When we slow down we see more.

I experienced this recently when for the first time I noticed a small sticker on my car on the inside of the little door that covers that hole you put the petrol in.

I have looked at this sticker many times, but have never seen it.

The sticker translates “Unleaded fuel” to “Essence sans plomb”.

I had no idea that in French ‘fuel’ can translate to ‘essence’.

I love that. It is the same for humans.

Connecting to our essential nature is like plugging into a powerful energy source – and the best part is that it’s 100% sustainable.

It offers an alternative to the heavily polluting energy of trying to achieve our way to worthiness.

For too many years of my corporate career I was fueled by unhealthy striving and proving. I had been sucked into a narrow definition of success that did not really work for me or for my family. An exhausting ladder-climbing-at-any-cost mindset.

I was propelled by a dangerous belief that if I could achieve enough and do enough, I would finally feel like I was enough. This fuel source was also powerful, but in no way sustainable. Looking back, I can see it was also polluting my body, my mind and my relationships.

As we begin to understand and embody our essential nature, we discover an alternative energy source.

This energy source will uplift us, carry us the distance and sustain us. It is internally-referencing, not externally-referencing. It renews us instead of depleting us.

When we power our doing from intentional ways of being (that are aligned to our essential nature) the work we do cannot be replicated and we feel uplifted and alive. We experience authentic empowerment. We love what we do and who we are being while we do it.

My most sustainably powerful ways of being include; being playful, being creative, being kind, being clear, being grateful and being confident.

What are your most sustainably powerful ways of being?

Self-Fidelity Practice To Play With This Week

This week I invite you to take a few quiet moments to reflect on these powerful questions:

What fuel drives me at work?

 

Is this energy source sustainable?

 

If I continue to work this way for the next 3 month, the next 3 years, the next 30 years – what are the likely outcomes for me and those I care most about ?

 

When the deepest part of you becomes engaged in what you are doing, when your activities and actions become gratifying and purposeful, when what you do serves both yourself and others, when you do not tire within but seek the sweet satisfaction of your life and your work, you are doing what you were meant to be doing.

Gary Zukav