Do you know what your "Original Medicine" is?

The term “medicine” in this usage connotes not simply a healing balm or potion, but our power. Our medicine feeds our “personal power”. It is our capacity to explore, discover, create, express, grow and heal. Our original medicine is also our “authenticity”. Our authenticity is who we are absent our roles, facades, opinions, and judgments.

Authenticity represents our “true self” without self-deception or self-criticism, but with a fair and an honest assessment of what actually is, free of self-deprecation or inflation.

We are most fully in our personal power when we are expressing our authenticity. It is our destiny (i.e. why we are in a body on the planet), through the skillful use of our personal power, to bring our healing medicine into the world. Our unique original medicine fuels our passion and inner fire, allows us to hear our calling, defines our purpose, provides the vision to imagine our life’s dream(s), and energizes us to manifest in the world. Together these ignite and fuel our work in the world. The expression of our unique gifts and talents serves those around us (our families, friends, teams, communities, etc.) and contributes to the “greater good”.

“Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.  It is the duty of every person…to know and consider…that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had…there would have been no need for him in the world. Every single person is a new thing in the world and is called upon to fill his particularity in this world. Every person’s foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, be it even the greatest, has already achieved.

The same idea was expressed by Rabbi Zusya when he said a short while before his death: ‘In the world to come I shall not be asked, Why were you not Moses? I shall be asked, Why were you not Zusya?’ “     Martin Buber (1878 – 1965)

Reference:   Angeles Arrien, The Four Fold Way, New York, HarperCollins, 1993.


THE QUESTION:  what is your original medicine?

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A Broader View on a Fundraising Board

I've found myself in several conversations lately with clients and collegues who are are facing the challenges of raising funds for their organizations. A common thread is the frequencey of board members and other supporters who are dedicated to the mission but resistance to asking for donations. I just finished this article about just that subject. It clearly and concisely addresses nine excellent alternatives to the direct "ask."

Connecting

I just read this article, Forget Networking. How to be a Connector, and it resonated with me -- not all the super flattering things they wrote about connectors  (a little self-deprication?) -- but in the way that I feel both Ana and I know a lot of people and are naturally drawn to share the connections. In the article they write "Perhaps one of the most important attributes of a connector is a willingness to help and to reach out even if there is no obvious or immediate payback." I suppose I might differ with the concept that there's no immediate "payback." In fact there is -- there's something extremely rewarding to the heart and soul to make connections between people that you know have the potential to be helpful and useful to one another.

Six Daily Practices

Robert Middleton is one of my favorite resources for the solo entrepreneur on all-things-marketing.

Here is his list of Six Daily Practices for staying in touch with your clients. Enjoy!- Ana

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Getting More Out of LinkedIn

I've often wondered what to do with LinkedIn, feeling that I'm not getting enough out of it. Found this article and I think it has some good strategies: read it and see what you think!.