Hello Everyone,

I’m currently in Portland in retreat at Still Meadows in Portland Oregon with my coach, Mark Silver of www.HeartofBusiness.com and my mastermind group. While I will be returning to ‘active duty’ with Life On Purpose on Monday, Oct. 27, I also want to share a bit of my experience with you.

We’re about to go into Day 2 of 5. Here are a few of the nuggets I gleaned from yesterday’s experience:

1. This is a fabulous group of dedicated entrepreneurs ranging in age from 20s through 60s, all with the commonly shared commitment to make a profound difference in the world as they continue to create a ‘heart centered’ business which is closely akin to a ‘business on purpose.’

2. While I’m one of the ‘seasoned’ members of the group both in age and number of years in my business, I have much to learn as well as to share. One of the first things I learned or was reminded about in a timely fashion is that making a deep and lasting difference in a relatively few people’s lives is more important to me than making only a shallow or temporary difference with the masses.

Holly, Mark’s wife and co-facilitator of the retreat, explored this with the distinction of “up and out” vs. “down and in.” Up and out is more an ego based (in my terms Inherited Purpose based) reaction vs. a spiritually based (Divinely Inspired Based) response or going within to Divine Source for your guidance.

3. I learned about the 3 stages of business — foundation (I also think of this as formulation from my old Landmark Education/Werner Erhard and Associate days), concentration, and momentum. This was important because I realized that Life On Purpose Institute is in more momentum than I have given it credit. This feels good. The GAP isn’t quite a large as I’d imagined.

4. We’ve also done some deep work around our Jewel — a part of the sufi lineage of Heart of Business. I’m still working to clarify my jewel. From the exercise we ended with last night, I would say my jewel has something about stillness, connection to spirit, and acceptance. Your jewel is a bit different than your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose, though related. (Mark and I are still examining this relationship ourselves.)

Your jewel is the essence of who you are — the facet of the Divine that you most often are and that people experience from you. At least that’s my take on this at this point.

Ok, Day 2 is about to begin. As always, I share this in the spirit of being of service and encourage your questions and comments.