In 2003 I started a career coaching company and worked as the only employee.
The company did very well, particularly if you looked at the turnover and the ‘front end’ of the company. The turnover grew each year, marketing and sales were doing great and the company was able to do business with small and big companies, building on innovative propositions and good perception management.
Over 10 years, the company grew to be a small multi-millions business with about 50 employees. It was very successful. I see that my qualities – in contacting people, especially at management level, outlining a strategy, developing a vision and inspiring colleagues and customers with it, were the cornerstones for the success.
The Illusion of a ‘Successful’ Company Exposed
But there was also another side. While other companies thought we were big and solid, which I wanted them to believe, the reality was very different. We were actually, at least in the first years, small and not very well organised.
The company appeared to be my ‘dream’ job as it had all the aspects that I enjoyed such as being a leader, marketing, sales and flexibility. I did only those things that interested me and that I was good at, avoiding matters that I did not want to do or that really needed my attention, such as conservatively managing the finances.
I was avoiding leading this company responsibly and spent too much money on keeping up appearances and growth, something I had learned at a very young age from observing my father. As a child we lived in houses that were too big for what we could afford and my father spent money on dreams that often did not come true.
The Comfort of a ‘Good’ Life
But the biggest thing was comfort: the comfort of having a ‘good’ life.
Financially the company was not doing well because I did not want to face the reality of the unsustainable growth. First I did everything myself, then I employed managers who were drawn to the company by my big dreams and the fact that we would grow, sell shares, cash a lot of money and be financially independent. It was the typical dream of an entrepreneur – work very hard and then cash in.
The new management team worked in line with my vision, leading the company but not taking real responsibility or solving and truly managing the financial side of the company. I saw all of this but chose to close my eyes. Instead, and with my approval, I let the management team work out more sophisticated financial techniques and arrange heavy extra loans to camouflage that the company was financially in bad shape.
I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done. I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging. I knew I had to face the reality of having to make decisions that would take away the good salary and comfortable lifestyle.
The Beginning of the End
Then came Universal Medicine. Meeting Serge Benhayon was the biggest shift in my life, ever.
For a year I fought what Serge Benhayon was presenting. Then on the last day of a Universal Medicine course in the UK, Serge walked by me and I cried as I surrendered to the love that I felt, and the love he lives and emanates so unconditionally.
I – or better said my body – felt that I had returned home and found the truth I had always been looking for. My head followed what my heart had felt. Things started to shift in my company.
I became more aware of what was happening and felt what people were really doing. Although I felt that things were not right, I avoided speaking up or taking any action. I avoided taking responsibility because I was afraid how people would react. I was afraid of the confrontations if I was to start to express what I felt and, in particular, the confrontation of saying to a close colleague that I did not trust him any more.
Serge shared with me “Just be ALL of you,” but I chose for a year to not live this, choosing to hide from my responsibility, making myself small, not speaking my truth. Instead I pretended it would all work out fine somehow, without my having to take any action. I talked a lot about what I should do, but in the end I did not do it.
When I eventually started expressing all that was not true and asked my direct colleague to leave, it was too late. This resulted in a management fight, which ended in the two other managing directors leaving, together with some other employees.
That was good… I thought. But I then gave my power away – again – to an interim management team, which said that the company was in such a bad shape that I had to declare bankruptcy.
I was not living ALL of me, not being in my power and not being discerning as to what could be done as a team, following advice almost blindly by excusing myself it was too much of a task for me to get the turnover that was needed to survive. I now see that by being ALL of me, which is living in my power without fear, and by really working together with the remaining employees instead of doing it all on my own, we could have made a turnaround.
Going Bankrupt
As proposed by the interim financial manager, giving my power away once again, I filed for bankruptcy, a scenario I never imagined. The consequences were huge.
The bankruptcy resulted in a financial and emotional shock for many employees and business partners, leaving many bills unpaid. Some people were relying so much on the company that all of a sudden they did not have any money at all, not even being able to pay for their groceries at the shop. When I heard this, my heart crumbled.
All of this because I was avoiding responsibility and choosing the comfortable life, living selfishly.
I now realise that this company could have made a huge impact on humanity if I had chosen to honour myself and my employees and expressed sooner what I was feeling. I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.
In the business world, there are so many corporate institutions that are successful because of the people, but these corporations have somehow turned into machines using people (the ‘human resources’) for the sole purpose of getting more and more turnover and profit. My company could have been a living example that appreciating and deeply valuing people is our way forward.
The consequences were huge for me as well, but the biggest effect was that I gave up on life and started withdrawing from the world.
A New Way of Life and Working
Since the bankruptcy, I have had a total astounding makeover as a (working) person, a 180° turnaround. I am learning and do very much appreciate the BIG steps I have taken. I am returning more and more to being the tender, loving and deeply sensitive man that I was as a child, being far less protected than I was.
I have learned what it is to really commit and I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results. Gone is the arrogance that I am the creator of ideas and companies. Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.
I have now chosen to live a purposeful life and make it about love, truth and God. Comfort and laziness are definitely out, as I learned the hard way. I am learning every single day. I am amazed to see this loving, tender, caring, beautiful, very powerful man that is surfacing. A new, different leader.
My intention is to – yes, don’t be surprised – start a new ‘true’ company in time. I have learned and won’t be making the same mistakes ever again.
I feel a forever student, who never stops being amazed about the beauty of this life. I am now more committed to continue to learn and evolve: not to better myself and have a better life, but to truly have an impact on this world. Not alone, but together with many people… it’s time for making life about people first.
Thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon, his family and the many inspiring students of The Way of The Livingness, I know there is another way… also another way in work and how to run a company.
With deep appreciation for the unconditional love, support and teachings of Serge Benhayon. He never stopped loving me, whatever I did or chose to do. Thank you Serge.
By Anonymous
Further Reading:
Comfort
Work Is Medicine
My Relationship With Work: Choosing To Be All of Me
True Leadership and Teamwork – Talk to an Ant
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
A great learning that the parts are as important as the whole.
Yes tell me about comfort! I hadn’t realised how comfort can be in every nook and cranny. I had such an illusion about it, and when I stepped into another position in employment, out went some of the comfort.
When we really place life under a microscope, comfort is around us 24/7 and we need to discern more and more.
Also in a moment when things don’t feel ‘right’ or when we avoid ‘speaking up or taking any action’ is harming us, it is because of the exact reason, ‘afraid how people would react’, is something I am dealing with more and more. We all have a responsibility to present the truth when things don’t feel right, and it is only when we take steps to present the truth more and more, do we become more responsive to it.
A working progress…
Anyone who truly knows Serge Benhayon knows that he is the most amazing and loving person this planet has ever been blessed to have, ‘With deep appreciation for the unconditional love, support and teachings of Serge Benhayon. He never stopped loving me, whatever I did or chose to do. Thank you Serge.’
Many of us would agree but also disagree. Serge Benhayon offers the truth to us and meets us for who we truly are. He sees us for that, that is within us all, but do we see it in ourselves? Yes for some, for many no because they are not ready and that’s ok too.
What a great learning you had from your experience, ‘ I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.’
The impact we have on each other can be huge and far reaching. As shown in this example with Serge Benhayon and with you and your employees Anon. It really is amazing and a fact that would be healthy to be more aware of.
“I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.” – this is such a beautiful point that should pull any business owner or manager to a stop. People matter and this is what we do need to make our businesses and our societies about. True care and business do and ‘should’ work hand in hand.
Pretending that things will work out is a strategy of delay of actually taking responsibility for what is happening, and this only ends up damaging everyone and everything more. This is something we all know on some level but may not always be ready to act on for whatever reasons.
We know when things are true, equally when something does not feel true, ‘ I felt that things were not right, I avoided speaking up or taking any action. I avoided taking responsibility because I was afraid how people would react. ‘
“Although I felt that things were not right, I avoided speaking up or taking any action. I avoided taking responsibility because I was afraid how people would react. I was afraid of the confrontations if I was to start to express what I felt and, in particular, the confrontation of saying to a close colleague that I did not trust him any more.” – After so many years of keeping quiet and not speaking what we truly feel, it can be difficult to break that moment and begin to express with no holes barred.
Lovely to read where Anonymous now is with their work ethic, ‘I have now chosen to live a purposeful life and make it about love, truth and God.’
Do we really need our backs to be against the wall to feel the way greed and corruption takes us away from our divine essence? Divinity and working with God is the oldest company and should be sought in every avenue of our work practices.
Wow, what an amazing read, I can see elements of this smallness and lack of true purpose in my own working life, and I can see the potential catastrophe ahead if I don’t look more clearly at everything and take more responsibility. Thank you for your blog.
‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’ This is huge to feel and understand – how we are, the quality in which we move determines everything including our choices and it’s not about what we do at all, but the quality in which we are.
‘I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results.’ With this awareness will come greater success in our business and all our relationships, such a simple formula that delivers a win/win for everyone.
It’s a hard pill to swallow when we realise the impact of our irresponsibility and choosing comfort can have on those around us.
So true Julie – it is not easy to accept what we get to see and feel has happened as a result of the ‘me’ factor of not taking responsibility on a larger level. As they say with great power comes great responsibility.
Stepping up to be powerful and responsible, living all of ourselves, is needed in this world, ‘I now see that by being ALL of me, which is living in my power without fear, and by really working together with the remaining employees instead of doing it all on my own, we could have made a turnaround.’
It’s an awful feeling when it hits home that your actions have destroyed or hurt another because we have negated our responsibility, that’s incredibly cool that you made so many changes to your business focus to ensure that never happens again.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make” The choice to be all that we are in whatever we do is beyond measure.
When we ‘look the other way’ for a long time the stagnation sets in and bringing responsibility and accountability has consequences. Staying committed to the purpose makes this process less like a rollercoaster but there is going to be hard truths to face. Thank you for what you have shared.
A great reminder of responsibility and how when we lack that responsibility because it is easier to do so than face what is truly going on, which not only affects us but others too.
In my experience Serge Benhayon never stops loving anyone because he lives love and in that loves everyone equally. Most of us have a misunderstanding about the true energetic meaning of love. Unimedpedia Love: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-love.html gives a good introduction.
It’s definitely worth investigating what love really is. Serge Benhayon certainly flipped around my understanding of love, previously I thought love was about what I needed or romance or just one person and it lacked the deep rich magic that occurs when love is present in your life.
I had a similar experience many years back, where I was quietly in tears just feeling the amount of love Serge Benhayon was delivering, ‘ Serge walked by me and I cried as I surrendered to the love that I felt, and the love he lives and emanates so unconditionally.’
I love how Serge offered you nothing but holding and love. He did not tell you want to do or judge you for what you had done. He no doubt saw your choices to be irresponsible but saw you were grander than that anyway so no judgement. This is huge and an example of true love we can ALL one day choose to live.
Well said Joshua, whilst we can judge ourselves and choose to see what we do not live. Serge and a deeper love will always see and feel the grandness that lies within us all.
The comfort here is not in the abundance of money, it is in staying quiet and keeping small – not causing the caffufle which was very needed earlier on. As comfort is very different for each person, it is crucial that we discern where we can slip into comfort in our lives and avoid that because it’s a killer!
Being all of you – I have heard this and said this, but what I am feeling now is how alive that is, and it has a lot to do with expressing ourselves – not just verbally, but letting every part of us communicate what it has to say. And what I can feel is how we interfere with images of ideal, and some parts of us get squeezed very tight and other parts just run wild and our entire being ends up with blotches that are not able to let the true light pass through and express, and we find comfort in that because it suits and justifies our agenda of being a version of us, instead of being all of us.
When you have the ability to see something in others that can help them, often times, you also receive how others see you which may be true or not. Yet, this dialogue may not be true, but as it is part of an ongoing relationship you take it at its face value. When the confirmation is not true, but you want to believe it to be true because it sounds good to you and to them, and you walk as if it were true, you will soon discover that the reality you built is a sand castle.
The longer we put off being ‘all that we are’ the harder and more difficult it appears to be. However, when we truly commit to doing so everything we need to do so is there to support us.
I am sure you will be bringing the learnings into your present work place, ‘My company could have been a living example that appreciating and deeply valuing people is our way forward.’
It is a great point that you make that you were working very hard but not committed. We often consider hard work to be commitment and a good thing but really what is it that we are committed to? Is it the truth and what is needed or is it something else as you have described.
Exactly the same applies to our understanding of what it means to “be all of us” we have such a knack to misinterpret things to suit our needs, hurts and programs.
Great points you make, Nicola, for if we are not committed to what is true we create our own bubble of illusion which is sustainable only for so long before it crumbles. Live in and from truth and then life deepens, expands and evolves.
This is a great example of where we can choose to either hold onto the past by choosing to remain regretful or we can choose to appreciate the learning we have come to from our past experiences and embrace what is on offer next for us.
It is, one of the most valuable lessons that I have learnt from Serge Benhayon, to make life be about people first, in all of our dealings with each other, in all of our interactions, to make a loving foundation of expression and purpose with everything that we do – in the home and in society – making life be about people first is transformative because it lets out the love that is there to be expressed. And this does not ever mean to be submissive or to allow abuse of any kind, for love is very firm when it needs to be, and there are always very clear boundaries on what is acceptable behaviour. Love holds everyone equally, and this is why people come first in the stakes of life, because people = love.
Well said Shami. We would do well to consider this in all aspects of our lives and build our business practice around this level of connection, decency and respect.
What on earth and beyond could be more successful than making life about love, truth and God?
A great expose on comfort and how it stops us from evolving and leaves us exhausted and drained from a lack of true purpose.
So much for us all to learn from here Anonymous. No matter how much we think we can get away with something that is not working, it will eventually catch up with us and we will one day have to pay the consequences.
We learn so much from life, ‘I am returning more and more to being the tender, loving and deeply sensitive man that I was as a child, being far less protected than I was.’
This is huge and unfortunately most companies do not understand this philosophy
“I have learned what it is to really commit and I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results.”
I have found over the last 40 odd years of working that it is the people that matter first as we all matter and for me Serge Benhayon has confirmed this via the workshops and presentations I have attended.
“I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done. I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging” – It’s never the number of hours that we put in to something that make it a success, but our values and the quality of how we work not just on our own but with other people too, appreciating what this project or business is delivering to humanity. As you’ve shared honesty within an organisation is a huge part of this.
What defines true success? Has the true meaning of the word ‘success’ in the way we have it today been twisted and bastardised over lifetimes? If we think of success as the accumulation of wealth, accolades, achievements, etc then are we shortchanging ourselves? Could the true meaning of the word ‘success’ have a far greater and purposeful meaning than our assets or capital in the bank? For me and where I am today, nothing is successful when it comes from self and it is my responsibility through developing the relationship to myself to live this truth.
When we learn from our mistakes we are showing true leadership.
So true Jane for the more transparent and honest we are with ourselves and each other, the more we can all learn and grow from each other’s mistakes, not just our own.
What an honest and transparent sharing. We all make mistakes, some obviously bigger than others … but the trick is to simply learn from them and then share that wisdom with others.
A salutatory lesson on the illusion of comfort.
‘In the business world, there are so many corporate institutions that are successful because of the people, but these corporations have somehow turned into machines using people (the ‘human resources’) for the sole purpose of getting more and more turnover and profit. My company could have been a living example that appreciating and deeply valuing people is our way forward.’ This is so so true Anonymous – people matter, not systems or institutions, and if our loving relationship comes first, people are nurtured and evolve, and the systems will reflect that.
The level of responsibility that is talked about here should be the basis of how we live, work and be in our world.
We all know it, all desire it and all know what is required to make it real, so let’s all of us begin to see, feel and essentially begin to adjust.
There are those moments when everything ‘looks’ wonderful and rosy, but we ‘sense’ that the foundation is kind of rotten. I find that unfortunately this is the case in most aspects of life and society. Because most of us, me included, have for years and perhaps lifetimes done exactly what you outline here: choosing to ignore true responsibility, love and care and riding the pretend success. Of course the false façade has to come tumbling down in the end before the true loving foundation is built.
So when we have seen and felt it clearly, how do we respond? Do we go for the love or keep holding on to the comfort? Thank you for writing about your experience and observations. Very inspiring.
‘I saw all of this but chose to close my eyes’. It’s amazing how much we can see, yet we close our eyes, which is a choice to delay not dealing with what needs dealing with. That said, it does not go away, and the longer we stay in delay, not taking responsibility, often the bigger the problem gets. Which is also a part of our learning package.
This is a deeply humbling, raw and honest blog. To reach and understanding that ‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me’ is huge and a great lesson for us all; it’s how we move and what we choose, and life is about love, purpose and people first.
