HOW TO HELP YOUR SPIRITUAL BUSINESS THRIVE
HOW TO HELP YOUR SPIRITUAL BUSINESS THRIVE
By SARAH ALEXANDER
Do you run a spiritual business? Or perhaps a business that really comes from your heart? More and more of us sense we are being guided to follow our sense of purpose and passion and start our own small businesses.
These businesses have, at their heart, a desire to serve others. They also allow us to feel a sense of fulfilment from the work that we are doing. We have been told that if we follow our heart, abundance and all good things will flow to us and yet that is often not the case. What we experience, in contrast, is that it is hard to thrive running such a business, despite the positive intentions behind it.
Let’s look at the reasons why.
Thriving in business starts with your personal definition of thriving. For some, it is purely monetary gain, financial wealth or being perceived as a success in the world. For others, it includes definitions such as expressing the truth of who they are through their work and all that they pursue, balancing time spent “doing” their business projects with time spent “being” in their business, allowing their creative minds to generate new ideas on the way forward, enjoying positive relationships with all of their clients, suppliers and competitors, and having a genuine desire to serve them all, feeling a sense of energy, vitality, happiness and fulfilment from their work and running all aspects of their business being guided by the Highest and Best in them, their True Self.
To achieve all of these definitions of thriving requires two things of us. Firstly, our willingness to make an inner connection with ourselves, and secondly, our intention to make a conscious connection with our True Self in all that we do. Our True Self is connected to the Highest Mind and Intelligence of all, our Spiritual Intelligence. Some may call this source of Intelligence the Christ Mind, the Buddha mind, the mind of Mohammed or Krishna or the mind of your Higher Self.
When we take the time to access this Intelligence we can receive creative ideas and inspiration for all aspects of our business. These ideas come from beyond the bounds of our own limited thinking and intellect. This Intelligence wants us to thrive, to be happy and fulfilled and wants to support us in our success. This Intelligence knows the Truth of who we are, all of our talents, gifts and skills and all that we are here to be, to do and to have. This source of Intelligence can also see a far bigger picture of our lives and the lives of all those others we are to connect with on our journey through life.
In my book “Spiritual Intelligence in leadership: From Manager to Leader in Your Own Life”, I describe connecting to this Intelligence in this way:
To connect with this intelligence and be the leader in your life or the leader in any capacity actually requires only one thing: that you are able at any given moment to shift out of the thinking of the mind, regardless of what you are doing, and into that place of stillness and awareness that can be found within. This stillness has to be accessed through the vehicle of the present moment, so that you enter into a moment-to-moment awareness of yourself, your inner essence and what is happening for you right now. This stillness becomes the backdrop for all that you do in your life. From here your thoughts take on a new quality, a higher, purer vibration, and, in turn, so does your life and your lived experiences as you create your life from this powerful place.
The starting point for thriving in business is always making clear the intention to do so. From there, have a clear understanding of what thriving is for you and how you personally define it. Once you have that clarity and intention, allow your own Spiritual Intelligence to guide you from within to that place of thriving.
Here are four areas for consideration:
- Acknowledge that your business will challenge you to grow in those areas where your personality is less developed. For me, being visible has always been a challenge, as I embraced being invisible as a result of my childhood experiences. For me to thrive, I have to focus on my personal and business visibility. Often this takes me out of my comfort zone and puts me in situations where I have to go beyond the self-images of my ego. When I do this, I gain benefits both in terms of new clients and the feelings of satisfaction from breaking my own personal barriers and limitations.
- Ensure that you act in alignment with your business message in all aspects of your life. For me, this means using Spiritual Intelligence to guide every aspect of my life. It means taking the time to meditate, to be still, to listen to my inner guidance, to be present in all that I do, to come from a place of love and kindness in my interactions and, where I am unable to, to forgive both myself and others. What I experience is that the more I consciously work with my Spiritual Intelligence, the easier life becomes. I do still experience challenges, and I am able to move through them with a clear understanding of what the lesson is for me to learn.
- Be willing to ask your Spiritual Intelligence what it would like you to create, to express and to experience through your business. We have all been taught to set goals and aspirations that are in alignment with our own wants and desires, and we rarely stop to consider what the Higher Intelligence would want us to manifest. Meditate on these questions and see what answers you receive, recognising that your inner Intelligence has your thriving at heart. Once we have received specific guidance, we then have to take the action we are guided to and also recognise that our knowledge and experience of practically running a business must, too, come into play.
When I received answers to those exact questions, I imagined placing the seed of that creation in my body and with my soft focus and attention, I allowed them to germinate until they were ready to come to fruition in the world. I did this with my book “Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership.” When it was time to write the book, the writing flowed easily and naturally from that Intelligence within me.
- Know that your capacity to thrive effortlessly comes from your connection to your True Self. As you embrace the thinking of your True Self, you will know that you are the abundance you desire, you are the prosperity you wish to manifest and you are the wealth that you wish to receive. Your True Self is not dependent on the things of this world such as the money coming into your bank account to feel abundant, prosperous or wealthy. Your True Self knows that abundance and thriving, in all its forms, are already within you. If you are willing to go deep inside to what is described as the field of all possibilities, it is here that you can create your wealth in the world.
To conclude, when we make the choice to thrive in business, we do it easily and effortlessly through a conscious connection within. As we do this, we are guided to take actions in the world from a superior Intelligence to our own. The more we can trust this guidance and combine it with our existing knowledge to take us to the destination that is truly meant for us, the easier it is for us to thrive in business in all aspects of the word.
About Sarah Alexander
Sarah is an expert in Spiritual Intelligence. She has worked with 100s of business owners and leaders worldwide, guiding them to use their inner Intelligence to make the most of their life’s work. Sarah has used Spiritual Intelligence successfully to build her first business, which she sold in 2001. She then used it again to build her current business, which helps business executives, international sports competitors and entrepreneurs, become even more successful. ‘Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership’ is Sarah’s second book. Her first is ‘Spiritual Intelligence in Business: the Eight Pillars of 21st Century Business Success’ Both are available from Amazon, all good book retailers and www.sarah-alexander.co.uk