ASSETS By Dawn Bates
Assets….a word that can be broken down into a variety of different ways. Regardless of whether they are digital assets, financial assets or the peach that we all sit on, the biggest asset any of us have is ourselves and the journey we take through life. We are our biggest asset, yet so many people do not realize just how important they are to the world and to some people, we are their whole world. One of the biggest gifts I have in life is the honor of holding space for authors as they go through the healing experience of writing their autobiography or having me write their biography for them. They have to get present to aspects of their lives which they may have overlooked, not given enough power to or even dismissed as something trivial, not important or ‘just something that happened’. As we travel through each day, putting one foot in front of the other, either as a purposely placed footstep or a step of trepidation as we next level our lives and businesses, we often forget to consider that our own footsteps are seen as giant leaps for those who are observing us. We come so far and so fast, that the person we were a year ago feels like a stranger. We look back a year ago, 3 or 5 years ago and we are unrecognizable. Not many people have that level of growth; and yet it is something we as leaders take for granted. We forget we used to only make lemonade with our lemons, preferring these days to make toothpaste with our bicarbonate of soda and coconut oil, or the lemon cheesecake, or even an environmentally friendly lemon cleaner combined 31
with apple cider vinegar and water. Or how about that vegan, sugar free lemon curd we now make? Or even the gluten free lemon sponge cake with poppy seeds? Our lemons are also not the kind we used to buy from the supermarket either. Having become incredibly aware of the carbon footprint it took just for us to have that slice of lemon in our Gin and Tonic, which of course we now don’t have because our higher consciousness doesn’t allow us to have alcohol. So we settle for a cleansing green smoothie filled with super foods and refreshing lemons, Oh! And of course we add blueberries just to spice things up a bit. When we write our autobiographies, it gives us time to take stock of our lives. We review the lessons we learnt at each 5 year mark, the people we had in our lives, the teachers and mentors we had, and the beliefs and values we once held so dear, which have now simply melted away like the lemon scented candle we used to love; before we found out it was fake lemon and filled with carcinogenic chemicals. We’ve learnt to heal ourselves naturally, bleach our hair with lemon juice, and relieve the symptoms of flu and other common colds with fresh ginger roots, 2 whole lemons and the most organic honey we can get our hands on, hence being almost vegan and not fully vegan. (Sorry bees, but if it comes down to us being at our very best and living longer to create an even greater legacy, we’re taking that honey from