It is amazing how much we see, but choose to put the blinkers on so we do not have to take responsibility or action, but then there comes a point when it all erupts and spills over creating a big mess. In cleaning up the mess, the lesson is learned so we do not have to repeat that learning.
‘Although I felt that things were not right, I avoided speaking up or taking any action. I avoided taking responsibility because I was afraid how people would react’. How many of us can relate to this, afraid of the reaction from others, so we do not say what needs to be said for all concerned…. and then it takes for things to blow up or be fully in our face that we cannot ignore or avoid any longer what we had to do or say before it all got out of hand. But if we learn the lesson, we do not have to face it again.
Wow, what a story. Part of responsibility is tending to all areas of life equally. If we always did only the things we liked, big gaping holes appear. When we live like that, there is a constant stress as those untended areas are felt – we can only pretend to ignore them but in truth it is impossible. I find it challenging to do the accounts at work but if I don’t, the weight of it is huge. Then when I do them, it can take me a little while to get into it, but there is such joy in doing them. Afterwards everything feels complete and cared for. This is how life is when we tend to all areas – there is a settlement.
Actually I just realised it is also about commitment to life for me. Having had huge lack of commitment issues, and not wanting to be here, and although I have been busy committing to life the best I thought at the time, I can feel it is time to reimprint my commitment to life, and I can already feel the difference, it is very subtle, but wow I have more horse power to just get on and do what is needed.
What do we commit to is revealed in and by our movements. There is no escape from this.
‘ I am now more committed to continue to learn and evolve: not to better myself and have a better life, but to truly have an impact on this world’. I reconigse this, this striving to have a better life and to better myself, in which I can feel is still a strand of that there…. and something for me to look at and reimprint.
True leadership is being reimprinted here, one based on love and on people rather than that of money and portraying an image.
It is very easy to close down into comfort rather than break through the strong tendency of this energy and keep on expanding. I have just been tutoring students on the book The Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins is stuck in polite ways, respectability, comfort (double breakfasts, plenty of scones and cream and cakes for afternoon teas, and the lure of the singing kettle), but when Gandalf (multi-dimensionality) comes a knocking at his door, things begin to change and he finds he must leave his comfortable cocoon and venture out into the world to come face to face with the nastier side of things (symbolised by goblins, wargs, spiders the obscure wood, and, guess what, trolls!)
When you write here about Serge Benahayon – “He never stopped loving me, whatever I did or chose to do.” tears came down my face. How many times have we as a human race turned off and on the ‘love tap’ about what someone has done or not done? I know I have. The consistency of love that Serge offers is deeply healing for humanity.
The Bankruptcy of Comfort –I love the way you have put these two words in the same sentence Anonymous. Temporarily speaking we don’t think of people who live comfortably as being bankrupt. But this is such a true statement when it comes to energetics. If we are in the ‘comfort’ for the self then we are not in the flow. And if we are not in the flow then we are draining energy.. And if we are draining life-force then eventually we will be bankrupt. QED.
Wise words Lyndy; ‘if we are in the comfort for the self then we are not in the flow, and if we are not in the flow then we are draining energy… which leads to bankrupt….makes so much sense.
We learn so much as we live our life, life is full of lessons if we are open to them, and so we return to being love, ‘I have now chosen to live a purposeful life and make it about love, truth and God.’ Absolutely, nothing else makes any sense.
It is always important to express the truth, and although it may seem difficult at the time, I have found it can be easier to speak sooner rather than let it drag on, ‘Although I felt that things were not right, I avoided speaking up or taking any action. I avoided taking responsibility because I was afraid how people would react.’
You should read “your capability”.
It sounds like now would be a good time, ‘In 2003 I started a career coaching company and worked as the only employee’, to start this company again as you are living proof of your capability as a career coach.
‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make’, this sentence so resonates with me, in that every single choice we make either harms or heals us – and the more we make choices that heal us – the more we are able to fully express ourselves and in our full expression, everything we need is already there.
Love that you have chosen to live a ‘purposeful life’ Anon. I learned recently that we can even rest with purpose, something I had never previously considered.
Getting stuck in comfort is almost like watching a movie and putting a freeze-frame on a certain picture of life and saying, ‘That’s it’, this is where I want to stay forever. This is all security-based and relying upon an image of the way it has to be to dominate and create a cocoon of protection around us so that we can live our individual life . . . but to what purpose? To stay safe. Is that what life is about? I have found that it is not. When safety defines the purpose there can be no real joy, no real beauty, no real life, and no real service.
Great that you now understand the importance of putting people first, ‘ I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.’
As soon as I stopped making life about, me, me, me, (having cleared all my old hurts and issues) it becomes automatic to be in service for others and to put people first. People feel this and respond.
Comfort is the way to coast and not expand, not wanting to take on more responsibility. Asking ourselves ‘whats next?’ is a way to continue evolving in whatever walk of life we pursue – not being happy with the status quo. There is always more – a forever deepening …..
We can learn so much from consequences, Mistakes enable us to learn and begin anew, as the Sunlight Book ‘OOps’ shows us. Pick ourselves up and start over. How is the new company flourishing now?
I too would love to hear how your new company is going! I absolutely love this line ‘ Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make…’
How is your new company going anonymous? It would be great to read a follow up blog, and hear about your journey.
What a humbling experience it must have been to loose your company, and then come out the other side with the realisations of the part you played in it all. Awesome sharing.
It’s very moving reading to you with such honesty and humbleness Anonymous. Wherever many people see the end of their lives in situations like that, you see the true beginning. Hard lessons you had to live to arrive to that point, but inthe end of all, you are in the way to really transform the business’ field, step by step.
This is a big, raw feeling blog… stripping away the glamour and illusion of what looks good and having to feel the reflection that can so often be found in the numbers when we are not living one life, not seeing the whole. I’ve been there with Companies that have gone into liquidation and it is ugly and painful for everyone, but there is also a chance to learn. And then life does not stop, it continues and there are always ongoing opportunities to try again but this time to bring the love.
And love makes all the difference….
When we avoid attending to what is needed and linger in apparent comfort, it will bite us in the bum, sooner or later.
Yes, I am familiar with turning a blind eye. Things may all appear well on the surface, sometimes for years, but the consequences will always eventually surface.
Having a major stop moment in our life can be seen as very difficult time or as an opportunity to evolve as you have experienced Anonymous, a learning that has allowed you the space and grace to re-build your life with true love and responsibility that will support you to no longer choose comfort or to stay silent ever again.
‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make…’. Super honest, thank you Anonymous.
Wow this blog really says so much about what it really means to be a leader, a business man or woman and a CEO of a company and the responsibility that we have when we are in business.
We can sit in ‘comfort’ and not speak up or act upon those very things that our heartstrings call out for, but in the process our comfort destroys the lives of others. When we put this in such terms, no one would want to stay in the comfort – and yet the reality is that we do, and often it is that there are such subtle ways in which we get caught in the comforts which we think we are enjoying but in reality are rotting ours and our brothers existence. These comforts I am talking about are the ones where we prefer to sit silent when it is needed to speak up, where we play nice instead of lovingly saying how it is, where we step in to donate and do charities instead of feeling where true support is required. There are so many ways we are all still caught in certain comforts and it is a process in exploring this and gradually letting them go so we are free to truly serve as intended.
Anon, this is an amazingly honest sharing that stands as a true example that we can all learn from. As they say, there are no ‘mistakes’ as there are only learnings, and so long as we have learned from what happened then there has been a purpose to it all. With the company you have shared, it is beautiful that you have talked about how important people are – it is about people first before finances. There is much for many companies in our world to understand and learn in order to really prioritise what life is about: people!
This is a great example of what can happen when we bury our heads in the sand, and refuse to deal with life or look at the ugly stuff. Hats off to you for taking this episode in your life to learn and evolve from.
Thank you anonymous for reminding me that when we make it all about “us” that’s when the ” wheels fall off”. Life is about all in everyway, not the glory of one.
I know they say ‘a picture speaks a 100 words’. Sometimes the same can be said of a good title – ‘The Bankruptcy of Comfort’. So much said here. Being in comfort creates a stagnancy and stops the flow which leads to the bankruptcy – whether it be material or psychological.
The honesty shared here is an inspiration for the world. Simply beginning to talk about the reality that businesses that are truly about people first will find their way, not to selfishly profit, but to provide services and products that support humanity is worth our attention, as in time a businesses integrity will be felt, and it is this that will determine its success or not.
“Choosing to hide from my responsibility, making myself small, not speaking my truth. I pretended it would all work out fine somehow, without my having to take any action. I talked a lot about what I should do, but in the end I did not do it” – I can very much relate to this and its consequence. Nothing to do with managing a company or bankruptcy, but I can see this in my relationships with others – knowing something is not quite ok, thinking I should address it, but telling myself ‘maybe there’s no need’ because the person is now behaving differently – then goes back to the same pattern, just in a different flavour. So the ‘relationship’ and how I experience it becomes dependent on the others’ mood or behaviour, and my reaction to that. And I see the lack of commitment there – to stay in the comfort of arrangement.
Absolutely massive, sometimes we are so out of control and don’t we don’t wish to open our eyes on truth. This is an incredible story with an incredible turn around.
Life offers many opportunities to learn and evolve and it is up to us to grab them with both hands and say yes. A great story, thank you for sharing it.
Spot on Nicole about the opportunities – and this also help us to see life as a series of opportunities that are constantly offered to us in order to grow and evolve, should we choose it. The growth and expansion is happening constantly on a larger scale, and it is pulling us along too, but how much we assist this and align to it versus how much we resist this and pull away from these natural cycles is what determines our quality of growth. This is how opportunities come into play – we can seize them or we can repeat them endlessly. Our choice.
Responsibility is a big one, ‘‘I was avoiding leading this company responsibly and spent too much money on keeping up appearances and growth’. Would be great to hear how your new true company is now.
I love that it is never to late to learn from our choices as life will constantly reflect exactly what is needed to open our eyes and provide an opportunity for us to choose differently. Comfort is only an illusion for in truth there is no comfort only the deafening delay that is just taking it’s time to expose the harm it is causing.
Sometimes we make choices without a full clarity or understanding, what I truly appreciate about what is shared is that no matter what we or another chooses ‘never stop loving them or ourselves for these choices’.
Understanding this for me is huge as our qualities from with-in and the essence of love who we are is divine, just sometimes it gets a bit muddled when it comes to the surface of our day to day life based on how many layers of protection may be acting as a buffer to the love that is always there. The protection is what makes choices seem difficult or complicated, choices from our essence and the love we are, are simple.
The great learning for life is that when we see every opportunity or situation as a chance to deepen our understanding of ourselves and others equally, we begin to unfold more of our innate expression too and that is very inspiring.
An honest appraisal of the consequences of not expressing what we know to be true.
It is pretty amazing how we can avoid taking responsibility and how fracturing that can be – I am a business director, and yes there are still parts of me that want to ‘leave it to others’ – but I quickly find if I am not in there supporting them, and at least having an understanding of what is going on, then things fall apart. It shows that I can never drop my level of responsibility otherwise it is felt by all.
When I view success as something that does not belong to me but for the all then it is impossible to use the fear of success (or failure) as an excuse to not to commit to life and be what many would call successful. Fear of success (or failure) is created as a justification to not take responsibility in my life and this is certainly something to deeply ponder on.
Isn’t it extraordinary how not living with that respect for everything including the bits we don’t want to see creates a tension in the body. A tension we fight and deny but then, when we are confronted with love and the space,living that love creates in our bodies it simply melts the tension. What you have learnt is a lesson for all of us. Thank you for sharing.
Attention to financial detail is something many of us avoid, and yet it is without question a reflection of the deep care we have for ourselves, and if we run a company or business, the deep care we also have for our staff.
Thank you Anonymous for this very honest blog. I myself do not have my own business but I have been employed at companies for about 20 years. Reading your blog reminds me that everyone – no matter if you have your own business or if you are employed – has the responsibility to speak truth and say what needs to be said. Many employees, may be most of them, shy away from speaking their truth because they do not want any trouble at the workplace and/or fear disadvantages for themselves and their career for this is real and cannot be dismissed as many manager and employer in fact do not want to hear truth.
Given all that you have been through with your previous business, how inspiring is it that not only are you considering starting a new business but you have evolved as a leader, one that makes their business about people first? There is also a humbling lesson here for all of us about the pitfalls of hiding in our own comfort and not being true to yourself.
We get swayed that success comes from the amount of material things we have, when true success comes from the connection we hold within, we are all capable of having true success.
Material wealth brings a want for more material goods, and a cycle that is never satisfied ensues, until we stop and realise that all the wealth in the world will never fill the void we feel from living everyday without our essence.
“The Comfort of a ‘Good’ Life” this is really what keeps us bound in our patterns of behaviour that are keeping us as a society stuck. We love the comfort, we love the feeling it gives us, but do we? We crave it, but actually we loath it on another level, because our bodies know that we are made from something so much more than what we are taking responsibility for.
Comfort is not a good company.
Thank you for sharing this. It shows how responsibility clears the way for us to be truly wealthy.
When I read your piece I realised how we get caught and tricked by thinking that being successful is a good thing when it obviously can mask what life is truly about. So having money can be a good thing as it can also be a big distraction from what we could otherwise be doing with life.
Goes to show that every aspect of our lives offers us a constant opportunity for growth and learning.
There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but lessons and learning, development or delay.
Hello and I could see you presenting or writing about this all, if you haven’t already. I find myself wanting to know more, more detail. I would say there are many businesses and people in the same spot as you and your business were and are now possibly just holding on. What better person than you to get some clarity with what’s going on for these businesses. I’m not saying everyone will take notice but at the same time it would be great to have this type of teaching out there for us all. Thank you for your frank honesty in what was a turning point for you.
‘I was avoiding leading this company responsibly and spent too much money on keeping up appearances and growth’… Focussing on one aspect whilst dismissing another will always equal a compromise to the whole – no matter how long we seemingly ‘get away with it’.
What a very humbling account of what can happen when we don’t begin with the value and appreciation of people first, including ourselves and all as equal. What a different world we would live in and a beautiful lead forward you will be Anonymous as you begin this true way next time. The principle of this blog could and needs to be applied to everything in life.. when we make all of our relationships about people first, in value and understanding of our essence firstly all else takes care of itself and there is nothing for us to control or even have expectations for.
Wow what a powerful blog Anonymous; thank you for highlighting the pitfalls of comfort and in turn bankruptcy.
Such credit to you that you have learnt to manage (yourself and others) differently and all power and love to you as you develop a new company letting your heart do the leading. I love the lessons you have shared with us in this blog, thank you.
I have found that the more comfortable I stay in life the less I learn.
The very stark and sobering results of one persons abnegation from responsibility are well tabulated here… a very honest account of our need to understand this most important aspects of our life … responsibility.
This is very healing to read, it is a wise message for those that could be heading this way at work or at home, it is also a a great support for people who find themselves in the situation where they have let “illusion of success” mask the reality of the situation. It shows how we can unite a group under some grand vision of comfort or unite a group to make a true impact on the world. All in all I love how it takes away the shame of going bankrupt and seeing this as part of a necessary process if you have let yourself become wayward in some way.
The understanding and insight you have gained from this experience is something that all in the corporate world could learn from. When we lose connection with ourselves, and with the true purpose of what we are doing then everyone loses out – and there is no true success no matter how much money is made.
Comfort makes me bankrupt in so many ways. It robs me of physical energy, it hurts my body to hold back, it stifles my expression and it delays the evolution of all of us when I choose any form comfort because everything is everything and affects everything.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” This is a beautiful statement. I have also learnt that there can be many markers for success in our own lives as well as in business. Some markers are truer than others and the quality of relationships is a great reflection on the development and evolution of people.
‘As a child we lived in houses that were too big for what we could afford and my father spent money on dreams that often did not come true.’ How often do we all do this? Even if we really cannot afford to live in bigger houses we crave and dream about the perfect home that will deliver us the happiness we are searching for. In the UK there are house programs abound selling us the picture ideal of a perfect life. Yet we are never supported to see that it the quality of relationship we have with ourselves in truth and love first before the building of a relationship with another, which is the ultimate bringer of joy.
This is a deeply beautiful and wise thing to say Rachel!
You have the opportunity to do this if you start a new company, ‘I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.’ The world needs to see this more and more, Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon are inspiring in how they run their business.
Thank you for the inspiration in your words,’Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make.’ They hold the potential to change the world, if people choose to take them to heart.
Are ‘dream’ jobs founded in illusion and self-interest? I imagine true jobs are those that serve everyone.
I went to a conference the other day that was full of big and exciting ideas and innovations, many of them successful. But there was a hollowness to some of what I heard – it seemed to lack substance. Perhaps this was because much of it was driven by the same ‘work hard and cash in’ ethos described here. How very different business will be when we make it about people and true service first.
