nourishment… which becomes inspiration and motivation to Express from that which has filled us. Finally, we Gather the fruits of our expression in the world, and return to Rest to begin the cycle again.

In Joanna Powell Colbert’s powerful and exquisite tarot deck, The Gaian Tarot, there is a card called The Wheel. <- Just click on that hyperlink to take a look.  I love this card – both the image and the text that goes with it – for it speaks deeply to my body and being about this natural cycle from stillness to action, from rest to expression, from gestation to productivity… and back.

Tapping the Power of Rest

In a business, there may be actions that you cannot wait to complete.  There are two main steps to really engaging the power of rest in your life and business.

Step 1: Give yourself permission to rest. Sometimes we carry old messages in our bodies and beings, from school or earlier, messages that clearly tell us that resting is not okay. But it is. So give yourself permission to rest.

Step 2: Let go of the guilt and the ‘should-bes’. There are a million things you should be doing. Of course. You are busy. That’s why you haven’t let yourself  really rest before now. That’s why you won’t really rest for another…what… 25 years?

I’m joking, but seriously – there will always be things to do. Things we should do. If you’re ‘trying’ to do them, and it feels like pushing and struggling, and you can’t rest into the work that you are doing, then it is not their time. My best advice: Let go of the should-bes and Rest into Love.

Step 3: Lean into, trust and follow the cycle – especially at the point of stillness and rest. This is an ever-deepening process, yet it is inevitably fruitful. When you let go the conditioning that would have you “keep going”, and “push on through”… And when you finally do allow your being to rest – whether for 5 minutes, an hour, a week or a month. You will find a hidden energy, right there in the centre of stillness and silence.  And then the time of rest will pass, and a wellspring of energy and inspiration will come to lead you in your next step. Just as you gave yourself permission to rest, you can now give yourself permission to go, go, go! with the inspiration as it rises.

Here’s are some words of encouragement I recently wrote for a client who was struggling to trust in the rest.

Dear one, you are amazing.

You are perfect, exactly as you are. In a way, there is nothing else for you to do now, because you are already enough, you are already more than enough, and you have already made a difference in the world. You have already touched lives, inspired people, earned money, spent money on cool things… All that you would hope to achieve – you already have it!

So, relax, enjoy. You’re right on track. Let your body rest when it needs to rest, without a flicker of guilt or ‘should be’ doing something else.

And know that the divine is guiding everything you do, towards your own fulfillment. That the divine is having you rest. And the divine will also have you work, when it is time to work. So that even working will be restful…

Without deep rest, we cannot create from our soul’s deepest gifts.

Do you give yourself permission to rest?

Yet once it was written, I realized that it would equally apply to you, beloved reader. So, let me share with you something of the very special experience of love that I feel when I think of  you and the businesses that you steward.

Are you ready? Here goes…

It actually begins before the big bang. When  Love gave birth to particles and molecules that burst into matter and, eventually, this planet…  which grew air and water, rocks and trees, and eventually lifeforms that evolved into people… who evolved into societies, created cities, invented jobs and then the internet.

And this Love that gave birth to All That Is, still pulses through all that is… from the space before the universe burst into being, to the computer keyboard that I am typing on now. It all pulses with this love.

As do our hearts.

Having the ability to make stars shine, planets spin, and people grow, of course this Love can also help every individual find their place in life… The place that makes their heart sing and fills them with a sense of both fulfilment and purpose. And although we are each but a grain of dust in the enormity of Love’s creation, it still knows exactly what to do with us.

And this is why we begin with Remembrance. To bring your ear to your heart is like to bring your ear to the telephone receiver and hear the message that comes down the line… Through your heart, Love is calling your tune, and only you can dance to it. So listen closely, and dance, beloved!

Your business is but the steps and the stage for Love’s dance through you….

And what, you might ask, does all this have to do with the business of being in business?

