Business, home and belonging

Home is an elemental, foundational need in all of us. It takes tremendous spiritual connection, surrender and fortitude to not have that sense of home solidly anchored in place, in land, in people around us.

We yearn to depend on the land beneath, to arrive in a place of home and belonging. 

In this modern life we live, our sense of home is disrupted more than is helpful. Whether it’s a significant relationship breaking up, or moving from one place to another, sometimes long distances, for most of us, it shakes us.

Even more, the chaos and violence and overwhelm of the modern world, can create a deep sense of uncertainty, of lack of stability or safety in the world.

This all profoundly affects our sense of home.

Why does it shake us so much? My experience with spiritual work shows me that our hearts become entwined, with those we love, with creatures we love, with places we love.

To live in a place, even when it’s not the most nourishing or ideal, we can’t help but entwine our heart. When that’s shaken, our hearts are shaken.

How this often affects our business

While it is absolutely possible to sustain your business with these kinds of disruptions, it still takes a lot.

There is a certain solidity that clients depend on. They want to lean into us. When we aren’t standing on solid ground, it’s harder for them to lean in.

Although sometimes we have the chance to prepare, such as a planned move to another location, sometimes it happens without a lot of warning, when a relationship ends, or a relocation needs to happen for reasons outside your control, such as the place you’re renting being sold out from under, or weather-related damages.

How do you care for your business in a time like this?

There’s no magical solution here. Sometimes we just face what’s true, and walk through it with as much grace and presence as we can muster (which in some moments may not be a lot…).

But, what I mainly want for you is the gentleness and compassion for yourself when you are going through something like this. That it will affect you in more significant ways than you might realize.

When you have the ability, you may want to take time to ground into the land, to feel the earth under your feet, wherever you are and wherever you’re going. 

To breathe. To express gratitude. And to connect with the heart of your business. 

Your business has ground, too. Lineages of learning where you learned what you do, maybe even spiritual lineages. Take long moments when you can to allow the heart of your business to rest both into your heart and the heart(s) of any lineages it has.

That solidity can be very real for clients, and it can be a great reminder that just because you are personally being moved, doesn’t mean your business needs to be completely caught up in the storm itself.

This all applies even if your home and heart are stable right now.

Everything, everything is an expression of the Divine. And this means that anything can be a portal or grounding point for Divine connection, including your business.

It’s not meaningless that people sometimes dive into work when things are rough in other parts of their life. To feel useful, to feel effective, and to soothe the nervous system with something a little more predictable and significant can be really, really helpful.

You do support your business, and your business can help be the earth for you. Which in turn helps to stabilize the business.

Is this even real?

I think you may already know the answer to that. There is a reality to this that is really real, in the spiritual realms.

There is also a reality to this that is about tending to our inner selves, so that we can engage with the world more beautifully. 

When we’re grounded in appreciation, gratitude, love, when we feel a sense of belonging and care, then our marketing, our systems, our offers, all come out differently. They come out more beautifully, more grounded, more connecting.

They emerge and express with more love.

The details do matter, which is why I will never stop teaching the details of marketing and other aspects of business.

But without home, without the heart, those become empty husks. Tending to our sense of home makes the outer work of business easier and more beautiful.

with love,

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