‘I – or better said my body – felt that I had returned home and found the truth I had always been looking for. My head followed what my heart had felt. Things started to shift in my company.’ When we allow the heart to lead it is like shifting gears into a more subtle and finer resonance, and then this has an effect on all around us, as you so well describe here Anonymous. This is the ‘quantum leap’ needed for our race to take, the ‘one giant step for humanity’.
Thank you anonymous for coming to such an honest account of your business. How we compartmentalise – not embracing that life and business is about everything. How many businesses only focus on the profit, the comfort, the trimmings? I love your line, “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” Brotherhood, unity, equality is vital; too many work for self and not for the whole and not appreciating the true purpose of the business, which is about supporting humanity.
This is great to hear, ‘I have learned what it is to really commit and I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results. Gone is the arrogance’.
Bankruptcy is a state which is feared by many people, but how are people with themselves and how deeply do they care about themselves. Often work is a distraction not to connect with oneself, so there stays an emptyness which exhausts and this can lead to being bankrupt of love.
This is a wake up call for all, wise words “I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done.” There is a striking difference between, doing and doing….we can get caught up inn what gets us kudos, status, money and cruisey ride in life, but are we really living the true purpose. Something that I reflect on regularly to keep me aware of what feels true and what does not feel true. Everyday we are offered reflections to support us to feel our true purpose in life.
True success is not about financial wealth and material things true wealth and richness is about the richness our connection with our essence brings us and offers humanity.
I love the title of this blog. The word bankruptcy is usually used to described someone’s financial situation but if we consider that everything is energy, and within every interaction there is an energetic exchange taking place, then it could also be used to describe our energy levels. Comfort is when we basically choose to cruise and don’t make the choices to keep evolving. When we say no to evolution and yes to comfort we literally drain ourselves and therefore our energy in the myriad of ways that we can. If we are drained, we become tired. If we continue upon this path we become exhausted and so on and so on. So in a way we could say we are energetically bankrupt (or empty) when keep going in a state of tiredness and exhaustion.
‘I did only those things that interested me and that I was good at, avoiding matters that I did not want to do or that really needed my attention, such as conservatively managing the finances.’ I know this pattern really well Anonymous! Only very recently have I learnt and fully digested that we must be equally dedicated to every act and movement and area of life, otherwise those bits we imagine we are good at, aren’r as good as we think, in terms of the actual quality involved.
An awesomely honest and brave blog, Anonymous, from a lived experience that reflects much of the way the whole of our world works. Your new initiative will bring healing and inspiration and insights for everyone, in the approach, the transparency, the building and the teamwork. Getting into comfort and self congratulation and hiding from the reality of situations is so insidious and difficult to turn around, and always ends us up in a worse place, hurt and feeling not so good about ourselves. This pattern happens deep inside us first in every aspect of life, and then becomes manifested in our outward expression.. The beauty of your story is that you have turned yourself around with the support and inspiration of Serge Benhayon to heal the inside so that you can expand into the outer world.
My experience is that choosing the ‘comfortable life’ simply creates a miserable life when I am honest enough to feel what it is I am choosing (and the actual effect it has in my body),– rather than qualifying life from the pictures I have built up, of how life should be.
‘I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done’; This goes to show how quality really does trump quantity, and that we can be very ‘busy’ but at the same time create more problems and work for ourselves in the long run because the quality lacks true purpose and integrity.
How huge the consequences of our choices are, is rarely seen so obviously as in your case. What a healing you offered yourself in creating such a huge business to see and feel how your choices affect the lives of others.
A powerful reminder of the consequences of comfort and not speaking up – how easy it can be to feel like something can go unsaid or unmentioned because it won’t matter or make any difference.
Interesting what we choose not to see and prefer to live in the illusion – this rang so true in elements of my own business where I prevaricated for over 12 months about certain decisions. By listening to Serge I learnt how to turn this round but it’s still something that needs to be worked on all the time. The business has been sold but I pass on what I have learnt, perhaps it will inspire others.
A beautiful honest sharing about your life and the way business so often works and the amazing effects and changes we can bring by connecting to our hearts and making life work business and everything about people first. An inspiration for all buisness’s and the way we can bring all of us an not just the bits we want to !
What comes to mind is the importance of attention to detail and how when we cut corners and don’t tie up loose ends because it is more comfortable, then eventually our shaky foundation is exposed. I find that paying attention to detail certainly takes me out of my comfort zone and is a constant work in progress that is asking me to be more.
Living in the comfort doesn’t bring the true settlement we search for, settlement in our body is true living all that we are, comfort doesn’t fit in that picture.
The most damaging part of our lives today is the incessant way we persist in pushing through, in dismissing everything we feel, in driving on when everything is not working. We tweak and modify, rearrange and restructure, edit and update, but how often do we sit back and consider if there is something wrong with the whole picture? For what you show, and beautifully so Anonymous, is it is our business and chief appointment to live knowing, without doubt, our true power, that goes beyond a job title, position or appointment and lives in the way everything we do or say can heal or harm everyone around us.
Anonymous, thank you for sharing with such openness and honesty your experiences, and also your learning. We are never perfect, and we are bound to make ‘mistakes’ but if we can stop seeing these as mistakes and instead see them as a learning, then we have all something to gain from this.
I am struck by the phrase of I was committed to working long hours but not what was needed to be done. I can see how I too have distracted by doing for others as a means of seeking approval rather than investing in self loving actions to build a foundation of love first that can be reflected to others.
There is no comfort in evolution, only joy.
Always up to us and no other; therein lies our responsibility and our power too.
This is such an important key – “Not alone, but together with many people… it’s time for making life about people first.” And especially not alone. I had to learn that too and found the most amazing synergy with people when things in my working life also got pretty hard.I was shown that I also do not have to do it all on my own but that in connection with others beautiful things unfold and are possible,
Lovely expressed Katie thank you, so true, working from love and truth makes all the difference, and the days we do not yes we get a quick and real reflection to remind us .
Thank you for your very honest blog Anonymous, so many insights and learnings, especially this one: “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.”
thank you for sharing Anon – and most especially how you were so willing to see everything that had not been true about how you were living and working before that led up to the bankruptcy, and without a skerrick of self-judgement or self-pity but rather an honest reflection of its harm and consequences… and through this you have transformed your understanding and awakened to the awareness of how you had been living – and how we can all live either in a true way, or one that may seem attractive but we know deep down is empty of truth.
This is a very significant recurring theme that runs through most scenario’s I’m discovering “not being in my power and not being discerning “. I discovered very clearly the other day one thing that I allow to get in the way of my radar being fully activated and staying connected with it and that is politeness. I swallowed the ‘be polite and courteous pill in such larger doses it dulls my senses and paralysis my voice rendering me in to a stupor of not even realizing someone is putting it over me – particularly if they come across nice, smiling and helpful. They are putting their own agenda before people and the grander purpose of what is at play. I truly appreciate the awareness that I’m re-connecting to that has the radar tuned in and continually connecting so my own true discernment is backing me.
Brilliant sharing, Anonymous. When we stop making life about recognition, material comfort, accumulation of wealth, ticking boxes – life starts making absolute sense that we are all a forever student.
Thank you Anonymous. As I read your blog today I was able to feel that each of us is a company in a body. If we choose to avoid the work that is needed or give our power away to another the results are disastrous for us, the people we share our lives with and really everyone as we are all connected.
This blogs reflects the importance of working as a whole – that working in parts and hoping the rest will find its way does not work, much like Humanity or even our own body. Every aspect of life and our body counts and that one aspect is only as solid as all the other aspects. Life is about equality, loving ourselves deeply and loving all others equally so. There is much being exposed here about our way of life and commitment to what is true.
‘I saw all of this but chose to close my eyes.’ How often has everyone of us made that choice. The ‘too hard basket’, the blind eye, is a real stumbling block. Our willingness to see is a very powerful step to take to overturning the consciousness that bind us.
It is is great title – The Bankruptcy of Comfort. Comfort sucks vitality from our veins and leaves us with no will for a true life. It is a sleepy state which we can easily fall in pockets of our lives. Digging out those pockets is very revealing, but wonderfully invigorating and brings great purpose to life.
We tend to think of comfort as good, but comfort can also be extremely uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable because that comfort locks us into a false sense of security that stops us from wanting to grow and flourish from every single opportunity we are graced with.
What is true success….what it looks like for many, the money, the prestige, the accumulation of stuff, is not necessarily it.There is nothing wrong with money and stuff, or people being aware of how great you are, but how it has occurred, the intention and root of it, is what marks it out as true success or not. When we reflect have been open with others, responsible, transparent and made our life about the whole of humanity, or has it been a selfish endeavour. When we consider the whole, the all, in our every step of life, with out being attached to the outcome, then we have true success.
All we can do in life is to learn our lessons and make more informed and loving choices. That is the way forward.
How you conducted your company so well reflects the way I see ‘successful’ companies and it seems to be what is admired and encouraged. Yes most have a section better allocated to look after the finances so that they do not go bankrupt, but it is all far from the wisdom that you have arrived at. “not to better myself and have a better life, but to truly have an impact on this world. Not alone, but together with many people… it’s time for making life about people first.” I love it.
Choosing comfort is akin to putting blinkers on.
Very true nikkimckee, it actually makes me think of driving a car blindfolded. Stepping out of comfort is as simple as allowing ourselves to feel all there is to feel and acting in truth.
“I was avoiding leading this company responsibly and spent too much money on keeping up appearances and growth, something I had learned at a very young age from observing my father.” Playing a role and keeping up appearances that your company was very successful, through foolish spending is disastrous in the long run, whether it is just within our everyday life, or as you were doing, running what appeared to be a successfully growing business. But the foundation was false, and was bound to collapse in the long run.
What you have described here, Anonymous, is so prevalent among small businesses that become much larger, they have not built the foundation that is required for their business to successfully make that transition. How great it is that you have learned so much from this initial failure, and that you met Serge Benhayon who has shown you such a different way of life that will support you to build your future business with the foundations that are required. Having a foundation that puts people first, before profit, including your own employees as well as clients and customers is such a great way to start, together with a far more responsible method of financial control, and with no need to be playing an artificial role of the successful businessman/woman.
It is interesting the way we as a society have come to define what success is, we mainly see it in monetary terms or based on the possessions that we own. Thanks for Universal Medicine I now have a clear understanding in my body that true success is to live in a way that inspires others to be more of who they truly are simply by the offering of our reflection.
“I could have shown the world a different approach to work, that if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.” This is a great understanding that it is about people fist, about the relationships we have with people, our societies and with the world. When connected to life in this way we can and will only provide the services that are needed, not for our own individual self but for all of us, for all of humanity and with that to bring the love back into our lives.
I just find it so impressive anonymous, that you were able to see your mistakes, how you had that deep knowing what was true, even as you were in the midst of the turmoil, and that you aren’t put off going there again and starting a new company. It feels completely right that you do and in making it about people it will be a hugely supportive company for people to benefit from. There is so little in business that makes it about people first, yet there are also great example of companies who have made it about people and they have reaped the rewards of this. It seems a no brainer to me, employ people fairly and with care for their welfare and watch their motivation to work for you skyrocket and efficiency and returns do likewise.
What i got from this post Anonymous was the truth (and one that I also have been learning too over the years) – that the success of one’s business be that sales, a company, team, clients, deals etc. is directed by the way we live and as you share in your instance that’s so popular to many of us too, in blind comfort….I’ve noted that when i’m not ‘on the ball’ so to speak, and the way i live is out of sync or off in disregard, then there is a direct correlation to how my work then pans out/is adversely affected. There’s only so long that things go ‘well’ or is ‘successful’ before the body communicates the living disorder, like burnout, conflict and so on. The success of a business, is in the way life is being lived, and the quality of this.
I’ve been in business for a while and to me that means very little as I still feel in it’s infancy. I look at how we currently gauge a ‘successful’ business and it’s money. Our main and, at times, only gauge of success or not is money. So if a business is flushed with cash even if it’s only the appearance of it we think it successful. As I said my business experience has seen me gauge things a lot differently. Like in everything parts are important and so the money part is an important part of any business for a number of reasons. But should it be the main part? or at times the only part, the answer simply no. It is just a part and when this part isn’t ‘performing’ it maybe looking at the other parts, employees, products, customers, you etc and appreciating them that may support the finance part. Business like anything is constantly changing and when we become inflexible because of the performance or lack of performance of one part then this is what the business will show us. Keeping everything in equal perspective is an important part of business and chasing cash will lead to it dominating your view and loosing sight of something else.
An honest account about the realities of doing business that many people might not feel like sharing. No doubt the bankruptcy was a difficult pill to swallow. But to be able to truly understand why it happened and to take responsibility for just how important it is to be all of you in everything you do is the real learning. What a blessing and an example to others.
Hanging onto something simply for comfort never ever feels comfortable, it actually feels quite uncomfortable, and is very restricting on anything of true value coming to pass.
Having worked for many large companies myself I have seen first hand how they push profit over people and at times became quite disillusioned. I now see that by living all of who we are connected to our bodies and moving from there, we create positive change. It can only happen from our choice to step into our power and live it in full. Thank you Anonymous for choosing to step into your love for us all to see that our living way is a wonderful way to connect with the world.
Thanks for sharing this honest account of how living in comfort can affect not only our way of life but others too. When we are in a position like this it comes with a great responsibility. There is always a choice to live this responsibility or a choice to live a life of comfort.
One of the many things I love about the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is that there is nothing we have done or chosen in the past that is ever held against us, nothing is ever judged. We are choices we are responsible for and yes, they may need correcting but they never taint us for who we are. In our society today where that pressure, guilt and shame can be the heavy rocks we carry on our shoulders, the love that is felt through the work of Universal Medicine lets you drop, and feel that there is no need to judge oneself, and no need to carry shame or even remorse, and everything there for you to open up to life again and to the love that we are.
‘The Illusion of a ‘Successful’ Company Exposed’ – What you are exposing here is not only the illusion of one single company, but the consciousness of the majority of businesses today and how they are being run, with self gain and profit being the main drive – and this ingrained consciousness is what your honest article is helping us crack.
Just goes to show that the comfortable life doesn’t truly work and certainly not forever. Sooner or later we need to do what we are here to do, take responsibility and attend to everything that needs attending to.
‘I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done.’ Working ‘hard’ or putting in many hours can be a great mask for many things, including a lack of commitment to the greater picture and a dedication to bringing all of yourself to your work.
From reading this fantastically titled article, I am left feeling how much we cling to comfort, in so many areas of life, like security is the answer beyond all else, it is a deep illusion, that we need stuff, material, status, money, people, we truly need connection, honesty and love and all else will come from that.
It’s not what happens to us in our lives, it is what we do with what happens to us. What a hard lesson learnt and a gift to all. Well done anonymous, we have all been there in some form or another.
I love the title of this blog. Yes we can talk about the financial bankruptcy that materialised as a result of not wanting to take care of the business in its entirety, but comfort also bankrupts us in so many ways. We are robbing ourselves of the opportunity to see the truth of life and existence beyond our temporal experience, and the opportunity to confirm (because we do know really) that we are so much more than we have lead ourselves to be. In focusing on the comfort we are living a much reduced version of who we really are.
When I feel into the title of this blog I can feel how there is such an emptiness that many of us have lived, hoping that a career, relationship, role or interest would fill. It seems that these things deliver a feeling of satisfaction or fullness for a moment but that it can never be sustained. In contrast when you describe living with joy and vitality there is a building consolidation that comes from a connection from within.
Serge Benhayon is the embodiment of true business, of making it about love and people first.
Thank you for an awesome sharing of lessons learned and your willingness to retrace your steps.
When we work for the greater good of the whole there are no losers. It is wonderful that you have been able to see the mistakes you made and have been able to accept that it is not about comfort in this life but about evolution and responsibility.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” This is such great wisdom. I’m discovering moment by moment that if I’ve chosen something out of a fear based motivation of a perceived loss of something material (money is a biggie) then what is reflected back to me is more of the same. The outcome depends upon the responsibility of my choices – am I choosing for self or am I choosing what supports everyone equally?
Real bankruptcy is the illusion you are separate and only have this body and one life, to live one dimensionally when we are from multi dimensions, to live without the awareness of God around us at all times is to be truly without wealth.
The comfort of a “good life” is so often not actually good or comfortable. Comfort is paraded in life as something we all need and deserve, and yet in my experience its a shadow of what life can actually be, joyful, vital and purposeful, I’ll take them over comfort any day.
