Happy Day Everyone! -- The following are thoughts on being part of a group of women businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
If we still need to meet, my name is Jenn Shepherd. I have a biography of degrees, certifications, activities, careers, and accomplishments. I recently put it all into an AI program along with a list of my passions and goals, and a format for a biography mapping my public life popped up. It was rather impressive.
Well, what society has taught us is impressive for a public persona.
My father would be proud of that. He belonged to networking groups like this one—only in the 1970s and 80s. He was a small business owner with a talent for electronics and for picking out what would be the next big thing. His business had cellular phones in the mid-80s and satellite dishes before they were in vogue. He was surrounded by people with impressive biographies, believing he constantly needed the next, the in, the specific amount of money to succeed and be happy.
As children, we were taken to marketing meetings. When I was older and worked at my father's business, I witnessed salespeople that he hired, believing that was what he needed to get ahead, take advantage of him in their need to feel and be extraordinary.
This is to say that I never thought I would willingly join a networking group in a million years.
My beautiful friend Valerie, who found value in this group for herself, asked me many times. Over the years, I was her date on several occasions as she attended and participated in Diva events. I did not mind supporting a friend, but I became involved in a group of all the things I learned to loathe as a young person. I couldn't fathom it.
I have certifications in Integral Ministry, The Art of Quantum Living, Greif Education, and a teacher certification. All these areas require a holding space for others to examine their activations, triggers, and self-doubt as they come to terms with who they are. There is an awareness of who and what we are on this Earth.
There is an adage that we teach what we need to be and learn in our lives on some level.
Using the skills and techniques I use in helping and teaching others, I found that I was butting up against the feeling of being inauthentic.
In his quest to be successful, happy, and have the money and status he thought he needed, my father often took on projects and business opportunities unrelated to his Truth or talent.
Now, the man could figure out just about anything. What was not considered was that he could use his Passion, which sparked joy within himself, to be successful. That is what I did not want to be.
Finding one's connection to talent, personal awareness, and Expression was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the Bolts of Love.
Over a decade ago, I was newly ordained, doing well at the Spiritual Center I was part of, taking myself to extra learning opportunities out of state, and finding a place in my new journey as Widow, only mother, and Minister. I erroneously thought that the competitive nature I witnessed in the networking situations my father was in would never be part of a group of people seeing their spiritual nature.
Beautiful friends Karen McGrath and Erin Stolz (who passed in February) helped me understand what was being said about and around me and the things being done to curtail my perceived success.
In a discussion about how hurt I felt and how I did not understand the need for such competition and lack of transparency in communication, we discussed the need to send Bolts of Love to people instead of hate. Then, it became a joke as we envisioned the Universe blasting people with lightning bolts full of Love to get them to understand their true nature.
A group dedicated to a small speaker series sharing ideas about the Universe was born in a group open to supporting each other in their walk with their developing Truth.
In remembering that and following the Art of Quantum Living steps, I found a shadow of unworthiness when claiming my Divine Expression. I learned at a very young age to keep some of my passions and thoughts, writings, and even what I was finding I was pretty adept at to myself, for every time I let it pop out a little, there was some repercussion. Then, there were the repercussions when I thought I had found a place that did accept expressions. Even in starting Bolts of Love, I played organizer and helped many people get air under their wings and are now doing beautiful things with their talent.
As women and entrepreneurs, we can do it all. Women have been multitasking talents for generations, from crafting to feeding to teaching, healing support, and community backbone.
Talent, Passion, your essence, and the divinity of the Universe walking around on Earth can be buried or overlooked.
The Expression of your true self, the igniting of your beautiful Passion and talent, is all you are meant to do here. In that Expression, Passion, whatever it is, inspires others to do the same. We start to work in a world that demands cooperation and collaboration over competition, owning that in partnership and collaboration, everyone thrives, everyone shines, and in the infinite abundance available through the Universe, everyone prospers.
We prosper with wholeness and health and embrace the divine Expression of the Universe you are.
That is why I finally decided to join this beautiful group of women. I am great at helping other people shine; a group like this one moves away from the old paradigms of networking based on sales and competition and supports each other as they find their way to worthiness to allow their divinity to find human Expression is a way for me to practice being supported as much as I help. To be collaborative without the fear of jealousy or retribution.
If you still need to discern yourself and then take positive action to move past self-imposed limitations, this is your encouragement.
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