*What is the music within YOU? What are the gifts you offer the world?
I see myself as a catalyst for personal growth and change. This means starting with my own process. Everything I offer to others is something I currently practice myself. That means my offerings will evolve as I evolve. Some of my practices have had staying power – like the power of [deliberate practice], and the practice of [listening to your own life]. These are practices in which I have been a lifelong student, teacher, and practitioner. They form the central core of my beliefs, but not because I became attached to them and stayed with them from an early age, or because someone taught me everything I know, or because they are popular. They have stayed with me because I have tested them, sought out new perspectives, and come back to the realization that they fit within the experience of my own life, providing me something of benefit at the time when I needed it.
At times along my path, I tried to follow someone’s example and “try on” their life to feel how it fit me. I was honest and earnest in my attempts to choose role models I respected, and to do everything I could to emulate their apparent success. Without these periods of committed, total immersion in certain careers and ways of thinking, I would not have internalized the lessons or have the confidence I now have in my own unique path. I am proud of the time I spent on each of these legs of my journey, not because of the success I achieved as measured by others’ adulation, or by the amount of money I was paid, but because I put all of who I was at the time into each of those experiences. I was fully committed for the time that I was committed. And the instant I knew – really knew, not just started to wonder – that it was time to let go, I did that without regret, and also with full commitment. Yes, I may have “let down” some people along the way – people who gave me their time, their advice, their trust. But I recognize that their being let down was only based on an idea they held about who or what I could be or should be, without really knowing what was to be true for me. Only I could know that, and I had to do it by taking the next steps on my own. Along the way, I have also been met with true love and support, at the times when I needed it most. I have leaned on others when I needed it. I have gone my own way when I knew it was time. And I keep learning, feeling more alive as I grow older.
I am constantly searching for and discovering new teachings, testing them in my own experience of life, and sharing the ones that I have found to have value. Importantly, I am always open to learning new practices, and as I do, I gain confidence in my ability to discern what is useful to me at this time in my life.
I am about creating a life without letting fear hold me back. I believe that there is a process each of us must go through, and no one else can really tell another person what their process should be. I believe the most important step in finding your own way is to LISTEN TO YOUR LIFE. Listen with your whole body – your heart, your mind, your soul, and your physical body. Sometimes, when we’ve been [tuned out] (listening to others, looking for models to follow, grasping for reassurance from someone else) for long enough, we need to learn how to listen again, and receive guidance as we practice these new skills, like a toddler learning to walk or to speak.
I’m on this journey with you, and I know from experience that the only true answers for you are within your own heart. Come with me, if you are curious to discover what’s real and what’s next for you.
