If you follow us on social media, you've probably seen a lot of posts lately about this one word...PURPOSE.
Truly, my business is an extension of what I am feeling and experiencing in any given dimension. I have read all the advice about separating the two, as to not make business personal, however I can't help but ignore this advice. My clients are my friends, who I've grown to love like family. I take care of my customers. I want you to feel loved and appreciated when you are a part of our Aster Earth movement. Even using the word "I." For so long, I frowned upon myself for doing so. Yes, Aster Earth is comprised of other team members. There is a "we" component. But ultimately, at the end of the day this is my business baby. Birthed from countless sleepless nights, tumultuous personal growth, three human babies brought Earth-side, and the depth of experience that only a decade in business can teach.
As my youngest nears her fourth rotation around the sun, I am beginning to truly surface from this infant/toddler motherhood gig and to question who I am and why I'm on this blessed path. I've spent months with the focus of my meditative efforts being,
"What's my purpose?"
The irony of seeking is that it often makes it more difficult to find or be found. I continually received the answer to my question in an ambiguous, though consistent form,
"To love and help."
Ok, Universe. So my purpose is resoundingly to love and help.
Now what?
I'm already doing that.
Aster Earth has provided me with a platform to reach so many of you. It has grown into spaces I could never have imagined ten years ago when I was making soap late nights in my kitchen. I have been able to help so many of you overcome struggles with eczema, dry skin, rashes, itches, fine lines, and generally not feeling your healthy, best in your skin. The products are a vehicle to our healing journey together. I see that now. We get to chat, connect in our heart spaces and truly see that all of humanity is here for the same purpose. To love and help.
This community has been even further expanded with the brands I am helping to build. There are numerous amazing skin care makers and shakers that I am currently crafting private label goods for. We are able to reach even more of you this way. All of our products are consciously infused with love and the intention to help. It doesn't matter if you purchase from me, or one of these brands or a retailer who has been so gracious to take on one our lines...because at the end of the day, you, too, are loving and helping in supporting the local, grass roots business thrive.
We all are one.
Sit with those words for just a moment. We hear it a lot in the "enlightened" space, but have you truly delved into what this means for you on a personal level?
A few weeks ago, a woman who is so close to my heart confided in me that she was going through a rough patch. There are a lot of events that led to her being in that space, messy break up, stress, sadness, pressure, the expectations of others, so much.
As we talked she expressed,
"I'm just not hungry. I haven't eaten for days and I blacked out yesterday because of it."
Now, I get it. I am a habitual forget-to-eat-kind-of-soul. I don't know how that's possible, but it is. When I'm stressed it becomes even lower on the priority list. I know, some of ya'll are like "skinny b*tch," but it's as real as overeating. And let's face it nobody ever lost consciousness because they ate too much.
I hung up with her and felt so unsettled in my soul, like an itch in between my shoulder blades that I couldn't reach because my sports bra has it covered up. This woman who was in the struggle space lives so far away from me, what could I possibly do to help?
So I did what so many of us do and I called my mom.
Within an hour my mom delivered nutritious snacks to this sweet woman to get her back to her healthy space. What a lot of us don't realize is after a few days of not really eating, our bodies stop sending hunger signals. So we don't feel hungry even though we are starving...like big guts eating our little guts starving.
I literally told my mom "Get the sh*t you and I live on."
And she did.
Grapes, caramel rice cakes, nut butter, granola, yogurt, oranges, love and help were delivered to this woman. I sat on the phone with her while she ate and guess what...the next day she was hungry, and the day after that and the day after that.
Sometimes we get into these hella dark spaces. It's hard out here. Sometimes all we need is someone to show up for us without judgment, someone to help and love. I came up in a time when the matriarchy was so hyper-focused on what all the other women around her were doing wrong and telling everyone about it that I began to see other women as a threat. I gravitated towards the masculine because it felt more stable to me. Mom-shaming, social media "perfect," and trolls are all new culture of this woman-on-woman hate.
It doesn't have to be this way. We hold the power to break this generational trauma and create a new norm. The Divine Feminine is a force. Divided, we stand no chance in uniting our energies to create the highest good. However, if we can move past the drama, past the negativity, and see how beautiful and sacred each one of us is, the result is a huge shift that will alter all of humanity to embrace a kinder, more gentle, empathetic way of life.
Guess how we can do that?
Love and Help.
That's it.
All are one.