Each of us tends to have strengths in one area or another. Most of us like focusing on those areas and turning a blind eye to what we are not so wonderful at. This blog is a great reflection that it is neither wise nor sustainable to ignore areas that make us uncomfortable. Every single area counts and affects the whole and any lack of care will blow up in our face sooner or later – not as a punishment but as a wake up call reminding us that the only true flow in the universe is one of love integrity harmony and responsibility.
This is a great discussion because most people I know set out for comfort and security that is the end goal without really understanding what they are saying yes to and end up completely miserable.
When we forsake our foundations everything we have built will crumble under the weight that can no longer be supported. Life and building lesson 101.
Dear Anonymous thank you for such a candid, open and honest account of choosing comfort instead of dealing with reality and the resulting consequences. From the lessons learnt and now with your commitment to truth and integrity you will surely establish a new company that will serve not just you but humanity.
Shows how very needed a gigantic dose of honesty, realness and openness are in the world of business. We all suffer when these are not lived.
‘I saw all of this but chose to close my eyes.’ – Remarkable, not the fact that you saw it because we all see the mess and the ‘wrongs’ that we are in, we all deep down know what is going on – no, your willingness to be honest about it is remarkable – a real step towards true change.
When one buys into comfort it has to make sure that also sells an image about life that is not true. We all know this.
I am a master of looking like I am working really hard whilst all the time knowing that I am avoiding what really needs attention. This is a smokescreen not only for the outside world but also for myself as I justify not attending to something because of how busy I am. Enter responsibility and light bulb moments from an article like this one and avoidance is shown to be the danger that it is. Thank you.
It is amazing the life experiences people have to offer – at the start of my working life, to read this blog and your sharing about how the comfort of not speaking up has far reaching consequences is an amazing learning for me.
The moment Truth enters the domain of Comfort, everything that is false is easily seen, rises to the surface and implodes upon itself. It is little wonder that people resist seeing or knowing the Truth, even when it is before them as clear as day….for they staunchly hold to the comfort they have invested dearly in.
When I think of comfort it makes me think of an energetic kind of bankruptcy too – a holding back of the richness we each have within us, not letting this out.
Great point Fiona, the worst kind of bankruptcy is the energetic one.
Thank you for a great blog, which has revealed so much for me. Making an issue about money before people is an area that can be revealing depending on the fear held behind the topic. What I now understand is that when I am in fear about a money issue I disconnect from myself and any other people concerned. But deeper and more revealing than this has been the truth that I am using people in this situation for my own needs. A sticky icky situation just slightly out of clear view when I’m caught up in my own issue and not making it about people first.
Comfort can mean different things to different people. A comfortable life can mean a life of indulgence, but equally it can mean a life of struggle. For some, struggle or hardship is actually a form a being they become so familiar with, that it becomes a comfortable state of being, and if you take that form of identification away from them, they become lost. In other words, comfort simply means familiarity, and in that familiarity we do not think to challenge that what we call life could be any different.
Understand this, and you suddenly understand in essence why a domestic violence victim might stay in a relationship. And yes, we can argue that they do so because they have no where else to go, and in some situations that is true, but in many situations it is also a choice to stay out of the comfort of preferring an abusive relationship to no relationship at all.
The esoteric teachings of Serge Benhayon often talk about the fact that most of us are caught in comfort in one way or another. This however, is not a judgemental teaching, even though it is often misinterpreted that way, especially by those who in their understandable quest to connect to a more vibrant way of being become self-judgmental and hard on themselves, and in doing so, misunderstand the simplicity and beauty of the true teaching.
And that is that comfort comes from familiarity, and familiarity with a certain way of being leads to acceptance of something that is less, purely because it is familiar. And so we rob ourselves of the chance to rediscover our true potential, out of what is essentially a need for protection and security.
It is so true, that the incredible love we feel from Serge Benhayon is just something we have known in full but chose to leave behind at some point in the past. The longing for it when we reconnect to it is intense, but its incredible that no matter how far we stray, the love is always something we want.
’But the biggest thing was comfort: the comfort of having a ‘good’ life.’’ – Indeed, by the look at how we all buy into corruption, even such a ’small’ thing as not expressing what we feel to be true in any given situation, it seems the entire humanity is brainwashed to value comfort over responsibility. We are just not open to see that we are all playing our part in it.
It is indeed humbling the level of honesty and awareness you have brought to your avoidance of responsibility in business, Anonymous. I too can see where I have avoided the responsibility of bringing all of me to life and certain situations and relationships, thinking that it is enough to coast along especially not to cause ripples or deal with difficult situations.
Wow, thanks for sharing your story in such an honest and in detail way. It reveils how it work – the comfort, the ‘dream job’ and not taking responsibility for the all. Most of all being all of you and expressing that in full. Your story is an example of many companies all over the world. All have a choice to make it about people – or not. With that choice – as you write – the company can make a huge difference, having an impact on humanity – healing or harming. A choice we all have whether working in a big company or by yourself. I take it with me in my days to come.
Thank you for sharing you experiences of business. I know for me, I currently work in sales, that the moment I focus on the result or the money/figures I lose sense of the person and myself. Whereas the moment I make it purely about the person and bringing all that I am everything takes care of itself – and in my experience the more I connect to myself and with others the more ‘successful’ I am in all ways – within myself and within the business.
“I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging.” This line really hit home to me how much I used to compartmentalise my life into acceptable and unacceptable parts, and avoid dealing with the latter. Universal Medicine has supported me to take responsibility for every part of my life and reclaim the whole of my being.
Thank you Anonymous. Your blog inspires me to examine the challenging things I avoid in my own life. You make it very clear that living in comfort is actually a very painful and stressful experience as we are always aware that the comfort we choose has consequences.
Wow Mr Anonymous, the depth of love and honesty you have shared is very felt and has stopped me in my tracks, how clearly not living responsibly and from our power simply does not work. It may appear to and we live lives built on moving sands when we choose comfort, security, safety, and so forth. Living from our power as you have shared changes everything, it changes our quality of life, it is not only the great, but also the challenging stuff where we have the ability to take on, as love is always holding us, living that is living our power and living our power is not just for us but for everyone as you have so magnificently shared.
True success in business is people first, then everyone ‘wins’……
Burying our head in the sand and turning a bind eye never works to prevent the reality of our choices from coming to fruition. When we see what we have created in full and understand the reasons for this, we may well make a more loving next choice.
It’s beautiful how life (and actually God, really) allows us to make choices, even if they are not responsible, but also shows the consequences of these more self-centred choices, and then provides the opportunity to make it all about people, as the writer of this blog has done with the support of love provided by Serge Benhayon. But it is so easy to fall into the trap of only wanting to do the things we are good at and enjoy, when, (as a friend reminded me recently) if I am being ALL of me, then there should be joy in every task I do, including the mundane and jobs that may involve taking deeper responsibility.
Wow this really brings to the forefront the consequences for us and everyone else when we don’t speak up – what we may not fully appreciate is that expression is everything and it does not only support us but it supports others around us too – this business as a classic example. As a business owner you are responsible for the people who work for you and their family and children – so being able to say it how it is – is so important!
I am sure Anonymous, that you will be amazingly successful when you have developed your new company. You have learned so much through the collapse of your original company and then especially through your meeting of Serge Benhayon and learning to turn your personal life around completely. I love how you shared “I now see that by being ALL of me, which is living in my power without fear, and by really working together with the remaining employees instead of doing it all on my own, we could have made a turnaround.” With your present knowingness of yourself your new company will become a role model for how to run a company for the good of all who are involved with it, employees as well as customers. Such a beautiful turnaround in your life, something that is available to all who are willing to understand and make the changes necessary.
Well said Beverley. I feel that the writer of this blog is already a huge success simply because of what he now expresses and knows from his lived experience. It is only a matter of time before the wonderful choices he has made will be seen in and felt in a new company.
Comfort in relationships leads to emotional bankruptcy.
If this was the genuine philosophy of all business and organisations our world would start turning around the rot in a day.
‘Not alone, but together with many people… it’s time for making life about people first.’
Wow, success is something accorded us by the choices we make and the consciousness we have aligned to. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
True Very clear. When we choose a path or align to a consciousness – much like going down a waterslide we must ride it out for all we have said yes to. This works both ways. One is then confirmed and the other then gets corrected as we never get to fall too far without being reminded.
The impact that is caused by not speaking up can be hard to feel the responsibility of. Creating more avoidance and a snowball effect. How precious it is when we take the first tentative brave step to say what it is we truly feel and share this with another. It is an honouring of everyone that when shared can very often diffuse an awkwardness instantly.
It asks for great humbleness to be able to write all that you have written and to go from a “work very hard and then cash in.” mentality to a making it all about people way of doing business. Thank you for sharing.
“But the biggest thing was comfort: the comfort of having a ‘good’ life.” What you are sharing here goes hand in hand with another recently published blog on “Middle England”. We are taught from young that life is all about having the job, the car, the house and the kids; living out those pictures we take on as to fit in, and make it look like it is all working. I feel it is rare that we have the job, the car, the house and the kids and everything underneath is a seamless love. When the focus is on making it look good rather than being responsible and loving and taking that responsibility and love into every facet of our lives we are living with a tension, whether admitted to or not.
True success is about developing honest and caring relationships with people first and the ability to work together as a group with a purpose to serve humanity and not just about self.
In my experience it is very important at all stages to check whether ideals and beliefs are influencing us. This is particularly so after several bad experiences where we think that we have learnt our lesson. Not acting from ideals and beliefs may take a bit of time and support to understand.
This is an amazing article, comfort isn’t giving us what we think it does. It provides us irresponsibility while we are here to be responsible for our choices, which is what is needed to grow. To know that all is our choice, and so know that we are the cause of our own struggle, when we let go and get honest we see the truth. Which we can take on for our next step in life.
It is amazing how we can be given advice as in this case the bankruptcy, yet know in spite of the experts giving it that it just isn’t true for us. I have learned a lot recently about how we have to discern for ourselves what is true for us. This might be against common convention but if it is being felt intuitively in our bodies it is worth listening to and being guided by. In this example not filing for bankruptcy may have made it possible to protect the lives of people employed by the company. I feel it is important we always consider others in every decision we make.
Well said! How absolutely amazing it is to read this. I have always thought that organisations who care for their people will be the most successful ones.
There is so much more to organisations that profits!
However, there are few sustainable organisations without secure funding.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make” – what a lesson for the ages…put all the get rich schemes in its place
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make” I love this. And could it be that we think we are the ones who are making the choices but the choices are made for us depending on the amount of true responsibility we are willing to offer.
What a profound lesson and example about the fact that all our choice of whether we live ALL of us in life or not, impacts so much and so many people far and wide. Thank you for sharing your experience and your insights.
‘For a year I fought what Serge Benhayon was presenting.’ This is resistance to our true power to take responsibility for the possibilities that await us when we connect to the same love that Serge Benhayon lives and most of us deny because we choose to be lesser. It makes no sense!
‘The bankruptcy of comfort” A great juxtaposition here as it is easy to assume comfort and wealth go hand in hand… but really, wealth and richness is not just about the bank balance or business success, but about the way you live your life
Business is about people first and not about making profit or to cash in, although the financial part must be in good shape of course, this will never be the main goal for a people first company to strive for.
How easily we can adorn the facade of having it all made and keeping it all together – the shiny face of the company, person and offer…yet often underlying this is disorder, corruption, greed, apathy and self-service interests rather than a true care and decency in service to others.
The shift from making life and business about money and security to making it about people has been an absolute healing for me, as it got me in touch with a true, ever present and lasting impulse from within me that always knew life was a lie when it was about what is in it for me, instead of for true brotherhood and community. Such a lie always needs to be fed at the expense if one’s body. Letting it go has enriched my body and quality of life hugely, which ironically was what I first thought was my priority even though I was going about it in a way which was not working.
I am learning to go with the authority I feel in my body, not overriding the knowing I strongly feel. It’s when I waver I know I am not expressing what I feel to say and I hold back my truth it comes back to ‘bite’ me.
What has been shared here is related to all walks of life – be it relationships, work, food or even where we live. There is always that niggling voice that urges you to keep quiet so people around you or yourself don’t feel awkward, or to keep up the “nice guy” effect. That is one that I am finding particularly frustrating at the moment – When I SO DEEPLY KNOW what there is to express but hold back because I want to remain in certain circles…absolute killer.
When we settle for comfort we miss out on the opportunities that live is offering for us to evolve and life and all around miss out on us taking that next step and the impact that would have on the whole. It is massive really, comfort is a real setback.
Understanding the choice to use protection as an operating platform is becoming more and more apparent to me how faulty this is. It’s like knowingly building life, work anything on quicksand and holding my breath and crossing my fingers with every nerve and muscles as the 24/7 vigilance emergency back poised ready to take over when it all starts to implode. No way to truly live a life of service to humanity or treat myself and anyone else.
What if we all considered ourselves ‘companies? What would our annual review look like? What would our productivity truly add up to? Would we have to honestly say we are constantly running at a loss, in a bigger way? For how many of us measure ourselves and our life by the output, the things we achieve when our number one job and reason for being is simply to be? How strange that we pursue every goal under the sun, but just being Love and holding ourselves is the least comfortable one? For all I can see, in what you present Anonymous is the emptiness and familiarity that exists in our relentless pursuit of achievement, stress and duress, disharmony, struggle and ongoing debate. What Love presents is the ultimate product or service that makes everything easy and simple.
Thank you Anonymous for sharing with us openly and honestly the direct consequences when we choose to avoid responsibility. We all make mistakes, it is life but if we are prepared to learn from our mistakes then every mistake we make is truly a blessing.
We all have lessons to learn, isn’t that the purpose of life, to learn. I can feel Anonymous the depths of what you have gone through, and then to share with us all with no holding back, highlights how much you have shifted and evolved. Now that is incredibly inspiring. And yes, ‘ it’s time for making life about people first’
Thank you for sharing your experience Anonymous , a whole new take on how most businesses are done -‘I have learned what it is to really commit and I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results. Gone is the arrogance that I am the creator of ideas and companies. Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’
‘The consequences were huge for me as well, but the biggest effect was that I gave up on life and started withdrawing from the world.’ – I can relate to giving up on life and withdrawing from people and social relations, in fact I did not see any purpose to it and it all just felt blunt and meaningless. I just saw the world as a place that made less and less sense. Serge Benhayons teachings has turned my life upside down – today I love connecting with people.
I have been the exact opposite of being involved in management. Even owning my own business never held any interest; my life was never about creating a company that made money and served people. I was all about having a good time and getting by. As my life has unfolded and since, meeting Serge Benhayon, I have a true purpose to do what ever is needed for humanity. So I agree, now my life is all about ‘people first’.
to do what ever is needed for humanity’, now that’s a powerful purpose Greg to take into my day.
The word bankrupt comes from the Italian expression banca rotta (a broken bench). That expression points to the fact that our foundations (the foundations we sit on) are no longer serving us. Comfort is a way of being that leads to that.
This is a great story for others to read who are in similar positions, for people to feel how to build a company with a true foundation, caring for the people who work in it. When we understand that we are all on a learning journey, being open and sharing our experiences like these helps others to reduce the pitfalls and mistakes that can be made.
Anonymous I felt a deep appreciation for you – being so honest to write so openly about your bankruptcy is gold. For me this is what the world needs as with your openness you gave us all the possibility to learn about true leadership – Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this Anonymous, it is so important to speak openly and honestly about our experiences as this brings a learning to all of us.
‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’ Society usually feeds the idea that success is something one creates which then feeds a foundation based on competition, judges people as winners or losers. But material success or recognition without love or true purpose is not a true reflection of the wealth we naturally are and can live. I was very caught up in success – though it wouldn’t be obvious as I choose to do it badly! I’m really appreciating your sharing that success is indeed something that is given through the loving choices one makes and this brings a very tender humbleness to life.
You write with such honesty Anon and it seems without much guilt or hardness about what happened which is great. Because I can feel that you have felt the truth of what went on, saw the blocks that stopped you from living all of you and felt the impact on others through your choices. And then not to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ (so to speak) you will use your great skills of leadership, marketing, sales, flexibility but with your awareness now open, you can set up a business that is true, that is about people and responsibility. And the the world needs that.
There were many ways this could have played out but you chose honesty and awareness.
Yes Jane we can choose to carry the guilt/shame or brush it off, or we can choose honesty and then move on to create something true. It is a simple (always) and as difficult as that (at times).
Our choice to be responsible or irresponsible in our personal lives has a huge impact on everyone; who we work with, our families, friends, kids, parents… Your blog highlights just how important this decision is; to be or not to be responsible in ALL areas of life.
The title “the bankruptcy of comfort” says a lot. It asks us to go deeper within ourselves and understand that there is more to life than setting ourselves up to be comfortable. We are here to evolve and sometimes that is not comfortable at all. But then again neither is the deep unsettling that comes with choosing comfort over evolution.
