photo by Erin Brimmer

There is no passion to be found playing small –
in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

~Nelson Mandela

_________________________

This past weekend, I had an amazing experience. I don’t know how to describe it to you other than to say that it shattered any divisions I have held in my mind around the concepts of

 “business”
  “creativity”
   “spirituality”
    “manifestation”
     “community” and
      “love”

as being separate from one another.

In two very rich and full days I got to experience every one of those qualities. Was I at a meditation retreat? No… I was attending a marketing conference called “Power Boost Live” (PBL) in Phoenix, organized by Pamela Slim (author of Escape from Cubicle Nation and a fantastic coach and mentor to many small business folks).

I signed up for PBL back in May, after taking a course from Pam on how to hone my teaching skills. As a result of that class, I was inspired to design and offer my “Fall in Love with Your Work” e-course. I wasn’t quite sure why I signed up… but my intuition was that I needed to be there.

Now I understand why.

Let me backtrack a little. As I’ve shared with the folks going through “Fall in Love with Your Work,” all my life I’ve been on a quest to find or create work that I love. Usually I’ve done this in the world of nonprofit organizations.

While I have worked for myself for the past four years, I have held assumptions about “business” as being impersonal and purely profit-driven. As a result, I haven’t been very assertive about developing my business. In short, I can see how I’ve equated nonprofits with heart-based work and for-profit business as lacking that.

That belief got totally blown out of the water this past weekend.

Far beyond the very practical skills and information I gleaned at PBL, something profound happened. I witnessed a roomful of people who loved what they do and cared about each other – and whose businesses are a way of expressing their passion and care.

Together we learned about things like mailing lists and core product offers, but we also helped each other to see that “our message is our gift,” that each one of us has something unique to share with the world. 

Pam Slim is a remarkable person – in addition to having been a corporate manager and trainer, she has a background in community development and brings that approach to coaching and mentoring her clients.

I want to share with you some of the flavor of Pam’s spirit with these nuggets that I gleaned from this interview she did with Mike Ambassador Bruny, another bright soul who I met at PBL:

• The solution to any problem is to create, whether that is creating a business, a social service organization, or something else. (And I would add: this can also mean creating space for people to see a problem in a new way. This has certainly been my experience of what meditation practice can do for me.)

• We are all equal, we just have different levels of experience. Everyone has wisdom to share, you don’t need to be a ‘star’ to have something special to offer. We all benefit from each other’s experience.

• The overall health of our economy affects everyone. We are in an ecosystem, and a key part of our success is in helping others to thrive as well.

• Leadership – we all have it. It’s about realizing that we have everything we need, and if we don’t personally have it, someone in our community does.

• Your message is your gift. Share it. If you run a business, it comes in the form of the service that you provide, which in some way makes someone’s life better and/or solves a problem for them.

• It’s important to execute on your plan and to feel responsibility for what you’re doing, because what you’re doing has meaning. Positive pressure is important – it matters if you do or don’t deliver on your potential… it matters to the people who love you and to your community.

The conference ended with a powerful drumming circle. Then Pam’s husband Darryl, who is Navajo, gave us a beautiful talk about seeding, nurturing, and watering what we learned during our time together so that it grows and develops. I am offering this post as a way of doing that.

Everything about the Liberated Life Project is intended to support you (and me) to let go of limiting beliefs and step into a more expanded and loving way of being in the world.

I am grateful I received that medicine myself this past week. I never would have guessed it would come in the form of a “business” conference, but life has a way of pulling cosmic tricks like that!

And as if all that wasn’t enough, when I got back home from Phoenix, a wonderful email was waiting for me (and all of the attendees) from Pam. Her five-year-old daughter, Rosie, who had been hanging out during the entire conference, wanted to make a video for all of us “Power Boosters.” I want to share it with you because it’s so full of wisdom (and sweetness)… it’s Rosie’s guidance for how to handle negative thoughts that may come up for us:

____________________

Enjoyed this article? Want to get posts from the Liberated Life Project delivered to your in-box? Become a member of “Team Liberation” and you’ll also get a free e-book: “31 Quotes for Living a Liberated Life.”