It's a People Thing

About It's a People Thing

When your work is your passion, the thing you can’t not do, it’s so much more than just a way to pay your mortgage (I mean, we need it to do that too, of course). But it’s also your creativity, your obsession, your connection to your people, your work, rest and play. ReWild Your Business is for those who know their work is sacred and need it to honour the whole of who they are. gillmoakes.substack.com (https://gillmoakes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Gill Moakes

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Mar 2022

Latest episode

19 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

267 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Oct 2026

   #232 - How Simple Rituals Can Transform The Way You Feel About Your Workday

   Rituals give the day its edges. They give you the thresholds to walk through and then the door to close behind you at the end of the day. So, I invite you to think about rituals that you could introduce into your business that give your day edges. How can you mark that threshold of beginning your working day so that it doesn’t start when you’re still lying in bed reaching for your phone? How could you introduce a ritual that closes the day in a way that feels complete, that allows you to then enjoy your evening because your workday is finished. In this episode I share my own opening and closing rituals, and invite you to experiment with creating your own. If you’re not already a member of my community, The Circle, go to https://gillmoakes.com/the-circle (https://gillmoakes.com/the-circle) to find out more. Get full access to ReWild Your Business at gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   12 Oct 2026

   #231 - What Are You Holding On To For Fear That Nothing Will Come To Take It’s Place?