Starting a new company with all you have learned seems like a definite back to bring the world that which is much needed – making business (and any part of life) about people. Thank you for all you have shared 🙂
It is high time we stopped referring to people as ‘human resources’ in my opinion. People are people not resources. To refer to them as such is to objectify and disassociate ourselves from their humanness. Yes, anonymous, true business is about serving people – all people equally. I look forward to seeing your new business fly.
We are masters at fooling ourselves and everyone else that we are doing OK. It is easier when the benchmarks are outside of us and we can compare our achievements to them. Your story is told so well. There are so many companies that operate with the illusion of being successful yet devastate individuals each day.
“I talked a lot about what I should do, but in the end I did not do it.” I so appreciate your blog Anonymous and pulled to come back and read it again and again. What you experienced was big, big enough to hopefully not make that same choice or choices again, without being perfect. It was big because you are capable of big. You have great courage to share this with all. I would love to make contact with you because I think what you offer is unique and would be a true support for all in the right intention.
“I now see that by being ALL of me, which is living in my power without fear, and by really working together with the remaining employees instead of doing it all on my own, we could have made a turnaround.” that is true success .. to really go for what you know is true inside .. and shining the light on all the shadows..
Wow, reading your article supports me to see that we always are either working in companies or leading them and I would even call a housewife a company leader. From this point of view everybody has the same responsibility.
Thank you Anonymous. There is a great strength in your writing that calls me to look more deeply at how I am with my work and be clear about that which I hide and am not willing to express yet in doing so holds us all back. Very very powerful.
So much emptiness/ illusion in comfort and this feels to distant true connection with others. Whereas to feel the truth of our livingness can bring about such great support and connection to others that just keeps expanding and growing.
There is so much here to learn from, and I especially love this line – “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” When we connect deeply to ourselves and humanity and live in a way that honours this, everything is given to us in order to bring more love and evolution for all.
’My intention is to – yes, don’t be surprised – start a new ‘true’ company in time.’ – I’m not surprised at all, in fact it feels like it would be a crime not to share the profound and lived wisdom that you so amazingly have gained over the last few years.
Interesting that we have the term ‘dream job’ or use the word dream in relation to our wishes and desires. How much reality and truth can have such dream and is it only designed towards my desires or in consideration of everyone involved and affected by it? That we use it in combination with ‘my’ makes it very obvious.
‘The Illusion of a ‘Successful’ Company Exposed”
It’s incredible that we can call a company ‘successful’ today when what is happening beneath the surface is corrupt.
It’s beautiful that you have connected to the true meaning of success and the way in which love for people does business.
And another ‘kapow’ that needs to be heard across our globe: “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.”
What if, the purpose of ‘business’ is not all about ‘us’ – about feathering our own nest (inclusive of reputation and notoriety…), but in its every aspect, it can be about ‘all’? Now this would turn our world economy on its head – something that the current shake-ups and those looking to yet come, are I’d say, already alerting us to.
And how awesome anonymous, that there is no giving up in you – that you will re-enter the current, predominantly self-driven, discordant ‘fray’ with the wisdom of all that you have so deeply learned, and a foundation that is unshakeable. What a service you have the capacity to offer…
Absolutely Victoria bring back true service for all of humanity equally!
Wow, and thank-you ‘anonymous’ – for your poignant honesty and transparently open sharing of what you’ve been through. Our world, as it stands, is built upon such shaky foundations as you’ve exposed and outlined here – lacking the true foundation that can actually support us all, every single one of us, as you’ve shared so brilliantly here: “if you make it about people first, results would take care of themselves.”
My heart is so deeply warmed upon reading your words – they are needed, broad-scale…
Deeply revealing blog. Thankyou anonymous for sharing. So many castles are merely built in the air.
Having a ‘comfortable’ existence beckons the question about what really is poverty? Could it be that it’s not simply the lack of money, but living without the abundance and fullness of one’s soul where real poverty lies.
Your comment made me stop Johannebrown17 for the profound truth that has been delivered. I can feel the potential of a powerful blog from this one statement?
Love your title Anonymous – ‘The Bankruptcy of Comfort’ – says it all.
Seeking the ‘good life’ is actually exposing the emptiness inside, the lack of connection and livingness of our divine nature, therefore the ‘good life’ is the next best thing to go to on the human level.
Isn’t it incredible the effects we can have on our Brothers…? I love that you cried when walking by Serge – it proves the power of our presence, our livingness and the way we love ourselves and others. It is felt beyond measure without even an exchange in words. We can all inspire and reignite the flame within just by living the truth, All of who we are and choosing that in every step.
The air of humility is rich throughout your writing Anonymous… it’s absolutely beautiful to read. I can also feel the art of letting go, surrendering to what is and understanding that even though we are the creators of our lives through our choices, we are actually not source but the vessel through which energy plays out. Now you are allowing your vessel to be a vessel of love and the true and equal expression of God – how exquisite!
Yes I agree, team work and making everything about people first are the two most important aspects to building any company. With great teamwork nobody is left out and everyone has equal respect and responsibility for their part in the whole. It is the only way to roll as it takes everyone into consideration.
We need to remember that companies are made up of people and people are their greatest resource.
When we begin to live life as a true partnership of equals it feels deeply nourishing to feel the support and love that is available to all of us. I had no concept of how to live life – I had a deep feeling that fleetingly visited me from time to time but it was not until Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon came into my life that I realised that nothing was impossible if we reach out and be who we truly are with no holding back. We can change our lives and begin again to live a life that serves all of humanity – one where we undoubtedly know the warmth and love which replaces any need for the riches of the world.
Making business about people first would be the most profitable decision that could be made
There is nothing truly comfortable about the so called comfortable life.
Comfort may lead to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy may lead to comfort
If you are in comfort you are bankrupt
You can be comfortably bankrupt
When any business starts making it about people as opposed to financial gain and growth just for the sake of growth – that’s when a business is truly succesful.
It’s interesting that you can see your natural qualities were cornerstones to your success in business– “contacting people, especially at management level, outlining a strategy, developing a vision and inspiring colleagues and customers with it, were the cornerstones for the success”. These are all incredibly amazing skills in business, but what is striking that this alone is not enough to sustain a great business, that honesty and a preparedness to confront the uncomfortable is equally, if not more crucial to a truly successful business.
I love the point you share that when we work in connection to our truth and Love we are working in honor of Brotherhood, for Brotherhood. Being guided this way nothing then is personal, as all that is needed to be done is for the greater good and support of all.
Some times it hard to stomach, the fact that there is something to learn in everything that occurs in life. I have reacted to this and it has felt yucky to be confronted with my choices but it feels like a fact of life. What is there, if we do not learn from that is occurring…when I reflect and observe what is being shown, then I learn, then I feel blessed and I do not react. It is a blessing to learn more of who we truly are, it is a joy and it is what life is all about.
I learnt a lot from this article, it is inspiring in its clarity and honesty. Often we hang on to comfort, to the great detriment of everything else around us. I myself have hung on to pictures of life, not letting myself honour the feelings of unease, that have been there, because I don’t want the picture to change. Coming back to honouring how we feel is key. Thank you.
This blog highlights the bravado that many men can feel they have to live by, giving off the appearance that everything is taken care of and under control, when in fact the reality can be very different and there may be struggle, despair, and even depression living in the background. I can only imagine the pressure and the strain this must place not only on to the psychological make-up of men, but also on to their bodies, which are just as fragile and sensitive as any one else.
I always thought I could get away with focusing on one or two areas of my life and make it look good (successful) whilst not addressing the other areas that I did not want to take responsibility for. Now I can feel that unless I look at all areas of my life then my foundation will crumble at the slightest knock.
I think it’s a brave choice to go into bankruptcy in the way you have. It doesn’t look like you have tried to escape something and then go and do the same again. It looks more like you have used the situation to learn, heal and move forward to re imprint what was created before, thank you.
I am inspired to really see where I’m not making life about people first and making it so after reading this. Anything else feels so empty.
You have offered so much wisdom here, very beautiful to feel. The idea of what success is has been corrupted by society, to be based solely on results and outcomes to the point that many of us are driven to achieve a state of success, where everything then will seemingly be perfect once reached, regardless the cost. However as this is not guided by our truth and Love within but rather from a picture that we are following, we never reach that point of settlement that we are striving for, as our connection to ourselves and each other is the greatest cost. It is only through being guided by our truth and Love that we can live in a way that is truly successful, as we then are living in full all that we are already. When we focus on the quality of the connection in which we work, the results are already reached, and simply are a reflection of the Love and truth we bring.
We pore over spreadsheets, compare interest rates and check our balance regularly. But how many of us know that we are all contributing to an account that does not show on our statement? This account is the quality of Love we live, the presence and care we give to ourselves and others. Every day we are making deposits whether we know it or not to the Bank of Love. So Anonymous what you present is that companies do not become bankrupt first, they get that way because our hearts do.
How often do we consider the end consequences of our comfortable choices? Be it for us or for others, in the end are we willing to take full responsibility for all our choices.
Life changes when we make it about people. It becomes more purposeful, more real and more loving.
When we turn away from our connection to truth, our responsibility to live truth, we separate from and turn away from the awareness of how our every choice and action has a direct effect on all around us. In taking responsibility for living our truth and Love as best we can, this naturally extends to all that we work for and with, through which we realise that we all bring great value and equal importance as an integral part of a team working together harmoniously, as one.
Thank you Anon for sharing so openly and honestly how we do always know what is true, we simply deny it or avoid honoring this truth so as not to upset the comfort we have created for ourselves. The comfort we create is what allows us to avoid the responsibility we all hold, to live all of who we are, the truth we know and being guided by a quality that honors all equally in truth and Love to bring about loving service and care through all we do, and all that we work for and with.
I love the title of this blog ‘The Bankruptcy of Comfort” as it exposes the truth around comfort. Living in comfort is a way of being that is bankrupt, it offers no love, no honesty and no re-connection to self or brotherhood. It is a state of emptiness.
The healing begins with taking responsibility for what we do feel and know but are not prepared to put into action. This does not mean denigrating the truth of who we are, it means weeding out the false. Actually it is confirming who we are by owning up.
The moment we truly connect with people and realise what is going on for all of us underneath the surface purpose is activated and with that purpose, it is all about all of us.
Even achieving great temporal ‘success’ can feel empty or lacking if there is not true integrity, customer care and respect at the backbone of the organisation or project.
Wow Anonymous, businesses run from our body, from feelings, from our connection with our own Love and with God, that is a totally different way of running a business. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your learnings. Life is indeed about responsibility. In every moment and every task at hand. That your experiences and true business ‘model’ may inspire lots of companies – multinationals and local stores – to run their businesses this way and may learn from your experiences so they don’t have to learn it the hard way.
The before and after stories by many, many people who have worked with Serge Benhayon are always significant. There is a life that we all want to live, living as the person that we are, in regular joy. Serge Benhayon offers the support for any person to find their way that is living their true self.
Wow, thank you anonymous for such an open and honest and heart-felt sharing. To me, it is beautiful in particular to read how it hit home for you when you realised that some people walked away and were unable to pay for their grocery bills – you get to realise and connect with how everyone gets affected by the decisions that we make, everyone that is! No one person is not affected on some level by our decisions and so the day we realise this, is the day we truly start taking responsibility. We are all kings in effect and are responsible for all the decisions we make that affect hundreds of people all of the time – how we sit, how we shop, how we park our car, can inspire another to bring the same care or bring the same disregard to their lives, depending on the example we have set. The question really is: are we ready to admit the kings we are, and step up to it? And so are we truly ready to embrace this, or will we hold back and disempower ourselves? With great power comes great responsibility – and a time for us to embrace it once and for all.
A company, or a life for that matter, can only be a responsible one when we take into account and pay attention to all aspects of it equally.
It can be so imbedded in us that understanding what it means to ‘make it about people first, and the results will take care of themselves’ challenging. This is truly one of the most profound lessons in life, reconfiguring our own needs based on fear from all sorts of sources to expanding the love we are that we hold everyone equally and that is the purpose and integrity of everything we do.
I have also learned the hard way it is easy to compound our ill-choices by reluctance to face and take responsibility for them. but if we can become honest now and see the full impact of our choices on everyone, we can avert the otherwise big wake-up call that must inevitably come our way. and more so, learn that we can make true choices in consideration of the all.
It is incredible what we are willing to do and put up with to avoid responsibility – I am observing this in myself, it’s like everything goes but stepping up into the greatness we are meant to be. Suddenly all the success I was trying to achieve to gain recognition is nothing anymore if it is simply meant for a greater purpose.
This brings a much needed light to business.
All that we invest in which is not for truth eventually crumbles, which is a blessing.
Another amazing sharing of the inspiration that Serge is to many people.
Making mistakes is a natural and much needed part of our evolution. The human spirit needs big bumps to shake it out of it’s illusion, arrogance and comfort, so the bankruptcy is a great opportunity. The true skill in life is seeing these opportunities and claiming them in full honesty and thus ensuring that they become evolutionary platforms. Many of us would just pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and end up repeating the same cycle. I applaud and appreciate your courage in being open to seeing the whole picture.
It is a novel approach in this day and age to care as much about one’s employees and customers as yourself and your own family, but that is what you have essentially shown Anonymous. It is the way of the future, as we cannot continue to run on the level of self-serving greed and corruption that is the hallmark of so many organisations and businesses today.
The seeing to be doing good it seems on a certain level we are all good at. The needing to be bigger and better is always a drive. The comfort of being in the same tone because all those boxes are so-called being ticked and the dream becomes just to get through with as little as pain as possible..
It is therefore a whole more intelligent to be transparent with what you can offer and being honest and upfront with what it is you can and cannot do. No pressure then, just the truth of you will be there, in other words you fallback on your strengths through the admittance of your weaknesses.
“My company could have been a living example that appreciating and deeply valuing people is our way forward.” As can every company, every relationship, every partnership. Because, in truth, that is what a company is – a collection, big or small, of relationships and if the focus is on those relationships and people then the company will naturally be successful. We are designed to work hard, it is our natural expression, so all we have to do is look after ourselves and the other people in the company and the productivity figures will look after themselves. Makes management super easy!
“I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging”. There is a fine line between doing those things you love to do and avoiding what needs to be done ie. they are one and the same! My experience it is great to really confirm what you are good at and completely be available to always deliver it however, the inevitable will come when that avoidance will build and cause you are a stop that will effect you more than the little reminders that were once only a niggle. Bottom-line it is important to be responsible and deal with what is you feel needs to be dealt with.
When you talk of the “Illusion of a ‘Successful’ Company exposed” it brings to mind all the other companies out there who portray a particular image of themselves but who are paddling madly under the surface to keep the illusion alive. Having had a limited experience in the corporate world in my 20s I could sense enough that there was really very little love in it – systems were always put before people. There really is no wonder why we lose so much productivity in absenteeism through ill health or the increasing trend of people being physically at work but not very present…
Not taking responsibility does bite us in the bum eventually and even worse, it actually drains us all the time it is going on.
Spot on Gabriele, and it not only bites US in the bum but many others too! And this is the “ouch” we get to feel. However, all is not lost, for it is through ‘mistakes’ that we learn and hence there are no such things as mistakes, for there are only such things as ‘learnings’.
I couldn’t agree more Gabriele… Not taking responsibility always catches up with us at some time or another (even when we think or arrogantly assume it won’t!).
Comfort muffles life, everything gets muted and distorted.
Yes, it is certainly about people first, but you still have to take care of all the details in business and do whatever is needed.
‘The Bankruptcy of Comfort’ describes well the emptiness we feel when we make our ‘good-life’ about comfort rather than relationship and evolution.
Wow, Anonymous, thank you for sharing your learning. I appreciate how you found a way to steer your life out of comfort and into commitment to humanity. ‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’ Simply beautiful.
This quote is very true yet it is interesting how people are willing to accept the recognition for their achievements when a false success has come their way yet when all goes belly up there is a complete unawareness to that being contributed to ones choices and is often blamed on circumstance etc.
“I knew I had to face the reality of having to make decisions that would take away the good salary and comfortable lifestyle.” This is the first step to making a true change in your life, and something that Serge benhayon reflects to everyone all of the time, no matter what area of life it is about. And it is something that needs to be deeply appreciated, that you were willing to take that step and as you say, face the reality of what you had created, and then had to let go of. This is true business, that is built on integrity, love and equalness for all, no matter whether they are cleaners or top level management. At the end of the day, they are all people and all need to be treated with the same utmost respect and love. There is no doubt in my mind, that Serge Benhayon is leading the way in how to run a true business.
