Soul Biz Labor Pains are those contractions and pressurized passages that accompany expansion and growth of your business. And you are the vehicle for the work, as the soul business owner. I loved hearing from some of you about how part 1 of this article hit home, or was “on the nose”. Now we’ll move from what soul labor pains and contractions look like (part 2), to what they might mean to you and your business…Next time we’ll cover what to do.
So there you are. You had a great week with your business last week. You were all excited about the next steps. And then, you wake up Monday and, to quote the Runes, my favorite divining tool these days, “you may be experiencing an unaccustomed drain on your energy…”
Darn, you were sailing. It was going well. What happened to the motivation? The inspiration? And more importantly, what the heck does this mean? Maybe all that positive ju ju was just you kidding yourself? Maybe your business is playing tricks on you, kind of like a fatal attraction boyfriend intent on driving you a little crazy? Maybe, maybe, maybe you’re not quite cut out for this …
There can be messages afoot during the contractions that want to stop you or slow you down. And sometimes, you do have to stop. Stopping can be good. Then again, if you look at any system of growth and development, contraction is expected and natural. Out of the 25 Runes for example, a good quarter are challenging or disruptive energies. And, that’s not counting when you pick one reversed.
Sometimes you won’t have a clue until it passes… sometimes you’ll have a eureka! moment right in the middle of it. Certainly you can both search for clues, and get still. You’ll learn to work with these challenges more easily with each passing … ouch! And sometimes it won’t be the challenges that are hard – it’s the smooth sailing! Go figure…
For now, here are a few things these contractions and shut downs along the path can mean:
WHAT THE SOUL BIZ WHOA NELLIE MIGHT MEAN::
* You’re moving too fast, and could miss, or steamroll over, some important learning
* You need to clear a limiting belief before you expand to the next level (it will get in the way)
* You need more self care – you’re plum tuckered out, not having enough fun or creative juice
* Something else is off or some integrity gap needs attending to (addictions, relationship work)
* Your foundational biz systems need an infusion of more support or revamped design
* You need some refinement or training either creatively, in your biz or in your soul work
* It might be a project or direction isn’t quite right or some other adjustment is needed
* There is some divine timing and course correction or other celestial rearrangement afoot
According to the rune Isa, or Standstill – the reason this happens may be to loosen you from “old outmoded habits”. There can be a process to submit and surrender to, which can involve a bit of clearing, before another big expansion, or a rebirth.
Gay Hendricks, in his book, The Big Leap, talks about meditation and the challenge of returning to awareness. You never stop “losing it”. You will always space out from your focus while meditating – many times a minute, no matter how many years you’ve been practicing. What’s important, he notes, is the quality of your return. Is it with kindness to the self?
Many of my clients work with intention to create more of what they want, in life and business. One challenge there is that you can get a picture of what you want, in a way that inhibits the universe’s creativity in answering your request. This is why it’s crucial to know what the higher quality is of something you want, and what the features would be, and then – let it go.
For example, you may want to own land. The higher quality is like peace, calm groundedness. The features are room for raising food, animals, and being off the grid. Ideally, you fill out this vision as clearly as you can, in essence giving the universe a model of it. And then you let that whole thing go. It’s best to be willing to be surprised.
It’s amazing how many of us think it will look a certain way and require these steps, or that presentation, and all of a sudden, our desire is fulfilled in a completely unexpected way. So maybe you thought you needed to own land, but the essence/higher quality, and features get delivered to you in unexpected ways.
Next time we’ll talk about what you can do in these head and heart squeezing passages – how you can hone in on the signal and the meaning of your particular contraction. You are welcome to send me examples. Meanwhile, Hint: tenderness and kindness to yourself are a huge part of the work.
My best to your business,
Denise Barnes