19 Nov Chamber of Sovereign Mastery #4 BUSINESS
A concept which is of great importance to The Idea of a Man™ is ‘The Market Place’. The reason The Market Place has significance in the concepts we discuss here at The Idea of a Man™ is, that once you have established your unique identity and where you feel you fit in your world, or the world you are creating for yourself. In order for you to survive and thrive, a practical expression of your self-discovery is to recognise your market value.
Now that statement alone could raise eyebrows and spark controversy. However, let’s caveat that sentence with a reminder that I said in order for ‘you’ to survive and thrive. And this is the point – I believe greater self knowledge and a focused attention on our objectives is a state of mind which we can leverage in the marketplace to enable us to achieve our objectives and get what we need to live the lives we want in such a way that our lives reflect our aspirations, dreams, goals and desires.
Now that is a lot to ask, and a 1001 self-help gurus, ideologies etc, promise so much fluffy stuff, and fill our minds with a plethora of rainbows to find pots of gold beneath. The Idea of a Man™ has no intention to partake in such games. But just as we all know, if we invest in ourselves constantly in any particular area, for example, go to the gym regularly and consistently and follow a decent plan we will get fitter. Likewise if we invest quality stuff into ourselves we will get greater, more elevated returns on our investments.
What The Idea of a Man™ is interested in initially is empowering you as a unique individual to establish the tenants by which you wish to live your life. Tenants which align with your values, gifts, leanings, interests and strengths, so, rather than pushing all this to the side in a bizarre attempt to develop character by grating against your Souls inner desires and spending your energy and time doing the exact opposite of your gifts, leanings and interests maybe even in roles or relationships or signed up to obligations and duties which have nothing to do with the ‘why’ which brought your consciousness to the planet right now, you get to live a life reflective of and in harmony with the person you actually are.
Addressing the area of business here at The Idea of a Man™ is taking the risk to bet on yourself, to believe that getting your ducks in a row, is more about aligning yourself with yourself and getting out of your own way – than anything else.
And sure we can have conversations about society and whether the economic structures of society are exploitative and if or not we’re all just caught in a matrix to syphon off our energy etc. And while all this may be true. I believe if we don’t establish these foundations initially we are much more likely to simply spend energy and time as a cog in someone else’s wheel doing things which perhaps earn more intentional individuals substantial incomes, while we bemoan our lot and waste our inheritance on the chance that our horse might come in, or the team we bet on may win the big one.
Addressing the area of business here at The Idea of a Man™ is taking the risk to bet on yourself, to believe that getting your ducks in a row, is more about aligning yourself with yourself and getting out of your own way – than anything else.
The final three practices in the 12 chambers of The Idea of a Man are Spirit, Soul and Body. These also are parts of our lived experience as beings on the planet and we’ll explore these parts of ourselves deeper in later chambers. But suffice to say ‘Our Soul’ has a purpose, a reason for incarnating in our physical body at this time. And when we don’t pay attention to this intrinsic aspect of our reality for a number of different reasons, usually because external influences have conflicting agendas and we are in many ways programmed to align ourselves with the pressure of external influence rather than to respond to our inner voice, or our deeper truth which calls to us from within.
This is why the sages of the ages have always exhorted us to go within. Inside us is a personality which we own, a unique, eccentric us with distinct values, hopes and aspirations. The ignoring of which leads to deep seated unfulfillment and internal and often external conflict and dysfunction. Therefore, not to press the point too far, but getting clarity on this has immense importance and once that clarity is achieved we need to practically ensure we keep steering our vessel in the direction we have chosen to charter.
‘What was that all about?’ is a question I perceive in the eyes of old men encountered wandering out of pubs or betting shops and I’ll be honest it haunts me.
The idea that I could live my whole life and not really experience my reason for being here because I was unwilling to interrogate myself sufficiently to discover my truth, or when confronted with my truth to lack the courage to live my truth unashamedly.
So in light of these considerations, I feel, a conversation about business is the next topic we need to tackle here at The Idea of a Man™ so that we can practically consider how we are going to fund this enterprise which is our lives.
Having laid a foundation of self-discovery and by establishing the power of our personal intentionality. Let’s now explore how we can shift our perspectives in order to see the opportunities we may have overlooked in our current position in life. And find ways in which rather than taking advantage of or exploiting others, we can take full advantage of and exploit the possibilities in front of us that by ‘using our minds’ and ‘leading our lives’ we can leverage to get from the point A of our current situation to the point B of our desired destination.
