Getting Your Act Together

“Whatever happens on the outside, you need a place
on which to stand on the inside.”

~~Christina Baldwin, author, writer, teacher,
co-founder of PeerSpirit, Inc. and The Circle Way Process

I’ve been taking not one, but two —count them, two — classes relative to my life and how I go about my business. I either deserve a pat or a bullseye on my back.

Carolyn Scarborough is teaching an 8-week course based on Julia Cameron’s latest, “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again” and Renée Trudeau is closing in on a 5-week mastermind course for an intimate group of 10 entrepreneurs called “Unleashed.”

Since I also teach reflective writing, I’m slightly “over-reflected” from all of the above. Though exhausting in some ways (hence bullseye on back), immersing myself in this work has paid off and blocks have been removed (big pat on back).

Here’s the upshot: better sleep, greater patience, more fun, more clarity, more confidence, more focused and, well, happier! I think I’m getting my act together.

Carolyn and Renée, in their own unique way, have both helped me to “see Jeanne.” Their courses reinforced the importance of the work I’ve been doing and the passion I have for it. Just last year, co-author/photographer Dave Rackley and I published a book entitled “Seeing Me” to help people reframe the way they see themselves through reflective writing. It’s a good book. You should buy it.

I could feel myself open up in the classes, expand and grow as I watched the same thing happen to the others. And I realized how drawn  I am to people who also allow themselves to be real, to be vulnerable.

Both circles welcomed vulnerability and participation. I realized, especially in the entrepreneurs group, I didn’t have to know everything, or even give the appearance of knowing everything. I was not there to be wise (even though I was, ahem, the elder in both groups), I was there to be me. We shifted into a vulnerable place where all could let down their guard. They saw the real me – the one who suffers, struggles, and tries to get out of her own way.

Try getting out of your own way in order to get your act together. You’ll know it when it happens. It doesn’t feel like an act. It feels real. And it feels really good.

My thanks to Renée and Carolyn for helping me get mine together by helping me see myself, get to know myself and practice the vulnerable route to get there.

Biggest gift? It isn’t about what I want to be, it’s about how I want to be.