“In all the good times I find myself longing for change and in bad times I fear myself” – Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
I know a similar saying within Buddhism that is as follows:
“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.” — Chögyam Trungpa
For me this relates to the depths, highs and lows of my own entrepreneurial journey and to our current global situation regarding the coronacrisis. This blogpost is a reflection of a substantial part of my creative leadership journey and what I continuously do to stay connected to my nature. My purpose in life and work.
Just a brief history about me for the people who read this and don’t know me. Age 29 (that’s 8 years ago:) I started as a freelancer. A few years later I transitioned into Heartcore-Lab, starting hiring employees and developing my own capabilities in this new role. After 3,5 years having a small team I decided that this wasn’t the way forward for me. It didn’t gave me what I wanted to manifest, not for myself, not for my clients. I gained a lot of awareness through this journey and I found out that:
I am a creator
Of never-ending possibilities and joyful opportunities.
Heartcore-Lab stands for bringing the heart back in business by leading from the heart, always having a strong core and live as life is one big experiment, embracing all that our precious life has to give.
Meanwhile I discovered that I am good in manifesting and I love doing that. And I am helping others to do the same. There is always an opportunity to dive into, a possibility to act, to be creative, to explore the unknown and to step into the field of experimentation. And because of this mindset and attitude I inherently know I’ll never meet the ground. Because, what is the ground actually? Failure? Shame? Fear? In-action? Not going with the flow? Going bankrupt? Having no success on paper or in the eyes of someone else? Or huge success and not being able to deal with it? All of that could happen for real and maybe that means ‘the ground’ for you. But maybe it isn’t. Maybe it the end of something old and the beginning of something new. S
“Everything is possible, but you have to believe it.” – one of my mottos in life.
I use my daily rituals, like mediation and the mBraining framework, to practice coherence and presence. When something knocks me off my feet, it’s about how fast I can come back again to my centered state again. That’s true practice and something I have also learned on the path of Buddhism several years ago practicing contemplative photography. From this place of consciousness and awareness there is a great space of possibilities in dealing with challenging situations. How I connect, reflect and transform happenings is the second part of my core:
I create to integrate
That’s why:
I’ve created Heartcore-Lab with it’s mission to bring the heart back in business. Manifesting organisational and cultural change from a heart-based perspective through creative concept development, rebellious creativity and communication re-design. I love to create, integrate and manifest cultures of unlimited possibilities for my Heartcore clients. To unlock the creative potential within a corporate system, to show others how to use their true self to spark open minded conversations that matter and to co-create the space for playful exploration. Keeping the magic alive <3
At the beginning of 2019 Heartcore was back to only me again with a strong focus on continuing building a Heartcore Tribe of like-minded souls that work and live the heartcore beliefs and values. This is the way forward.
As a creative entrepreneur I’ve created Hummingbird Amsterdam in 2018. For the love of specialty coffee and for the love of true hospitality, because that what is really missing in a city like Amsterdam. I’ve created it from scratch based on my vision what is deeply necessary in hospitality: genuine connection and badass quality.
Hummingbird is about enjoyment of life, lightness of being, and the quality of being present while having a badass coffee.
Like a Hummingbird we aspire to hover and to savour each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate the joy of every day.
I’ve found and integrated opportunities for Hummingbird to survive this corona crisis. From donations to Work From Hummingbird-Days, for moms, dads and individuals who crave for another scenery to work from in this cray time. Luckily it worked for the 2 months while we’re closed.
TThe first day we all started to Work From Home due to the corona crisis, we’ve created online Heartcore-Calls to create space for people to connect, reflect and transform whatever needs to be transformed. Every call we start with a balanced breathing exercise to create inner and group coherence. These calls are an act of compassion for others and my sincere need to create space for it.
In relation to the above, I hosted this for one of my current clients too. This is maybe somehow unexpected to do within a corporate environment. In these challenging times it is tough to show vulnerability. How do we lead ourselves within our professional contexts in these challenging times? How do we create a digital culture and not to forget to integrate our heart? How much space do we give ourselves to embrace all sorts of emotions and to work with it. How would it be if we add a little bit more compassion to the work field? Or a little bit more of checking in and checking out, connecting & reflecting, finding ways to be at ease with ourselves and each other in challenging times and to practice resilience and coherence on a daily base. Especially at work.
As from April 17th, I’ve initiated and co-created the very first FridayLab videocast in collaboration with my Tribe. The core of the FridayLab videocast is about interviewing people from diverse backgrounds about topics from the head, heart and gut but also about change (yourself, your life, your organisation) and about ‘how do you ‘do’ your successful self’ what also relates to the essence of mBraining: harnessing the intelligence of your multiple brains. It’s following up on the amazing scientific background of mBraining and researching the current fields of generative and adaptive leadership. Our ultimate big dreamers goal: getting Joe Dispenza in:) We truly believe that it’s possible!
“How you think and how you feel creates your personality and your personality creates your personal reality.” – Joe Dispenza
Relating back to the essence of this pretty long blogpost: that’s why I am a firm believer that whatever happens, it’s how you deal with it. How you manage your own state. In relation to your personal and Work Life. How you are able to transform or be aware of your own perspective in relation to your belief system. It’s how you respond to happenings, how you talk to yourself, what words or thoughts you choose or allow, how you embrace mixed feelings, how you listen to different signs from the head, heart and gut. When you truly and deeply know yourself (that is a true life challenge), or at least a little bit, you are able to start and take ownership about your life so that you are able to change things for yourself and not be a victim of your circumstances.
I believe that’s our training in daily life. And with that, you’ll reframe ‘the ground’ yourself.
End note: I especially wrote this pretty blog because my dearest THNK Tribe Class 9 initiated a chain of posts, to inspire each other globally, to share where we stand, how we cope with our current happenings from a business and personal perspective. I hope I gave you some insights how I deal with my entrepreneurship in relation to the current happenings and also in general opening up more about my belief system, my core and my journey. I hope others will follow opening up from the heart.