Well, let me add this: When Love dances, all good things come to it – abundance in the form of peace, joy, connections, opportunities and also money. That is just how it works.

Check yourself and your business for parts that are not dancing with the Love that is within them…

Where are they struggling? What do they need?

Freeing these parts to dance - whether through your own personal practice, or through some kind of healing support –  is part of opening the flow of abundance in your life and business.

With Love,

Yollana

Anyways, I thought I’d break the spell with a post on the procrastination antidote. Because I’m guessing I’m not the only one who does this…. Am I?

The secret is Whoosh.

But before I tell you what that means, let me tell you how I discovered it.

Cleaning is another thing that I’ll avoid if I can. Being a Virgo, I used to be very neat and tidy, particular and organized… But with two small kids and a home business and my beloved at work fulltime… Well, let’s just say I’ve learned to befriend chaos.

So I was avoiding cleaning our bedroom (as you do… I mean, I do), until the dust on the dresser became so deep that I really couldn’t stand it anymore. Then, on the weekend, I finally washed down the dresser, sorted the clothes, vaccuumed behind the bed, and it was around the time that I was vacuuming the cobwebs off the ceiling that I felt it…

Whoooosh.

I suddenly realized that the room felt different. It’s like it was sparkling. In fact, it felt lovely. And not only that, I was having fun restoring the sparkle to this room… Where half an hour ago I’d been dreading the job, now I didn’t want to stop! I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to do something so fun and rewarding.

Have you ever dreaded a job, and dragged yourself over to do it, only to find that you soon got stuck into it and didn’t want to stop?

The Procrastination Antidote

The tasks we avoid – whether they be cleaning the kitchen sink, writing a blog post or calling a potential client – are a creative or transformative process of some kind. They involve making something appear, or disappear, or change.

The whooshing only comesafter you start doing the thing. It takes a little sweat to turn the energy of resistance into an energy of assistance. But once it turns, it gathers momentum, and then – Whoosh. The desired change is in progress.

So this antidote is not instant, in the sense that you don’t get the benefit before you start. But if you knew how wonderful it would feel – not when it’s all done and dusted – but when you’re half way through the task, just gaining your stride, right in the midst of your creative/transformative process … If you knew how wonderful it would feel, you’d be more inclined to get in and do it, wouldn’t you?

If you’re not sure, why not give it a try? Think about something you are avoiding doing. And think about how it will feel when it’s finished (nice, but boring)… Now think of how it will feel when you’re right there in the swing of getting it done, as you begin to tip the task into it’s transformation stage…

Whoosh.

Feel that?

Well, it worked for me… First blog post finished in a month! Now, how about you???

Kirtana

I’m super-blessed that one of my favourite spiritual singer/songwriters, Kirtana, is visiting Australia this month, performing in Sydney, Byron Bay and Melbourne. I’m looking forward to her concert – if you’re a local, please join me! And if you live elsewhere, enjoy this!

Open your heart… The divine is calling you.

Need I say more?

How to Build a Community Poster

by Karen Kerney of  Syracuse Cultural Workers

Turn off your TV*Leave your house*Know your neighbors*Look up when you are walking*Greet people*Sit on your stoop*Plant Flowers*Use your library*Play together*Buy from local merchants*Share what you have*Help a lost dog*Take children to the park*Garden Together…

The How to Build a Community Poster connects us with the essence of living together on this precious planet that we share… Incorporating these concepts into your life is a refreshing break from the give-take, transaction-basis of the business world… And incorporating these concepts in your business (without going broke) is a creative challenge worth pondering!

Click here to see the gorgeous poster that inspired this movement and here to buy one

Ooooh… and while you’re at it, check out the How to Build a Globnal Community Poster too!

Think of no one as “them”*Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety*Talk to strangers*Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels*Listen to music you don’t understand*Dance to it*Act Locally*Notice the workings of power & privilege in your culture*Question consumption….

Wishing you and your business an inspired month!