   Autumn is my absolute favourite season, and I have a few reasons… It’s beautiful, for one. But for me it’s also the season of reflection and release, and the releasing that happens now makes room for my second favourite season, winter. Winter is when I’m at my most creative, under blankets, writing and making and doing all the things I love. Autumn clears the space for it. I’ve been in the woods constantly these past few weeks. I can’t seem to stay away. The leaves are starting to carpet the ground, and every time I wander through them I’m reminded of the same thing: the trees aren’t clinging to their leaves because they’re afraid of bare branches. They let go because they trust the cycle. They know what’s coming, and they’re at peace with it. October is when nature really shows us how to release. So I want to ask you something. What are you holding on to for fear that nothing’s coming to take its place? It’s rarely the thing itself I’m not talking about forcing a release before something is ready, or manufacturing a letting-go for the sake of it. This is about noticing what you’re gripping on to, and why. There’s no right or wrong answer, and the question tends to land in the body before the mind. Your body will often know what’s misaligned waaay before your head admits it. It’s also worth remembering that we’re not usually attached to the thing itself. We’re attached to what it gives us: income, identity, credibility, a sense of safety. And the real fear isn’t losing the thing. It’s the gap, that in-between stretch where you’ve let go of what wasn’t right and what is right hasn’t arrived yet. We hate the gap. I think that’s partly cultural, especially in business, where empty space gets treated as failure or wasted time. Nature sees it completely differently. Think of fallow fields, or the dark of the moon. Not everything blooms all year round, and it’s not meant to. Rest is essential. Inherrant. A question I love when I suspect something is out of alignment but I’m not quite ready to let it go: what would I have to feel if I put this down right now? Scarcity? Stress? Worry? Naming the feeling you’d have to move through often tells you exactly why you’re still holding on. What we cling to in business Fear sits behind most of it, and it shows up in all sorts of places. Offers. How many of us have outgrown one? (My hand’s up) It no longer feels good to deliver, we don’t really want to be doing it, but it’s still paying the bills. The scarcity that comes up when we imagine releasing it feels too uncomfortable, so we carry on. Titles, brand and identity. Pieces of ourselves and our identity we’ve long since outgrown. Clients and collaborations. Most of us know what it’s like when a client starts to feel like a duty rather than a pleasure, or when a collaboration we said yes to starts breeding resentment. The people-pleaser in us keeps going much longer than our soul is calling us to. Strategies and pace. The hustle culture that never really worked for us, and the obsession with output that makes us too scared to reassess how fast we’re going. The story of who we’re supposed to be. This is the big one. Over years of being told what’s expected of us, or being positioned as the person who carries more than her share, we build a persona. It’s been our story for so long that it’s incredibly hard to put down. Sometimes we keep something alive long after it’s stopped serving us because we mistake the familiar for solid ground. We’re so used to the struggle that it feels safer than moving towards something more aligned, because moving means a gap. Nothing is wasted In a wild ecosystem, nothing is wasted in the release. The fallen leaves become soil that feeds the rest of the forest. A dead tree becomes habitat for countless creatures. And where it falls, it opens a clearing for light to get through. So here’s a reframe. Instead of “I’m scared nothing’s coming,” try “something is on it’s way, I just can’t see it yet.” Often the new thing can’t grow until the old canopy has come down. What if that’s true for you? What if the alignment, the abundance, the joy and meaning in your work can’t properly develop until you release what’s asking to be let go of? One important distinction: releasing is not the same as abandoning. Releasing is conscious and intentional. Abandoning is panic-quitting. I see it constantly in marketing, where people drop a strategy after a few weeks because it isn’t working fast enough. Most people grossly underestimate how long a strategy takes to work, so nothing is ever given fertile soil for long enough to grow. Release what’s ready to go. Don’t quit before something has had a chance to take root. A release ritual Here’s a practice I’d love you to try. Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ll read something like this, nod along, think yes, definitely doing that, and then never do it. (My hand is firmly raised.. again.) So make a promise to yourself before you read on. Grab your journal and a pen. * Write down what you’re holding on to. What are you clinging to for fear nothing is coming to take its place? Be radically honest. No one will ever read this but you. * Beside it, write what it has given you, then thank it. Maybe an offer introduced your first clients, built your confidence, or contributed to your income. Maybe a client who no longer feels aligned has given you clarity about what is and isn’t right for you. Thank it / them. * Underneath, write what you fear will happen in the gap. In the space between releasing this and the arrival of what’s aligned, what are you actually frightened of? Again, be honest. Look it in the eye. Make peace with the discomfort. * Let go of the page. This is the release, the moment you commit. Burn it, bury it in the garden, or tear it into tiny pieces. Whatever feels right, as long as it’s kind to the environment. * Sit in silence for ten minutes (or more) if you can. Don’t rush to fill the space or work out what to do next to invite the new thing in. Just acknowledge the release. Let your shoulders drop. Be okay with the letting-go part. October is a perfect time for this. The gap is the winter Here’s the thing that came to me while I was recording this. (I had actually recorded a full version of this episode already and forgotten to press record, which was frustrating, but I now think it happened so I’d get to say this properly.) The pause, the gap, is not wasted. It’s the winter part of the cycle, the dormant part. And you don’t need the next thing lined up to justify letting go of this one. It’s allowed to be just the release. If you can accept that, the safety you build into the gap becomes so much lighter. It’s simple. It’s warm. It’s about tending the space rather than stuffing it full of something else as quickly as possible. And that lets the more aligned thing emerge in its own time. Nothing in nature is permanent, and we are nature. Impermanence is a lovely idea to embrace, and I think it would take so much stress off us. What was once aligned may no longer be. What wasn’t aligned before may become so. The work is noticing, and taking action. So, one last time: what are you holding on to for fear that nothing’s coming to take its place? The other platform I’m falling back in love with, as well as Substack, of course, is Instagram (I’ve curated my feed with so much intention, it just feels like the most beautiful, inspiring space again now. So if you’d like to follow along there too, you can find me HERE (https://www.instagram.com/gillmoakes/). The Circle As a woman who’s created a completely soul-aligned business, I KNOW the importance of building in space and quiet. In a world where AI is literally telling us what to think, we need to get quiet enough to hear our own, unique thoughts and ideas. For centuries, women have gathered in circles around fires and hearths to share food, care for children, and pass down tribal wisdom. In our modern, hyper-connected world, we’ve lost these spaces of deep listening and shared warmth. The Circle is an invitation to step off the wheel of constant doing, and remember what it feels like to be held, and to belong. This isn’t a business mastermind. There’s no funnel talk here, no growth hacks, no pressure to perform your success for an audience. This is a space to simply show up, as the whole of who you are, not just the founder, healer, coach, or creative parts. We gather in circle online four times every month… would LOVE you to join us. Find out more: https://www.gillmoakes.com/the-circle (https://www.gillmoakes.com/the-circle) Get full access to ReWild Your Business at gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   5 Oct 2026

