The Dalai Lama's Perspective

 It’s not who you are that holds you back,
it’s who you think you’re not.

– Author Unknown

When you are an entrepreneur you are putting yourself up on your own pedestal. Oh, I know that might have made your hackles go up, but hang in there. It’s not a pedestal of public or self-adoration. You are stepping out into an arena of other transformational service providers and saying to the world, “I have something special that will change your life!” If you do not somehow rise up, show up, and stand out, how is anyone to know you are there to help them?

It takes a lot of courage to step away from the crowd and share a unique voice that may be ‘untested’ in your circle of expertise. What if you say the wrong thing and get embarrassed? Or worse, you think you embarrassed someone you care about by stepping out of the ‘status quo’.

How many people do you honestly know that do not care one iota what anyone else thinks of them? 

I throw down a challenge to anyone that says they do not care what others think of them.

Except for the Dalai Lama. I believe him. 

I saw an extraordinary interview on March 5th, 2017 with the Dalai Lama conducted by John Oliver of the HBO comedy news show, “Last Week Tonight.” 

China has openly slandered the Dalai Lama and even gone so far as banned any US citizen from entering China if they have previously met with the Dalai Lama. Lady Gaga’s concert was canceled because she met with the Dalai Lama publicly to discuss yoga!

The country of Tibet is nearly a quarter of the size of China and has been brutally attacked by China since the 1950s. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, along with the destruction of hundreds of Buddhist monasteries. The Dalai Lama is the prime spiritual leader of Tibet and has been in exile since 1959, tirelessly working to share his message of peace all while his country and his people are experiencing horrific atrocities. This man has an entire government that hates him. 

Compassion = The Absence of Judgment

During his interview, John Oliver read a statement by a Chinese official who called the Dalai Lama “A wolf in monk’s robes.” The Dalai Lama laughed and said, “Yes, they see me as a demon.” He said he feels no negative feelings about what they call him. He just has feelings of love about that. He went on to say,  “I practice taking other’s anger, suspicion, distrust and give them patience, tolerance, and compassion.”

Here is a man who is seen and portrayed as a demon to billions of people in China and yet, to billions and billions more people he is a walking representation of patience, tolerance, and compassion.

I offer this extreme example to illustrate that no matter who you really are, and how magnificent your intentions - others can only see you according to their own perceptions based on their own conditioned way of thinking. 

As business owners, we tend to spend a lot of energy on wondering what people think about us and our service. We can receive 100 glowing testimonials, and 1 snotty, unhappy client makes a rude comment, and we go into a tailspin for days. We care about how others perceive us even though their perception is not actually about us. It’s about them.

How the world sees you is not what’s important in connecting the soul of your business to the heart of clients. How you see yourself is what makes all the difference!

 Thank You for your contributions to this work and thank you for reading.

To Your Horse & Soul Success,

~author of “The Business of Coaching with Horses. How to Reach More Clients, Feed Your Horses and Change the World!”

My mission is to empower and educate equine inspired practitioners in the art of profitable program design and marketing. My dream-come-true is to see equine-assisted personal and professional development be recognized and celebrated for the unique transformational modality that it is, and to become as popular as yoga and Starbucks!