“Wholeheartedness is a precious gift, but no one can actually give it to you.  You have to find the path that has heart and then walk it impeccably.”  – Pema Chodron
 

If you’re like me, you probably believe that you’re living your life as wholeheartedly as you can.  I get up every morning and  eat breakfast, feed and play with my animals, talk with people on the phone, and  go for a run.  After all that, I sit down at my desk and look over my calendar for the day as my emails boot up.  Usually I take the weekends off, but this Sunday I knew that I needed to do a heavy last minute push. I wanted to invite people to attend a retreat that I’m offering next weekend; it’s is not filling up quickly.  I’ve noticed that when my work is going well—I’m busy, the phones are ringing, the bells are singing—I can easily throw myself wholeheartedly into my business.  However, when my work is going slow—no one is returning my correspondence, my phone is quiet and my emails are still— I tend to be easily distracted;  I pick and choose where and when I will throw myself in wholeheartedly.

There is a movie out on the web  called, “The Secret” which, I don’t think it would be giving it away to say, is the exploration and discussion about the Universal Laws of Attraction. One of the Spiritual Teachers of “The Secret”, James Ray, uses the concept of a genie to explain how the Universal Law of Attraction works;  the bottom line being that our wish is the Universe’s (or genie’s) command.  He further contends that sometimes we will put our “wish” out there for the Universe and then not stick to it long enough to allow it to come true. Through our thoughts, words, and actions, we  give the Universe the command that “this wish/desire/dream of ours will never happen” and so the Universe—in obeying the laws of attraction—obeys us and stops the wish/desire/dream from happening.  The bottom line is,  we’re talking about doing the footwork, believing our dreams and having trust that something bigger than ourselves is taking care of the outcome.

What I’m  wondering about is this:  If I threw my self wholeheartedly into my life—good, bad, up, down— then would that give me the courage necessary to see my wish/dream through?  I believe the answer is yes.  The fear for me is to commit to something wholeheartedly because of the  chance that it could fail. Yet, stagnation for me is to be wambly-wobbly about what is truly my heart’s desire.  I’m realizing now what stops me from throwing myself into my business (and life) wholeheartedly is the FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) of being rejected or abandoned.  I believe this whole hearted business is what separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.  What we need to do now is turn into the face of Fear and laugh at it wholeheartedly and then continue along our way. Where are you on this continuum today?
(this article was originally posted on www.smallbusinessgurus.com/life-before-business