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 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

the recycled glass jar, which has a recycled metal lid and toxic free ink printed on it; which we promise to reuse and recycle so we can reduce our carbon footprint even further than before).

Our evolution of self has gifted us so much.

Yet here we are so busy working on our next level of success and creating our assets, we forget that the amount we spend on a bottle of lemongrass organic cordial is enough to feed a family of four for the night. So we go looking through our wardrobe and think about what we can gift to the local women’s refuge or homeless shelter, only to get distracted by that gorgeous and vibrant, lemon yellow dress and red killer heels at the back of our wardrobe that we are saving for when we have lost a few pounds, because we’ve eaten too many lemon cookies whilst watching Marie Kondo tidy up the place.

Putting on the dress and slipping on those gorgeous Jimmy Choo shoes we feel a million dollars, and then we have a distracted moment thinking about that multimillion-dollar condo we were looking at last week with the gorgeous lemon trees in the garden. Then you remember you need to speak with the gardener because he mentioned it was his wife’s 45th birthday next week, and she loves lemon meringue pie, so you need to find out what day he is working next week so you can have it delivered on time; because you ain’t got time to do no baking lady! You have got that asset you’ve been wiggling and jiggling in that fine lemon dress to sort out, otherwise that asset you have been sitting on whilst reading this article is going to have more dimples than the peel of the lemons that have inspired this entire concept of turning lemons into lemonade.

Which reminds, me, did you want a cup of tea? Was that an Earl Grey with a slice of lemon? Or lemon infused white tea, which these days is all the rage don’t you know?

www.dawnbates.com