Although my social media feed is full of political posts from me, I have not spent a lot of time on politics in these Wednesday emails, for a couple of reasons.
One is that I am not an organizer or an activist, and there are plenty of places to stay informed that are more reliable than me. You signed up to be supported in your business, not to be on a political news email list.
A second one is that the various crises in the world already steal a lot of time from our attention and ability to focus on our work in the world, and I didn’t want to contribute to that. I want your business to succeed in beautiful ways, and I want you to have the focus and attention you need.
And I do want to talk about business, but I want to set the stage, first.
It’s really clear that there are so many destabilizing dynamics. Fascism is incredibly alive in the United States, where we threaten our long-time allies to conquer and steal their territory, to hordes of masked, poorly-trained, armed thugs roaming our streets attacking people on the basis of their skin color alone. We have U.S. officials openly quoting Nazi slogans. It’s beyond terrible.
And on top of all of this is the climate crisis and various other polycrises that we, and our nervous systems, need to deal with.
Fascism, and other overly simplistic controlling beliefs like rigid, literalist Christianity or Islam, etc, rise in these moments because their response to fear and grief is to try control an uncontrollable world. They try to bring certainty to the inherently uncertain experience of being alive. They fail completely, and cause a lot of pain and suffering in the process.
Deep breath. Sigh.
On this stage we find ourselves standing upon, there are just three things in this moment I want to share.
Grief, anger, fear… are all sacred responses.
We have always taught this at Heart of Business, because I learned, painfully, through my own spiritual journey. And I have come to embrace the sacred within these all-too-human responses, and use them as a doorway to connect with love, rather than to turn away from them.
Control is incredibly expensive and takes more energy than exists.
The reason that these systems of control ultimately fail is because of how unsustainable their efforts are. In a country like the United States, with a population of 350 million widely diverse human beings, from many different cultures, spread out over an incredibly geographically diverse landscape… it will be impossible to control the population through force.
This is why resistance, not complying in advance, is so important.
It’s also why sophisticated systems of control in business ultimately fail. Simplicity, relationship, deep care are what drives us. Some systems are really helpful, if they help us be alive within the work we do. But if they are constricting us, extracting from us and others that which we do not consent to, they cannot be healthy.
Our joy, our love, our compassion, strength and wisdom, are precious resources to be tended to.
Our hearts are an artesian well, where the water wells up from the ground without needing to pump it. But, we do have to stop dumping rubble on top of it.
We need to be informed, we need to share and hear the stories from other humans, so we know what is happening.
And, we need to cultivate silence within our hearts. Not the silence of not speaking up, but the silence of deep listening, of remembering the Source within, of allowing ourselves to be filled with, and then moved by, love and joy.
With all of this, please do not neglect your business.
Farmers cannot ignore the fields, and when they are disrupted during critical times, it’s disastrous.
Your work, your business, is critical for your clients, and for you, and for our local communities. Make sure you continue to tend to your work, with the love and care you have for this world.
Sometimes, when we are full up, it can be helpful to have some grounded things to do. And so, I want to point to a few articles and videos that might speak to your business where it is right now.
Why your marketing may be pushing people away.
How simple design mistakes lose you clients.
Please stop trying to prove your expertise
What your clients need versus what they’ll buy
Nine thoughts from 20 years of writing sales pages
Avoiding the heavy burden of explaining what you do
Checking in on potential clients without being pushy
Be gentle with yourself, be kind with others, and let’s care for each other deeply.
with love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
