A few weeks ago, Phil signed up for a sound healing training with a teacher from the Andes. Music is one of his great passions, and he had found the teacher he wanted to learn from.
There was only one problem: the course was taught in Portuguese, and the teacher didn’t have enough English to teach Phil while also teaching everyone else.
A few days later, the teacher sent a message with a possible solution: you could hire a translator, or maybe your partner could come? She could translate, and she would get the certification too.
Phil shared the audio with me! My first thought was… Me? Translating live, simultaneously, for ten hours a day?
Hell no.
My mind had a long list of reasons why I should not go. I’ve never done this before. I don’t have a music background. I don’t even like translating. In daily life I mix up my words. I don’t think I can, or should.
And there was more. Phil was investing real money into this training. If I said yes and failed, I could compromise his experience. Having a real translator sounded like a better idea to me.
Every reason made sense. And underneath them was the fear of disappointing the teacher and Phil, who was so excited about this experience.
But something else was happening too, and I could feel it very clearly. My body was closing. There was a tightness, a contraction, a wall going up. I wasn’t only thinking “no.” I was protecting myself.
This is why body awareness matters so much.
When we are present in our body, we can feel the resistance and the protection building up. We can see it as something happening in us, not as the truth about us. Without that awareness, we don’t see the thoughts as thoughts. We take them as truth. They sound so reasonable: I’m not capable. I’ve never done it. In fact, I don’t even like it. So I’m not going to do it. And the door quietly closes.
We miss the opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. Maybe that opinion we had about who we are was never the whole truth. Maybe there are untapped skills that life keeps nudging us toward, and we don’t pay attention, because the thoughts got there first and we never took the time to question them.
So I paused and asked myself: What am I protecting myself from? I got curious about the wall I was building around that invitation. I also got curious about whether I could actually do it.
Instead of I can’t, the question became can I? Is it possible for someone like me to hear one language in one ear while speaking another at the same time?
I didn’t know. But I chose to give this curiosity more space than the wall, and slowly my thoughts began to shift… hmmm, maybe I do like the idea of meeting the version of myself who could do that. Or maybe the version who can’t do it at all.
Curiosity is the gate.
I said yes. But I had to detach from the outcome. I was honest with Phil. I told him I would translate to the best of my abilities, and that, in the worst case, he might need to take the course again. I didn’t promise I would be good. I didn’t need to.
I was also making peace with the possibility that it would not be for me, or that maybe I would enjoy it in a way I had never thought of before.
What I felt was a different kind of confidence. Not I know I’ll succeed. It was:
I trust myself to go through this experience, whatever the outcome.
I didn’t need to know how it would end before I could begin.
The training was more than forty hours, ten hours a day, with the teacher speaking nonstop. Was it perfect? Not at all. I asked him to slow down. I told him when I didn’t know a word, or didn’t understand what he meant. I was honest about where I was, and the teacher and the whole group met me there with so much kindness.
And I did it.
What surprised me most was the presence. With someone speaking in one ear and my own voice coming out in another language, there was nothing else in my mind. It was pure presence, and it let me meet myself in a different way. Those days were mindfulness at its best.
Not only did I learn I was capable of translating that way, but I also received hidden gifts from the course itself. I discovered aspects of myself I had barely noticed before and now want to explore.
This kind of confidence, the one that lets you take on a challenge like that for the first time, is available to all of us, but most of us have forgotten it.
We usually talk about what I call outer confidence. It’s the confidence that comes from proof: you’ve done something many times, you have results, you know you can deliver. Or it comes from external validation: a law degree, a recognized certification, the example of people who walked the same path before you. That confidence is real, and it has its place.
But there is another one. Inner confidence. We are all born with it. Watch a child trying something for the first time. There’s no proof and no certificate, just presence, curiosity, and play. Somewhere along the way we forget it, and we start believing we need permission from the past before we can step into the future.
Why does this matter?
Because when you are building a business around your own work, you are stepping into something you haven’t done before. Your experience shaped the framework. Yes, you are sharing skills you have learned throughout your life, but more than anything, you are helping people overcome challenges you overcame for yourself.
No one has walked your exact path before you. At the beginning, you may have years of experience, but no proof yet for this particular expression of your work. Inner confidence lets you begin. Many people never start because they are waiting for proof that can only come from doing it.
Your curiosity about who you might become can be bigger than your fear of failing. And failing is also okay.
I’m not saying I want to become a translator now. That’s not the point. But I discovered a skill I had no idea I had. If I decided to take it further, that’s when outer confidence would come in: I would take courses, learn the techniques, practice, and develop it. Inner confidence opens the door. Outer confidence builds the house.
Life is always talking to us. Sometimes it’s an invitation we didn’t ask for, something we never planned, something we think we don’t even like. But ‘I like it’ and ‘I don’t like it’ can be old opinions, or borrowed ones we’ve never questioned. Your Sacred Business is inviting you to meet more of you.
So the next time you feel the walls going up, pause. Feel it in your body. Ask what you are protecting. Then get curious about who you would be if you could. What small step would let you find out?
What is life inviting you into right now that an old opinion keeps saying no to?
With love,
Carolina
If you’re building a business from the heart but feel the walls going up around your next step, our free Harmony Map assessment helps you see what’s creating friction and where to bring your attention so you can move forward.
Who we’re celebrating: 8 powerful beings turning their magic into one clear offer
This week I want to celebrate eight people who said yes to themselves. They chose to bring clarity to one offer and start putting it into the world.
We just kicked off our Your First Yes cohort, and we could all feel the connection, even though most were meeting for the first time.
For a community to be built, something has to bring everyone together. For us, it’s building from the heart.
We want money. We are here to build profitable businesses. But money alone is not enough. The business has to support work that matters to us and the life we want to live: more authentic, slower, more connected.
The offers taking shape have that “ohh, that was the missing piece” feeling. For some, they bring more coherence to an already amazing business. For others, it feels like home: finally being able to articulate their magic clearly.
It’s beautiful to witness.
So here’s to all eight of you. For choosing one offer. For being willing to bring it to real people. For giving your magic a chance to become something people can say yes to.
The world needs what you have to give. And your work deserves to support the life you want to live.
If you’re ready to turn your magic into one clear offer people can say yes to, join the waitlist for the next Your First Yes cohort.
Happenings
Market and Sell with Confidence · October 26–28
You know your work has value. Then it’s time to name the price, and the walls go up.
Join Carolina for three live sessions to practice describing your work, saying your price, and making a real invitation—even before you feel ready.
$99 for all three sessions. Replays included. Join us →
The Weekly Highlights
Success without the rush
She had built a successful business doing work she loved, but slowing down still felt like guilt. One observation on our call made her shoulders drop, and it might explain why the success you’ve earned still feels so hard to enjoy.
A $2,000 investment led to roughly $20,000 in revenue, but Phil couldn’t count on a dollar of it when he said yes. Here’s the question that helped him decide whether he was being financially cautious or waiting for proof that could only come after he moved.
The Chinese Bamboo and Your Sacred Business
You keep writing, making invitations, showing up, and still the ground looks quiet. Our short animated film, Your Roots Are Listening, is for that season of your Sacred Business: three minutes and twenty seconds for anyone wondering whether their work is taking root.
Memorable Quote by James Stephens
Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
