The birth of a business (or your creative project) requires an EGO DEATH because a part of us dies in the process of birthing our business.
The death of an aspect of our EGO is the CONCEPTION of something bigger.
Birthing a business is a deeply psychological process.
It’s a way for you to materialize something that comes from your INDIVIDUATION PROCESS. Thus the act of giving birth to your business is the very VESSEL – the container – where you UNDERGO THIS JOURNEY.
It’s not only you giving ‘birth’ to the business; it’s also about the BUSINESS BIRTHING YOU.
In light of this, we need to acknowledge that what we’re creating will go beyond ourselves. We need to approach it with a certain spiritual reverence because your EGO, your PERSONA, is the VESSEL – not the driver here. Something Other is being channeled through you.
I truly believe that businesses and creative endeavors are entities (for the lack of a better word) that have chosen to incarnate but not as humans or animals. Much like thoughts and ideas are also entities that are often embodied in books and can live on for centuries.
Why do you think we still read Plato, Kant, Christine de Pisan, Hildegard von Bingen, Sappho, and the old bard Shakespeare to name a few? Because they served as vessels for ideas, thoughts, stories that wanted to find expression in our world.
Why not businesses?
But more importantly, it’s in the CREATION of something (again, that could be your business, but also a creative endeavor) that we’re gifted with an opportunity and an ability to HEAL & MAKE OURSELVES WHOLE.
Astrologically speaking, the house that rules ‘business’ is the same house that rules our biological children, our artistic endeavors, and how we play and experience joy, as well as engage in romance. It’s also the house where we’re invited to bring the TRUER EXPRESSION of WHO WE ARE into the world.
Think about it.
It’s through play, in the dance of romance, at the poker table, and through our children (of mind and body) that we see different aspects of ourselves. Our sense of self is expanded and mirrored back to us.
Yet, again, this is why I believe business to be deeply personal and psychological.
In the crafting of our business and through our creative endeavors, we face all of these elements: play, joy, risk, love, while being faced with aspects of ourselves that want to find expression and voice through what we’re doing in the world.
Business is the birth of:
- a more expansive aspect of ourselves.
- our ability to take a stand for something bigger than ourselves.
- the crafting of our voice in the world.
- our ability to articulate and manifest ideas, visions, and dreams.
- bring our medicine/gift to the world.
- contribute to the healing and betterment of our world.
- our legacy and contribution to our community.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. What you birth through your business is unique to your journey.
I’ve mentioned death and birth, but one mustn’t forget grief.
The psychology behind birthing a business.
I’ve noticed in our epically ‘positive’ productivity-driven culture; we bypass the crunchier elements of creation. That’s why I speak to death and now grief.
Birthing anything in life is accompanied by both death and grief – the lack of acknowledgment of these two fuels our resistance, hidden fears, anxiety, depression, and a myriad of other feelings that don’t make it to our social media feed.
I feel that the grief over what we have to leave behind to give our businesses a place in the sun ends up manifesting itself as RESISTANCE to the very thing we say we want. What we’re leaving behind (i.e., the corporate job, more money in the bank) needs to be acknowledged one way or another.
We’re often so focused on the shiny future that we envision ahead of us that we forget to stop and honor aspects of our lives and ourselves that have protected and served us one way or other.
There’s more that I could say, but for now, I’ll leave you with this thought.
Without examining the psychological and spiritual roots of your business, you’re leaving behind untapped hidden gold, as well as the opportunity to embrace this journey in a way that is more creatively affirming and soul expansive.
As you can see, I have many ideas to speak to the archetype of business and its psychology. But I also want to hear from you and your experience. I want to know where you are on this journey: thinking about it, afraid to jump in, deep in the reeds, or in transition. Let me know via my contact page.
Want to embrace your business from a more imaginative and creative perspective? Come check out my coaching offer here.
Featured photo credit: Isaac Quesada
Second photo credit: Jonathan Borba
