Last night, I went to a very stimulating workshop called “Write Yourself Free” in CT, offered by The Editing Company, and held by two wonderful and empowering writing coaches/teachers, Susie Horgan and Patrick McCord. The program was designed to help aspiring and published writers overcome their fears and blocks, and make movement in their work, bringing forward their gifts and talents into the world in a bigger way than ever before. As a breakthrough coach and an author myself, I brought to the workshop an open mind, keen interest, and great enthusiasm, but not much hope that I’d have a breakthrough. How wrong I was!
I experienced a huge shift in those two short hours, one that opened me up to new realizations that truly rocked me (in a good way). Through the exercises of writing and reading to a stranger what I’d created, I learned this about myself – even though I’ve undergone the extreme rigor of researching and writing a self-help book for women (and by most accounts a good one), and have had it published by a very reputable publishing firm, my heart beats fast and furiously (and my knees knock together loudly) at the thought of my next project I’m longing to write – a powerful screenplay about a spiritual occurrence that flips the main character’s world upside, and changes her and her family’s life forever.
Why does the idea of moving forward on this particular project make my fingers turn cold and my chest throb? Because for me, that’s as real as it gets. The story is autobiographical – it’s raw, authentic, and revealing. It’s about the true me – not the image I may project to others. It’s very scary to let the “real” you out in this world that’s all about image, posturing, and control. I realized too that I’m intensely concerned with being “credible” and to be deemed “credible,” I go to amazing lengths to prove that I’m a studied expert in any given topic I’m covering. But needing always to feel credible is a futile and wasteful exercise – sometimes it’s enough to just “be” instead.
I made a commitment last night – to myself, to the group, and to my new writing partner – that I will write 15 minutes a day on my screenplay. That’s all – 15 wee little minutes. Not a lofty goal by any stretch, but a monumental one for me. The mere promise of 15 minutes sets new worlds into motion, and releases blocks that have kept me for years from focusing on what I truly want to – living and connecting to your true spirit in life and work.
So I’d love to offer you this challenge today – ask yourself this: “What are you deeply longing to do, but are absolutely terrified of trying? What one project do you fantasize about taking on, but it makes your knees knock together in fear, because it’s as real and revealing as it gets for you?”
It’s in this question that you’ll find some nugget of the truth that’s waiting to be told about your life; some aspect of breakthrough in you that’s longing to emerge so that you can finally get on with the life you’re meant to be leading, not someone else’s.
I hope that you’ll share answers to your breakthrough questions here. We’ll all learn from you, because basically we all fear the same thing. Can you guess what that is?
What’s your breakthrough waiting to happen?
