Owning a business is a lot of work.
Almost everyone knows that. This is especially true if we consider ourselves spiritual entrepreneurs. We balance on the tightrope between corporate reality and ethereal realization.
We take our spiritual gifts, and we turn them into money-generating spreadsheets. While at the same time, many of us have to deal with backlash from friends and family, or sometimes even complete strangers.
Some people firmly believe that one should never capitalize on their spiritual gifts. And they are perfectly entitled to that opinion, of course. But if we can shift our perspective; everything changes. Instead of thinking of what we do as capitalizing we should think of it as blossoming—allowing our spiritual gifts to move outward into the world and generate incoming positive energy as well. This incoming positive energy can certainly be described as income.
There is an energy exchange that must go on for things to truly grow. Everything in this world is a cosmic dance. A duality, if you will. When we push, we must pull. What goes up must come down. When we receive, we must give. And of course, vice versa.
There is a reason people tend to generate more money-energy when they are spiritually aware. It is because we must regularly feed the energy exchange to keep it flowing and allow it to grow.
For a tree to grow large, it needs to be watered continually. It will in turn, continually give out oxygen.
For our businesses to grow, we need a consistent stream of income. Then, in turn, we offer our gifts out into the world.
But without a consistent exchange, if we don’t keep that energy flowing, our gifts become stagnant and eventually disappear.
We must water the tree!
So many people who spend all of their time volunteering and always giving to others end up burnt out, feeling underappreciated, and sometimes even bitter. If we offer our help freely without expecting anything in return, it is unfair to resent the fact that we are not rewarded in some way. Whether it is with appreciation, acknowledgment, or money.
There is certainly nothing wrong with giving without expecting anything in return. But that’s just it. We have to honestly not expect anything in return. No gratitude. No appreciation. No money. We just have to give from our hearts. In Yoga, this is called Seva or selfless service. This is how we can avoid growing bitter.
But there is a time and a place for that. And that doesn’t mean we should give away everything we have. All of our belongings, our energy, our life force…no!
We have to be able to receive as well. And the more open we are to receiving, the more we will receive. And then, the more we can give. You can’t give from an empty cup. But if we keep our cups full, and always being replenished, there is always plenty to go around.
We can still serve selflessly while allowing abundance to flow into our lives. But to do this, we must be full of energy of all kinds.
