When I was 16, my dad introduced me to yoga and gave me a copy of Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. I read it along with the copy of Chogyam Trungpa’s Shambala that he also gave me. I didn’t “get it” AT ALL and truth be told, I was willing to fake it if it meant I would feel closer to my dad.
Fast forward, 24 years and here I sit at a cafe in Paris, after a delicious yoga class, preparing to capture 11 extraordinary women and a powerful live event lead by my dear and beloved friend Success coach Gina DeVee with over 100 more. I’m being well compensated for creating unforgettable transformational Personal Branding Photoshoots for these women and know that the more of myself I give to each of them the more enlivened I will be.
So, I’m sitting here at lunch after yoga and I’m reminded of one particularly memorable line from Joseph Campbell –
“Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors where once there were only walls”
and I realize that after 24 years I’ve just naturally “gotten it”. I now get what it means to follow my bliss.
Most people think that following your bliss means always taking the path of ease and “flow” but what it actually means is you have to give everything you’ve got in service to your heart’s desire. {share it}
5 years ago, I had a dream of coming here to Paris and photographing women. I had just started offering the kindergarten version of my personal branding photoshoots and started looking around for how to make it happen; asking a girlfriend who offered a retreat here, asking other girlfriends if they wanted to collaborate on something and all I discovered were walls. Walls where I wanted to discover doors.
The dream settled in my heart and I put my attention back on doing everything I could to build my brand, to hone my skills and take on the time and financial investment of developing what is now my signature Personal Branding Photography Experience. I spent more money than I had to spend, I moved forward in the face of exhaustion and hopelessness and every self doubt and fear, I said YES to my heart’s desire and it took everything I had to follow my bliss.
Now everywhere I look I see doors where once there were only walls; month long stays in Paris, Italy, New York, Australia, as many clients as I can handle and a full team to support me and the women I serve.
I have something special for you – 3 simple mantras to start discovering your own doorways. They aren’t effortless by any means and trust me, they will serve you well to follow;
1. Trust your desire, your bliss even if you have no idea how you are ever going to get there.
2. Be willing to say YES even if you doubt yourself.
3. Continue to give everything you can and then give more and then give more and then give more and never stop giving everything you possibly can.
Now, go out there and get to work! The world needs all of you.
In Love and in Service,
p.s. Are you following my adventures on facebook? Oh, please do, click here and follow me.
