There’s an epidemic of exhaustion, overwhelm, and not-enoughness among our tribe of online entrepreneurs. We care, deeply, about the state of our world. And we forget that giving and receiving are in-breath and out-breath. Too much of one without the other will leave you passed out on the floor, unable to help yourself or anyone else because you’ve forgotten to breathe.

We deplete ourselves in order to serve our clients and customers. We don’t mean to do this. We recognize the need for harmony and wholeness, for loving care. But our needs can seem infinite, untenable, impossible to meet “in the real world.”

So, we serve our vision of an abundant world through a kind of spiritual and energetic anorexia. We don’t give ourselves what we truly need, in order to serve deeply and joyously. And since we can only give what’s within us, we offer emptiness from our emptied-out selves. We feel hollow, disconnected from the sources of our power and presence. Uprooted from the ground of our being, our doing becomes desiccated, dusty, ineffective.

We feel chronically guilty about not giving our businesses what we think they need in order to flourish. We forget that, to nourish our businesses, we must first nourish ourselves.

This is for all of you who sometimes feel as though you’re hiking through a desert of musts and shoulds and ought-tos and never-enoughs.

First: Take a breath… And another… and… another…

What is your deepest desire, right now? Quick, without thought or reflection — what do you know you truly and deeply want?

Trust your deep desire. Honor its call. If your desire is for peace, for spaciousness, give yourself breathing room. Give yourself whatever you need, to feel peaceful, to feel spacious. Rest. Do the bare minimum and explore what ease and grace can do for you.

Discover what really needs your time and attention. Partner with the soul of your business to make it happen with just the amount of effort necessary to bring it to full and flourishing life.

I promise you, your long to-do list is not part of your soul’s purpose.

First and foremost, you offer the world your presence, the quality of your incarnate being. Cultivating this is your primary responsibility.

What would your life be like, if you shaped your business with your own well-being — your joy, your relaxed, rested, deep presence — at its heart? How would you serve? How would you serve if you served yourself first, and let the fullness of your presence overflow in service to your world?

This is what I’ve been exploring, experimenting with and playing with in my own business for many years now.

Start with the assumption that your deepest desires are holy, evolutionary, and blessed.

What happens when you follow them — beyond what you think you should be doing, into the truth of a life and business that is truly yours, that rests on the ground of your presence?

Be curious.

When those fears inevitably arise — that you are letting opportunities slip through your fingers because you’re too tired, or you’ve depleted your time, your energy and your finances on things that don’t nourish you; that you’ll never be able to have what you need because you’re caught in a desert of not-enoughness — remind yourself of this truth:

There is no such thing as a lost opportunity. That which belongs with you will return to you in many forms, until you are ready to receive it. Wholeness gives you everything you need, in each moment.

Meet your immediate needs first — and trust that when you’re ready, what you need next will offer itself.

We live in a universe of infinite potentiality. Incarnation is the art of choosing — from those infinite possibilities — the one or two things that you are willing and able to lend your creative power to at any given time. When you choose that which is in harmony with your deepest desires, your choices will nourish you, your life, your business and your world.

This is the art of creating and manifesting within boundaries. Boundaries are not walls — they are living containers within which your desires can breathe, gestate and grow until they are ready to be born.

Choose what your heart truly desires, right now. When you’ve had your fill, your desire will lead you to the next creative choice, and the next.

Choose truth. Choose compassion for yourself. Choose loving kindness.

Discover how your life and business unfold, when you place your own well-being on the altar of your world.