Braxton Hicks contractions are a type of “false labor” pain pregnant women have, that according to WEB MD http://www.webmd.com/baby/labor-signs, are “your body’s way of getting ready for the “real thing.” How cool bodies are! And guess what – your soul business can have labor pains and contractions, during the cycles of growth and expansion.
Would it surprise you if your soul was just as miraculous as the body? Imagine if contractions, or discouraged passages, of the soul business kind were your soul’s way of prepping you for new levels of being and success.
Just like seeing the glass as half full, contraction before expansion may be a good way to frame the tightening, pressurized part of the cycle of growth. I mean, imagine a seed in the ground, brrreaaaakkking through its shell, sttrrreeeeeching up through the earth, finally rreeeaaaching light. Phew! It does sound a bit labor intensive there, hmm?
Well just as no woman in her right mind would say birth is a breeze, soul business owners are helped in understanding that the growth of a business involves some pressure and pushing. There will be ebb and flow, inhale and exhale, and other hip shaking gyrations of the dance. Contractions and expansions will happen many times in the course of your business.
It’s just that crazy thing called creation – on this planet in particular. In that time before tricorders, the magic wand depicted in Star Trek that was a iphone, scanner, hologram creator, and healer, all in one.
NO, YOU’RE NOT CRAZY OR LOST, AND YOU WON’T BE STUCK FOREVER IN THAT BUD SHAPE…
…though it may feel like endless stuckness at the time. The nature of cycles of growth and meaning, just like pregnancy, are unique rides for each of us. Just like pregnancy, you can get knowledge about some of what to expect, and how others experienced things. But all the details, the symptoms, the whys and hows are often colored by your unique soul mission, and where you are on that journey.
Never mind the fact that you are often healing lifetimes of weird money karma and bad business practices. Welcome to the 2012 portal! Glad you are aboard.
Let me name a few bullets here that can provide some guidance. I’ll elaborate on this idea in next week’s article, and give you links to the parent article as new bits are added.
WHAT SOUL LABOR PAINS / CONTRACTIONS CAN LOOK LIKE
* Zero motivation, high fatigue – you just can’t face another day in your business
* Loss of passion for the plan that made sense just a few days/hours ago
* Confusion, questioning of your plan, wondering if you should scrap the entire thing
* Self-flagellation for *not being productive * not having it more together * etc.
* Feeling a lack of worth, or an intensity of your limiting belief (I’m flawed, not good enough, smart enough, don’t have what it takes, etc.)
* Questioning of the breakthrough/great business idea you just had last week
* Fear and doubt that you’ll ever be able to pull off success, profit, making a difference
* Opportunity disguised as loss – a real loss of someone, or something, you hold dear
* Endless distractions and resistance to taking the next step
* Yeah, no fun in sight at these stages of the game
I often see contractions in the process of clients establishing their crucially important business portal – the entrance way, the shingle if you will, for their business. There is something huge about doing this in a clear way – maybe especially for light workers. Having a name and brand and target market, a niche, and naming the service highlight you’re an expert on – seems to push big buttons for many of my clients. I’ve seen it for myself too, as I’ve re-branded (or refined my branding message and who I serve). I’ll share some of these stories in future articles.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
I find the book, Creating Money, by S. Roman and D. Packer, a great support for the process of creating your life’s work. It’s one of those books that seems to have many layers of meaning embedded in it. I just keep it nearby and read it intentionally (i.e., find a chapter that relates to the current situation) – and also just open it and see where I land at other times. Here are a few quotes – the first intentional. The second one I let spirit share, just opening at random.
1) “Remember, there is a period of inner work before changes take place. You may be changing your thoughts, reevaluating your life, observing things from a new perspective, and gathering the energy needed to make a change. The greater the outer changes you want to make, the greater the inner changes that must be made first.” Page 155 (The inner changes – are what the second bullet above refers to.)
2) “As you follow your higher path, the more you will find everything working in miraculous and easy ways. This is not to say that you won’t be challenged, for challenges help you to gain strength and confidence. Your dreams will come true as you follow your feelings of joy, delight, and self-love.” Page 67
Sounds good, I know. Feels pretty stuck and slow though. So while you’re in slo mo, remember, these are also good times to give yourself credit for all that you have gotten through and cleared – to get as far as you are now. This is a major major achievement friend, regardless of where it goes from here.
Next time we’ll talk about what contraction phases can mean, and what you can do in these squeeze, breathe, and PUSH moments. Until then, I wish you great tenderness toward yourself and your soul’s growth process.
Blessings and big, deep breaths,
Denise Barnes