A Single Question Raises a Bottom Line -- Issue 36

Issue 36

Tuesday, June 2nd

A Single Question Raises a Bottom Line

On my way back from my walk along the Hudson today, I wondered, What
would I do if I really let myself do what I was guided to do in my
business, as I support others in doing?

Well, that question felt too overwhelming, and too nonspecific; I could
go into a completely formless state if I asked that, and be entirely
impractical.

But then I wondered, What would I do if I let myself do what I was
guided to do, by inspiration, for just fifteen minutes?

A very clear answer: I would scoop my chest into the sand of Plum
Island in the North Shore of Massachusetts, my home state, and I would
feel palpably the darkness and the coldness of the wide water in front
of me beyond the edge of the hot and bright sand, and I would feel
gratefully the sand rubbing against the skin of my chest.

This scooping motion felt very important, and the fact that Plum Island
is a place that's very sacred to my father--he goes there every year to
photograph--and I had a strong sense of rightness to this.

But, of course, it wasn't practical either.

However, the next best thing was fairly practical--to write about this, which felt right also, and share the steady sun on the hot sand with
this newsletter mailing list.

There was another immediate, positive result of asking myself this
question--that was that I felt more palpably than I have in a while the
presence of the salt water of the Hudson, which is right near where I
live. I walk by it all the time, yet I almost never have felt able to
enjoy it, as if by becoming everyday it were required to become bland.
What's the point in living in a very beautiful and expensive
neighborhood if I don't enjoy it? It raises my happiness bottom line to
enjoy that salt water.

This is where most newsletters will say, Take fifteen minutes to let
yourself be guided in your business today. But I'm not saying that;
maybe taking the conceptual trip of doing so is more effective (by
simply reading this), or maybe what you're guided to do is something
other than taking fifteen minutes to focus specifically on doing what
you're guided to do. All I'll say is it may be a question worth asking
yourself, and if you do so I have a sense that it will a) not be the
end of you/your business and b) probably produce a good or even
excellent result. If you feel moved to take it, I support you in
taking the risk.