Thursday, November 13, 2014

Preparing to Leap.


"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

She knew. Do you? I didn't know.  What I mean is, I was not clear why I wasn't acting out. Was it that the decision was so difficult or had I made it difficult by those tricky road blocks I had positioned in my own flight path?

Earlier in October I made a trip to New York City for a Women's Leadership conference with Emerging Women, a Feminine Power movement founded by Chantal Pierrat, whose mission is to encourage change in the world through Feminine Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Satisfy your curiosity at  http://www.emergingwomen.com/

It was a very compelling conference with speakers like Arianna Huffington, Brene Brown, Eve Ensler and so many more amazing accomplished and inspirational female leaders. The presenter and author Tara Mohr influenced me the most with her workshop on Playing Big. She raised the question, why are women who are educated, successful, visionaries, leaders, and talented still playing it small? Women's voices and influence are desperately needed in the world today.

I wondered, why do I feel like I am playing it small, in view of my own talents and skills for leading and the arts?  At the heart of my desires I recognize this arm reaching motion to catch and uplift others, mainly women who feel stuck in the scratched groove of their lives and circumstances. Rotating within the same cycle not quite able to rise above or fulfill their own personal promise and dreams. 

I know for certain that I really long to express my musical and creative gifts and be of service in empowering other women in personal discovery. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I am going to burst - if I don't burst on to the seen!  Do you feel that way too? Well you are not alone as this challenge of stepping out and playing big seems to be rooted in the collective unconscious of women today in America and around the world.  Play, but not too big seems to be the paradigm we live in.

Well clearly, that is why I went to the conference. Not only to connect with other like minded women, feel inspired, assess the gap in my action, and to learn how to take that leap! The point of emerging and unfolding is about stepping out.  I am feeling on the verge of that tipping point.  So how do we awesome women break out of the smallness that no longer serves us?

To possess tenacity for starters would be a great quality to have, especially if your mission is to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic....solo. The "mere" act of a solo flight requires the very definition of tenacity; the quality or fact of being very determined and persistent.  As Amelia viewed it, making the decision to step out and brave the unknown is the difficult aspect of the process.  And indeed it is. Perhaps your mission is not to actually fly solo but metaphorically speaking a step out can feel like a solo flight.  Feeling vulnerable even fearful of some failure, that is certain to be part of the territory. Yet when we risk all, we experience delight!

Let's imagine for a moment how Amelia felt in her cockpit seat of the diminutive Lockheed Vega for 14 hours and 56 minutes with just her instruments and small panoramic view, sheer terror and delight no doubt! I believe that is what is awaiting us if we only make the move to take our first step, leap or flight!

The real difficulty lies in how we have made it difficult to make the decision to act upon something. In Playing Big, Tara indicates that we are busy, busy, busy crafting the perfect message, hiding, over complicating, collecting, insisting on another degree, I must do "this" before that, procrastinating...whatever it is that you are doing to prevent your brave bold (or small) move. 

I want this. I want to risk delight and take my next solo flight. No matter the risk, fear or failure. What about you?  

So, I have identified that I like to over complicate things and put "this before that."  What about you....can you identify how you are making it difficult to make the leap?

Please share in the comments section below if you'd like.  

Next time - more on Leaping or flying!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Welcome to my new blog!

Still life, vibrant life.

                                                     
Art unfolding isn't as much about my art work right now as it is about the art of my life unfolding. This year is all about transformation and the re-creation of my life since I left my corporate career to pursue the pulse of my heart. My creative passions. I certainly did not anticipate how difficult it would be to craft and focus each day to make way for my longing artist to surface. Shedding the cloak and daily lifestyle as the corporate sales executive has been daunting yet most revealing. 

Six months in and I am finally inspired into action on an art studio for myself. Transforming the old office space to a studio where I can make my heart sing, a space to create art, music and practice yoga and meditation. This  idea was not in my original vision, but it makes complete sense. Collapsing the old way of being, way of life really, to make way for the new one. Reclaiming this space totally supports my vision of expressing all of my artistic areas; visual and fiber arts, performing arts, writing and of course new explorations.  

Ah, an office to an art studio.... feels delicious and promising! But getting down to the work of moving heavy pieces of furniture out, packing boxes and purging is another matter!  I had no idea how large pieces of furniture could take up such mental and emotional space too. Sorting through a decade of memories and documents has largely been a pleasant experience, just time consuming. I did not want to miss anything important, after all if I am going to chuck something, I want to savor it by re-living the memory and moment again. Of course, I still kept many things my heart could not part with like birthday cards from my daughter and art work from my son. And I am surprised to find lost dreams and unfulfilled goals that were hidden on slips of paper buried deep in a forgotten file. 

As I shed the layers of the corporate persona and consciously allow my intuitive impulses to lead me in this journey, I feel like am both the sculptor and the alabaster. Carving away in the multi-dimensional world that represents me, my life and the space I am to create in. All aspects taking new form simultaneously. The thrill and agony of this process takes patience and so often I am rendered powerless and in need of surrendering to a force unseen , my silent partner if you will, to take hold of the chisel and hammer and chip away the unnecessary layers to reveal the shape and form of things to come.

Still, just when I feel my patience has expired, a wise message from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer  surfaces; "Practice being infinitely patient, never being dissatisfied with the speed or the manner in which your intentions are manifesting." As the meaning takes hold within me, I am reminded that with deep trust  the challenges that feel bigger than me will indeed work out. I am reassured by this and even inspired to push on because everyday I chisel away, revealing little by little this shape shifting life of mine, while the artist and the art unfolds before me. 

 So, welcome to my journey and first blog posting. I look forward to sharing and connecting with you again soon!