How the world can change in a very short period of time! I’ve been absent from the Podcast for the past 3 weeks as I was feeling a little discombobulated. I did not want to “add to the noise” online, I wanted to contribute to the conversation instead. So, I allowed myself for these last 10 days or so, just to feel the feels” before I was ready to share with you again. I’ve now gathered some initial thoughts and would love to share the concepts of conscious choices in times of change with you. Show Notes We need to allow our emotions, all of our emotions. IN the Recover Movement we all this “feel, deal, heal”. Whatever comes up for us, we need to experience it to move through to the other side. There's nothing to be gained by pushing it down, or avoiding our emotions or anything like that, because they will come back and demand to be hear! Whatever feelings you've been experiencing, I hope you can move yourself this space where you can simply allow yourself to feel them because none of them are wrong. Brene Brown talks about the FF T's - the effing first time, and this is certainly a FFT for most of us. There isn't a rulebook, there's nothing that we can turn to that says, “here’s the way to handle this”. So all we can do is “Google inside”, I guess, to work out what this new normal means to us. If you are a solo micro small business owner, what does it mean for your business going forward? What do you need to do now, next and later? I believe as we move through and out of this situation, we're going to be connecting even more deeply to meaning and purpose going forward in response to the recognition of how deeply important connection to other people is, how deeply important being of service to others is, and how deeply important adding value to the world is. It’s time to be a Lighthouse and an Anchor for your clients, to be, as my colleague and friend Donna Brown says, a refuge for your clients, a safe space to be away from the turmoil. Many brands have tended to rely on fear to sell and position themselves, using FOMO (fear of missing out) to close sales. This never really was appropriate but now it’s not at all! It’s really important for our economy to stay as a river and not a pond and we can contribute by continuing to invest in different ways. A pond that has no movement becomes stagnant, becomes a swamp. We do not want that for our businesses or for other people's businesses as well. A river may not be possible right now, perhaps think of it as a stream. What small investments can you still make to keep things moving? It’s not business as usual, we’re not moving full speed ahead with all the same messaging and activities as we had before this pandemic. That doesn't feel right. But neither does hiding. So pause and ask yourself, what does Conscious Visibility look like for you? And then do that. Now consider Conscious Observation - the power of example. What are other people doing in your space or in the business world at the moment? What makes you go aha, there's an idea, how might that work for me? This is about looking for inspiration. And now look at Conscious Connection. How can you collaborate and co create with other people at the moment? And finally, Conscious Kindness. Wherever possible, work with kindness, kindness to yourself, and kindness to others wherever possible. In any given situation that you're facing that is difficult, or that is threatening or that is scary or, or unusual, uncertain, pause and ask yourself, what would love to do in this situation? What would love do? The discussion continues in the Your Next Chapter Community - come and join us!