Yours or mine? A balancing act

Libra 2012

A while ago I had what I, of course, thought was a brilliant idea. I have been working hard all my astrological life to encourage people to be more themselves – to be authentic and to dare to show it. This is very scary for many people as there is always a need to fit in with the ‘other’, be it a partner, a company, the system or the world.

The ‘other’ is a Libra phenomenon. The question that always arises when dealing with others is how we can stay who we are and still have a good relationship with partners, colleagues or bosses.

I find in my work, that people and companies recognise their strengths and weaknesses that I describe using the horoscope. But they don’t always dare to express these strengths or they don’t know how. “Yes but you can’t say that” or “to be professional means …”, or “yes, but I can’t do that at work” are common responses. I see myself as an encourager in the process of becoming truly yourself. Why not? I often ask.

Strut Your Stuff

So back to my brilliant idea. Astrology is a great tool for providing insight and ideas. But on its own it can only go so far. So my idea is to join forces to provide a package of what you might need post-astrology session.

I needed to co-operate with others – not always a natural process for an Aquarian! I have worked together with designers, text writers and web-builders before and I needed all of these to realise my joint venture called Strut Your Stuff. My original idea for it was something like – if you’ve got it – we’ll help you flaunt it.

I love working together with creative people and I asked the best ones I know in this area to join me. As we have worked together before, clients get the benefit of an efficient process, as we now understand each other. Strut now has Karin, a Dutch designer, Peter, a web-builder, and Linda, a Dutch text writer.

Strut Our Stuff

So now the fun starts, as of course we have to brand ourselves! And like the plumber who always has a leaky tap at home, doing things for yourself is very different from doing it for others. Branding for others is a piece of cake compared to doing it for us!

Oh dear – one should never post when hungry!

It is a very interesting process, as we all have some overlapping expertise. But one of the main challenges is that between us there are two cultures and two languages. Although we all speak good Dutch and English, there are nuances, particularly in this area, that can really only be picked up by native speakers. And how the hell do you translate Strut Your Stuff into Dutch? English speakers understand the tongue in cheek humour, but most Dutch people don’t know the expression.

I think our situation is not unusual in companies. We attract people to us that we like and value in some way but there are always differences. However often, there is too much of one type of element. We are three air signs and two water signs – great for ideas and feeling what our clients need for a website or a logo. Fortunately there is enough earth in the Strut chart to ground us so that we can also actually make concrete products. But in some companies this is not always true. This needn’t be a problem, it just means that you need to do what you are good at.

Finding the balance

But the main thing is to honour each person’s unique talents and use them for the good of the joint goal. A balancing act.

Photo from the BBC site shows Frenchman Philippe Petit fulfillling his dream of walking on a wire strung between the rooftops of New York’s Twin Towers in 1974. Man on Wire is a wonderful documentary telling his story.

This struggle for balance is particularly true in the current climate. Firstly because it is scary out there, so many are tempted to do ‘whatever it takes’ to survive. Secondly, at every level we are trying to re-balance the bottom-up and top-down cultures. Historically people at the ‘bottom’ (staff, children, citizens) did what they were told and the ‘top’ (parents, bosses, governments) had the power and authority. But we are in the middle of a process where the top need to use power and authority in another way, delegating and taking account of others. The bottom on the other hand, are not accepting rigid and sometimes cruel authority and are being rebellious. But they need to learn how to take responsibility. And then there are many structures like ours, where there is no formal hierarchy.

Be yourself, everyone else is already taken – Oscar Wilde

The only way through this, is to find a place where you can do what you love and can fit in with the true goals of the group. Companies are not called corporations (very near to cooperation) for nothing. The word corporate or corporation comes from the latin corpus, meaning body – like corpse! So it means one body. To be healthy and in balance a body needs all its cells doing what they are designed for and working together for one goal. Enough said I think!

Faye Blake-Cossar