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If you’re a Business Heroine, it’s likely that you do work that deeply matters to you, and makes a positive difference in the lives of others.

To follow your path, you may have given up a stable job, or gone against the advice of well-meaning family and friends, or endured financial and emotional hardship, or left significant relationships (or all of the above!)

Why? Because you felt guided in this direction you’ve chosen. Despite not knowing how it was all going to turn out, you had a deeper knowing that you somehow had to do this. It was a risk you were willing to take.

I’m calling that sense of ‘knowing’ your Soul’s’ guidance. Whether you call it your Soul, your Higher Self, your heart, the Universe, or anything else, let’s assume we’re talking about the same thing.

There’s something larger than your personality pointing you in the direction of your calling.

Though you’ve had the courage and the vision to heed your Soul’s guidance many times already, the interesting question becomes: To what degree is your Soul guiding you in the day-to-day, practical running of your business?

Too often I see a split happen between spirituality and business decisions and practices. This separation prevents the business (and you) from flourishing as much as possible!

Here are five ways to know if your Ego’s in charge instead of your Soul, and how to remedy it:

1. Your day is jammed, running from one thing to the next without pause.

I read something a number of years ago that stuck with me. The message was that there’s always time for what’s truly on purpose for you.

That stayed with me because I need a lot of spaciousness and self-care in my day to do my best work. When I start feeling like ‘there’s not enough time,’ and I do silly things like cutting out my meditation, walks outside or yoga because it feels like ‘there’s too much to do,’ I know something’s off and Ego is in charge.

It’s the mind that ruthlessly runs your day like a taskmaster, checking off items from the To-Do list like they are the prize.

But they are not the prize.

The prize is the quality of the journey – how good you feel as you lovingly care for your true priorities as well as yourself, how in tune you are with your deeper Being rather than having it be drowned out by the compulsion of the mind that says you can’t stop.

Antidote: Stop anyway. Meditate anyway. Go for a hike anyway. Sip your tea and do nothing for a while anyway. Build your Soul muscle. It likes quiet time with you so you can hear its guidance.

2. You spend way too much time on email, social media, and seemingly urgent but not actually the most important things.

Similar to #1, it is definitely not your Soul compelling you to check your email or Facebook 40 times per day! Seriously.

Bottom line is you’ve got to develop some discipline around where your time and attention is going if you’re going to fulfill your vision at the highest level.

Antidote: Put boundaries around these activities:

• Decide the top 3 true priorities for the day that move your vision forward, and not more.
• Establish 2, maybe 3 times per day maximum when you will check email and social media, and for a limited period of time.
• Go onto social media with intent, and get your business-building done separately from surfing for fun.
• Get yourself an app like SelfControl to shut off your access to those tempting distractions!

3. You worry about your business and/or about money.

The ego worries, and gets itself tied in knots about all the things that could go wrong, how you might fail, what other people are thinking or saying about you, how you won’t be able to make ends meet when the end of the month comes, etc.

Your Soul doesn’t worry. Your Soul knows that everything is unfolding perfectly, and is giving you the exact guidance you require moment to moment about what to do next (even if you can’t see more than one step ahead).

Your Soul is enjoying every moment of this experience of life and business, and has no judgment about whether what happens is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

It knows it’s literally impossible to fail.

Antidote: Practice finding the calm in the midst of your most stressful moments. It’s always present (meditation helps with finding it). You can also practice looking at whatever’s worrying you through the eyes of your Soul. How is this situation actually serving you? Get quiet and ask for the higher perspective to be shown to you.

4. Your mind is constantly busy telling you what to do.

Your mind has been burdened for far too long with the belief that it needs to control or figure everything out. It’s trying to keep you safe, but its opinion is far too often at odds with your Soul’s wisdom.

Your Soul speaks more quietly than the Ego’s mind chatter, but its guidance is always available. You do need to be present, relaxed and receptive enough to hear it, but the reward is that you will find there’s a far easier way to operate than the mind would have you believe.

Antidote: I wholeheartedly recommend a daily meditation practice to help with this one, even if just for 5 minutes in the morning before you start your day. Meditation allows you to step back from the mind so you’re not so identified with its frantic activity, and to stand in the more peaceful ‘observer’ position. From this vantage point, you are much more able to access your deeper knowing about what to do next.

5. You compare yourself, your business and/or your results to others.

The Soul doesn’t compare, only the Ego does. The ego is constantly worried that it’s not enough. The Soul knows better.

If you find yourself in comparison mode, remind yourself that your path is unlike anyone else’s. You can’t possibly know what another person’s Soul journey is, what they are learning, and why they are learning it.

Antidote: Make time and space to listen deeply to your own knowing, your own truth, your own guidance about what to do next, when and how. When you find yourself looking outward too much, turn your gaze back to yourself.

You are exactly where you’re supposed to be, and your next step is right in front of you.

Trust that.

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May 2014 Issue