Tales of the Unexpected

The epiphany I’ve been waiting for came from left of centre.

It came in the form of this crazy idea that I would stop doing one-to-one consultations by phone and in person.

Controversial. Unexpected. Surprising.

The last thing I thought I would do yet the more I thought about it, the better it felt. My heart felt light and joyful and my energy rose even though my conscious mind was telling me I was mad.

I’ve been doing one-to-one consultations since 1999 and it is beautiful work, sacred work.

It’s a huge privilege to hold someone’s heart in your hands this way. It calls you to be fully present. Heart wide open. Listening to what is said and what is not. Holding sacred space.

I dive so deep into someone’s emotional world that I’ve found my limit is two clients a week. So all the while that I’ve been marketing my business there’s been an unsaid limit that I’ve set on myself. ‘No more than two clients a week please universe’.

From a business perspective that’s financial suicide and consultation work has never supported me.  I’ve done chunks of freelance work and part-time projects over the years while I focused on the big dream of building my one-to-one work.

I’ve developed other income streams but all the while I’ve been aiming to work with more one-to-one clients.

I thought the day would come when I would be able to accommodate more one-to-one work. I imagined that with more experience it would get easier (because 13 years’ experience clearly wasn’t quite enough…!).

I imagined that I’d reach the stage where I wouldn’t need to dive so deep to find the pearls. I wouldn’t need to meditate for so long beforehand to hold a sacred space. I’d get faster at writing up the information I send out after a session. I wouldn’t need to spend hours researching obscure essences for obscure issues.  Word of mouth would spread so I wouldn’t need to spend so much time marketing….

It hasn’t become easier, and it feels like I’ve been swimming upstream all year.  I’ve felt confused, restless, uncertain, conflicted.

Things don’t flow when the energy isn’t aligned. If there’s any conflict between what your head wants and your heart wants, you’re in trouble.

I started doing this work because in my heart I wanted to support people to heal. I asked myself if that was still my truth and I found a different truth instead.

I want thousands of people to reawaken to the healing power of nature.

Less about me supporting people individually, more about reminding people of the resources that are around them and within them.

I found myself thinking about the hundreds of people I’ve worked with one-to-one and in workshops and classes over the years. And the hundreds of people who have either bought essences from me or whom I’ve pointed in the direction of other essence producers.

I started thinking of how over a hundred people have joined us for Barefoot Breathing, over a hundred people for 10 Steps to Soothe Your Soul in Nature.

I thought about how around 2,500 people are signed up to mailing lists or connect through Twitter or Facebook.  Then there’s all the people who’ve emailed me or left comments because they’ve been touched by posts on this blog or the guest posts I’ve written on almost 30 other sites.

The penny dropped.

I am already reaching thousands of people with my constant reminders about the healing power of nature.

That takes the pressure off! I’m already doing what my heart calls me to do, and one-to-one consultations don’t need to be part of that.

I started to feel much lighter and more joyful. It freed up my energy. That’s what happens when we make the right decisions.

I told my beautiful clients about my decision by email and phone. We’ve shared so much together. I laughed. I cried. Strangely the world didn’t end!

One of my core skills is holding sacred space for someone to feel and offering processes for emotional exploration.  Consultations aren’t the only way I can offer that.

I loved creating the meditations and workbooks for Barefoot Breathing and the Emotional Healing Package. I’m working on a similar package for Healing the Inner Child, with others planned later in the year.

Having spent years doing editing and proof-reading and book design it’s joyful for me to create beautiful e-books.

Having spent years teaching meditation in classes and workshops, it’s joyful for me to create meditations that take people into their emotions to find their own pearls.

This all feels so joyful and creative and gorgeous that it makes my energy soar. My heart feels like it’s going to burst.

I’m still offering Emotional Healing Package and Intuitive Diagnosis because they feel light. Jason and I are planning real-life (as opposed to online!) workshops this summer and, if the weather is good, we’ll make more flower essences.

I’ve developed the Emotional Balance Kit for people who want the benefits of the Emotional Healing Package without essences.

It’s taken me a while to get to this point but it feels so good.

Sometimes we miss the obvious; we get so stuck in thinking ‘this is how I do things’ that we don’t notice when they no longer fit.

Sometimes we need to let go of what we love to find what we really love.

Are you feeling stuck or confused or like things aren’t flowing just now?  I can guarantee that something needs to change. It might be a big change or a subtle shift but something needs to change.

Life flow effortlessly when your energy is fully in alignment.

If you feel like you’re swimming upstream, I dare you to get playful and ask yourself what change you can make that (secretly) seems a little bit crazy.

Daring. Unexpected. Controversial.

Pull apart your notion of who you think you are, where you live and what you do. Contemplate doing something quite different and notice if it makes your energy soar.

Contemplate letting go of something that you thought you would always be doing and notice if it makes your energy soar.

Turn your world upside down or shake it up a little.

Surprise yourself. Do something unexpected. Out of character.

Maybe you already are. I’d love to hear your tales of the unexpected.

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies” – Anon

Beautiful butterfly images courtesy of Jason Smalley