Episode 13: Cara Thomas
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Today’s guest, Cara Thomas, dared me to buy a coffee for the person in line behind me. I was terrified of the awkwardness and possible rejection — yet once I did it, felt truly alive. Cara created Serenflipity to spark that feeling in each of us after a seven year career as an innovation consultant. The simple flip of a card throws you into wonder and serendipity, feelings that often vanish as we “grow up.” Cara’s journey into entrepreneurship has (literally) taken her around the world and in this episode we discuss the importance of experiencing both positive and negative emotions, how the body breaks down when the mind breaks down, and why entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted.
More about Cara
- Serenflipity Website
- Buy the cards (Amazon, Anthropologie, Walmart)
- Follow Serenflipity (Instagram, Facebook)
Books Discussed
- The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
- The Surrender Experiment, Michael Singer
Show Notes
On living a “linear life”
I think I also felt like I needed a bit of inspiration and stimulus. Growing up in New York and living there, it felt like a very linear city with linear blocks and I was on a linear trajectory, and I needed something to shake that up. I needed to get out because I was going through the same divots.
Related:
On feeling full range of emotions
I used to think that I would love to feel happy, joyous, and connected all the time — that’s my MO. But my experience has been that when I feel those other emotions [like sadness and anger]. It gives me a context to feel the happier things. If I’m able to embrace, feel and sit with sadness then it also means that the joy is going to feel so much more vibrant and brighter in contrast to that.
Related Reading:
- The Language of Emotions, Karla Maclaren
On overlooking the power of human connection
I get into the mindset of work and achieving and forget about the power of human connection. That moment that you can have with someone new and just like connection around shared humanity and the bigger sense of being ok.
Related Reading:
On entrepreneurship as being “in service” to your company
When I connect my business too closely to my self-worth it will go up and down like a stock ticker based on how I think the business is doing. Instead, I explore how I can follow my heart, but still be myself while building a business which is a separate entity.
There is part of it where you say “I’ve built this” and “this is this is my baby. This is me.” It becomes a manifestation of yourself, and yes you bring the beauty into it, but you also bring a lot of the issues.
I guess I think a lot about serving the business, and that’s really helped me to think about: “How can I be useful to this business? How can I be useful to this mission. Because if I make decisions based on ego, or based on fear…oh my God.
Related Reading:
