Introduction:

As a business owner there are things I know that are important for me to do to be successful. In blog 10 I talked about the value of being particular, since my high standards have established quality work that is recognized by my clients. Other values I exhibit in my work are honesty, humility, consistency, accountability and being responsible.

Embracing Pain as a Learning Tool

Now Blog 11 will shift to being about being able to deal with the painful experiences we have as business owners. Yes, I have had disappointments, and I have made decisions that lead to results and mistakes that were not what I wanted. If I am going to make mistakes then I must be committed to learning from them, since I will repeat them if I do not learn from the mistakes and how to change my behavior or actions. I am going to talk about how to deal with the pain of failing or doing something that created difficulties in my business in this blog.

The Power of Honest Reflection

Pain leads me to knowing that I need to process my feelings and thoughts about what happened. After I take the time to write down how I feel and what I think about the actions I took, then being honest with myself leads me to finding a solution to the situation I have created. As business owners, we all need to learn how to accept that we are human, since we are going to make mistakes. Life is a learning process, and our journey as owners is impacted by what we know and learn through our process of building our businesses.

Viewing Pain with Purpose Instead of Resentment

Pain can be viewed from many different perspectives; however, one way is through considering how we need to live in order to deal with pain. If I struggle with pain, then I am wasting time. If I focus on my feelings, thoughts and actions I took that lead to the pain then I was able to learn from the pain and move forward.

The Salt and the Wound: Creating a Container for Pain

I cannot remember which book I read; however, there was a story I read years ago that helped me to grasp pain more successfully and move through it. I realized that pain is like having salt in a wound. The truth is the pain of life is pure salt, no more, no less. The amount of pain I experience or the salt in a wound is truly the same, exactly the same each time. More pain sometimes, since I am having a deeper learning with the particular pain, I am experiencing a situation that is similar yet different from my past experience.

What I learned is the amount of pain I experience where I become bitter about it depends on how I create a container to put the pain in. I learned that when I am in pain the best things I can do for myself is enlarge my sense of things, which increases the size of my container I have my pain in for the moment. I started imagining what I thought my container was that I was holding the pain in, and then enlarging the container. One day, I realized I had put my pain about an incident in a small glass, so it was increasing the pain, since there was no place to process the pain of a loss in my business. I expanded the container to a lake, and when I put the pain I felt in the lake, I opened up so many different options that I could consider.

Meditation and Visualization: Expanding Space for Growth

I believe in meditation and imagery, since I know both help me organize and feel my pain differently. I recommend focusing on the pain. I breathe into the pain, and then I start seeing the larger container as my effort to wrap around the pain. Then, as I breathe deeply and let the breath in and out, I enlarge my sense of myself, and the pain changes in size due to me expanding myself, which is the container of my pain. It is amazing what can happen.

Turning Failure into Opportunity: A Personal Story of Resilience

I went through a period where I had a large and successful business. I made some inappropriate choices of business associates and staff that lead to the destruction of that business. I worked through this pain by doing exactly what I have shared with you in this blog. I learned a great deal in the years I worked through this loss, so I am able to help my clients move through their pain of failures faster, since I learned how to deal with the deep pain I felt with this failure. I appreciate the Chinese concept that failures are simply a pathway to new opportunities. You can contact me if you want to know more about the meaningful way to experience and go through pain.

Conclusion:
Every business journey includes moments of loss, disappointment, and painful experiences. But these experiences, when faced with openness and self-awareness, can become steppingstones toward greater resilience and wisdom…”