Week of September 13, 2009: Am I Comfortable in My Skin?

One of my greatest conflicts is the idea of the interest of business vs. the interest of consumers. 
I’m a consumer advocate, no doubt.  I believe that business has a responsibility to the consumers who make that business thrive and its employees who devote their talent, energy and time to making the business succeed.   
I’m also a business owner who is not a very good salesperson according to the standards of most.  I don’t believe in pressuring the consumer to buy, or talking people into buying my products just to make money.  I believe strongly in what I sell and I believe that there are plenty of people who will benefit from it.  I don’t need to assert a sale.  Now, the purpose of this forum is not to push my business so I’m not going to mention my company’s name.  But it is a source of conflict for me—is there such a thing as being too kind, too fair?
Big business is starting to realize that the old way of doing business is outdated.  Treat your employees fairly, give them ample opportunity to have balance in their lives, and they will be extremely productive and loyal.  I like that.  And it’s being proven to be a prudent business model.
I can’t go against my values and ethics no matter what I’m doing.  I worked for a company that kept pushing the line and eventually, the squishy lines got blurred and I had to quit a pretty well paying job.  I just could not put my name behind a product that was less than safe for people and my boss was all too consumed by the numbers.  Sell!  Sell! Sell! 
The loss of that job has put me in a financial pinch.  Along with many others, I’m a statistic in the unemployment numbers.  But as difficult as this is, not being comfortable in my skin is a thousand million times worse. 
In order to be a more compassionate human being, one must be comfortable in one’s skin.  You cannot be in internal conflict and express the emotions which are borne of peace and balance.  But often, the decisions we must make to be comfortable in our skin are decisions that put us in difficult situations.  Being unemployed during this economic disaster is scary and hard.  But for me, it’s also opened up opportunities that I would not have had were it not for the current situation I’m in.  I would not have had the time and energy to focus on getting my contagion started.  I would not have made the commitment to putting up this website and getting my message out.  I would have thought about it, wanted to do it, but my time would have been consumed with other things that I had to do.
I’m grateful to the universal wisdom that knew better than I that quitting that job was the best decision for me to make. 
So for today I feel extremely comfortable in my skin.  I can talk to you about compassion with fiery passion and tell you how important it is that we hold compassion in great esteem as a crucial aspect of humanity. 
To reach out, even in some small way, to another in need of compassion is the seed that will grow the roots of change.  Don’t think any action is too insignificant.  Don’t be afraid of failure or rejection.  Take a chance that your act of kindness matters in the grand scheme of life because IT DOES!