How We Push Away the Very Thing that We Seek?

You are looking to increase your profitability or build a great business or create fame and fortune or raise extraordinary kids living in the expression of their innate genius or be in perfect physical, emotional, mental, spiritual health & well-being or have loving harmonious relationships at home and at work or have a super successful career or make a huge impact through your work or be happy.

What if I invite you to replace each ’or' in the previous sentence with 'and'?
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To create even one of the above feels like a struggle, leave alone create all of the above simultaneously. Why? And, how to access the power to create all of the above outcomes with grace and ease?

The reason it feels like a struggle is because we don't understand the science of creating outcomes and most often than not, do the opposite of what is required. To give you an analogy - the door opens on the inside and what we are doing is pushing it to open outwards. We work so hard to push the door to open, struggle with the resistance that the door is offering in return; feel exhausted, tired, frustrated, angry, upset, stressed at not seeing the result of the door opening inspite of all the effort we have put in. The energy, effort, struggle was not needed if only we had known that the door opened on the inside and had to be pulled instead of pushed.

Here's the process of creating outcomes effortlessly with the lightness of Being instead of the heaviness of Doing (when the doing is not originating in the Being):

1. To fulfil our intentions, we want to pull the door of Life instead of pushing it when it can only be pulled by not coming in the way of what’s naturally occurring. When we resist what is, we lose our energy in the resistance rather than using it for the process of creation. When we use Agility of Mind to joyously and gratefully receive what is naturally occurring as a gift, we open the door of creativity to create elegant, time and energy efficient solutions to fulfil our intentions by simply using what is.

In my previous business, the product had more features and hence, more price than what the target audience wanted. Instead of struggling in the earlier business model, I chose instead to reposition the product to another customer segment where needs, features and price are matched. If I had become frustrated like many of my peer entrepreneurs, I could not have broken my business model to evolve to the next one, which is professionally, personally and financially more fulfilling for me.

2. Have intentions instead of goals. An intention is a place to come from; while a goal is a place to go to.

When you are chasing a goal, your attention is on that point in the future when your goal is achieved. The gap between where I am and where I want to go creates in us a sense of lack, yearning, scarcity for what we don't have right now.

When fulfilling an intention, the attention is placed right here right now so that our energy is concentrated in the present moment, instead of being dissipated and dispersed. The attention is on our commitment to fulfil our intentions. From that concentrated attention and commitment to fulfil the intention (come what may), our actions are fired.

In the world of goals, there’s always somewhere else to reach. How can we be centred and grounded if we are racing to be somewhere else than where we are? Also, in that race, there is stress. The creative mind works best in a no-stress environment, where it experiences being still and centred. Then only the most effective, innovative ideas are generated to fulfil our intentions.

Goals are externally thrust upon, while intentions are internally inspired. Intentions focus on the right inputs and the joy of the journey, while goals focus on the output and short-lived excitement in the moment the goal is achieved. Goals require external sheen, charisma and motivation; while intentions require mindfulness, inner tranquility and inspiration.

My clients usually come to me with a goal to build a bigger business and increase their profitability. I coach them to shift their perspective to translate that goal into an intention of making a bigger difference to their employees, customers and family. They are always pleasantly surprised to find that their original goal gets fulfilled as a by-product of working on their intentions.

3. Articulate your intentions and make them SMART - Specific, Measurable, something that you believe is Achievable, something you believe is Realistic, Time-bound. The key here is your belief. Like Henry Ford said - Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right! 

Without a smartly articulated intention, we have no pole star to guide us. Without the pole star, we are a rudderless boat being aimlessly thrown around in the direction the waves of circumstance push us.

What are your intentions this Lifetime? What are your impossible, unimaginable dreams this Lifetime; the idea of fulfilling them itself leaves you refreshed, rejuvenated, energized? Do you have a Dream Lifestyle that you are playing to create? Do you have this year’s articulated intentions to support you to create physical, emotional, intellectual / mental, spiritual health and well-being? What do you want to create through your Life, through your work? If today were your last day, creating what so far would fulfil you the most and leave you with no pain of leaving the earthly abode?

4. The sacred scripture from my culture, Bhagavad Gita, mentors us to be detached from the outcomes. Let us dig deeper into the logic behind it. When I am needy for the outcomes, I shut myself from different kind of outcomes which may be more effective than what is stuck in my head. I also become risk averse because I am so tied to the outcomes I am desperately seeking. In this desperation and neediness, we don’t make the highest choices to create impossible magical outcomes. Instead, we choose safe, tried and tested options which will only lead us on the path of mediocrity.

When our focus and attention is on the input side and our emotional state does not sway like a pendulum based on the output of our actions or reactions of people around us, our input is of higher quality resulting in a higher quality output. We are also able to enjoy the process of learning and creation.

If I were attached to making my previous business successful, I would not have had the courage to hibernate it to start another business from scratch after 7 years of building my previous business. I thank Grace for the detachment because now I am building a business which is much more closely connected to my purpose this Lifetime, which fills me up with greater joy and passion, which challenges me infinitely more and hence creates a pathway for me to grow that much more than what was possible before.

5. When we are attached to the outcome, to what we are seeking to create; not having it right now creates scarcity, lack, yearning, impatience to create, choosing short-cuts instead of increasing leadership depth to evolve from evolutionary fear to compassionate love for ourselves and for all beings, deepening craft mastery to be the world’s best in what we do, creating business excellence to make a dent in the Universe through the work we do.

I chose to extend myself globally in search of my tribe, my community who I would be inspired to coach, focus on being a master of my craft, deepen myself as a leader, as a human being, build my business through making a huge difference to my current clients instead of spending time on marketing, promoting, networking for quicker returns.

Wishing you the joy of the journey this Lifetime and celebrations every moment along the way.
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Love, Jyoti.