Un-Brand.

Free yourself and meet the passion that brands your business.

Fire and Passion

What burns through you?

Fire enters our branding process in an inspiring and beautiful way – through our passion and clarity.

As mentioned in the previous blog, branding has been used negatively, by forcefully searing life-long marks onto the skin of humans or animals. Yet, it has also been used positively and consciously, by marking bodies to celebrate, empower and beautify them.

Brand (Proto Germanic origin) = burning fire or flame. Fire burns, but it also brings light, courage and warmth and metaphorically speaks of drive, passion, will and excitement. ‘Entbrannt’ for something = burning with passion for something.

So, there is another side to brand and branding, another angle, which reveals its true gift. The more we are aware of the history of branding and the relationship to our communities and bodies, the more we are free to move forward with integrity and find our own relationship with branding.

You might be here to find out how best to create an authentic brand for your business. This is a powerful and deeply personal journey that will take you inward. You will meet your own ‘inner fire’, your passion, and perhaps ask yourself questions such as:

What is it that enflames me? What do I burn for? What is my passion?

What are my talents? What happens if I follow my joy?

What calls me? What ‘turns me on’? What do I wish to offer?

What is my gift to unearth?

Through following this thread, we find that which is ours to be, embody, master, share, sell and give away. It is the gift we bring. Each person truthfully bearing the fruits of their being. When we express ourselves authentically in our work and creations, we make a mark on this earth only we can make, we give voice to our authentic being that yearns to ‘sing’ forth it’s uniqueness, our brand.

Discovering our Sovereign Identity

In Personal Branding terms, that which connects me to my passion and brings forth my talents, needs to be in alignment with who I am at my core. Ideally, it is also what I am naturally good at.

In the context of an Embodied Branding journey, we go inward to discover what is ours to be, express and give. From that fertile soil we bring our unique ‘something’ out into the world. That for which we are known for.

We consciously and freely birth our talents and gifts from the inside out, instead of having a mark inflicted upon us from the outside. Only you can unearth what lies inside yourselves and bring it to the world. No body else can birth it; your gift can only be birthed and expressed through you.

Like a fingerprint that only exists once. We get to decide how our story goes, what we tell and how we tell it.

To hear that call, to receive what calls us, and to discover what wants to emerge from inside ourselves, we often traverse a path of deep personal self-discovery. It’s a journey to the core of our being, perhaps finding forgotten parts and awakening the courage to embrace our passion and unique creativity.

Free your passion, free your brand

In the Embodied Branding journey we get to express and free ourselves!
In the previous blog we discussed how branding embodies a life-long ‘prison of identity’, a tight container, defined through the burning iron on the skin. Now, we embark on a journey of freeing ourselves from any fear, conditioning or other limitations that stand in the way of us meeting and living our passion, our talents and bringing them forth into the world as our unique brand.

While the fire brought harm in negative branding practices, here in this process it is the fire that is our ally, our resource and our friend and teacher.

Metaphorically and energetically, fire is that which fuels our creations. It embodies our passion and what we stand (up) for. In Movement Medicine practice and the map that informs the embodied branding journey, the fire and the spirit animal Jaguar is seen as that which gives us courage and determination when things need all our resources. Fire in this context supports us to stand up for ourselves and be clear about what we want and don’t want. It offers us that force or ‘energy’ that will fiercely protect and fight for that which is closest to our hearts.

Fire is also is associated with power and with the masculine yang energies of clear action and manifestation, but it can also be a warm ember that keeps just enough heat to assist us in a resourced way.

In the context of freeing ourselves, fire is also a tool for great transformation and break through. We can consciously use it to burn through fears or old layers of the self that are ready to be released. Through that the fire brings in the powerful energies of the Phoenix Spirit. What do I mean? The archetype of the Phoenix is that which can burn all that isn’t needed anymore down to its ashes … only to give space for new parts of ourselves, new courage, new creations, new passion to powerfully rise up from the ashes.

In branding and business, fire is a wonderful resource to remember and to lean into for support if needed as it symbolises that which we burn consciously for. It assists us in bringing clarity to our boundaries, limits and resources, remembering that we do not need to burn for others. And as with any fire it is our responsibility to tend to it so it does not become dangerous or unmanageable.

You are unique

That which is yours to discover inside yourself, to play with, nurture and bring forth from the womb of your creativity, will find you and perhaps it did already, long ago. We recognize it when it finds us. We feel a spark, an electrical shock and then, there it is – that which excites us so much that we want to spend lots of time with/in it. Our talent, our passion, our unique expression and voice.

For talent we also say ‘gift’. And that is what it is: our gift to ourselves and the world around us.
I have found that any creative process (or Branding Journey) requires deep listening. We must listen, accept where we are and open ourselves to what wants to emerge through us. This requires a birthing process. In the fertile dark earth, we plant our seed and tend to it, as it emerges at its own pace. As we keep tending to it, something grows into the light…

Our brand. Our mark. Our business. Our Passion.

~

image by ian schneider @ unsplash.com