Have the Courage to Be the Tortoise

While the hare always gets ahead, in the end it’s the tortoise that wins the race.

2019: The Year of Understanding Continues…

This week, I turned 35. And I’ve begun to reflect on some things.

But first I just want to say: Hello and welcome.

Perhaps you’re new here to this journey of growth, or maybe you’ve been following along since we first embarked at the beginning of the New Year.

Let me throw down the quick summary in case you’re needing to get yourself caught up:

1. Yep, we’re on a journey. And that thing about the mountain. What? Ok that’s all here!

2. We need tools. #1 is A MAP (and this is your MOST important tool, please don’t leave home without it). Learn more about that here and then set up your Personality Discovery & Coaching Session here!

3. We need more tools. Our #2 tool is Self-Care (we don’t want to burn ourselves out and we need to remember how to be kind to ourselves). Wanna learn all about self-care AND experience a Chinese Gongfu Tea Ceremony? Of course you do! You’ll want to check this out for sure. It’s a workshop and afternoon retreat and it’s happening on March 2nd!

I think we’re outfitted pretty well now that we could really get going on this thing. We’re collecting some great tools, but now we need some skills.

Which brings us to:


SKILL #1: Go Slowly

And yep, if you read the last newsletter you’re shaking your head that once again I just labeled this skill as #1 meaning I’ll have to come up with a #2 next time. And yes, you’re right, I absolutely don’t have that planned out yet, but HEY isn’t this fun figuring this all out together??

And if you didn’t read the last newsletter, you can do so here. It’s a good one where I get real about not always having a plan, procrastination, and online trolls. Check it out.

Back to Skill #1: Going Slowly.

Almost 13 years ago I graduated college. As a young 20-something I desperately tried to fit in, finding it relatively easy externally yet completely unfulfilling internally.

But I didn’t know that there was another way.

They don’t teach that class in college. Changing the World, sure (actual class I took at my liberal arts college), but How to Understand Yourself and Live According to That Instead of What the World Tells You You’re Supposed to Do, not so much.

After a couple years of fits and starts I realized that perhaps I was on a different path.

I’ve always been someone who gazes waaay far into the future, mapping out 5- and 10-year plans just for fun (and then throwing them out along the way).

As I gazed into the future, I had this distinct knowing that it was going to take me a very long time, but that by the time I was 40ish I would be living a life that I loved.

And I also had the distinct knowing that not everyone around me would be feeling this same sense of fulfillment.

It was this vision/thought/idea that kept me going for a very long time, through a lot of weird stuff.

The vision that one day in the future I would be living exactly the life I always wanted – even though in the present moment it seemed like everyone else already had life figured out.

But I suspected I was taking a path that would end with more personal satisfaction than the more typical straight and narrow path

I kept the vision of a life finally fulfilled, even though the world’s message is to get your shit together as quickly as possible.

There are plenty of people out there who are louder than me who will tell you that the key to success is to just work harder and move faster. And while the hare always gets ahead, in the end it’s the tortoise that wins the race.

Moving slowly isn’t defeat, moving slowly isn’t laziness. It’s having the courage to pause in the middle of the race and calibrate to your own internal compass.

Do you want to be directed by outside forces telling you where you should go, or by inside forces telling you where you MUST go?

Is it a victory to simply finish life or is it a victory to have lived well, learned who you are and why you’re here, and carried out your soul’s actual purpose?

I don’t think we are put here on this Earth just to become exceptionally good at multi-tasking. I think maybe we’re here because there are some amazing lessons to learn.

But we have to open our eyes and open our hearts. This takes time and this takes courage. We have to slow down and be brave.

For me, I didn’t actually know what I was doing at the time. I just kept moving forward and holding the vision. And for some reason I also kept getting really sick.

Sickness is one of the few “legitimate” reasons that life ever allows us to slow down. Sickness, injury, loss – of a loved one, of a job, a relationship – these are the few reasons we allow the space and time for ourselves and others to slow down, to cocoon inwards, to pause the chaos of life.

And because I had the luxury (and yes I actually call it a luxury in retrospect) of being so sick and stuck in hospitals with no ability to actually DO much of anything, I got to experience this ability to pause, reassess my life, and shift the direction of my path on multiple occasions. I had the time and space to just be – a lot. To think, to wonder, to ponder.

