My Process

A Story of Becoming

We are all interconnected

We all have had moments that change our lives forever. When they are happening we likely are oblivious to their impact. It is only in looking back can see how clearly those moments shape us into who we are. A significant moment in my life was meeting Chief Dan George who generously shared his stories with a room full of little white children. When I look back I think about how he offered up his amazing wisdom in hopes that someone might embrace what he shared.

I have feasted on what he shared and his message still resonates with me as I move through life. He was the spark that moulded my values, perspectives and actions.

It was women’s stories that took my understanding of Chief Dan’s wisdom to an even deeper. The voices of women and their wisdom plunged me into a time of self-reflection and self-care that at times I fought against and at times I wholeheartedly surrendered into.

It is the wisdom of twenty inspiring women who activated my journey back to myself and created a way forward for others to take their on pilgrimage home to themselves.

Learn more about the book

Be an ecosystem

I have spent most of my career teaching people that we are the environment and the environment is us. It was the words that Laura Hollick shared with me that provoked me to consider what it really means to be nature.

I view myself as an ecosystem with many parts ultimately wanting to work together. Even when something appears as a boulder or obstacle within my own psyche, I accept it and include it in this ecosystem. I don’t fight myself.

Laura Hollick

Award Winning Artist and Visionary Guide

I don’t fight myself!

Those words were like being hit by a giant wave of awareness. Fighting myself is what I have practiced most of my life. I am learning to let go of the conflict and encourage the many parts of myself to work together.

Root into yourself

I asked the women that I interviewed for my book:

“Who recognized you?”

The question was inspired by an interview I heard with Malala Yousafzai. She was told by the interviewer that she is a special girl. Her response was, “I think every girl is special, every person is special. I am just lucky that my father recognized me.” To be seen, recognized and understood is a direct path to recognizing ourselves.

When we are each able to recognize ourselves, see and use our gifts, the world will transform.

Rooting into yourself is about understanding what really matters to you, what guides you and the dream that you have for the world.

You are amazing.

Recognize that.

Make mulch

We hold onto so much. We carry our experiences, our unshed tears, our unexpressed anger and grief, our hurts, our judgments and our limiting beliefs. We tell ourselves we’ll be okay as we collect the detritus of our lives. All that heaviness can hold us back. It gets in the way of who we are. It gets in the way of our being.

Organic waste on the forest floor transforms into nutrients that feed the soil and helps things grow. It is possible to transform the detritus of our lives into strengths that nurture our soul.

We all have stories that we hold onto. Stories that sap energy from our lives. Making mulch requires a journey into places we may not want to see and yet there we can find our greatest gifts and a freedom to be.

What limits you?

What judgements or perspectives do you hold that no longer serve you?

Nurture Yourself

Nurturing myself has become a practice for me. It is not something that came easily. It is not something that I was taught. I was a doer. Doing is how I valued myself. When I wasn’t doing I would chastise myself. I would do until I exhausted myself and then I would take time off. I would travel. I would trek around a foreign country until I felt whole again and then I would return to do more and make sure I did it to perfection.

I have learned the importance of:

self-compassion
calming my inner critic
having people in my life who stand for me and want the best for me
creating an environment around me that nurtures who I am

Taking time to nurture ourselves, to feel the hurt, grief and anger; to just be without the doing is what we need to move forward with our lives and thrive.

What would be life giving for you right now?

Give yourself some of that.

Grow

Unless you feel nurtured and rooted it is hard to grow. To grow requires that we get uncomfortable. Our minds are programmed to keep us comfortable, our hearts long for what is beyond the uncomfortable.

To grow we must be willing to:

play with the uncomfortable
dance with fear
take a different action than what we would normally do
be imperfect and make mistakes

What we may view as an obstacle to moving forward, is in fact just a thin veil that we can move through easily.

I have discovered that magic happens when I just do what I am guided to do and do it without resistance or when I just take a tiny step forward. Things open up. Magic begins to happen. I look back and wonder why did that hold me back?

What action are you longing to take?

What is the next small step towards that goal?