“I feel like my business is a joke” Vanessa* said to me when I first spoke to her. Like many women, she had started the journey of her own business, inspired by her calling. She knew this work is what she is called to do, loves to do it, and gets phenomenal results from her clients, yet she was not being financially rewarded for her work.
Being in business for yourself is an enormous personal growth adventure. Without spending the time looking deep inside yourself, basically you going to stagnate and not get very far. One thing for sure, you are going to come up against all your personal demons and need to confront them head on. I often feel like I have to get out there and slay a dragon before I can move past the next block.
Yesterday I took a “Spiritual Journey” with my spiritual teacher, Joy. On this journey I was on my path, walking, exploring whatever was around me, enjoying the views and the experiences. When suddenly before we as a massive block, I wasn’t surprised. A great big giant rock sitting on the path that I could not get over or go around. Joy asked me what I wanted to do with the rock. I wanted to blast it out of the way. “I’m sick of this rock”.
Joy suggested that I try something else. This is my experience and if I wanted I could just ask the right to be light so I could shift it or levitated it. OK, I thought. So I spoke to the rock, where do you want to be? What do you want to do?
My rock no longer wanted to be a block for me, it wanted to be useful. It wanted to be moved to somewhere beautiful where it can bring value. So I picked up my rock and moved it under a waterfall. Here the rock can assist in cleansing water. Now my rock was transformed from being a block to being cleansing. I sat under the waterfall and allowed what had been blocking me to now cleanse and release me from my past.
I found a beautiful message in this, that obstacles, when given the opportunity, can be beautiful and transform us in ways we just can’t imagine. My spiritual journey was (and is in life) a lot about removing the blocks, climbing over obstacles, to reach to the beauty and richness of life. When I reached a mountain top and was able to look out on a beautiful sunset, surrounded by the beauty and awe of a scene of the Snowy Mountain Range, I was able to appreciate that these obstacles really do add to the beauty of life. They are there; we overcome them and reach new heights. How amazing is that.
This journey I took yesterday reminded me of the work I did recently with Vanessa. When we started working together, she had done a lot of work overcoming her own obstacles in life, but there was still this major block. She wanted to feel that she was taking her business seriously and that others took it serious.
The work that she does is amazing and really transforms people’s lives; however her money relationship was not healthy. As a result, her boundaries were shaky. She was going overtime with clients, giving discounts and not making enough to even pay herself.
Even with all the transformation work she had done, the blocks she had around her money issues were truly holding her back from enjoying her business and life. She had restricted her financial independence and was not living the full and abundant life she knew in her heart she was destined for.
Many women have guilt around money. They feel guilty for asking for it from clients, (and often their husbands or partners), guilty around raising prices, not earning enough and just using it for anything that they want and need. This certainly was plaguing Vanessa too.
These are major obstacles that do stand in our way along the path. Just like my ginormous rock that I hadn’t been able to get past. It’s there and it won’t budge until we face it head on and transform it into a thing of beauty. An obstacle transformed becomes something cleansing and of value to you. Because with every challenge comes a gift.
It really does take courage to face our obstacles and they can be scary, but when you do, you are your own hero. You are more empowered and inspired, you know that you can face the next thing that comes along and you are able to fulfil your own purpose in an even greater way.
Take a look at your current block, allow yourself to talk with it, what it is doing there? What would it like to be? And how can you move it? Like mine, it may just be as light as feather and want you to have a greater life.
As for Vanessa, we addressed her challenges with practical tasks and delved into the deeper obstacles that were holding her back. She completely shifted her money relationship from guilt-ridden to love and generosity. Her work is now valued by herself and clients. Finally Vanessa is paying herself and allowing her abundance to flow to her.
If you are ready to face your own demons, clear your own path to enable you to design freedom in your business and life, I am currently taking applications to work with me in my new program “Clearing the path to business and financial freedom”
*Vanessa is a pseudonym to protect her privacy.