What is the one thing at the root of what distracts and derails you from integrating the sacred & the strategic parts of your work—and stepping into your natural capacity to lead doing the work you know you are here to do?

(Do you know?)

The one thing at the root of what distracts and derails you is a deep-seated sense of being separate—from the Sacred, from the flow of Life, from others and even, from yourself. (Listen to Episode 6.)

But what does that look like in lived experience?

It shows up in both how you feel—and what you do (what pattern of action you take)—often with increasing intensity each time you deepen your commitment to the work you really want to do—and make that visible in the world.

(I share specific client examples on the podcast.)

When I first ask clients: What is distracting & derailing you? What’s that thing that you keep coming up against again and again? They most often answer:

1. Procrastination. You know what to do (or you think you do), and you’re not doing it. (There’s usually a should here somewhere. You should be consistent with email marketing. You should keep to a particular work schedule or marketing rhythm. You should follow up on client leads and proposals.)

2. Putting out fires. You’re keeping yourself so busy you don’t have time to turn toward the work you really want to do. Or, other people’s needs and priorities keep interrupting you or kicking up chaos.

3. Confusion. You’re confused about what your work is, how it all fits together, or why what you’re doing isn’t working to get you the results you’re wanting—especially if what you’re doing has worked in the past.

4. Fear.  You’re afraid that you will no longer be respected professionally. You’re afraid that you don’t have enough, or won’t make enough, money.

You’re afraid that when you turn toward the work you really want to do, you’ll find that there’s nothing there. Or worse, that you are delusional, foolish, or a cause for shame in that.

And what can seem the most irrational—but is universal—you’re afraid that you will be annihilated. That everything will collapse, and you will simply cease to exist.

With each of these, you are likely trying to navigate your relationship with safety and value: What will keep you safe? And how are you valued? 

And so they simultaneously point you to the root of what’s distracting and derailing you. (Are you safe? Are you valued?)

And point you back to the systems, structures and narratives of our socio-economic system as the source of your safety and your value—which keeps you going around.

Because, at the root of our socioeconomic system is the same split that the body of work pushing against you seeks to make whole.

The one thing at the root, that we’re talking about and working with, is deeper and more fundamental than procrastination, chaos, confusion, or even fear.

It is this split between the sacred & the material itself—and the particular way you experience it, and personalize it.

If you’re like my clients (and me), it will commonly show up as:

You get out in front of it.

You cut it off at the pass.

You try, or feel like you have to, fix it—or yourself.

You feel like you need to justify yourself—and you will bend over backwards to justify yourself.

You hide—or you contort yourself and your work to fit what you think others will value.

You jump in to do what others cannot—or will not—do for themselves.

You do it all—and feel like you have to do it all—yourself.

You feel responsible—and take responsibility for—things that are not your responsibility or are out of your control.

Can you see how, in each of these, you have forgotten the Sacred?

You have forgotten that you are held in a web of creation and support that you can lean into and call upon.

You do not fully trust that the rhythm and sway of Life includes taking care of you—and so you take it up yourself.

You might also find, like many of my clients do, that your thoughts, feelings and actions swing like a pendulum—in a very specific, recurring pattern—to correct this pattern of taking it up yourself. 

You cling—or you cut and run. You push forward—or you collapse.

You (re)commit and focus—or you search and scan (for another option or answer).

You are careful, cautious and curated—or you are irreverent, rebellious and radically transparent.

This pendulum swing will be intimately familiar to you (and highly frustrating).

And ending it—stepping outside of it into a third way of being and doing so that you can have a different experience (and a different result)—will have consistently and repeatedly confounded you (perhaps for as long as you can remember).

(I share specific client examples on the podcast.)

With each swing, you are likely trying to navigate your relationship with effort and ease—with full engagement and commitment and full trust and surrender.

To ask (and attempt to answer) the question: what is the role of your own agency?

And why is it not—or no longer—generating results?

You are swinging right over that one thing at the root of what distracts and derails you—and you can begin to sense it for what it is (without the layers of its habituated thoughts, feelings and actions).

It has a specific felt-sense and energetic resonance to it. It is actually an interference pattern in your energy body that shows up as thoughts, feelings, and actions.

That—this pattern of interference—is a karmic knot. And how you experience this fundamental sense of being separate from the Sacred is at the root of it.

We can perceive this, and we can work with it directly to untangle it.

Doing that is both gentle and incredibly precise—because it is calibrated to exactly what the pattern is energetically, and how you need to untangle it.

And it is only one practice—to untangle one pattern.

The energetic and concrete shifts from that one practice will reverberate into every aspect of what you offer, how you offer it, and who you are in it through:

• a connection (and claim) to your lineage of spiritual practice—and the continuity of how it runs through you to your work;

• a clarity of voice, purpose and structure in how (and why) you do what you do—and a confidence in its efficacy, necessity and value;

• a clear, simple structure to your work—that streamlines processes, creates space and increases revenue;

• an approach to marketing—and a way of being in sales conversations—that is rooted in your presence and the integrity of your work; and

• a team that works for you (and with you)—rather than you working for it

so that you will create a fully integrated body of work that:

• uses and expresses all you have to offer;

• creates both a highly-sought-after, transformational experience and profound concrete results for your clients;

• and uniquely positions you to lead holistic change in your profession.

(I share specific client examples on the podcast.) 

So, what is that one thing for you?

I’d love to help you pinpoint what that one thing is—and which one practice will untangle it in the way that’s exactly right for you.

So that you step into your natural capacity to lead doing the work you know you are here to do.

Join me for the next One Thing Workshop or a Private One Thing Intensive.

I’m Rebecca Rama Devi Prien, a business advisor, spiritual teacher and attorney with more than 20 years of experience at the leading edge of holistic change in unlikely professions. I mentor visionary women to integrate the sacred & the strategic parts of your work—through spiritual practice, intellectual property strategy and business model design—without sacrificing financial stability or professional respect.