Feb 01, 2019 | Your Relationships

How belonging gives you the courage to mess up

Those who have a strong sense of love and belonging have the courage to be imperfect.
Brené Brown

I’m still processing all that I experienced on my 3-week long trip to India.

It was such a fantastic trip, and I’m excited to share more about it with you in upcoming newsletters.

One of the themes that our PACK retreat travelers and I kept returning to is the idea of community and belonging.

Lemme tell you of one such beautiful example…

One day we attended a Kirtan.

A Kirtan is a full Hindu prayer ceremony. It includes multiple prayers, chants, and rituals in the temple.

It didn’t matter that none of us could speak the language used during the ceremony.

The message that transcended the language was that we were wanted there. We were intended to be there. We belonged.

As I’ve reflected on this experience, I’ve realized that as we age it’s harder to find that sense of belonging.

Life changes. People move, and pass on, and we can come away from those experiences feeling a little bit like we’re pilgrims without a homeland.

 

Having a community is important to experience belonging.

But beware…finding that community can be both terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

Case in point…

While we were at the Kirtan, and the prayers had ended, a group of women had started singing and created a drum circle in the middle of the temple.

We watched from the sidelines with fascination until…

One of the dancers invited my retreat partner, Megan and I up to dance with her.

Then, she SAT DOWN leaving us in front of about 300 people alone with everyone’s eyes on us.

Everyone clapped and sang for us as we let go and danced to music we’d never heard before. Many a photo was taken from the sidelines. 🙂

In that moment (after the fear had passed), we felt such a deep appreciation and delight at being welcomed and accepted regardless of our abilities.

Later, I learned that the dance I attempted in the circle with Megan (one that I knew from prior holiday celebrations with my partner’s family), called “Bangra,” wasn’t supposed to be danced in the temple. It was a celebratory dance rather than the spiritual ones our dancer had demonstrated for us! Oops!!

Instead of being judged or reprimanded for dancing inappropriate songs in the temple, we were met with an overwhelming sense of acceptance and belonging. They cheered us on with knowing looks and appreciation for our misguided attempts.

 

Getting “it” right doesn’t have to be a prerequisite for belonging. Being you is enough.

To dancing anyway,

P.S. Are you looking for a way to “belong,” darling? Stay tuned for an upcoming opportunity to join my group coaching program.

 


Get the Essential Reading List for Ambitious Empaths

Snag a copy of our favorite confidence-building + intuition-honing business, money mindset, and leadership books to help you embrace a holistic approach to your success. Grab a cup of tea and let's reverse engineer your life, removing the hustle and grind and replacing it with more joy and leisure.

Mindful Spending & Navigating Lifestyle Creep with Cris Caruso

In this episode of the Prosperous Empath®, I’m sitting down with financial advisor and UNBOUNDED Mastermind Alum, Cris Caruso to talk about a phenomenon that many people have experienced in recent years: lifestyle creep. Cris has been in the financial services industry since 2004 and a financial advisor since 2008. Beyond that, she has pursued additional education in understanding how our behaviors shape financial outcomes by earning the Behavioral Financial Advisor designation from Think2Perform. She also earned the Accredited Domestic Partnership Advisor credential prior to 2015 as a way to support her LGBTQIA+bclients and continues to use this knowledge to work with unmarried couples and non-traditional families. You’ll appreciate her unique experience throughout today’s episode as she speaks on lifestyle creep, or lifestyle inflation, which is overspending on things that you don’t actually need as your income increases. When you’re early in your career, your spending habits focus on must-haves like housing and groceries. But as your income increases, it’s easy to lose track of what is a necessity and what are simply too many luxuries, and to just keep buying more. Cris and I discuss both values-based and practical strategies on how to identify the areas of your life you should spend generously on and where to be more mindful to reach your long-term goals. How do you live in alignment with your money, especially as an entrepreneur and an empath? You’ll get an answer to this question as you listen to our thought provoking conversation on purposeful spending, the importance of allowing yourself to have fun & fabulous experiences, and more.

Visit this episode’s show notes page here.

The Prosperous Empath® Podcast is produced by Heart Centered Podcasting.

Check out this episode!



×

Download The Book List Now