How Emotional Bonds Drive Success for Women in Business

If you're like many women in business, you crave emotional bonds - especially with other women - to ease the feelings of isolation that accompany the entrepreneurial journey. In this enlightening episode, I sit down with JF Benoist, bestselling author and pioneer in mental health, to explore why authentic relationships seem more elusive than ever in our digital age. Show Notes | Transcript "Authentic connection comes from being in relationship with our emotional body. And what that really means is that, you know, we are feeling creatures and we're having experiences all day long." - JF Benoist As we navigate the complexities of modern connection, JF shares profound insights on how tapping into genuine relationships could be the missing piece that transforms not just your business, but your entire sense of belonging. Discover how to: Recognize and overcome the "correction mindset" that hinders authentic connection Cultivate a deeper relationship with your emotional body for more meaningful interactions Implement a simple 5-minute check-in practice to foster genuine connections with team members Shift from performance-based thinking to a more balanced approach in business and life Key insights include: The surprising impact of our upbringing on our ability to form authentic connections Why prioritizing emotional experiences leads to more fulfilling relationships and business success How to break free from the cycle of seeking external validation through achievements The three essential elements for true fulfillment, according to philosopher Alfred Adler JF also introduces his new book, "Aviv La Vie: An Adventure in Belonging," which offers a novel approach to understanding and cultivating authentic connections in all areas of life. I highly recommend this book because JF expertly crafts storytelling with lessons to create a book that educates and entertains. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur feeling disconnected or a business owner looking to foster deeper relationships within your team, this conversation offers practical strategies and profound insights to help you create a more connected, fulfilling life and business. Tune in to start your journey towards authentic belonging and watch your world transform! Connect with JF Benoist Website: avivelavie.com YouTube: @avivelavie Resources: Join the Soulful Women's Network here Receive daily inspirational email messages: bit.ly/LoveLightNotes Need support? Go to engagewithgloria.com to schedule a call. Connect with Live Love Engage: Send Gloria Grace a message ☕ Support the podcast ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand Facebook: Gloria Grace Rand YouTube: Gloria Grace Rand TRANSCRIPT Gloria Grace Rand Namaste. Have you ever felt like despite the number of Facebook friends or LinkedIn connections you have, that you still feel totally alone in your entrepreneurial journey? Well, get ready for my enlightening conversation with today's guest as we're going to delve into why true connection seems harder to find than ever. And discover how tapping into authentic relationships could be the missing piece that transforms not just your business, but your whole sense of belonging in this fast paced digital world. But first, I do want to welcome you to Live Love Engage, especially if this is your first time tuning in. I am Gloria Grace, founder of Align to Shine Academy and I work with spiritually minded women entrepreneurs to break free from self doubt and step into their highest potential. And joining us in just a moment is JF Benoit, who is the best selling author of Addicted to the Monkey Mind and his newest book, Aviv La Vie An Adventure in Belonging. And he's a pioneer in mental health and emotional well being with decades of experience transforming how we understand connection and self worth. And I'm really glad to have him here today because I, I've just come to the realization that my word for 2025 is connection. So this is per. So I'm going to bring him on right now and welcome you officially to Live Love Engage. JF Benoist JF thanks for having me, Gloria. Gloria Grace Rand Well, I want to just dive right in to this subject and talk about why does belonging feel so elusive? JF Benoist Well, I think for most of us we take for granted in a way the way we were raised. So not a lot of us take time to really reflect on the fact that there is a particular way that we're raised, which I basically talk about in the book of IV La Vie. But really more mostly demonstrate that we live in a world of correction. And what that really means is that if you think of it, when we first were beginning to be part of the world, our parents wanted us to be safe, right? So it was like we were told things like don't put your finger in the electrical outlet and don't put your hand on the hot stove and all these different ways in which we had to learn to belong in a safe way in society. But then slowly these correction started to steering away from our sense of survival, our sense of well being and it became about our character in a way. So you know, the comments could have been, hey, you're not going to wear that to school or why can't you be more like your brother? You know, he, he doesn't cry like you or you know, so a lot of that started to shape our sense of who we should be in the world. And I don't think a lot of us are fully conscious of how much we operate from a mindset today that keeps doing that to our own selves. Right. So the, the majority of the thoughts that we're having can be performance based in all sorts of different ways. And that affects our sense of connection to ourselves and connection with other people. Gloria Grace Rand Yeah, I never thought of it that way of describing as this correction phase. But, but you're right, we, we do have that and that. And we do often then become our own worst enemies sometimes about correcting ourselves. We can be very judgmental at times. And so, yeah, it does make it hard then to be able to have those authentic connections. And that's actually where I want to go to next is I'd love to know, how do you define authentic connection? What does that really mean to you? JF Benoist Yeah, it's a beautiful question because I, I think this is something that's a missing link in the way that we experience ourselves. So authentic connection comes from being in relationship with our emotional body. And what that really means is that, you know, we are feeling creatures and we're having experiences all day long. And if you think of it, a lot of times when we're getting triggered, our mind is busy sort of looking for the source of why we're irritated or it's thinking maybe it's the other person and what they're doing, or it's the situation or the event. And so we're sort of operating out of a narrative that in a way is disregarded the emotional experience we're having in the body. So we're disconnected from our own experience. And that happens for most people, I would say, probably a few times on a daily basis. And so as long as we keep following this narrative that is correction based, that is trying to find sort of like thinking that the problem is out there somewhere, that it's, you know, with someone else or it's not really conducive to connecting to our experience. So it makes it very challenging. So the first connection is really with ourselves, with our own emotional body. And, and the second connection is, is with others, meaning being able to communicate in an honest, open way the experiences that we're having. And that's when we have true belonging. That's when we have true connections. Gloria Grace Rand Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I know that it's something I, I talk about as well is because it really comes down to self love and, and being able to truly, you know, appreciate yourself And. And get in touch with yourself. So how do you go about helping, like, your clients? What. How do you, you know, if someone is feeling like, you know, they're not. They don't belong, but it's really because they're not connected to themselves, how do you help them in that way? JF Benoist Well, I think that the first and most important aspect of being able to create this connection with the emotional body is to become aware that we're following a narrative. So let's take a simple example. Like, I think most couple could relate. Let's say you come home, you're tired after a long day, and then your partner says something as simple as you. You know, you told me that you cleaned the kitchen this morning, and it's still dirty today. And so then there's like, this sort of irritation that would, you know, for the most people would feel, and they would have this sense of like, hey, I work hard all day. So now the narrative that we're following is a defensive narrative. Right. But there's no attention really to the experience itself. It's more like following the thoughts that are saying, hey, you seem to be nagging me right now, or whatever thoughts that we're having about what is being said. And now we got to fix this problem by justifying the fact that, oh, we work hard all day. And. But what actually happens to the connection to ourselves and with our partner, when we react by saying, I worked hard all day, well, most likely the other partner will say, well, I work hard too, you know, and it's just like, right. And so then there's a. We follow a narrative that leads us to experience ourselves as disconnected from ourselves and from other people. So this initial reaction, okay, the thoughts that we're having are creating a first layer of emotions that are reactive emotion. But in the emotional body, there is a. An anxiety that exists. And that anxiety is because in those moments that were triggered, our sense of love and our sense of value is actually appears to be put in question....