If we’re Facebook friends you might have read about my almost (and fortunately not quite!) head-on collision with a vehicle going the wrong way down a one-way street last week. While my car and my person may not have physically felt the impact, the latter has certainly experienced the impact personally, professionally, and spiritually.
I’m ready to slow down…and speak up.
About 15 seconds or so passed between realizing a vehicle was barreling towards me, honking with everything in me, and the other car quickly stopping so that I (and the other vehicles behind and next to me) could go around. During this time I did the cliché thinking and questioning we believe we are supposed to do in such a situation.
What am I grateful for?
What do I want my legacy to be?
How will this impact my family—particularly my daughter?
What did I never have the chance to say?
Okay, most people may not ask that last question, but it’s been the one that has really dug deep into my psyche over the last few days.
Despite having a really unhealthy affair with busyness over the last few months, I consistently take stock of what I’m grateful for, I’m clear on my work in the world, and I know that it would be devastating for my family if my daughter was without her mother. I also know that most moments since my near collision I have experienced much more fully. As I said on Facebook, I’ve felt them in HD, 3D. I’ve felt every edge of them. I’ve committed to creating more days full of color, sensation, contribution, wonder, gratitude, and divinity.
Which brings me back to that fourth nagging questions about what I haven’t yet had a chance to say.
There’s been a lot of hateful discourse going on lately in the U.S. In our streets. In our living rooms. On our TV’s. In our government. And this nastiness is certainly spreading to our neighbors throughout the world.
This hateful rhetoric has not consumed my attention and energy as much as I’d like it to—and yet, nonetheless, I have had lots to say about it…. But haven’t spoken up as loudly as I want to be.
I once got an email from someone on my newsletter list telling me I was too political. Even though it was over 6 years ago, the comment embedded deep in my subconscious and my ego, and as a result I just haven’t gone “there.”
But here’s the thing I know—heck, I teach—that the stuff we were born to say is usually going to turn some people off. And…because it’s scary, necessary, and us being most in our zone of genius—it’s going to turn some people on. Wayyyyyyy on!
So while I promise I won’t tell you who to vote for in the next election or what I think of Congress’ newest budget, I will tell you what I think about how we’re treating each other—at work, at home, and in our communities.
As long as one person is racist, we all are a little racist.
As long as one person is sexist, we all are a little sexist.
As long as one person is homophobic, we all are a little homophobic.
It’s our collective consciousness that sows the seeds of oppression.
What we are thinking as individuals impacts what we see in the world.
What we say, or don’t say, matters.
When we see police brutality, rape, bullying, and other violence in our news it can be an invitation for apathy or a call to action.
We must think peace. Teach peace. Practice peace. Speak peace.
If we want a more conscious, creative, and compassionate world we will build it.
One word at a time.
I began my career in the social change sector, and I’m deeply committed to ensuring that those with a big message—who are building movements and engaged in important work that is creating positive and sustainable economic, social, and environmental results—are confident and competent with a mic in hand.
I want to play a role in more people integrating entrepreneurship with social impact.
I want to play a role in more young women like Malala Yousafzai demanding the right to a full education.
I want to play a role in more people relaxing into the fear that often comes up when they think about speaking to audiences—whether that’s a TEDx audience or an audience of funders or potential donors—so that they can leave the legacy they were put here to make.
And that’s why I’m sponsoring a full tuition scholarship for my March 13-15, 2015 MasterTreat in Las Vegas. A mastermind-meets-retreat for transformational speakers, the MasterTreat is a unique opportunity for women seeking to develop, practice, and refine their big talks, develop the strategy to get the right high quality bookings, and relax and restore in a community of other game-changing female business and thought leaders. You can get full details about the MasterTreat here.
Through December 23, 2015 at 5pm pst, I’m accepting nominations for a female changemaker who is using her voice, her work, her life to make the world a better place. One woman will be picked and receive the entire MasterTreat weekend for FREE so that she can start or scale her speaking and touch more lives.
To nominate yourself or another woman you know who could really benefit from this luxurious, intensive, and effective weekend with just up to 19 other trailblazers, submit your nomination here.
What I want for you as you close out this year —whether it was an epic one for you like it was for me, or perhaps one of those years you’re just glad is behind rather than in front of you—is to remember that whomever you are, wherever you are, you have a voice. You have a viewpoint—most likely lots of viewpoints—on everything from what belongs in a holiday meal (I’m personally a little miffed more restaurants don’t serve turkey on Christmas) to how to apply conscious capitalism within your business. (As for that latter one, I’m currently researching best practices for a possible new project, so if you’ve got some please do send them my way.)
Please, don’t wait to share what you know at the core of your being you were meant to say.
After all, each day aren’t we all possibly living on borrowed time?
