We are here now
to give witness
to a shared truth
that absolutely everything is progress
that we have all that
we need
that brilliance is unfolding
here and now

and so it is.
now, let’s rock it.

This is how I started my Fire Starter sessions with clients. I tried to keep it light so my unsuspecting client doesn’t think we’re about to sacrifice a goat or I’m going to start talking about fairy guides. (And if you’re one of my Fire Starters and I forgot to start off on this note, mea culpa.)

I used to do some freelance publicity with a large independent business publisher in San Francisco. The CEO was very openly a devout Christian. We started meetings with a prayer to God…something like, “thank you for bringing us together to create good things for the world, may we be of service to the whole.” There we were, a motley crew of Jews and New Agers and atheists, heads bowed. You couldn’t help but be still and appreciate. No one cared if it was about Jesus or Allah, it got us FOCUSED.

I had boss who used to pull up to the board room table at the start of meetings, and charmingly, predictably and say, “So what’s this all about, my friends?” My favourite yoga classes begin with a chant. True teams begin with a huddle.

All communication begins with intention. @DanielleLaPorte (Click to Tweet!)

How do you start meetings, phone calls, apologies, birthday toasts, jam sessions? What’s the point? You can invoke the higher powers and the human spirit without anyone knowing you’re being all mojo cosmic. You can recite your company’s mission statement or Hedgehog, read a Rumi poem, read a fresh inspirational quote or very simply state: “We’re here to give our best, where shall we begin?”

The point is that intention is everything.

What’s declared is more likely to become real. Begin clear, and dare to be grand.

Danielle LaPorte is the outspoken creator of The Desire Map, author of The Fire Starter Sessions (Random House/Crown), and co-creator of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. An inspirational speaker, former think tank exec and business strategist, she writes weekly at DanielleLaPorte.com, where over a million visitors have gone for her straight-up advice — a site that’s been deemed “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality”, and was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes.

You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter @daniellelaporte.

Image courtesy of Nikos Koutoulas.