   #230 - Pulling The Plug On Spiritual Elitism

   There's a massive contradiction that I'm witnessing in the zeitgeist at the moment - on the one hand, we're talking about the huge shift that we want to happen. We're talking about the New Era. I was part of the New Era series hosted by my dear friend Deb D ⭐️ The Intuitive HERoine (https://substack.com/profile/39586027-deb-d-the-intuitive-heroine) with a bunch of amazing women all talking about this, and NONE of whom fall into category of spiritual elitists that I'm thinking about, thank goodness. We talk about this new era and what we want to happen, and more women are getting curious, maybe they’re exploring spirituality for the first time, or mysticism, or maybe it's witchcraft, whatever it is, they're getting curious. They're getting brave enough to start exploring what their soul is calling them to, only to be confronted by a firing squad of OG women who consider themselves to be the spiritual elite and who are ready to shoot them down. Now, my own work has really evolved over the last couple of years - my private coaching (https://www.gillmoakes.com/coaching) focusses on growing soul-led businesses, on identity and uncovering true purpose. And of course, I have my online membership, The Circle (https://www.gillmoakes.com/the-circle), but before that, I was very much of the mindset that the spiritual world wasn't for me - I genuinely didn’t believe I belonged in that ‘club’. I felt like it was an environment that other people were allowed to explore, but I was on the outside of it, peering through the window, jealous of what I saw inside. But in time, I came to realise that there had been plenty of signs that I was incredibly intuitive as a child. The primary way that my intuition comes through is through clairaudience, which means I hear messages. I hear my soul speaking to me, giving me direction, and I've realised that is something that has always been the case for me. When I was a child, people would remark on how fast I wrote. I would scribble frantically because I couldn't get all of the thoughts that I was hearing in my head out onto the paper quickly enough. I would often say to my mom, "I don't want to go to school today, Mum." And she would ask me why, and I'd say, "because the writing makes my hand hurt." And I remember now that feeling of my hand and my arm hurting because I'd been scribbling so fast to try and keep up with the messages I was hearing. The words being spoken to me, that I needed to capture onto the page. We are all intuitive. It’s not something that we have to earn or learn. It’s part of who we are. It's just that some of us are pay more attention - listen or watch or feel into our intuition. Only when I began using my intuition was I able to evolve my work so that it reflected what I'm really here to do, and I was able to do that because I was so fortunate to have women in my life, as part of my inner circle, who were incredibly spiritual, and were not gatekeepers. I want to shout out three women that really stand out to me as people who helped me with this. Deb D ⭐️ The Intuitive HERoine (https://substack.com/profile/39586027-deb-d-the-intuitive-heroine), first of all, the founder of the Be Her Collective, a very dear friend of mine and wonderful, incredibly intuitive woman. Another woman in my circle who has been incredible is Alicia M Rodriguez -Between Root and Sky (https://open.substack.com/pub/aliciamrodriguez). Alicia is one of the most spiritual people that I know and really taught me so much about my own journey through this via her writing and wise counsel. And the other woman again, a close friend and incredible spiritual healer & coach (and just all-round wise woman) is Jennifer Evans (https://thezenjen.com/), AKA Zen Jen. All of these women have been so encouraging, so arms open… "Of course you're interested in pursuing this. Of course you're evolving. How can I help you? What can I share with you? What do you need?" The sad thing is I am not seeing that level of generosity, of openness, of welcoming, happening across the board. What I am seeing is gatekeeping, elitism, “Your opinion isn't valid because you haven't been doing it for long enough”, and that drives me frickin’ nuts. If you are someone who wants to explore this part of you, please hear this: You are as entitled to talk about this stuff, you are as entitled to practice this stuff, to explore what feels good to you, what you believe in, what matters to you as much as anyone else. There is space for all of us to be unapologetic about our own work, to allow ourselves