Life is moving very fast for me these days. Lately I’ve been using the metaphor of reaching cruising altitude, pulling the throttle back just a bit and just enjoying the ride. As I fly back and forth from Seattle to San Jose, the jet I’m on usually flies at about 39,000 ft. Now, that’s high! You’ve got to be big and powerful to fly at that altitude.
It wasn’t long ago that my own sense of bigness and sense of power hardly got me off the ground. It was twenty years ago that a friend of mine gave me a little porcelain figurine of a baby bluebird, with his wings outstretched ready for takeoff. That was me then “ a fledgling with no sense of actually getting off the ground, but loving the image of the possibilities that may come my way.
I was living in Nova Scotia, Canada at the time. I loved my life! It was peaceful and full of beauty. I owned a wonderful 100 year old home on the La Have River. I swore I would never leave, as life couldn’t possibly get any better “ Ever!
Well, of course, as is always the way, as soon as I declared I would never leave Nova Scotia, I was promptly given an opportunity to fly from my lovely safe nest. You know what that’s like when the Universe presents you with an opportunity where the only thing you can say is "HELL YES!" And, where it had been a "Hell No" for years, life, very quickly fell into place. I effortlessly perch myself on the side of my nest and took the leap.
This weekend I’m speaking at a Women’s Leadership Forum in Menlo Park, California as an expert on empowering people to empower themselves and others. The topic is Follow your Calling: Live Your Passion. I’ll be moderating a panel of very successful entrepreneur women who followed their calling and have successfully accomplished what they set out to do. One woman created orphanages in 3rd world countries. Another created chartered schools for underprivileged children in the Bay Area of California. Another founded a company that empowers a diverse, multi-generational workforce and women to thrive in a multi-cultural world. And, another who founded the Global Women’s Leadership Network.
So from a little baby bluebird in Nova Scotia, I’m now flying with large, powerful flyers who’ve empowered themselves and others to make leaps of faith in support of what they are called to do “ live their passion. How did it come to be that I’d be here in this moment cruising at this altitude and feel it to be effortless to fly so high?
I had to say YES, even though at times that yes brought about huge challenges that confronted my sense of self. I had to shift how I saw myself from bluebird to robin to hawk to eagle. I also had to let go of my attachment to what I thought I wanted and listened to my higher truth. Sometimes this wasn’t easy as I’d often rather settle for a life closer to my hammock and to the TV.
Hearing that inner voice and having the courage to respond with a "Hell Yes" didn’t come with guarantees of ease and effortlessness. It didn’t come with already installed cheerleaders and trees of money. It didn’t come with pats on the back from mom and dad saying "We are so proud of you!" Nope!
It came with questions like "What the heck was I thinking?" It came with isolation and despair and doubt. It came with fear and struggles. It came with "I just don’t know if it’s worth it."
The other day, the top American woman skier won the gold medal for her downhill run. She’d been in a great deal of pain as she had bruised her shin during training. At the bottom of the hill when she realized she won the Gold, she sobbed. "This moment is worth everything I’ve ever given up in my life. It is worth all of the pain and hardship."
Yesterday when meeting the women panelist for this upcoming forum, each one said the same thing. Having helped a child achieve a sense of belonging by giving them a home, or a sense of self-respect by graduating from high school, or helping women around the world create change in their communities, it is worth everything to feel what it feels life to make a difference in just one individual’s life.
Getting comfortable at this altitude of self-mastery, self-acceptance and self-appreciation is a practice. Exercising my flying muscles will be ongoing as I continue to discover over and over again that I’m not who I used to be. I’m more. I’m so much more!
I love who I am becoming and I love what I do. My work is to empower everyone to love what they do. In support of that I’ve created an online course called Activating Your Personal Power. See if it’s something that might support you to take that leap of faith for yourself. Make your life a "HELL YES!"
I’d love it if you’d share this with others who you think might find value in this blog. And, of course LIKE IT, if you do, so others can see what is important to you.
Who is Dr. Rosie? Dr. Rosie Kuhn is a preeminent thought leader in the field of Transformational Coaching and Leadership Development. She is available for Speaking Engagements, Coaching Sessions for Individuals, Organizations and Executives, as well as Trainings. Her books can be found at Amazon.com. And, be sure to check out many of her other blogs as www.theparadigmshifts.com.
A course in Self-Empowerment is available at http://www.dailyom.com
