It’s March 1st.
St David’s Day.
First day of meteorological spring.
I love this time of year. As the earth warms up and the spring flowers burst forth. There’s nothing more cheering than seeing swathes of daffodils everywhere you go.
And I love how each day we get more hours of daylight – and feel the sun warming our face.
New business ideas burst forth as creativity wakes up from its winter slumber.
And yet we live in troubled times. My hearts breaks for the people in Ukraine and Russia impacted by a war they neither asked for nor wanted.
When we see the pictures and see the stories it highlights our own powerlessness.
Whenever I feel powerless and don’t know what to do, I stop. I do nothing. I give myself space to feel. To navigate back to my soul rather than get caught up in the swirl that’s going on outside.
I look to see what I can do. Even if it’s just the tiniest little thing, like sending a message to my Ukrainian friends in the UK to see how they are.
Sending a donation.
Sharing how I feel.
Appreciating the beauty of a cheery daffodil.
What do you do to bring yourself home to you? How do you find that still point within that knows and trusts?
In times like these, our grounding practices are so vital.
I was looking at my blog recently and noticed just how few posts I’d published in the past 12 months.
I could justify it and say “well it’s ok, I published a book instead”. But that would be a cop-out.
Deep down I know that it’s the practice of writing that’s important.
For me that’s a daily practice of getting up an hour before my family rises, making a pot of tea that I drink from a beautiful china cup and writing as everyone slumbers.
And that had totally stopped.
But with any practice it’s easy to start again. You simply start.
It doesn’t need to be accompanied by a big decision, you don’t need to set an intention, you don’t need to tell anyone or declare it to the universe (I’ve lost count of the times I’d make big bold declarations and not follow through).
You simply start.
I started on Friday.
I got up, made a pot of tea, opened my laptop and wrote. The post was called “Self-flagellation”.
It started well but went off on a rambling tangent as different stories weaved into the narrative.
I tried to claw it back and finish a post I could share with you, but soon realised it was a losing battle.
I was entering “editing to death” territory and setting myself up for hours of frustration.
I stopped. Closed my laptop and walked away.
The next morning I wrote again.
That one flowed better – it will just need a little bit of editing (hopefully) before sending it to you.
I took Sunday off, then wrote again on Monday and today.
Today’s you are reading.
Why am I sharing this with you?
We make a big drama of what we should do and what we need to do. It’s zoomed in our heads and we spend hours beating ourselves up for everything we’re not doing.
Yet in reality all we need to do is start.
And start small.
This morning I awoke late – I only had 20 minutes to write.
I forwent the tea, brought my laptop to bed and wrote.
For me it’s the practice of writing is what’s important, not the end result.
And we can apply this to EVERYTHING in business.
What are the things you’ve been “meaning to do” but haven’t done yet?
Why don’t you make a different choice? Starting today (or tomorrow if today’s not an option).
If there’s a reason you can’t – whatever it is – know that there’s always a reason. For our circumstances to change, we have to shift first. It doesn’t happen the other way round.
Usually the solution is to start with something smaller and build on that.
Meditate for 2 minutes instead of 10.
Go for a 5 minute walk instead of 30.
Invite one person to your sales conversation each day instead of 5.
Ignore that voice that tells you it’s not enough. It is. Please trust that.
So what will it be?
Do comment below and let me know as I’d love to energetically support you.
And in the meantime have a magical first day of spring.
And Happy St. David’s Day.
Much love,
Melina