to be beginners, to be someone who is starting to tread a particular path and is new to it. Those women deserve to be welcomed and supported and told they belong, not shunned and told, "Unless you have these hundreds of years of lineage behind you, you don't belong here, and you don't get to have a say." If you are someone who is exploring a deeper side to your work or your life, don't listen to those voices. And if you are a healer, a guide, a coach, a spiritual advisor, an intuitive guide, then I urge you to focus on welcoming women in, encouraging them, passing on your wisdom to the people who are following the call of their own soul but are maybe a few years behind you. If we truly want to step into a new era, a new way of being, we have to start reaching our hand back to help those coming up behind us. We can't keep being protective, greedy, or hoarding of our own space. For anyone who’s felt "God, I don't know if I belong in this club. I don't know enough. I don't know all the lingo. I don't know what to say. I don't know what the practices are. I don't wanna look stupid", I would urge you to please keep going, because I had all of those thoughts. I had those thoughts when I first bought a deck of Oracle cards and didn't know what to bloody do with them (thank you Rebecca Campbell (https://substack.com/profile/69187189-rebecca-campbell) for showing me the way). The first time I went to a women's circle myself and felt like, "Gosh, everyone else seems to know the words to say or seems to know the format." It's okay to be a beginner. You belong. You belong wherever you are willing to commit your heart. If you're willing to do that, then you belong there, and no one else gets to tell you that you don't. The Circle Want your own inner circle of women who get it? Who will welcome you with open arms? My online community, The Circle, costs just £22 per month, and you get to come to four online circles each month: two moon circles, a sacred soul circle, and a writing circle. And you get to come to my seasonal day retreats, which are also online, a whole day of meditation, journaling, and other practices & Zoom circles. These virtual day retreats are a beautiful way to mark the Solstices & Equinoxes. Our next gathering for a day retreat will be on the winter solstice in December. Mentioned In This Episode If you’d like to explore private coaching with me, you can find out more HERE (https://www.gillmoakes.com/coaching). More About Deb D Deb is the Author of A Series of Surrender: A Memoir of Grief and she’s the Host of the BeHER Podcast (https://thebehercollective.substack.com/s/the-beher-podcast). She is currently writing her second book, The Way of the Intuitive HERoine. Her home is the stunning island of Tobago in the Caribbean (she hosted the best retreat I’ve ever been on there). https://thebehercollective.com/ (https://thebehercollective.com/) Podcast episode: #81 - Tap Into The Magic Of Your Business with guest, Debra Driscoll (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/p/081-tap-in-to-the-magic-of-your-business-5b8) More about Alicia M Rodriguez Alicia is a writer and poet, living and writing from the beautiful Algarve coast in Portugal. She’s the author of four books: the award-winning memoir The Shaman's Wife: A Mystical Journey of Surrender and Self-Discovery; the poetry collection Between Root and Sky: Poetry on Love, Loss and Longing; Everyday Epiphanies: Uncovering Wisdom in Ordinary Moments; and Manage Your Life Before Life Manages You: More Joy and Less Stress in 365 Days. https://aliciamrodriguez.com/ (https://aliciamrodriguez.com/) Podcast episode: #53 - Becoming Limitless with Guest, Alicia M Rodriguez (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/p/053-becoming-limitless-with-alicia-7ca) More About Jennifer Evans In addition to her soul-alignment coaching and energetic healing work, Jen is also a bestselling author, Reiki Master and host of the Soar and Flourish podcast. She’s also a Key magazine contributor and TV host on the show Empowering Her on G-Woman TV. Jen has a wonderful guide on making aligned, intuitive decisions, which you can grab HERE (https://zenjen1111.activehosted.com/f/25). https://thezenjen.com/ (https://thezenjen.com/) Podcast episode: #90 - Balance and Alignment with Guest, Jennifer Evans (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/p/090-balance-and-alignment-with-jennifer-c7c) Get full access to ReWild Your Business at gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe (https://gillmoakes.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)