About five months ago, a realization came to me to focus my business consulting on “sustainability auditing.” What emerged from this is that I was to work with small businesses to comprehensively review those key factors that were critical for the business to “thrive for decades.”
As I began to expand my business connections here in Marin County, California the feedback I got was that the ecological spin that is carried by “sustainability” would be difficult to overcome, and that “audit” was reminiscent of the IRS to many, and therefore not a good term to use. As I looked around for another term, “longevity assessment” seemed to be a meaningful choice for what I was to focus on. However, this term is not very sexy—nor motivational—so another term was necessary.
About a month ago, the term “legacy” emerged, and it became clear that affirming the legacies of family businesses was to be the focus of my efforts. This led to calling the comprehensive assessment process that had developed the Legacy Affirmation© Process, and breaking the Process into three levels: Affirmation of Foundation©, Affirmation of Core©, and Affirmation of Assets©. More about these can be found at the My Sustainable Business website (soon to become Your Business Legacy website).
The above is by way of providing a background to the remainder of this blog. When it first “came to me” to refocus my business consulting, I also had the realization that I should form a board of directors. The individuals whose names I was given, and why each was given, are:
- Adam Smith for his knowledge of money, finances, and the economy
- Jeremy Bentham for his philosophy of utilitarianism
- Sun Tzu for his keen understanding of strategy
- Jim Thorpe for his drive and willingness to keep going against all odds
- Peter Drucker for his business wisdom
- Jesus Christ to bring heart into this business
- Saint Rita, the saint of all things possible
So, what does it mean to have a board comprised of individuals of such tremendous qualities who are all long gone from this Earth? They are physically no longer here, but their energetic signatures—for lack of a better term—remain in the Universe and are available as we open to receive them. I view an energetic signature as the constellation of those elements of Universal Wisdom embodied by an individual in her or his lifetime. Because they are elements of Universal Wisdom, they are always present and always available.
To have these individuals on my board implies to me that these are the energetic reservoirs from which I was led to specifically draw as My Sustainable Business evolves. I need only ask for and be open to receive guidance from these reservoirs as I need it to build and grow My Sustainable Business.
Last Tuesday, another aspect of this guidance unfolded spontaneously. I was on my way back from my Tuesday networking group and a very powerful exercise that had led most of us to open ourselves more deeply to others in the group. As I was driving, I was cognizant of how this particular meeting had opened my heart to allow in the deeper qualities of my colleagues.
At that point, my board of directors came to mind. All of a sudden I had the realization that these are not others “out there”—as my colleagues are—but rather are all within me in the sense that they are all within the Universal Wisdom that is accessible through sinking into and listening to my heart (for more about the heart’s “intelligence,” see the HeartMath site). In other words, I carry within me the wisdom and intelligence that is represented by each of the members of my board of directors. I need only look deeply within to access this Universal Wisdom.
The second realization that followed almost immediately is that each of us has this same capacity—that is, to access within ourselves something that is much greater than we alone are or can ever be. We need only open ourselves completely to do so.
Why do we not do this—all the time or even most of the time? A longer response to this question is in 29 — The Power Within Us. The point made in blog post #29 is:
Within that little dot (which represents the mind) are all our attitudes, beliefs, values, decisions, postulates, assumptions, etc. (see 19 — What Influences You? and 27 — Our Lives Are Ruled by the Rules of Our Lives!). We react from the mind to all of life that impinges on us—believing, interpreting, deciding, emoting, etc. according to how the mind interprets those energetic stimuli that exist all around us.
As we continue to distance ourselves from the mind, we have greater access to this deeper wisdom. Interestingly, the following video showed up in my Facebook timeline this morning (for more from Kyle Cease, click here):
(I would have said, “coincidentally” rather than “interestingly,” but I no longer believe in coincidences in the Universe.)
To summarize the above, you have infinite possibilities within you. But this is my truth, and not yours. I encourage you to contemplate this deeply to see whether or not it resonates with you. If it does, then I encourage you to seek out the spiritual practices or path that allow you to access these possibilities, and to realize the authentic person you actually are within.