Yes, physical my body was being torn apart, but not my mind, not my heart, not my spirit. In fact my heart became fuller, when I felt all the love come pouring in towards me as tends to happen when we go through a challenging time;

my mind became happier, suddenly allowed to experience my actual flow state that looks completely unproductive on the outside but fascinating and full on the inside;

and my spirit suddenly came back into existence, long-dying from forcing myself to fit into a mold that didn’t quite fit.

If you are going through a time of sickness, injury, or loss – I send my love out to you and remind you: TAKE. THIS. TIME. Do everything you must do for yourself, for your grief, for your physical safety – and then pause longer and assess.

The most awful things that happen to us are often calling us to a new path – or simply a new understanding about life. Be brave, have courage. Let magic grow from this darkness.

If you don’t have sickness, injury, or loss in your own life – fill yourself up with gratitude for starters, the gratitude that you and your loved ones are ok. And then CREATE space. Just because the world doesn’t honor taking a time out, doesn’t mean you have to agree with that. If life isn’t everything you want it to be, if you feel your soul’s longing for something more – TAKE. TIME. OUT.

At the end of the final road, what do you want to look back and see? Start at the end. Create the vision. Hold that vision. Slow down. Be brave.

Don’t be afraid to be on the slow and uncharted path. Don’t be worried that stepping into your destiny is “taking too long.” In life, we never fully “arrive.” It’s always a bit of a work in progress.

Don’t feel that you have to throw all practicality out the window, either! I know some of you are thinking that it’s not realistic to make a change, or that it’s not the point of life, or that you’re not worthy of being wildly happy or completely fulfilled.

It might not be “practical” but try it anyway. It sure is the point. And you most definitely are worth it.

 


Here’s to all the tortoises of the world; create and hold the vision and you will have your victory in due time.

Here’s to all the hares of the world: learn from the tortoise and give yourself time and space to assess your path. You will move quickly and accomplish much – make sure it fills you up inside.

Here’s to all of us: tune in to your internal compass and do whatever you can to follow it.

If we do this, we have happy souls, and happy souls create a happy world.

Let’s create a happy world.


Personality Discovery & Coaching Session

Everybody is a genius.

But if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” – Einstein

 

  • A Personality Discovery & Coaching Session is the perfect way to dip your toes into the waters of personal growth without a big commitment.
  • Myer’s Briggs 2.0: Enough with the fluff! Most people don’t go deep enough with Myer’s Briggs – don’t stop before you get to the good stuff.
  • No test, quizzes, or assessments. Live interview and calibration with a Myer’s Briggs expert to find your best-fit type. Learn about the Cognitive Functions and how your brain is uniquely wired to learn and make decisions. Discover your unique brand of genius.

Single-Session Includes:

  • 3-hours of face-to-face time (in-person or long-distance) involving an interview, explanation of your profile, and personalized coaching around your most pressing goal or challenge.
  • A deep-dive into understanding your behaviors, motivations, and unique brain wiring.
  • Information on how to leverage your strengths and manage your blind-spots.
  • Clarity, understanding, and direction to apply to all aspects of your life including health, career, relationships.

Receive personalized answers to these questions:

  • What is my flow state?
  • How can I best energize myself?
  • What’s my biggest blind spot?
  • What’s my fighting/conflict style?
  • What’s the most effective type of R&R for me?
  • How do I encourage myself towards personal growth?
  • And more..!

A Gateway to the Soul

How do we access something as intangible as the soul? We will use this Myer’s Briggs 2.0 method as a map to help us remember who we are meant to be, or maybe to discover it for the very first time.

When we are living out of alignment with our true selves, our soul is out of alignment. When the soul is broken, we are broken, and this can manifest in very physical and tangible ways.

We will use this method of soul rediscovery to begin to bring both body and soul back into alignment and into a state of peace where we can access the ability to heal and reclaim our innate wholeness.

“The Personality Discovery Session I completed with Angela was a much needed guided journey into my soul and psyche. It is so much more than a typing session. Angela did help me understand my cognitive type, but in the process of doing so I had multiple moments of that feeling of connecting with my true authentic self. It is absolutely an invaluable experience.” –Lani Hanson

 

Truly understanding yourself is the MOST important tool in any journey of personal growth.

Contact Me Here to Ask Questions or Schedule Your Session!

 

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