Embracing Authentic Spirituality in Your Business

In a recent discussion in the Vibrational Marketing Institute about spiritual bypassing, I found myself squirming in my seat. The conversation hit close to home, prompting me to take a hard look at my own recent behaviour as a business owner.

My schedule has been bursting at the seams. Between the usual demands of growing a business, working a day job and a particularly hectic family life, I’ve been feeling pulled in a dozen different directions. On top of that, I’ve been grappling with the need to realign my business goals and offerings and chart a new course for the future.

Sound familiar? It seems to be an all too familiar challenge for many of us..

Now, here’s where things took an interesting turn. Instead of buckling down and tackling these challenges head-on, (I have high steel energy in the GeniusU world), I instead found myself retreating. My go-to response became, “I need to take care of myself first. The right direction will come to me if I just give it time.”

On the surface, this sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Self-care is important, after all. And as business owners, we’re often told to trust our intuition and let solutions reveal themselves.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth I’ve had to own up to and face: what might have started as self-care, has slowly morphed into avoidance.

My meditation sessions grew longer. I spent more time journaling about what options I should consider rather than strategizing about my business. I told myself I was “aligning with the universe” when in reality it was more towards resisting, (procrastinating really) on making the decisions that needed to be made and taking the actions that needed to be taken.

The result? A few weeks slipped by, and I had precious little to show for it. No clearer direction. No progress on realigning or growing my business. Just a growing sense of frustration and stress about all the things I wasn’t getting done.

This is spiritual bypassing in action.

It’s when we use spiritual practices or self-care routines as a shield against the very real, sometimes uncomfortable work of running a business.

Don’t get me wrong – self-care and spiritual practices are critically important for our healthy life and must have their place. They’re vital for maintaining balance, clarity and the creativity we need to move forward.

But when we use them as a substitute for action, we’re doing ourselves, our businesses and our clients a disservice.

So, what’s the solution? For me, it’s about finding a new balance. I’m learning to:

1. Set time limits on my self-care practices
2. Follow periods of reflection with concrete action steps
3. Ask myself, “Am I avoiding something right now?” when I feel the urge to retreat
4. Embrace the discomfort of uncertainty and act in a way that aligns with my values.

As I implement these changes, I’m already feeling a shift. There’s less stress, more productivity, and a renewed sense of purpose in my work.

I share this not to discourage self-care or spiritual practices, but to offer a gentle reminder: as business owners, our growth happens when we combine inner work with outer action. It’s in this balance that we find true progress and fulfillment and a sustainable business that works for us.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? I’d love to hear your experiences and strategies for staying productive while still nurturing your inner self. After all, we’re all on this journey together.