Let’s be more imaginative than those men who have gone before us and use our masculinity, testosterone, spunk, drive and ambition to channel our energy into the realisation of our Soul’s true passion. We’ve asked and answered the questions: ‘Who am I?’, and ‘Where do I fit?’, we’ve recognised that survival living is not thrival living so now it’s time to pursue the mission and purpose we’ve discovered and implement a plan of action to enable us to practically make our dreams a reality.
Let me illustrate this with a story from my own life. Once I lost a job, and my wife was as a result somewhat distressed. It dawned upon me that my wife was unaware of something which for me was an established fact. And as a result she was experiencing an anxiety which I saw suddenly I could alleviate. I looked at my wife squarely and with an internal confidence which was in no wise manufactured or speculative, I told her, if I ever lose a job, I will always get another one. And I will always work to provide for us. I saw in my wife’s demeanor and body language relief come over her. For some reason I thought she knew this about me, but I guess I’d never expressed it, despite having picked myself up by my boot straps on numerous occasions when the circumstances of life had thrown obstacles and setbacks in my path.
I further began to clarify to my wife and to myself that not only would I get a job, but that as far as I’m concerned, even when I work for an employer, I am essentially working for myself. What I do, day to day, therefore, is not for my employer, it is for me! It is for me and my family so that we can have the life I’m seeking to build for us, and until I am running my own business, I must leverage the work I do in the business of another to lay the foundation of my personal vision and seize the opportunities which my current situation presents me.
This is what I’m saying when we talk about business here at The Idea of a Man™, if we have the bigger picture in mind, and we live with intention in our decisions and how we spend our pay checks and use our energy and time, even when our means is stretched by making deposits into our vision, and planting seeds, we will reap a harvest which will enable us to get closer each moment to a more fulfilling and meaningful existence, the realisation of which brings a sense of equilibrium, balance and stability to our lives and the lives of our loved ones and enables us as men to hold our heads higher as we know that our actions and energy are not being drained in frivolous pursuits and aimless meanderings, but life enhancing manoeuvres and Soul enriching endeavours.
This is when a fundamental understanding of business can be a great help. The first part is to recognise that your idea of a man may or may not be that of a ‘business man’ and that’s okay, you do not have to ‘own your own business’ necessarily. However, you may wish to begin to work at your job as though it were your own business. And what I mean by this is when our work becomes more than something we do to simply pass time, clock in clock out, pay bills, keep a roof over our head. When our intention is sharpened by an objective and we see with clarity what it is we are here to do. The work we do day to day can become a means to fuel our enterprise. Now we have to begin to address if we need to grow in our role and why, or do we need to grow in ourselves and how. Now we have to think which course will help us expand our aims, which savings strategy we should implement in order to begin to make our money work for us in such a way that this time next year for example we are not still in the same place, doing the same things heading to the same nondescript destination at the same pace as the year before and the year before that.
This is when a fundamental understanding of business can be a great help. The first part is to recognise that your Idea of a Man™ may or may not be that of a quote on quote ‘business man’ and that’s okay, you do not have to ‘own your own business’ necessarily. However, you may wish to begin to work at your job as though it were your own business.
And what I mean by this is when our work becomes more than something we do to simply pass time, clock in/clock out, pay bills and keep a roof over our head. Then our intention is sharpened by our realised objectives and we begin to see with greater clarity what it is we are here to do. Then the work we do day to day can become a means to fuel our enterprise. Now we can begin to address
if or not we need to grow in our role and why?,
or do we need to grow within ourselves and how?
Now we have to think which course will help us expand our aims, – which savings strategy we should implement in order to begin to make our money work for us in such a way that this time next year, we are not in the same place, doing the same things, heading to the same nondescript destination at the same pace as the year before and the year before that.
What I’m saying is that it is time to transcend the hamster wheel and begin to thrive and flourish into the fullness of what’s possible for us using the fullness of who and what we are, from a place of a deeper knowledge and awareness of who and what we are and what we’re here to do by honoring our true selves and drawing down deeper levels of inspiration from the dreams and calling we feel compelled to follow from mapping out the make up of our unique identity.
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