Why even go on?

Beloved,

Over the last year, five years, twenty years that I’ve been doing this, world events have caused me, and our clients, to keep asking, “Why even do this?”

I mean, no matter what kind of work you or I do, it’s a small drop in the bucket, globally speaking. Meanwhile wars rage, climate change is ignored by the powers that be, wildland fires roar across landscapes, violence is being done to many, many people. My heart aches, my soul grieves. I find myself crying or raging in moments.

I’m not an activist organizer, meaning I’m not the one who will call for a general strike. But when a general strike comes, as it has in France, or in Taiwan, I’ll be in the streets for sure.

In our westernized culture, we’re immersed in high drama. Over the December holidays, my family and I binge-watched the Netflix series The Flash. Yes, we have eleven year old twin boys. We also went to arcades, went roller skating, and did other fun things.

Watching more than a season of a show like The Flash over a couple of weeks gave me a real appreciation for the level of dysfunctional drama that is entertainment. Several times my wife Holly and I would yell at the screen, “Just tell the truth! What the heck?”

My point is that we’re raised to expect life to be dramatic. Full of cliff-hangers, and dramatic moments.

But that’s not how a life worth living, or a business worth building, is developed. There are high moments to be sure. But more often, for Holly and myself, it’s a moment of sweetness while preparing dinner. Or me sitting watching one of my sons so focused as he paints a model car his grandparents gave him, and marveling at who he is becoming.

Simple moments.

Developing your business in the midst of what is surely a traumatic, dysfunctional global mess is a part of the sweetness that is available to us. It’s a part of how resilience is created.

There’s been a movement called The Transition Network, which holds that one of the most important things we can do is build resilient, local communities and economies, so that as the global corporate infrastructure crumbles under its own weight, there’s something meaningful, something workable already in place. So we’re not scrambling in chaos to put something together.

Did you know that in the U.S. at least, and I suspect in most places, in the year 1900, over half the population was self-employed? The world was also much less industrialized, and much more decentralized.

Planting gardens, learning simple skills like canning food, and wrapping your arms around developing a human-sized business are some of what will carry us through whatever comes next, even if the economy (hopefully) looks radically different.

Plus, here’s a bonus: if you have a working business, you have a LOT more flexibility to join in community efforts at creating resilience, whatever your flavor of engagement, whether with racial justice, food security, or climate change, or… and it’s all needed, woven together.

Take heart, beloved! Do the simple things that bring pleasure, that support you, that help you and your business to thrive.

Together, we’re weaving something beautiful, something that will hold us in the chaos and change.

With love and fierce strength and gentleness,

Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.

P.S. The Heart of Money Transformational Journey beings next week.

If you’ve been on our list, you’ve been hearing about it since December. We’re in the final days before it starts, and I only offer it once per year, at pay from the heart pricing.

Money has always existed, humanity has used currency of indirect exchange (money) in many different ways for thousands of years. We can do this in a healthy way.

In order to dare to conceive and build a healthier, more just economy, let’s start by having a healthier relationship with money right now.

And isn’t your business easier to run when you’re not paralyzed or overwhelmed by money fears?

Check it out. Join us for this nine week journey. Nourishing pre-work is available right now, and the first live call is next Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Click: The Heart of Money Transformational Journey