Ask Deepak: Spiritual Success in Business

Q: Having left corporate life five years ago, I found the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success was the framework I needed to create my "portfolio life." I am truly happy and making income in a variety of ways aligned with my life purpose: helping female business owners grow their businesses and helping women in business through the transition to start their own business. Recently, I started becoming more vocal with my coaching clients, whether in groups or individually, on the subject of spirituality and business success.

I am learning that I must be what I call a "bridge" person—someone who has been successful in the traditional way of measuring success, but who is now embracing the spiritual and its many lessons. They are eager to learn my model of success. However, this is a new conversation and one that is not taught in the business schools! My question is: What are some of your suggestions for ways I can help them embrace the spiritual path to fulfillment with as much excitement as giving them business advice? I now tell them to read your book! P.S. I hope to meet you some day and thank you in person for the wonderful gift your work is for us all. Thank you!

— Teri C., Pocasset, Massachusetts

Dear Teri,
Thank you for the kind words, but more than that, congratulations on making the connection between your inner and outer life. The secret to bridging these worlds is that you made a bridge inside first.

Thinking about your clients, I wonder if "spirituality" might be a scary or mystifying term. If it is, or if they are assuming that spirit gives a niftier way to make more money, a trap opens. They might start measuring themselves spiritually according to their salary or whether the business is growing as fast as the ego-personality craves.

That's why success has to be holistic. It must embrace your vision of yourself and open the path to a lifetime of personal growth. Every step of success depends on one thing: self-awareness. Whatever you can do to facilitate your clients' expansion of consciousness is a step toward success.

To simplify, here are some suggested areas of discussion and work:

• Is my inner world matching my outer world?
• How can I have an inner life that is as organized as my outer life?
• To be fulfilled on the inside, stress must decrease on the outside. Where am I most prone to having a stress response? What does it take to heal that area of my life?
• Divide your existence into three departments: things I can fix, things I have to put up with and things I should walk away from. Have everyone make a list and discuss them. Then formulate a ground plan for dealing with all three areas.
• List five areas of your life where confusion and/or conflict needs to change to harmony, ease and lack of conflict. How will you turn these areas around? Work individually and as a group.
  

Love,
Deepak

How do I hold onto my goals and aspirations, but still be able to detach from them too?

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Deepak Chopra is the author of more than 50 books on health, success, relationships and spirituality, including his current best-seller, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, and The Ultimate Happiness Prescription, which are available now. You can listen to his show on Saturdays every week on SiriusXM Channels 102 and 155.