Welcome.
Hi, I’m Emma. This site combines two of my passions: personal growth and business development. Some articles are about mental shifts, some are about working with emotions, and some are about spirituality and our place in the Universe.
My writing is based on 10+ years of running my own business, while seeking to heal, grow and thrive in my life. I’ve learned by experimentation, talking to people, reading books, going to workshops, practicing mindfulness, and trying anything that sounded useful.
My biggest influences in terms of structured learning have been Hakomi and other mindfulness-based therapy approaches, and NVC.
I created this site to share some of the maps I’ve made of my own journey and tools that I’ve picked up along the way. I hope they help you find your own sources of strength, clarity, and magic.
An incomplete list of topics I cover on this blog
business as a vehicle for personal transformation – want to grow? start a business.
ease and freedom – both internally (mindfulness, transforming limiting beliefs) and in business (automation, passive income, user experience)
intrinsic motivation – living and working from an internal place of joy, discovery, desire, inspiration, and curiosity rather than being motivated by external reasons like money, fame, habit, or obligation
the nature of God and reality – what is going on here, anyway?
business as a vehicle for good – let’s make the world we want with the most powerful tool we have. nonviolent marketing, social entrepreneurs, businesses as change agents
creativity – our human birthright and where we co-create with the Divine
mindfulness – the fastest and cheapest way to enlightenment and happiness
My story
My childhood was, let’s say, sub-optimal. It left me with a lot of wounding.
But I had a great vision and a great determination: I was going to figure out how to be happy. And I was going to create a life where I would not have to struggle with money and I could work from inspiration rather than economic necessity. I did not know how, and nobody I knew had accomplished either of those things, but somehow I knew it had to be possible, and I was going to do it.
So I set forth on these goals. And on the way to trying to figure these out, I ended up starting a business, and embarking on a spiritual journey.
What the heck is a “spiritual journey” anyway?
Here’s what it means to me: you keep looking at yourself to discern more and more clearly who you really are underneath all the “stuff” that gets in the way–the fear, anger, thoughts and beliefs that obscure your essence, which is Divine, whole, and free.
It also means this: you keep looking at whatever is outside of you to try to see it more and more clearly. You look because a lot of what you see is actually the world mirroring your “stuff” back at you. And you look because as you awaken, you discover a world that is a beautiful, wondrous place to inhabit.
A spiritual journey then, is fundamentally about seeking truth. And it’s a tricky business, because all our mental patterns try to maintain themselves, because they were created to help us survive. The world is also full of distraction, confusion, and delusion, which it takes dedication to see through.
And yet, we are all equipped with exactly what we need: an inner compass that unerringly seeks liberation, guidance from all around us, and the ability to listen. More than anything, it just takes practice and heart.
And you don’t need an ashram or a guru. Any major endeavor can be your teacher.
Business as a path
I’m an entrepreneur and a web geek. I love business.
I love marketing. I love strategy and systems. I get passive income, automation, and why these are essential to small biz microbiz solopreneur folks like me and maybe you.
But I have discovered that all of our “stuff” shows up in our business, and sometimes it is harder to see because we aren’t expected to have it. We see business as a mechanistic, strategic activity–but it’s not. It’s a system, a set of relationships, a creative undertaking, and a manifestation of vision. It takes leadership, flexibility, and perseverance.
Creating your own business ranks up there with parenting and marriage in terms of the opportunities it presents for you to grow.
It also presents spiritual lessons, such as:
- learning to live and work in harmony with the natural flow and ebb of the Universe – i.e. stop pushing rocks uphill, stop working like a dog, and let the river carry you
- understanding and expressing your unique nature and genius–the one thing that no-one else can replicate
- self-legitimacy: I am here, I am doing this, I am worth paying for
- authenticity: the naked vulnerability of bringing your heart into your work
- translating vision into action and creation–“get off the mat and into the world”
- releasing control and trusting, surrender
- risk, and having faith in yourself
- vulnerability and asking for help
- claiming the power to co-create with God
- connection, collaboration: learning power-with rather than power-over
- humility and grace, trusting abundance
Business transforms us; we transform business.
When we engage in business from a conscious place, it doesn’t just transform us–it transforms the world of business. This is my dream.
I want to bridge the gaps that people perceive between things like:
- work and ease
- marketing and authenticity
- money and fun
- “the real world” and a deep faith in love
- ethics and profit (another word for abundance)
- agency and grace
Have faith in the process.
I carry a deep faith that we are all guided and supported when we seek to give voice to our soul. There is a mysterious magical order to the world…if you commit to the process and keep walking the path, it will carry you through. There is nothing that sustains me more than that faith, and I have seen it fulfilled over and over. This is not faith in the sense of blind belief; it is awareness of the truth of our being. We are utterly, inextricably part of the Universe, and as such, when we reach out, and move forward, with faith, we will be met by a Universe of support.
~ Emma