The comfort of a good life lies with us all and is all around us and is championed and accepted by our society despite the actual discomfort and emptiness we all feel with this. Thanks to Serge Benhayon he is showing the world true integrity and responsibility and a way to live that is with a deep love and respect for all and that we all matter and we are part of a oneness so much bigger than we think. He is reflecting inspiring and guiding us into the way of true business and service for humanity as a whole. Your experiences here Anonymous are beautifully honest and supportive to read.
Responsibility comes round to us sometime or another whether we like it or not, lies cannot last and they can never last. This is such a brilliant opportunity for you and what great learnings you take with you.
Love always wins.
Your article lead me on to think more about ‘The Comfort of a ‘Good’ Life’…”As a child we lived in houses that were too big for what we could afford and my father spent money on dreams that often did not come true.” How many of us spend beyond our means stacking up bills on our credit cards that take us forever to pay off? We seem to be chasing that perfect picture of obtaining our fast cars, big houses and material wealth in the illusion that it brings us greater contentment.
We are learning so much from Serge Benhayon about true business, as Universal Medicine is run with absolute love for people – from the staff and anyone who is involved with the company to humanity at large, who cannot but be inspired by the unprecedented level of integrity and service to all.
And these learnings literally can filter into every facet of life.
This is a great example Anonymous of the importance of dealing with things and what happens if we bury our heads in the sand. It sounds like you have learned a very valuable lesson about putting people first – very humbling account.
I agree. Very humbling. And this example of what can happen when we bury our heads in the sand and not deal with things in life can be applied to all and any part of our lives. Things that are allowed to build up and not be addressed eventually snowball and result in unpleasant experiences that make us realise the importance of addressing what is there to be addressed at the time.
Thank you for sharing – it is so easy to get in making things look right yet not having the foundation to truly support us. Juts like if you build a house on sand sooner or later it will collapse.
I would say some of the biggest times of change in my life have happened because my body led the way and was speaking to me so loudly that my mind had to listen!
What I really appreciate within myself is that since engaging with and studying Universal Medicine, my ability to deal with the things that I previously did not enjoy or interest me in daily life have completely changed. As you experienced Anonymous, the responsibility we have when we run a company is immense. People are relying on it for their lively hood so it is vital that we are prepared to care for every aspect of that business in order to ensure those who work so hard for it are genuinely supported through our care and attention to all the details. Universal Medicine has certainly been very pivotal in showing me the importance of placing people first, which entails common decency and respect, attention to detail, communication, commitment and honesty, all qualities that I have not excelled in but today am nurturing back to full health using the tools shared by Serge Benhayon. It will be very interesting to see how you unfold your next company and the changes you undertake in how you run it, so look forward to the sequel.
Such a humbling account to what can happen in business and how selfish it can be to not speak up when we feel something is not working and how it can affect so many people! It is truly humbling to consider the whole and actually the only way to make anything in life truly working.
More and more the corruption of the world ‘smoking mirrors’ in business is being exposed but very few seem to have learnt the lesson, like you have Anonymous, that a truly successful business comes from putting people first and with a foundation of truth, honesty, integrity and quality.
So powerfull and intimate and honest sharing. Truly inspiring. What a change.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Anonymous, I would imagine this is a similar situation to so many of the companies that fail in the first few years of their existence. In your case, you were able to hold it together for longer than many. But as you said, “I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done. I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging. I knew I had to face the reality of having to make decisions that would take away the good salary and comfortable lifestyle.” This would be a pretty common reason for failure I would feel. It can be hard for us to take the responsible steps that are really needed, we want to do the parts we are interested in. How wonderful it is that you have learned so much through meeting Serge Benhayon, and have changed your complete approach to working responsibly now, doing all that is being required. I am sure when you start up your new company in the future, it will become a role model for how to run a business, with true care for your employees and all who deal with your company, a very different approach to most companies at this point of time.
What a great lesson learnt Anonymous, realising the quality and integrity that we live in no matter our position or the work we do is the only way to bring true balance and harmony into our lives and with as the foundation and making it about people first, there is no doubt that your next venture into business will prosper for everyone involved.
This blog is a ‘cracker’ – it blows the whistle on our somewhat blind addiction to comfort which creeps into almost every corner of our lives. And, if we continue to indulge in our comforts, they will lead us closer and closer to bankruptcy – not just financially but in our relationships with everyone and everything!
Absolutely Tamara, you could also say that illness and disease is bankruptcy of the body, a point reached when the way we are choosing to live is unsustainable and there needs to be a correction or a clearing.
‘My head followed what my heart had felt. Things started to shift in my company.’ Just beautiful Anonymous. ‘People first’ is what always works! That return to the cardio-centric universe changes our relationship to al and brings great joy.
It’s devastating when you realise how damaging sitting in comfort can be to not only yourself, but those around you. I’ve been very resistant to getting out of my comfort zone in areas of my life, but I find that there are moments where I’m really ready to take the plunge. And when I do, it’s great, albeit requiring sometime to adjust to the choice, as naturally there is always a period of discomfort to begin with.
Wow, what a story. Thank you so much for allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to share it! I look very forward to hearing what unfolds in the future.
I agree there is a huge focus on profit and appearances in business. I am so glad that businesses are starting to see that doesnt work, it is needed that we make business about people and love first- success isn’t success when people are not the focus or true intent of the company, including all staff and clients.
A great account of how each choice we make determines the life we lead and just as importantly, the impact those choices have on others.
What I really enjoyed about reading this is there is no judgement on yourself and I really appreciate your honesty. We all make choices and some lead us here and others there and we are the only ones who can change it, but beating ourselves up doesn’t help at all.
The responsibility that lies in owning and running a company which financially supports others is big. The energetic integrity and energetic responsibility to live holding the whole understanding of life and bring this purpose to our living way which includes our work is the foundation of true brotherhood. It is beautiful to observe how your love and humility that has surfaced has become your strength and corner stone Anonymous – knowing that this is the way forward will become a reflection of what is possible for all.
I love the insight you share here anon, “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.”
There is a current push in business for everything to be about profit. So at times there is confusion over profit or turn over and what makes a successful company. Most awards or recognition are focused on the profit part and publicly traded companies, well who understands how that works with a paper value. There is far more to business then profits alone as you are saying and like anything we all need the balance. This is big focus still for businesses and at times you can get caught in the trap time and time again if you allow it. Appreciating all parts of business will support the balance, suppliers, customers, staff, products, you all are important parts that make the business whole.
Avoiding taking responsibility out of fear is all too familiar. Fear of rejection is choosing to put us in compromising situations. When the light dawns and the awareness comes that it is time for a different choice this is the moment of responsibility. Acceptance and appreciation for the understanding of what and how something has happened opens us up for choices which come from love.
When we make it about people first then it is very beneficial to be successful and not to find other ways to keep things small as being successful allows us to support and touch and express love to more people.
What I observe (as a financial advisor/consultant) again and again and really saddens me is that when people realise what they are doing has major, major flaws, at times they then take drastic, negative actions like bankruptcy that can be unnecessary and sometimes even more damaging. It seems as if there is an idea to punish oneself which is really perpetuating the neglect from the past just in different clothing but causing even more damage.
If we look at our past actions with love, there are often very many opportunities to gracefully transition to a different more loving, more sustainable paradigm without causing such damage. Each case is different but the idea to atone is not a good one at all. We always need to feel and not act from our ideas.
I think I am going to read this every day as the words are so powerful and the message is so clear. For too long so many of us have been like you… Instead I pretended it would all work out fine somehow, without my having to take any action.” and it is killing us. It is time for us to pull our heads out of the sand, and to take action. To the best of our abilities and in, as you say, our tenderness and our true power.
To understand the ‘good life’ as being an illusionary life is something most have and or will need to figure out at some point; it is one of the biggest lies and ideals life is formed around, dominating life in most countries and cultures. It is ignorant of our divine nature, reducing us to just being temporal human beings. When we re-connect to the more there is, the dimensions beyond the physical the worldly life is exposed for its limitation. Then true life just begins.
What stands out for me in this is taking responsibility and looking at the entirety of our life. I know that for me at times there have been aspects of my life that I have not wanted to look at or have tried to ignore. Those aspects still sit there, and they tend to fester until they are addressed. By taking responsibility for all aspects of my life, nothing is left unresolved, this supports me to freely live who I am all of the time.
I look forward to hearing about your next, true business Anonymous, founded in the ‘people first’ philosophy. There is such a responsibility in business, particularly once you take on employees, and I know your approach will be grounded in this understanding this time around, certainly now the illusion of comfort has been revealed in full.
I am sure that a new company with your true leadership and people first lived truth will bring a new marker for everyone you work with and receives the product you all deliver as one.
When I was young I totally ignored what my body was telling me and did what l thought I was supposed to do.
I got married, worked hard, built a house, had children, it all seemed wonderful.
Then at 50 years old my body was so exhausted I could barely walk up stairs. What was going on ?
After some searching and eventually asking for the truth, I found Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, which totally changed my life. I had been totally performing all my life (not being me). This takes a huge amount of energy to do.Because I ignored my body for so long it has taken a while to feel what it is telling me. With commitment to myself and patience my body is starting to trust me again.
A fantastic piece of writing on a subject that i have seen destroy lives and families and never recover. The lessons that you share show the grace of taking responsibility for our part whatever it may be.
I loved reading about the change in you, and how you have been prepared to learn and step direction since the bankruptcy. It’s a huge experience and I am so glad you chose to share it so we can all learn.
Wow, a very powerful blog – all those times we don’t want to stand up and express, and here we see some of the more severe consequences to that choice.
That certainly is a 180 degree turn around Anonymous and with such appreciation for yourself. Thank you for sharing so openly. A refreshing way of dealing with bankruptcy.. to look at your part, how you were running the business by not being you and then making it about people first.
This really shows the importance of transparency and responsibility in business. I cringed when reading this as I know personally how I buried my head in the sand when it came to finances. I didn’t want to take any responsibility. It’s pretty shocking to see how I got away with it for so long. This blog is an opportunity for us to be on the front foot and want to see what is going on at all times.
‘I am learning to make it about people first and not about turnover and results’ my experience has been that when you make it about people success naturally follows. Focusing on results simply puts everyone under stress and the business suffers as a result.
I was reading what you have written Anonymous hanging on for maybe that your words might help me, and your words do by feeling for myself through your inspiration. So, again it shows me that inspiration needs to come from within me first by me feeling it. I too have had all the inspiration that I need to know from Serge Benhayon and from all that being a part of Universal Medicine has opened me to be aware of.
Having employees is a tremendous responsibility for all business owners. Connecting and genuinely appreciating one another in the workplace is what establishes a strong and cohesive foundation that will be felt by all clientele. Often I see businesses using competition as a ‘common ground’ to bring people together, although this does work on one level to create a ‘team’ environment, fundamentally this approach is flawed as there is no equality in competition just a focus on propping yourself up or bringing others down.
A story that most would find chilling, I find the term and context you use for the words ‘human resources’ completely telling of this scenario, where business is not about people but instead using any means, including the employees, to keep a chosen level of comfort. It is a very common but revealing term when we are actually speaking of employees and work colleagues.
Wow, its amazing the repercussions when we don’t attend to all parts of our responsibility. Sobering that so many people were directly and adversely affected. Thank you for your honest sharing of your story and what you have learned from this. It is big.
Your bolg is deeply humbling Anonymous. From being a high flying business owner to coming to realise that mistakes you have made and accepting them as your own and no one elses is very inspiring. Your article should be accessible for all businesses to read.
I am appreciating the openness in your sharing, Anonymous, as it takes courage and a good deal of humility to admit to mistakes that you feel are of your own making. You are going to be an amazing boss as result of this learning.
“The Bankruptcy of Comfort” or “The Comfort of Bankruptcy”. Both are true.
What I deeply appreciated about you Anon is your willingness to learn from your blunder and go back and give it another go, this time with a completely different attitude. What a great opportunity to re imprint the whole way you previously went about business. You will now be a blessing to work for and with, given your wealth of experience of what not to do.
A testimony to what responsibility is in truth – to be All of what we are in everything that we do. Otherwise, all that we are not catches up and collects the debts one day. A lesson for all of us to learn and a law to live by.
I love this blog so much Anonymous. It is a life changing read. The point you make about the power of working with others is absolute gold. You have me pondering the ‘disasters’ I created throughout my life when I attempted to go it alone. The greatness we can accomplish together being ALL of us is beyond anything we can imagine.
An amazingly honest blog, thank you anonymous. I know for me there have been many times in my life when I have felt something but chose to not act on it or ignore what I was feeling. As your story shows though it is never too late to start honouring and claiming and expressing what we are really feeling. Things can get ugly when we do in the short term but the feeling of liberation of living true to one’s self is worth it.
It is easy to see how comfort retards humanity and it’s easy to see why comfort is attractive. Making ourselves comfortable at the expense of a company and not making it about people first and working together, means we can be lazy and sit back for the ride. You have illustrated this so well anonymous. Whether we run a company or not, comfort is something that holds us all back. Coasting along in life, wanting everything without really working for it, or just ignoring the things that we find a drag, comfort is something we really need to be aware of.
This is a real exposure how there are huge companies today on a knife edge of survival, because they spend, spend and constantly expand to give the image of success, but their foundation is very unstable. It reminds me of the children’s story, ‘the three little pigs’. True foundation in our lives is crucial for everyone and every thing we build.
There is so much wisdom in your writing and what struck me this morning is that there is a lack of attention to detail when we hide in comfort which inevitably has consequences on our performance. You have inspired me to look at the areas of my work which I avoid addressing and which are a drain on me and my ability to be fully present and productive in my work.
‘I was avoiding leading this company responsibly and spent too much money on keeping up appearances and growth, something I had learned at a very young age from observing my father.’ – It is interesting how we from very young age learn to build a facade, a make believe, and how this in turn affects our entire life.
A humbling tale of how we can lose ourselves in the temporal trappings of life, but also how it is never too late to turn things around and start afresh with a steady connection to ourselves, our bodies and others as the foundation upon which we take every new step. True success then is an everyday experience.
“I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done. I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging. I knew I had to face the reality of having to make decisions that would take away the good salary and comfortable lifestyle.” We see what we want to see, we are masters of justification, our true sense knows and feels the imploding effect of irresponsibility.
“I did only those things that interested me and that I was good at, avoiding matters that I did not want to do or that really needed my attention…” How many of us deal with life in this way choosing what we like and ignoring matters that need looking at? Perhaps a trait of human conditioning? Through your sharing we can learn the importance of speaking up and the importance of being willing to look at the whole picture, not just the parts we want to.
Anonymous, this is very beautiful to read, ‘I am amazed to see this loving, tender, caring, beautiful, very powerful man that is surfacing. A new, different leader.’ This feels like a true way to lead a business, how very different to the normal way that companies are led, this way of working is very much needed to role model to other companies what is possible.
So great that you were open enough Anonymous to truly feel your choices within your business and see that true business is all about people first. Bringing you much healing and the opportunity to turn it all around and bring true service.
We cannot, try as we might run a company without people. After all that is the whole point, we employ people to deliver the service or product and we sell this product or service to other people. Therefore business is all about people but as your tale exposes, when we make it about profit and self interest, it becomes unsustainable.
‘…it’s time for making life about people first.’ Being in the business of people first is how we were made to do business, naturally. And it makes sense that any business that is not run in, with and from this principle of providing a service to people first; but instead seeks to serve self – will eventually be unsustainable by virtue of the fact that it goes against everything that business is truly about.
I love how you realised that you couldn’t go on just in the areas you were good at and liked. That is what I have come to understand over the last months, we cannot ignore the things that need tending to, we cannot just play in the corner we feel comfortable in, but need to allow ourselves to turn to the corners that we are not so familiar with when they are asking for our attention and presence. This applies to our whole being too, as when we ignore certain things we ignore a part of us and thus bringing only a part of us no matter what we are doing.
The level of honesty that you show, Anonymous, is inspiring and it is all the more so because there is no blame. You just express the truth, accepting the responsibility for your actions, or lack of them, and the resulting consequences for what they were without judgment. That is humbling and inspirational, showing that to live in and act from denial is irresponsible and eventually the illusion will be exposed the truth be seen.
Yes I agree jstewart51 there is a distinct lack of judgement in this blog – of himself or of others. Taking responsibility without going into judgement for me is one of the best ways to heal and learn from life.
Your blatant honesty is so refreshing, Anonymous. This shifts where the company has been to a new platform and offers a healing to all. Thank you.
Comfort stops the world and universe from evolving. Simple – not so easy because of the comfort itself. It takes a commitment to break this cycle of comfort that is destroying humanity.
