How Listening to our Heart Leads us Exactly Where We Need to Go
This Blog Post has been adapted from an 'ice breaker' speech I made at a Toastmasters.
Why are we here? Who are we?
Big questions, right?!
Even though this is meant to be an ‘ice breaker’, a way for me to tell you a bit more about myself and why I am here, in writing this speech, I found these big questions to be relevant.
To be honest I have always found these deep questions at the forefront of my mind. From a young age I was interested in things like peace, unity and harmony.
I grew up in a white, middle class suburb just outside of Edmonton and both my parents were educators. They had pretty specific goals and expectations for me.
This wasn't a bad thing. They helped me build important skills and gave me the support I needed to ‘succeed’ at school and in many other ways our society likes to define as success.
I am grateful for all they have given me.
But underlying my obedience and my achievements was this deep desire to shake things up; to focus elsewhere.
I had BIG questions:
Why so much emphasis on material wealth?
Was anyone interested in pursing their true purpose, or was it always necessary to put money and security first?
Were we as a human race going to get serious about world peace, or were we going to keep dropping bombs?
What happened to our connection to Spirit? To the natural world?
I wanted answers. When I pursued these questions most people seemed either uninterested or annoyed.
As time went on, because I wanted to fit in and because I wanted to be accepted, I did what was expected of me.
I quieted down. I went to university. I got a degree in education. And then I got a job teaching at a private school in Mexico.
It was that year that I got a HUGE push to pursue my true purpose; a GIANT nudge to follow my heart.
At the end of my contract, just before going back home to Canada to get a proper job with a good pension, my boyfriend took me on a road trip.
As we were driving down a curvy mountain road, the steering locked and we ended up catapulting off a cliff. The car started flipping and we were falling DOWN, DOWN, DOWN.
During the decent, in my mind, very clearly, the following words were on repeat:
“Are you happy? Are you doing what you love? Are you happy? Are you doing what you love?”
By the time we landed on the jungle floor, unharmed, not a single scratch, I knew to the very core of my being, that I had to change the trajectory of my life. This was a wake up call.
I needed to get to the bottom of these BIG questions; I needed to follow my heart.
Who am I? Why am I here?
I had an inkling that Yoga and meditation would help me explore these questions. Instead of moving back to Canada, I set off to India.
These ancient teachings did help me to answer these questions.
Not only have these practices helped me to align with my true purpose, they have helped me maintain health in mind and body and they have given me a sense of inner peace.
For the last twenty-five years, I have been able to dedicate my life to doing what I love. I have taught thousands of classes. I've held workshops and retreats. I have had the honour of watching people benefit, grow and heal because of their dedication to these practices.
It has been an incredibly rich and rewarding journey to follow my heart.
Recently, I have been hearing this new nudge. 'Get up on stage'. I don’t know exactly where this path of speaking will take me, but I am hearing the call. Maybe it will be a way for me to reach more people?
It scares the crap out of me to think about get up on stage in front of a bunch of strangers, but every time I face my fears I grow. Every time I listen to my heart I am lead in the right direction.
I think a lot of us are being called to ask these Big Questions!
Step out of our comfort zone.
Align with our true purpose.
I don’t want to have to be catapulted off a mountain in order to hear the message so here I am pursuing public speaking.
I hope I can inspire you and others to consider these Big Questions.
Who are you? Why are YOU here?
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If you want to learn more about Yoga or other mindfulness techniques and get in touch with your true purpose, reach out! I love helping people on their journey to Self Discovery.
Want to hear my speech? Here is a video of me practicing it!
