It’s apparent how deadly miserable “grind” culture is to our spirits and our health. Those preaching you have to push-push-push all the time or you’ll fall behind… that’s a siren song calling you to your own destruction.
However, the other extreme, just waiting for the inspiration, or working very, very little, doesn’t seem to do it either.
My Sufi teachers emphasized how important it is to be aware of the “middle way.” For me, as I walk in this world, people are so attracted to extremes, that the middle way is often really underappreciated.
What this means in this case is something very simple, but sometimes difficult to stay awake to: discerning when it’s truly time to push or work hard.
I take my cues from the natural world, where there’s a time for planting and intense growth, then a time for resting and maintaining, and then a time for harvest, and then another time for rest.
Plus, the miniature versions of these cycles that happen month by month.
So, for instance, we had a client who was launching a new offer. It was a lot of work to get it off the ground. Writing the sales page, reaching to ask people to help share the good word, creating messages for email and social media, setting up the offer itself… it’s a lot of work. It’s a big project.
Is it worth it? There’s not a blanket statement here that applies to everyone. For this client, in the phase their business was in, and their state of health and resiliency, yes, it was important and worth it.
Still, even with that, I encouraged them to stay awake to when they felt “done” in the moment, and needed to rest, and when they were inspired to get back to it. Sometimes, even a healthy “push” feeling.
What I mean by that is it’s not always a joyful inspiration. The other day, I was in a terrible mood in the morning. I walked out in the woods with the dogs, brought a shovel with me, and proceeded to do some digging, expanding a small hand dug pond we’re creating.
That work sweated the bad mood out of me, and I felt great at the end. But, I needed to “push” to get there.
Sometimes, we can feel the rightness of something, and that “rightness” doesn’t always feel joyful and easy. It also doesn’t feel like the overbearing voices in our heads telling us, “You better get to work or you’re doomed!”
Instead, it’s a real sense of, “Ah, this is what’s being asked of me in this moment. I can answer that call.”
Operating at the micro scale, or at the macro scale. Meaning, what do I do in this moment, and is this the big project that I’m being called to take on over the next weeks?
Here’s where we see the difference between the deadly toxicity of hustle culture, versus the organic rhythm of life: what happens when the project completes? Do we think we need to maintain that high pitch of work?
Or, is it time to rest? To integrate? To drop to a lower level of activity?
And, how often do these big projects come along? Nearly constantly? Or only a few times per year?
Here’s another little nugget: when you rest, there is a different part of you that can become active. The dreaming. The part of you that is aware of the unseen subtle world around us. The bubbling up of creativity, inspiration, and deep care. With your hands off the reins, guidance can come to you much more easily.
I’m inviting you today to really challenge yourself around your relationship to hustle culture, whether you are swept into it and working too hard, hurting yourself in the process. Or, whether you are in rejection of it, but also, accidentally, in rejection of any intense projects that the heart of your business may in actuality be calling you to.
Try stopping in this moment, and just breathing into your heart. Is Love available even here? Is the Divine present even here? What is your relationship to your business? What are you being called to in this moment?
Here in York County, Pennsylvania, gardening is really ramping up in a serious way. There’s definitely some push happening that feels right.
What do you find here, in your relationship to the toxic culture, in your heart, in your business?
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
From my client Mary Shields, about the upcoming eclipse.
I’ve known Mary for years, and she does really powerful healing work. She offers this unique thing she calls Attunements, and it’s a way to be attuned to the energies that are in flow right now.
With the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, she’s offering an attunement on April 7.
If you feel any curiosity, take a look and see if it’s for you:
Mary Shield’s Total Eclipse of the Heart attunement
She’s also offering an attunement for another event on April 21. The year is filled with these events, and being attuned to them can only help your flow. You may want to be on her list so you know about them.
p.s. Can I recommend my book? (It’s just a book…)
Grind and hustle versus having an open heart for open doors in your business is a theme (with different metaphors) that I speak to strongly in Heart Centered Business: Healing from toxic business culture so your small business can thrive.
If you are drawn to this work, get the book. It’s just a book, not very expensive, and recently someone told me, “I’m reading your book slowly, I’m savoring it…”
I wrote it with as much beauty and love as I could pour into it from my heart. We deserve business books that are infused with beauty and love.
To buy it, go to any online book retailer, (If you’re in the U.S., I like bookshop.org)
If you do purchase, please do me the favor of leaving a review. It makes a real difference in how well the book does.
p.p.s. Do you have a group I can speak to?
I’ve been on a lot of podcasts since September, on this virtual book tour. While that is continuing, I want to be offering more. By that I mean, if you have a group, organization, community, list, who would like to have a free training from me, I’m happy to do that for your group.
It would be pain free on your side- we can do all the technical hosting. And, I’m not needing the group to huge. I’m happy to present to smaller groups as well.
If you’re curious, just hit reply, and we can explore what works for your group.