What I learn from this blog is that we are powerful beyond imagination if we allow ourselves to live our true being in full and do not live to the images we have accepted as the ideal way life should look like. Living from our inner heart is the way to go, and choosing so will show us exactly what steps are needed in making our work or business about people first as that is what life is all about. It is not about making huge amounts of money or generating high turnovers, but it is simply about people first as that will show us the way to go and how we will express ourselves in our work.
This is a great sharing of true success being that which develops with the quality of relationship we have with our bodies and not just the material aspects of life which is recognition and keeps us in the illusion of comfort.
I love the awareness you have come to… for knowing that success is not created but rather something that is given to you through the choices you make is profound… in this way you can observe everything seed forth from how you choose to live and be in each moment, with success being a true marker of your choices.
Anonymous, I love the way in which you have shared your whole experience, it’s beautiful to feel your total acceptance of the part you played and as a result the enormous learning and healing that ensued. So often in life we are in such reaction when things ‘go wrong’, that we totally miss the ‘lesson’, that we’re being presented with, that in fact, we have chosen. We are so focussed on how things are affecting us that we loose sight of the big picture, missing the fact that we have a gift, an opportunity to evolve and be in a position to bring so much more in our next venture, our next movement, more than we could have ever imagined. When we make life about humanity we are held in the arms of the universe, then the word success seems so irrelevant, inadequate and unnecessary.
‘I did only those things that interested me and that I was good at, avoiding matters that I did not want to do or that really needed my attention’ – I can totally relate to this. It’s very natural to want to do things that come easily to us, however, we’re falling short of our responsibility when we recognise things that are needing our attention and we choose to ignore them. We are allowing a crack into our foundation and the longer we leave this unattended it will grow bringing with it enormous instability, the consequences of our inaction, as you found out the hard way.
How many of us are truly living Bankrupt lives is astounding – for living against the Truth we know and without Responsibility and Love for ourselves and our fellow-men, our life is without true purpose and is lacking to the bone.
An incredible read and a huge living lesson of how all business’s evolves around the business of people, that is, the success is built on the foundation of transparent, honest relationships which feed back into the business and to the customers.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make” – what a great line, yes, success is not granted or awarded, it is down to choice – the simple choice to live love first, and from there deliver that same quality of love.
The rise and fall of ‘business success’ what a great read this is Anonymous, to realise and admit the caught illusion of it that so many business people prefer to not see, and often continue business after (failed) business…but you did choose to see, and in doing so now have a huge amount to offer people now, I’ve been inspired reading this.
People are the very life of life, to put any-thing other than people first is to put something that is false first and although it may look like it is working momentarily there will be no longevity in its success as it will be held up by shonky scaffolding.
My experience in many jobs has been that there is a great amount of stagnancy I create if I only focus on the things I want to do. When I give my attention to tasks that I often leave to last or try to avoid or fob off to another, that is when the job really opens up and becomes much more satisfying. So from now on in work I know I must face everything that needs to be done and not leave any task to stagnate which arises as a strong feeling of tension in my body.
Boy oh boy you have learned a humongous and very painful lesson which clearly, without a shadow of doubt, was well worth it. Your words express a great truth “Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.”
Very true Tamara. I am in awe of the way Anonymous has expressed with such appreciation and acceptance.
How inspiring to feel the responsibility you now live with annon, and the honesty in the way you share your story. In business and in life in general all our decisions are affecting each of us, and it takes teamwork to have true success in any company.
I have worked for many companies in the past and have a lot of experience as an employee but not ever as an employer and have a lot to complain, and your sharing here helps me understand my ‘bosses’ just as an individual, just like myself.
Great sharing . . . a very inspiring turnaround. The world will change when we start to make everything about people first instead of being motivated by greed and comfort.
‘For a year I fought what Serge Benhayon was presenting. Then on the last day of a Universal Medicine course in the UK, Serge walked by me and I cried as I surrendered to the love that I felt, and the love he lives and emanates so unconditionally.’ This describes it so very well Anonymous, the fight against our truth and then we feel absolute and unspeakable love lived in the being of such a one as Serge Benhayon. This ‘livingness’ has been the greatest gift that he has brought us here on earth.
Wow, an incredible sharing, a very important reminder that our decision to stay in comfort has a ripple effect on everyone.
I have to extend my absolute heart felt gratitude to you for sharing your personal experience with the humbleness and detail you went to. The gift that all of our stories hold is priceless and assists us collectively to expose the pockets in our business and lives that do not fit with making things about people first. Your deep honesty is what really struck me, this I will take with me, that it’s never too late to be all that you are, so thank you.
This is a powerful blog, one that will perhaps take a few days to fully digest because of how raw and uncut Anonymous has given us his account of the events in his life so that we can look straight through in to the workings of his mind and see all the consequences of those thoughts and choices. I admire Anonymous for his bravery in being so honest, and I can relate fully to having made some pretty dire mistakes myself, which have taught me lessons I am now only hugely grateful and appreciative of.
You have given us a big reminder that comfort holds us back, not only in our corporate life but simply on a daily basis. We only need to look at the state of the world to realise putting profits before people is a morally bankrupt foundation, serving the few with a detrimantal effect on humanity. We cannot continue to be porns in this system, it’s for us all to be individually responsible to be the change. Anomyous you have much to share from your life lesson … ‘Just be ALL of you.’ SB
What an incredibly hard lesson to feel what lack of responsibility can do to others. It always amazes me how much we avoid responsibility, yet it can create the most incredible change.
The way Serge Benhayon runs his business is incredibly inspiring and really leads the way in truly putting humanity/ people first.
There is a tender opening that has happened here through this experience and proof that no matter how arrogant the spirit is, the inner knowing coming straight from our divinity will rise. Thank you Anonymous for sharing your honesty, humility and learning, this truly is a gift to all that read this blog.
What a deeply honest, humbling and insightful blog about you and your company. It is rare to read such honesty about a corporate situation like this. What really shone through to me, is that we always know, even when we don’t want to know and at times bury it very very deep, we always know we are doing something not quite right and as you write here Anon, it always catches up with us eventually. I know there are levels of comfort that I am living with now and your blog is a timely reminder to give it up and get on with what needs to be done. Thank you.
Thank you Anonymous, what a powerful learning to go through and there are not many people who can be so open and honest about their choices as you have been. And it’s true, the real way to true success lies in valuing people, so that what ever it is we do is done with true appreciation for everyone’s ones benefit, not just a few. Feeling valued always supports us to give back in return, it is the bedrock of the management and employee relationship that empowers us to deliver a strong service and that is our true human resource, our love of work and providing for one another.
Thank you for sharing this amazing story. What you share is so true, business is all about people. Managers and owners have a responsibility to all those that they employ and all the associated businesses that they work with, as does each employee.
It’s a very incredible thing that you have seen the part you have played in this and then realised that all business, not matter what it is is about people first. I hope you reconsider going back into business for you will bring much from all that you are learning and have learned and in making it about people first – it will always be successful.
The lure of comfort is big in our society, yet it is never fulfills our true purpose as to why we are here on earth. The lure of comfort can keep us in a cycle where we stay the same where we may feel ‘good’ about life yet we are not expanding and we are not growing. Stepping into and saying yes to responsibility regardless of the path that it takes us on (and albeit most likely the more uncomfortable path), we are saying yes to evolution and yes to our true purpose..
Quite an amazing turn around to be now seeing business this way, “Not alone, but together with many people… it’s time for making life about people first.” For years I looked at business as my ‘great escape’ and similar to what you are saying. My businesses are me, they are another part of my expression and I look at them that way. Yes profits and margins are all a part of that but equally so is the health of the staff and family and the customers. It’s all related because they are all about people.
How you have taken responsibility and lovingly looked at the steps you took away from your inner impulse in each situation offers everyone who knows you or reads your experience another way. I have had my own financial relationship come up recently and questioning all the choices I have made and what they are really giving me. What I’ve seen is how when we are choosing comfort we put the blinkers on and only take in to account what we want in that very moment instead of the ripple effect this decision will make after. Really seeing it for what it is, has been a blessing and has supported me to arrest many unloving patterns.
Serge Benhayon always sees what is needed in order for us to live the Truth in any situation for all concerned and it is us, in my experience, who shirk from the Gold he delivers. You’ve learnt some really tough lessons but what I appreciate about what you are sharing is what you have learnt as a result. When we see the repercussions of being irresponsible, it really can be a moment that wakes us up, otherwise we just continue harming ourselves and others.
As managers in any organisation it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that all of the responsibility falls to them. There is nothing more powerful than a team working together with clear direction and purpose. The manager can hold, guide and inspire but each person needs the space to express their part of the whole picture
I have heard the phrase ‘be all of you many times’ over the years. It doesn’t sound that hard – yet we have been shaping ourselves to not show all of who we are from young, hiding and protecting the bits we perceived were rejected by those around us, to the point that we forget who ‘all of who we are’ actually is.
Hello Anonymous, what really struck me in reading your blog is how important receiving support is. For many years I also felt I had to do things alone, but recently I’ve allowed a lot of different support and accepted I don’t have to do or know it all, and that if I’m stuck in a pattern of behaviour or choices that I know are destructive, and if I cannot change, then I now know it’s simply time for support. I feel as human beings that when we can let go of the reaction of shame of not managing things well, then we can more openly seek and allow support. We are definitely not meant to do it on our own.
Great point Melinda, the judgment and expectation that we hold ourselves to can be very harsh, its easy to see how the cumulative effects of shame can set ourselves apart from the loving support that surrounds us.
I love to read and realise now also for myself – something I knew, but didn’t feel as strong as I do now – that success is given to us in order to serve others. Unfortunately success often leads to personal greed – where the flow of money is given to expand the service we’re offering Humanity. How beautiful to read and understand that working is (also) about love and not (only) about getting ‘the work done’. We’re people first and we’re to deeply look after ourselves in order to provide the best service we can – energetic integrity. I love it.
I loved reading this and I loved the honesty. There was not an ounce of blame in any of it which is awesome considering it is a tale that includes bankruptcy. Life is about responsibility and this is a beautiful example.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make”. This sentence is very powerful. As business owners, or people in life, success can be something we strive for based on the notion that we create it. This flips it on it’s head.
Thank you Anonymous for a very insightful sharing on the cause and effects of living without a true connection to being responsible for all the aspects of our life. Whether it be work, or personal, the foundation is the same it is all about people first, otherwise the interference that comes in plays tricks and keeps the illusions thriving based on fear and self preservation.
Thank you for sharing your experience Anonymous. It is absolutely humbling to read and something I and many other can truly learn from.
“I was working many hours but didn’t want to commit to doing what really needed to be done. I loved the work but only the parts that were not challenging.” I can definitely relate to this, wanting the comfortable life and working hard, whilst still ticking the boxes on a functional level, but not on a quality level. Thank you for sharing your experience and the incredible learning that came through this.
This blog speaks for all of humanity, as we have all in one way or another lived a false life beyond our true means to meet up to an image or reputation. Whether it be money spent, false projections or pushing beyond the capacity of our body we have all done it. I’ve been more aware of true purpose and living to a true capacity for many years now but after reading this I’m more honest about the hidden truth of what is really underlying my business and family goals or projects – a hidden push to be better, be more or seek comfort, at the expense of health and finances. The day will eventually come for all where it’s time to be honest and go back to our grass roots, and live from truth, not to project fake images of our life.
I was touched by your honesty and frankness Anonymous. This is a powerful blog and much can be learned from your writing. The holding back and ‘not being all of you’ applies for so many others whatever industry, business or vocation we are in. Learning to speak up and trust what is there to be expressed is a great way forward and ultimately allows us to take greater responsibility.
Thanks for your blog Anonymous – I love the honesty with which you share and how it highlights the need for those in business to make decisions based on what is needed for humanity and not allow themselves to be drawn into making choices that will keep them in comfort.
What an inspiration to being honest. How often have I said oh I’m busy but more accurately, busy at avoiding the responsibility of what is needed. Much to consider in regards to what responsibilities am I avoiding that need addressing.
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Truly beautiful, humbling and inspiring.What a wonderful awakening this is.
Amazing blog Anonymous – I am blown away by your humbleness and down to earth sharing. A true inspiration for all.
What’s so amazing about this account, apart from your openness and honesty, is that you have come out of the experience of bankruptcy with a humbleness and feeling of true purpose when you could have so easily given up on life.
Thanks Anonymous for the astute business lesson, look after the detail and don’t give your power away.
This is an amazing testimonial Anonymous. It just goes to show how that which we avoid in life can only build to that which is unavoidable.
Are we really scared of speaking our minds, of expressing our truth…or do we use that “fear” as an excuse to perpetuate the comfort?
This is brilliant and as a man who has known, felt and enjoined in many of the comforts that you relate to in your searingly honest blog, I have deep appreciation for the changes that you have made. True strength.
It is incredible to read such an honest account of what lay behind your company’s bankruptcy. How incredible to learn indelibly so, that putting people (including ourselves) before profits is the way forward. Thank you.
What you have shared is a great sharing, how easily you can get caught up in giving your power away, and not be all that you are. It is very much about taking responsibility and calling out what is not true, something i am really being shown and learning at the moment.
It makes such a difference when we make our work about life and people and a true purpose to return to who we truly are than the sole focus being money, comfort, acceptance, recognition,etc. – the latter ones are just not sustainable in the long run.
Greed, security and vested interest in business is insidious. Many business’s say that they are all about people, but you can feel the driving force behind their actions are monetary based. This has become so normalised that many foundational economic theories are based on the assumption that when given the choice humans will always favour what is more financially beneficial to them individually. This is not our true nature.
Thank you anonymous for sharing your experience of what happens when we lose ourselves in the race for ‘success’ and the consequences of wanting to hold on to comforts we accrue. I have seen this same pattern play out in the lives of people I know. One said, ‘ The irony is we had everything, didn’t see that we did, kept striving for more, until we almost lost it all.’ Sometimes bankruptcy brings humility, a new sense of self and kindness.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” – wow, I love this.
What a great story about the consequences of not taking responsibility and giving power away to someone because of not wanting to deal with the hard stuff. It doesn’t mean that we have to do everything, but it means we take interest and responsibility for what needs to be done and don’t just pay someone else to do it to take away the burden.
It takes humility to step into being a forever student and be willing to open and commit to life in full. There is always more to evolve back to and ‘bettering life’ is the biggest lie I / we have fallen for.
“I feel a forever student, who never stops being amazed about the beauty of this life. I am now more committed to continue to learn and evolve: not to better myself and have a better life, but to truly have an impact on this world”.
It is deeply inspiring to feel the commitment you bring now Anonymous –
“I have now chosen to live a purposeful life and make it about love, truth and God. Comfort and laziness are definitely out, as I learned the hard way. I am learning every single day”.
What a raw honesty you bring to this blog Anonymous. It is humbling to read it.
The turnaround you have brought within yourself is gorgeous to read and will be the strong, solid and clear foundation to bring to forming your new company.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me”.
Thanks Anonymous for your honesty and frankness around how you conducted yourself and your business. There are definitely things you’ve shared that are relevant for me too… transparency and accountability are an essential part of running a business, regardless of it’s size or number of employees.
Thank you for writing such an honest blog. I can totally relate to not feeling able to express the truth of what I am feeling as I used to be very buttoned up in this regard. I am also learning to come out of this and to express, but I have noticed the more I develop appreciation for myself and the more I clear the hurts I have held, the easier it is to do so.. When we look at the consequences of not expressing honestly, as you have shared, we can see that it is a responsibility that can’t be shirked. Thank you for sharing your story and for sharing how you have grown as a result of all you have learned.
Thank you for sharing your journey. All the best 🙂
The implications of living in comfort are huge, and this blog really evidences how our livingness and way of being massively impact our work, relationships and career, in a negative or greatly positive way.
Feeling the impact that not taking responsibility had on your employees is such a celebration. Every CEO, Manager, Owner and Executive so needs to read this article and see and feel the repercussions of wearing blinkers. As does every person on earth, for each of us affects others, and if responsibility is not lived with, we are not bringing to the world all that we could. An amazing article.
This is a great sharing, expressing from truth and taking responsibility can be really challenging at times but so much more rewarding.
Thank you for sharing so gorgeously here Anonymous. This blog is a big wake up call as it calls each and every one of us to account for the things we choose to ‘let slide’ or ‘sweep under the carpet’.
Anonymous, your story shows that when we make it about people first, we can not only change business we can change the world! Coming out of comfort can be uncomfortable but a necessary path to take to return to who we truly are, in essence, and if it means speaking up in truth then those of us who are ready to do so, I salute you. I know the way, but still on occasions am choosing comfort, but I appreciate the reflection of others that ARE speaking up for without this I/we would all remain lost in the world of comfort and illusion.
