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SMARTY.

The human side of business

Big Life

Spirit Animals.

March 29, 2016 · By Amy Swift Crosby

Red Tailed Hawk? Gray wolf? Cheetah? Consider what you need - the animal should embody it.

Several weekends ago, I was at a meditation retreat at Kripalu with one of my teachers, David Harshada Wagner. Something continued to come up for me that I couldn’t resolve. It’s not overwhelm. It’s not busy-ness. It’s not too much. It’s more like – YES – I love all this good stuff coming my way – but I also need an extra me to ENJOY it. Besides meditation, I asked, how do I gain more agility? More stamina? More bandwidth? More everything?!?!

Many of you are in the same boat…especially if you’re living an Ensemble Life (see last week’s post.)

His answer was hilarious – he even laughed out loud saying it.

“You have a capacity issue. And while there are many ways to change that, an easy one is through your spirit animal.”

After fully enjoying how very West Coast that wisdom really is, we got serious. I’ve been operating as a gazelle – a light, bounding, quick-footed animal leaping through the prairie. And that was great for my 20’s and part of my 30’s, but now I”m a mother, an author, a grown daughter, a wife. Now I need the power, strength, foresight and leadership of…a lioness. Boom.

I have a feeling you’ve traveled a similar path.

As funny as it sounds, your energetic source material – the thing you channel in your day to day essence – really informs your ability to find capacity. What’s even more interesting, is it doesn’t look that different on the outside, but on the inside, the architecture shifts and expands.

What you may need is to slow down, to do more in less time, to get smaller, to get much, much bigger. Whatever it is, an animal makes it embodied.

Thanks for not thinking I’ve gone down a mystical rabbit hole today. Once in a while the woo-woo magic is pretty practical.

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About Me

photo of Amy Swift Crosby

Amy Swift Crosby is a brand strategist and copywriter who has positioned or voiced messaging across the commercial spectrum, from icons like Ford, BVLGARI, Pottery Barn, Pantene and Virgin, to boutique brands like The Wild Unknown, fitness franchise Barre3 and the rebrand of legendary metaphysical bookstore, Bodhi Tree. She has leveraged this expertise to help entrepreneurial women and small businesses owners hone their skills, mission and message, while uncovering their own “voice.” This blog explores “the human side of business,” and universal themes like uncertainty, anxiety, the tension between engagement and disconnection, personal value and most importantly, of finding - and hearing - our own voices in our everyday life.

Photo - Andrew Stiles

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SMARTY began as a thriving community in Los Angeles and Boston with weekly panel discussions and events designed to better understand the mindset and growth strategies behind successful entrepreneurs. Today, SMARTY is a weekly blog written by Amy Swift Crosby who chronicles her life as a creative, parent, entrepreneur and spiritual seeker. As an urban refugee living in a New England seaside village, she unpacks topics ranging from uncertainty and doubt to the built environment and advertising. More on Amy.

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