Shunting Aside What's Meaningful In Favor of What's Measurable?
Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash
Are you overly focused on the numbers? The data? The charts, graphs, statistics, calculations & accounting? Last year just before Covid shut everything down I had a vision. It was my first cacao ceremony and was just after my birthday in late February. My kitty love Jack was not doing well and my son was adamant that we needed to keep trying various alternatives to see if we could bring kitty back to thriving.
I remember vividly sitting in the ceremony and finding myself in a beautiful temple deep in the jungle. Inside the temple on the altar was a massive yellow python (Serpent Medicine - time for shedding!). At my feet was a beautiful jaguar. As the journey progressed the jaguar rose up majestically and left the temple. At the doorway he turned back and sent me a message: “The time for accounting is over. The time for appreciation has arrived.”
When I turned my gaze back into the temple space the serpent had transformed into a big blue butterfly.
As I emerged out of the cacao journey and ceremony I was very clear that Jack (who I sometimes called Jackie the Jaguar) was ready to leave his “temple”. A week later the decision was made to help him to leave with ease and grace.
What does this story have to do with you, your business and the fixation on the numbers? All I can say is what it had to do with me and hopefully you’ll find something of value in what I relate.
For YEARS I have been fixated on the numbers. Attached you could say. I somehow got it into my head that my well being, my safety, my security and my ability to serve was somehow completely dependent upon the “right numbers” being produced, measured, accomplished.
In the personal & professional development industry, fueled by the rise of social media likes and follows, the NUMBERS can become more important than the actual names, faces, hearts, minds and spirits of the people that these numbers represent. We can lose the meaning behind our mission when we become fixated on those ever loving numbers.
How did I lose sight of what was meaningful?
I bought in - to three beliefs that I (at the core of my being) actually know are NOT TRUE.
1) The amount of money you have is a direct reflection of the impact you are making
2) If you can’t measure it it’s not real.
3) All you have to do is hustle & HIT YOUR NUMBERS.
What did buying in to these beliefs actually produce?
A few very deleterious effects that I have awareness of right now:
1) My central nervous system was constantly on ALERT - and ACCOUNTING - or attempting to account for all the possible variables that I attempted to control to MAKE SHIT HAPPEN
2) My most intimate relationships suffered (and so did I emotionally) because I was wrapped up in my mental cogitations and machinations about how to make the numbers, not just once but consistently.
3) My self value, self worth, self esteem was brutally beaten each and every day, week, month, year that I continued to miss my mark on those numbers and even though I KNEW to my very bones that me just showing up in any space wholeheartedly was creating massive impact - internally the battle was raging between the belief and the knowing.
What happened to shift things? Definitely that message from Jackie the Jaguar - there was immense clarity in that - to let go of the accounting and to start appreciating instead. Does this mean that I’m no longer paying attention to my numbers? Certainly not. What it means is I’m NO LONGER ATTACHED to the numbers being an indication of my impact and my worth. I’m NO LONGER ATTACHED to the numbers having to be a certain way or it’s an indication that there’s something bad, wrong or out of alignment with me. I’m NO LONGER ATTACHED to the numbers being an indicator of what I actually REQUIRE in any particular moment. Finally, I’m NO LONGER ATTACHED to ACCOUNTING for every single little possible variable that could be contributing to or deleterious to “success”.
What I know now is that attachment was killing me as well as killing everything that actually has authentic meaning and nourishment for me. This rite of passage further informed my understanding of the ways that we “rob ourselves” of a wealthy life. It also further deepened my understanding of my own personal definition of wealth, which is the sum total of all the resources we have available to us.
I like to use the word THIEF as a mnemonic device to describe these resources and to remind me and my clients and customers to be wary of stealing from ourselves in any of these areas.
Here are the resources that we want to value, cultivate and above all APPRECIATE in order to create, live and thoroughly enjoy a meaningful and wealthy life by design:
T - Time
H - Health
I - Imagination (includes intelligence & intuition - the ability to acquire IDEAS!)
E- Earnings (this is where money comes in - the exchange of energy)
F - Fun with Family, Friends & Fellow Travelers on the journey of life.
I encourage you to look closely at where you might be stealing from yourself in any or all of the above and to consider investing in help to create conscious change and a wealthy life by design. Do let me know what you received from this reflection. Comments are most welcome. 1 - or millions - it’s more about the person making them and the meaning you make from the messages, messes and magical moments in your life.
I’d be delighted to see if it’s a fit for us to work together to support you to be able to shed all that no longer serves and to activate confidence and commitment to creating conscious change and a life filled with MEANING that fills you with joy and the experiences of prosperity. I appreciate that you want to be seen, heard and supported. Is NOW the time for you to step into the creation of your own Wealthy Life By Design?? If you feel the calling to explore what’s possible when you let go, look in and leverage your own highest gifts then I invite you to apply for a Wealthy Life By Design Clarity Consultation with me. If you qualify my team will be in touch to get you in the schedule.