It is sad that so many of us turn our backs on responsibility and hope while we are looking the other way someone else will fix the problem. It is as if the word responsibility has been given a bad rap, and now to most people seems like an onerous weight that we will doing anything to avoid, whereas in truth it is actually something that comes quite naturally to us, if only we would let it. Unfortunately like you did, most of us then learn about the consequences of shirking responsibility the hard, and in your case, the very hard way.
amazing blog, when we realise the impact we are having on humanity – we have but one choice to take responsibility for all that we know! And love how you have presented true service here, there is no do gooding only responsibility to the all and what is needed.
Wow Anonymous. This is awesome. I love your turnaround and the fact that you are going to lead a new true company where you love your work, express yourself and take responsibility – just brilliant.
When our purpose is to serve humanity; to facilitate people returning to our natural way of being, treating each other with love and respect, honouring how we feel, appreciating our selves and each other for the awesome gifts that we all offer, learning from each other and supporting each other in our part of ‘the big picture’ …. when we do this the support that constellates to help us is literally ‘mind blowing’. When something is needed, there is a letter, a phone call, a person you bump into who literally does just what you are needing in that moment. It’s truly divine how the Universe is there to help every step of the way, when we make it not about us, but about every one.
What a great lesson to learn anonymous. Your new business will be built on a foundation of the love you have found within and for others. Its a win win.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring journey, Anonymous. Sometimes it can take something really huge for us to finally let go of our temporal beliefs. It would have been very hard for you to feel the ripple effect on those around you in the closing of your company, however, all the people in your company chose to work with you. They were in one way or another lured by the same thirst for making money, without wanting to feel the energetics of what was really going on. Great learning for everyone involved.
I love your honesty in this blog. This is a great example of if we do not take responsibility of everything then how on earth can we expect staff to, for will they not mirror what we are living? It also shows how when in a leadership or management position we have a responsibility for staff as with their job they will be paying their mortgages for their home, bills, food for the family etc. So how we are has a massive impact on others. Recently in the UK a large well known and well established store chain went bankrupt because the Managing Director did not take responsibility for his staff or finances, the consequence 11,000 people lost their jobs and 10% of their pensions.
What an amazing blog, and what an amazing journey of understanding the true impact we make, and how everything we do matters, and it is indeed about people first, all else falls into place behind that. And you offer something for us all to consider, ideas or success do not come from us, but from the living choices we make, this is huge, it takes away all ownership and I and brings with it a deep humbleness in knowing that how we live in each and every moment determines everything.
I find there is a lot of bravado and show in companies these days, all fuelling each other with false ideals, and your company got exposed for you to stop the rot. What a shift you have made in this lifetime going from working selfishly for your own gain to working and developing a new company with a true foundation. This company will be very different and a great reflection of how you have developed, that’s pretty cool.
The truth as I feel it from your sharing, is that there are no mistakes just learning. How wonderful that you have come back to your true self and recognise we are all one, what we do for one we do for all!
This is an amazing blog exposing the truth and purpose of life offered to us all to come out of the comfort and apathy and choose to see and take responsibility for our part in the world and the effect of this everywhere. Making life about people first with love and the deep respect and wisdom offered to us by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine leading the way. ‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me’ Beautiful.
What a big lesson, thank you for sharing because we can all learn from your experience.
Thank you for your very honest blog Anonymous. It is a huge thing to turn your life around to base it on love.
Thank You anonymous . You are an INSPIRATION !
Thank you Anon for your honest sharing. Being responsible is about looking at all of the pockets of our life and being accountable for these which includes those area’s that challenge us or that we don’t enjoy. It is easy to turn a blind eye to those things that we don’t like yet there are consequences to this as you have shared. Being responsible is saying ‘yes’ to the temporal world and all it has to offer. As we say yes we grow, we evolve, we develop an understanding that everything matters, all pockets, because everything is energy.
Thank you anonymous for your honest sharing of the denouement of your company. This blog has the potential to change many lives. It is a great indicator of how not to run a business and how it is possible to go about things in a completely different way.
It is is actually quite rare for any company to truly truly make it about people, when we do come across such a company we can see how the knock on effects ripple out towards humanity inspiring the rest of the business community that there is another way.
What you have learned along the way should be written in more detail and shared with the world. It will certainly leave a loving imprint for humanity equal if not bigger to what you can bring forth with the new company.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make.” What life presents to us is what we put out into the world, the term ‘what goes around comes around’ feels pertinent here. No matter how much money or objects or comforts we have in life if all of that was true success would we not feel completely content in our lives? I know from my experience that no I have not, even with all my comfortable materials that contentment only comes from connecting to my body and connecting to other people and this doesn’t cost anything other than the use of our choices, but the return of such is greater than any investment I have made outside of me.
Making any business about people first is the key to true success. So many companies pay lip service to the idea that the people who work for them are their greatest asset but their actions contradict this and trust is eroded. The current pervasive ‘target’ culture where everything is tied to results means that employees and consumers of whatever service is being offered are relegated below the required statistics/reports that purport to demonstrate this superficial one-dimensional success. Thank you for exposing the comfort so many are choosing rather than taking responsibility for their part and living to their full potential.
Great points, Helen. I know that even as an employee deep in the guts of a business, I can make a difference by choosing to make people first. Taking the ‘me’ and ‘I’ out of decision making. I may not be at the top (yet!) but I can inspire those around me.
So often I found myself in ideas of how it should be and what solutions would help. When I go this way I end up exhausted on every level. That it is the way I live, the way I am with people, to care for every relationship – I had to learn ‘the hard way’ too. But how great it is to really learn out of these experiences and so be able to offer another way of living and operate businesses to this world that is lost in ideas and creations of comfort and greed.
I can relate to this, in theme. I have had some moments that I have found confronting because it requires me to be more full in love, that I am humble and not stick with the pictures of how I want life to be. Gorgeous and inspiring to read of your path and experiences in life. It is a great example of the fact that we have one life, that trying to compartmentalise, ignore, fake it, or deny does not work. And from this issues that occur we can chose to play victim or we rise up to what is there for us to learn and expand our understanding of life, as you so eloquently state.
‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’ The illusion of appearing successful when the foundation of loving choices is not there to support whatever undertaking it is has trapped many in an ever deepening spiral. Thank you for your honesty about your lack of willingness to take responsibility for expressing your truth and turning the company around. A hard lesson for you and others to learn but sharing your experience will support others to recognise where they may not be taking responsibility in different areas and the wider impact that this can have.
Comfort brings a complacency that can cause some great problems. But it shows that they are there to learn from and not to judge ourselves over. Life is about learning and evolving back to that what we innately know we are, part of the whole of the universe, an unconditional form of love.
Anonymous the process that you have gone through is a very familiar one to me, even though I have never owned a company. The process that I am referring to is quite simply living a certain way and then with the support of Serge Benhayon opening our eyes to a completely different way to live, one that is about true service to others as opposed to self service. Once our eyes have been opened they can’t ever be closed again.
Dear Anonymous, what an outstanding blog with a degree of honesty seldom (if ever) seen when it comes to the business world. What an enormous ripple of truth to send out into the world. Thank you.
Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” This is a humbling realisation and at the same time it is an empowering one.
Absolutely. I agree with Anonymous here as well, a humbling insight indeed. It makes you realise how important those choices are.
Anonymous, this is a very powerful and very humble article, amazing that you have had this turnaround and have learnt what true business is and is not, your next business will be amazing, based on people and not profit, setting a much needed example of how businesses can be run.
This is an amazingly honest sharing of the reality of how things go when we get caught in ,as you say anonymous “the avoidance of responsibility and living the comfortable life”. Beautiful how you have turned this around, and now feel that responsibility to make it all about people first. An inspiration for all businesses.
Thank you for sharing your experience, I can relate to setting up companies in the past that were more a smoke screen of success than built on true foundations. I went along hoping the picture would somehow come true without taking the responsibility with the finances, with the people. What i’ve come to understand from Serge is that relationships and people are everything – but more so is the quality of those relationships and of my relationship and way I live my life. And when all of this is done, what is my true responsibility as unless i keep bringing life back to this it is easy to get carried away.
“My head followed what my heart had felt. Things started to shift in my company.”
A simple and joyous alchemy that we as a humanity, for the most part choose to ignore…
What is also very clear to see from this, is how all our actions, words and thoughts have an impact way beyond those we work with. It affects whole families, children and those we have not met. Be it shopkeepers or bank managers serving those who have been first hand directly affected by our choices.
Thankyou for sharing your experience with us Anonymous, there is a great lesson here for us all and that is that the strength of a mighty pyramid lays in the quality of its founding stones. If the foundation is rotten, the building will crumble. Love is who we are and thus when we make love our foundation, all that is built from this point will carry this quality so that we cannot help but bring ‘our all’ to all. Our love is ageless and as long as we honour and express this whole-heartedly, it will weather the storms of time.
I love the absolute honesty of the blog, from someone who business wise was worth millions literally going to broke – it shows the truth, that many believe, that money is not the answer to our woes.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” Beautifully expressed Anonymous. So-called opportunities unfold when we are true to ourselves and in the flow of life. Trying to make things happen doesn’t work any more.
Comfort is a killer on both our bodies and our light. When we choose it for ourselves not only does it kill us, it affects everyone else with the exact same poison.
It is a tricky one how companies originally start with humble beginnings then go on to become so large that the welfare of the staff gets forgotten and only profits seem to matter. It would seem that you have learnt a lot from your experience Anonymous.
‘Some people were relying so much on the company that all of a sudden they did not have any money at all, not even being able to pay for their groceries at the shop. When I heard this, my heart crumbled.’ This is never talked about, when a business goes into receivership there is very little to no concern for those that were reliant on the income. Often that income is the difference between being able to pay their bills and buy groceries or not. The process to claim support from the government is slow and the stress overwhelming. Is it not time that we discussed what it means to form a business and the responsibility we hold when we start to employ others, the first person I have ever heard speak to me like this is Serge Benhayon.
This is a very inspiring blog to read. I love how you have exposed the rot that comfort brings and how it affects not only us but everyone else. The world is obsessed with living a comfortable life, people strive for it but it is not what life is about.
Wow! What an article. The illusion in business is huge. It is generally so focussed on the money and the production line that the actual quality and purpose of what it really offers humanity is often ignored. Perhaps because if the responsibility of this was seen and truly embraced it would seem to be asking too much responsibility to live because with that responsibility comes the letting go of hiding behind all the comforts on offer by the money, position and status.
Thank you for exposing the consequences of comfort and not taking responsibility. Putting people first in running a business means all work together to support each other so that the business can expand with everyone taking responsibility for the whole.
This is a great example of how we can get away with it for a month, or a year or ten… but if we do not take responsibility, then eventually our choices do catch up with us. And the bigger the lie we are living, the more of an impact it has.
Very true, Simon. I’ve seen this at my old place of work where the old management chose not to take responsibility for their actions and kicked the can down the road for the next management board. The only problem is that ‘can’ ended up growing and costing the business €600 million! Comfort for one is not supportive for all.
Our bodies are always sending us messages, but many spend most of our time ignoring them. We then live in our small little world we have created and called it a comfortable life, and there we stagnate. When we come back to a purposeful life, the world unfolds around us.
“Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.” I love that. It keeps it not personal and makes true success about your choices of output and how that effects the evolution of others.
I very much enjoyed reading your blog Anonymous you have a lot to offer. I too have the forever battling lower-mind stopping me from expressing what is there to be shared. You know you have that someone where you can intimately be yourself, who is usually your partner or a close family member, and express all that you feel because it is a comfortable place to do so because we have made it comfortable and safe. We have chosen that person we can let our guard down and be all of us.
It makes sense then if we were in the habit of not holding back and being responsible for how and what we express the more we would accept ourselves being that way. Its how we accept who we are. Wise words of an esoteric practitioner told me to give myself permission. So, If I give myself permission AGAIN to not hold back .. already I feel something I need to do that I have been holding back. I just did it in between writing this comment. I received a reply immediately a confirmation to honour my expression. I suppose by each little or big thing that is not held back will be the beginning of feeling the joy of naturally expressing again and accepting what is there to be shared has a significance in this world.
What I found deeply touching is when you write: “He never stopped loving me, whatever I did or chose to do. Thank you Serge.” Serge Benhayon has said that he loves people more than people love themselves and you have proven this beyond any doubt – you were given all the space needed to learn to take responsibility without any time constraints, no matter what.
This is the answer to why countries are bankrupt. We live in comfort.
Thanks for sharing. It sounds like you’ve made quite the transformation. Whoever the actual author is. Go well 😊
Dear Anonymous – thank you. What a deeply honest, real and inspiring sharing of what can happen when we make life about people and also the consequences when we don’t. I love love this paragraph ‘Success is not something that I create but something that is given to me by the choices I make, and this insight has humbled me.’
A powerful story that many can learn from.
This is a very deep and honest blog about quiet a painfull subject I suppose , and so beautiful how you have learned from it, and this time not have dropped the ball but truly go forward.. Not being identified with life and your choices , but feel who you are and who other people are instead.. A beautiful turn, in a very beautiful direction, as you shared succes is not measured by own creation but by what is given. Beautiful , thank you for being so open, transparent and honest.
Comfort is the veil of evil that I can defend and justify only for so long. My body always holds truth that my mind can play with by never truly developing from.
Thank you Anonymous. This blog could not have come at a more apt time for me. Exposing comfort is the path to truth which we all know deep down as you have so beautifully expressed.
A truly inspirational sharing thank you Anonymous. “I feel a forever student, who never stops being amazed about the beauty of this life.” Being a student of life makes our daily living a joy to appreciate how far we have come and what new opportunities are there to explore and deepen in connection to our bodies . In turn it opens us up to magic connections with all others too. Thank you for sharing.
I am deeply touched by your blog Anonymous, you have exposed so much for us to ponder, reflect and learn. What deeply touched my heart was how you were not in regret or beating yourself up about your past choices but by how you have learnt so much from them, and now, choosing to be on your journey of returning to love, to committing to people and to God. It is deeply honest and by sharing your experience, I feel so many, many people will be inspired, I certainly am. It is a blog that I feel everyone should read because everything we do should always be about love, and any company we build should always be about people first and not profit and turnover. Absolutely brilliant blog, Thank You!
Wow, thank you anonymous. The power in what you have shared lies in the vulnerability, beautiful humility and openness you are so clearly willing now to share with the world. I work in the corporate environment and know how cut-throat it is. It has been a journey of healing my own hurts and then bringing the truth I know to my work which is of course made up of people, deeply given up on work being an area in their lives they can embrace in full. Love and tenderness don’t even come into the picture.
But the truth I now know and I feel you do too, is that when companies do truly make it about people, they can move mountains. Companies can become the new pyramids, beacons of light that support and nurture so many more than those that work there. And of course in such an environment where love is the bedrock, the finances flow. When there is the energetic understanding and embracing of the responsibility this brings us all, it is a win-win for the whole.
‘Where love is the bedrock, the finances flow.’ 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Comfort is certainly a blanket that we think keeps us safe and secure in our own little world, until our guise is totally exposed by circumstances and or someone like Serge Benhayon, and true responsibility stares us in the face.
Wow! what a journey and I so appreciate your honest sharing Anonymous. It is very humbling to read, and to realise we are all playing the irresponsibility game in some form or another.
“I was not living ALL of me, not being in my power and not being discerning as to what could be done as a team.”- thank you for such honesty and transparency Anonymous. I feel so many people can relate to this in their own life, choosing to live in comfort, only thinking about ourselves, and not looking at the bigger picture, to avoid taking responsibility and being in our full power. An awesome inspiring blog.
The fact that you are even willing to look at the level of responsibility that you needed to show in business is to me a huge thing, there is so much corruption and self interest in the way most companies are run that the world most definitely needs people with the skills you shared to be running companies and modelling a different way that puts people first and makes decisions that are true, not just ones that don’t rock the boat. I have no doubt that such a company would be a great success, and that the ripple effect of such a company would be felt around the world.
Comfort is focusing on what works but ignoring everything that doesn’t, which when felt is a constant and deep tension awaiting to erupt. It is putting on blinders to the whole truth and concentrating on only what we want to see, convincing ourselves that everything is good when it is not, arrogantly thinking everything would work out without us taking responsibility and action. Comfort is an avoidance to responsibility, it breeds unawareness and it is anti-evolutionary.
What a true account of what is happening to us all over the world when we start to get real about the life we live that is laced with the image that others have of comfort but in reality are far from true to the quality that we can live. Bankruptcy is seen as a failure, a mark of greed or inappropriate management but what is shown here is the truth of how far we have ignored our potential and that this needs to take place for us to learn from our ways and appreciate the choices taken aboard now that brings back quality work into our businesses and companies.