We are blessed with a great deal of wild life around us for being in the city. On many occasions, our friend, the skunk, will walk by our house and of course at times in the neighborhood you may know he’s been around by that recognizable smell.  One of my American Indian teachers once told me the medicine of the skunk was about “walking your talk”.

In this movement of promoting cooperation and asking the question “how might we work together?”, Donny and I are seeing the primitive patterns of competition being challenged while we open up to the new kinds of relationships that sometimes very unexpectedly appear.  It’s a new time of “walking our talk” that none of us has ever gone through before.  It’s a time of embracing cooperation more fully to be more inclusive which runs against many of the programs we have been given.

“All or none” or “black and white” thinking, feeling and behaving are ways of reacting you have learned from growing up in a family, culture, religion and political environment that says that the world is not safe.  The result is you feel like you have enemies and competition is natural.  These old stories live in your body and show up in your relationships and your business.  Addressing these black and white ways of approaching relationships and expressing your business are what’s being highlighted in this article and upcoming articles.

Black and white thinking is being challenged

Black and white thinking is being challenged as you who are conscious look at what truth is and what seems true.   Here are some examples:

No matter what you think of the Catholic Church, there have always been those priests and nuns that create change from the inside out.  People like Archbishop Oscar Romero who spoke of liberation for the people might be an example.

No matter what you think of government, there have always been those influencing policy for the highest good from the inside out.  President Lincoln who stood against slavery stood for the truth of equality.

No matter what you think of wealthy corporate organizations, there have always been those who have been instruments of social change to escalate the solutions of world issues.  People like Oprah Winfrey and her corporation have reached out and made significant changes for social justice around the world.  And of course, there have been those institutions that at times have subjugated, oppressed and inhibited the change for the good of all.

As we view the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, as we hear of reaction to the new immigration bill in Arizona and as we listen to the political spins of the day manipulating the facts, it leaves those conscious people who are on the inside of these institutions feeling hopeless and entrepreneurs committed to global solutions feeling significantly angry.

A movement of change that holds “none are free until all are free” heralds a call to all who desire to be change agents to consider new models. Models of doing business that welcomes working together and being in service which may run against conventional models of doing business but are clearly the way of the conscious entrepreneur and even conscious corporate business seeking change in today’s world.

Bridge Building.

“How might I work with you?” is the question Donny and I are making a mantra to facilitate these new models of business that call for bridge building, not black and white thinking.  If you see others as your enemy or your competition, you may feel threatened and create an uninviting smell.  But if you ask the question as an opportunity for you to heal, become more conscious and to be open to the abundance there for all, then the energy totally shifts.

Donny and I worked with a restaurant business owner whose business has been declining for two years.  Across the street from his restaurant there are (at each corner) three flourishing restaurants that he saw influencing his lack of business.  When we got him playing creative brainstorming we asked him to consider how he might be in cooperation rather than competition. When he got that, there was an energetic shift.  The creative juices of a whole marketing plan began to emerge as we helped him consider joint ventures, service, altruistic projects, being more elegant to his customers and acknowledging the unique gifts his restaurant brings to the community.  Just by considering the question of cooperation the ways seemed to just pour out.

If you’re getting stuck, then ask yourself,  “Am I putting out a defensive smell or am I welcoming cooperation energetically?”  Whether it is the restaurant owner or some political crisis, the solutions are there.  It may simply begin with “how might we work together”.  There is a Quaker saying,  “No one is my enemy.” Some of the answers you seek for yourself and our world may emerge graciously as we walk our talk and open to the energy of cooperation.

No matter what your views might be on the economy, global warming or health care, one thing for sure is that new social, economic and political models are trying to break through.  One of the ways those breakthroughs are happening is in the area of gender.  For the entrepreneur on a spiritual path, it is an opportunity for your contributions to shift the paradigm of consciousness by unleashing the power of cooperation, equality and wealth for all who commit the law of gender.

Among all the universal laws, gender is the least spoken about, yet it is actually the law that is responsible for the current reemergence of much of the ancient wisdom around wealth consciousness.  You left-brain pragmatists may be ready to stop reading this esoteric treatise so let me flesh it out quickly.  Anything in our lives that is repressed will be eventually be expressed somehow.  There is only so long a pressure cooker can build up steam until it must be released or explode.  The structures, laws and religious ideologies that have been developed over the past 2000 years have held the feminine and masculine principles as unequal.  I believe the current world crises we’re experiencing have to do with the collapse of structures that no longer serve us personally as well as globally. We are witnessing the reemergence of the feminine and the masculine principles as they seek to balance themselves.

The law of gender is a natural geyser that is beginning to gush forth with opportunities.  For the entrepreneur it can be seen in what people are buying: trust, authenticity and an experience are what people are looking for.  These are clearly more feminine attributes, so your products and services need to be energetically heart-based and offer an experience of change.  How exciting it is when your highest service as expressed through your business and what your clients are looking for are in perfect harmony.

The law of gender has little to do with the sexes of male and female, yet it has everything to do with recognizing the wholeness of one’s feminine and masculine aspects no matter what gender identity or sexual orientation you have.  Inner balance and integration are essential things for making our businesses reflect the change in the world we desire.  Both male and female entrepreneurs who acknowledge this new emergence may be on the cutting edge as they offer products and services that empower everyone with the opportunities for wealth.  Entrepreneurs who listen to their emotions, their body and their intuition will find themselves on the cutting edge as well as presenting new models of change.

For example, Tony Shay, CEO of Zappos, has dipped into this pool of wisdom by creating a business culture of happiness that encourages expression, fun and self-care by offering an environment where spontaneity erupts like a geyser.  Even in the corporate world, Richard Branson’s Virgin America supports this emergence.  Donny and I fly Virgin regularly and are aware their staff have fun and have created an experience with subtle things like purple mood lightening.  This changes how people enjoy flying.

The ancients knew each person in their tribe had their own unique gift to offer the group.  It was absolutely necessary for the individual’s gift to be given for the tribe in order for the tribe to be whole.  As we as entrepreneurs balance the feminine and masculine aspects, new models of business, trade, money and cooperation will emerge.  Muted voices are being expressed.  The law of gender reminds you as an entrepreneur to uncover your gifts hidden in your closet.  What you have yet to express may be the very thing that propels your business into the next level.  The law of gender may be like a geyser helping us remember who we are as we express our purpose through our businesses.  As it is with the geyser you, too, must be willing to erupt, take risks and genuinely put your gifts out there.

This leads me into the last notion of the law of gender that says everything has a period of gestation.  The gestation of a seed, child, business or an activation of purpose calls for freeing yourself of an old story in order to grow with the truth.  Your gift is needed now!  The period of gestation for entrepreneurs expressing the law of gender is now.  What is the gift of your business?  Affirm your gift and announce to the universe your willingness to express your gift through your business.

This is time of the geyser breaking though the crust of repression to bring forth new models of expression.  As Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”