It’s not uncommon to go through periods in our businesses (and lives), where we find it difficult to express.
You may feel you have so much to say about your work or your area of expertise, but when it comes to sharing, nothing flows.
Or maybe you have all these nuggets of gold circling within your head, but things aren’t quite landing when you go to putting them into words and communicating them.
Or you may even feel like you simply have nothing to say, nada, zip, zero…even though you desperately want to share something.
All of the above descriptions are not new to me.
I have gone through periods where I have felt that I had absolutely nothing to share…well nothing of value (a part from pictures of Xanthe!), which was beyond frustrating.
And I often have many tiny pieces of wisdom floating around my mind that I want to tie together and share. But for some reason I just can’t thread that needle and weave them together for expression.
It will be no surprise to you that expression is essential when it comes to running your business.
It’s one of your key tools to getting your message out, sharing your work and inviting people to work with you.
And that’s why it’s vital to look at where the tension is between you and your expression and how you can liberate it, in order to express fully – from a place of fullness and authenticity.
In an effort to help you express with ease, clarity and purpose, I thought I’d share a simple yet super juicy process that I have been experimenting with around my own embodied expression.
Do some self-enquiry and answer each question below.
– ok, so this may sound a little strange but I feel this is a key starting point. As business owners we are always expressing outwards – we want to connect with our audiences and share our message out into the world.
But I have found that a source of tension with my own expression has been that I really needed to express inwards first, rather than overtly outwards.
Once I got quiet, I realised that I needed to express purely for myself before outwardly sharing. A great example of this was when I was going through my Fertile Void last year. During this time I stayed off social media and wasn’t regularly connecting with my newsletter or blog audience. Instead I was doing a lot of self-enquiry, reflection and weaving together all the lessons I had learned. Eventually I was able to share outwardly and be of service through these 2 blog posts – Fertile Void Part I , Fertile Void Part II .
In addition to your outwards and inwards expression, I invite you to even consider sideways expression. Often the tension we may be feeling around our inability to express and communicate from a business perspective is due to the need to communicate and express our truths to a partner, sibling, parent, friend, business contractor or employee.
So look inwards, outwards and to the sides when you first connect in to the tension you’re feeling around your expression.
In order to unravel the tension you’re feeling with your expression, you need to feel safe.
How often do we hold back from sharing something with our audience, a colleague or a staff member because we don’t feel safe to do so?
Our reptilian brain, (or primal brain), needs us to feel safe. When we feel safe in our bodies we are more open to being vulnerable, which helps to liberate any of the tension we’re feeling when it comes to communicating our truth.
So check in with how safe you feel to share or express your truth and take note of what you actually need to feel this sense of safety in your body.
(This also relates to repercussions of your expression, which we will get to soon).
When it comes down to it, we are expressing to serve our audience and to ultimately sell our products or services. But sometimes it’s very easy to complicate this and to make the expression all about us.
If we discover we need to express and communicate something purely for ourselves, then maybe the expression is best directed inward.
Now I’m not saying that you can’t share personal experiences or musings with your audience. Not at all! But you need to ask yourself “what will my audience take away from this piece of content?” or “what is they key lesson or takeaway I wish to share with my audience?”
Check in with who your expression is for and the purpose of your content.
Do you have a preferred platform or medium when it comes to sharing your message and connecting with your audience?
I find that I swing between instagram and Facebook for social media and I never touch LinkedIn or Pinterest. I also go through periods of only wanting to communicate with my newsletter readers (more inwards and personal) rather than post regularly (and more outwardly) on my blog.
What I have found, especially working with my clients, is that we are all different and we all have different preferences for our expression platforms. (And there is no right or wrong platform!).
Recently I worked with a client who just didn’t resonate with Facebook or instagram yet she is extremely proficient with Pinterest. She felt that she ‘should’ use Facebook and instagram (“because that’s what all coaches use”) yet it didn’t align with her passion for visuals and her amazing skill set for Pinterest.
So don’t be afraid to align your energy, passion and skill set with the platform that lights you up the most. This will ensure your content has maximum impact with your audience and the resonance you desire.
This is a really, really, really important question to ask yourself. My recent personal desire for my expression was to be completely seen and deeply heard. After doing much internal work, (especially with my coach and mentor), I realised that I was shying away from truly being seen and I was being ‘too polite’ with my expression.
I wasn’t bringing my whole self to the table and I wanted to be unapologetic with what I was communicating to my audience.
Feel in to how your body feels in relation to your desire around your expression.
Once I had unlocked this, I felt I had the golden key for true and full expression and I now use this as my anchor. I embodied this feeling so I can draw on it whenever this tension around sharing my message may pop up.
Even though we have worked through the different threads of tension when it comes to expressing in your business, it’s important to feel into any potential challenges or repercussions that might stand in your way.
Why?
Because I want you to be ready, willing and able to deal with any ‘fall out’ that you may experience when you express from your heart.
Here’s a personal example that may assist you with this.
Jumping back to my desire of being unapologetic with my expression, I wanted to post a video of myself doing an embodied movement practice. Now I felt pretty awkward and somewhat scared to post this video on my social platforms as a) I look weird b) it’s a personal practice and it’s not something I have shared with many people, (not even my husband), let alone my social media audience.
I’ll share the video below.
So the potential repercussions that went through my mind were:
+ OMG my husband, my family, my friends will think I’m so strange
+ My audience will think I’m super strange
+ I will lose followers and my business will go down the drain.
Once I felt into these potential challenges I then asked my body “Do these repercussions feel true? Do I feel all or any of these things will eventuate?”
The resounding feeling was ‘NO.’
Apart from my husband making fun of my ‘interpretive dance’ (in a good natured way) nothing bad happened, in fact the opposite.
By expressing fully, showing all of myself and my work, I engaged in meaningful conversations with my audience, magnetized clients and gained new followers.
Your expression is such a vital tool when it comes to sharing your message, showcasing your expertise, talents and gifts and of course inviting people to work with you or buy your products.
I hope this Embodied Expression process helps you to work with any tension you may be experiencing when it comes to standing in your truth and sharing your full self, unapologetically!
And if you’d like 1:1, high level support around unravelling and then unleashing your message and expression in both life and business, I currently have availability for a small number of committed leaders in my NEW Private Mentoring + Coaching Program – Feminine Embodiment + Leadership in Business.
This experience is for the leader who desires to fully be seen and heard and who wants to truly express from the heart, so she can serve her clients and let her ripple effect deepen, leading to a sustainable and successful business.
To learn more, I’d love to invite you to book a free call with me HERE .
