This relearning to breathe is going to be a long project, right?
It’s a daily practice. Play with that. Yesterday you had choir – that’s an hour of intentional breath work. Tomorrow you will have qigong – bring awareness to the breath there. No need to do anything other than add ‘intentional breath work’ to your portfolio of morning MEDS practices.
I’ve had a lot of complex work and travel on, and my MEDS practices have been compromised. For example, I haven’t been to exercise classes in a couple of weeks. In fact, tbh, I think I only went to one qigong class last month!! And I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t even been doing home practices. Despite alllllll that we have discussed. Why am I still avoiding/abandoning my body? And why have I not booked a massage despite being clenched to high heaven across my back for MONTHS?
The word you are seeking is ‘balance’. Your work/MEDS fell out of balance, because a great deal of unexpected and mixed work came in. And you don’t have a framework in place to process these requests without simply adding a great deal of (unpaid) energy. As a result, you are getting paid 50% of the value you are giving.
Excuse me??
50%. So, in charging 50% of your value, you have a tough choice: to be rested and unable to pay the bills. Or to be able to pay the bills but be doubly/unreasonably/unsustainably tired.
But hear the underlying problem noted above: you don’t have a framework in place to process these requests without simply adding a great deal of (unpaid) energy. Namely, you offer a service which looks standard but which you are bespoking every time. A standard service is worth say £100, but you are giving a bespoke service worth £200 and only charging £100. You need to decide your framework: do you sell standard or bespoke services?
I guess bespoke… Except I’m training now in some standard certificated courses. I guess I have been charging less for my bespoke courses, when I should have been charging more, because it’s basically outcomes-based consultancy. That’s what I did yesterday. I worked with an MD to turn her entire workforce’s approach to workplace wellbeing round in the space of an afternoon. For relative peanuts (compared to what a ‘consultant’ would charge).
Know your value. Know your worth.
Exactly. It’s not training, it’s consultancy. ‘What’s the problem – I’ll help you solve it, with training and with consultative conversations amongst your teams.’
Like we said: resolve, restore, relate.
This is the new approach. Thank you.
Yesterday you said: ‘Immense courage to clear clutter and consolidate. One last push for the year!’ I’d like to do this. There are 21 days til Christmas. Can I:
- wind up the year’s work (and there’s masses)
- prep for next year (brochure as per 19Q4 goal)
- prep for Christmas
- clear out old energies (lingering admin – financial matters largely)
- set those protective frameworks in place for next year so that I can charge my worth and honour my time/energy
Of course! Let’s read first.
-73- A person whose courage lies in daring will meet death. A person whose courage lies in not daring will encounter life. Of the two courses, either may be beneficial or harmful. Heaven dislikes what it dislikes. Who knows the reason why? Even the True Person has difficulty with such a question. The Tao of Heaven does not strive and yet it overcomes, does not speak and yet it gets responses, does not beckon and yet it attracts, is at ease and yet it follows a plan. The net of heaven is cast wide. Though the mesh is coarse, nothing ever slips through. (The Tao Te Ching 73)
Fascinating! A chapter on ‘courage’! Fantastic. It basically says that being ‘daring‘ ain’t necessarily the answer or the best use of courage. So in other words, the courageous person will proceed in a circumspect manner. And what does that mean..? Check out this wisdom for living:
The Tao of Heaven
does not strive and yet it overcomes,
does not speak and yet it gets responses,
does not beckon and yet it attracts,
is at ease and yet it follows a plan.
I have been running my business by striving, speaking and beckoning, seeking to overcome, get responses and attract. And I have made enormous progress in this last year, but I am exhausted. So what about this epic nugget, basically conveying the content of 1400 business guru books in 9 simple words:
‘…is at ease and yet it follows a plan.’
I guess that’s my sparklingly clear answer to my above question about clearing clutter and consolidating in the 21 days before Christmas: be at ease and yet follow a plan.
Let’s meditate.
***A few minutes of deep ujjayi breathing, with insights arising***
So, my commitment is to remain at ease, and create and follow a plan between now and Christmas. Sounds easier said than done? Well, may ease sit gently within me, while I carry out my plan. May my plan honour, and create frameworks that support, my value and worth. Thanks dear Tao Te Ching. Thanks dear voice of my knowing.
I am at ease and yet I follow a plan