Life is full of conditions, circumstances, and situations that demand we choose what we want for ourselves. But what will we stand for in standing for ourselves?

In the process of living, we are forming habits, patterns, and beliefs that become our paradigms. We start to live in the patterns of these paradigms that then become the story that we live.

The story we tell is the paradigm we are living from.

When we take the time to dissect and examine our story, we are in a place where change can happen through conscious intentions. When we choose to look at our unconscious story, it reflects the hidden patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that keep us stuck or feeling discontent.

When we stay stuck in these paradigms they can cause us great pain and unnecessary suffering.

This is a call to step through the pain, to activate your joy, to activate your superpower. It’s time to meet your life with the consciousness that supports your passionate heart’s desire.

Stepping through the pain started early with me because I had a bipolar mother. My mother was unpredictable, often emotionally unstable creating a great deal of uncertainty in my life overall.

When I left home, I found myself going through college and starting a career full of enthusiasm and high expectations. I believed that I could do the work I love and cash in on the fact that I had award-winning designs at college.

The horrible truth was I was looking down the barrel of a very misogynistic and sexist corporate structure that was knocking the soul right out of me. It was then that I was introduced to the second wave of the Feminist Movement.

While I was setting up three women’s centers, I was exposed to the harsh stories that were women’s daily reality, and what women are routinely subjected to. We are still being violated and abused in every possible way, from not being allowed into certain careers to not getting equal pay for equal value. I heard about the physical abuse that was “our fault” because we were dressed too sexily, had a loud mouth, or didn’t know our place. The list goes on.

I took up the causes- Social Justice, Human Rights and Women’s Rights, LBGTQIA Rights and Peace, and all of the things that would create a better world.

What I started to recognize was that with all the work we were doing to change the outer reality, we were not aware of our own pain and how that pain was impacting our ability to claim our own power and step into that power.

We were pointing the finger at others and expecting them to do something for us that we were not willing or able to do for ourselves. That’s when I started to really ask the question – “What is it that we really need to be doing to change our lives?”

That was when a book called “Working from the Inside Out” by Sonja Johnson literally fell on my head. That book changed my perspective on everything, I started to search for a way to create that change. I learned what is needed to do inner work. That’s when I showed up at Heartwood Institute, in Northern California (all the way from Nova Scotia!). I began a very long journey of learning holistic healing. That is there that I learned the powerful tools of breath work, hypnotherapist, and a variety of other skills as a Transformational Coach.

I believe that a holistic viewpoint is what helps us to heal our trauma and changes our lives. I support women in growth and transformation. I believe one of the places where growth happens is when we are able to share our stories and reframe that story to step through the pain.

Reclaiming our story is what develops our superpower.

We are here; despite what happened, we survived.

To get past survival, we must now move towards thriving. When we own our strengths and abilities, we keep on investing in our lives, making them worthwhile and having an impact.

I believe that we are all spiritual beings having a human experience and that it is our spiritual purpose and energy that actually helps us to move towards claiming our voice, our power. That voice will help heal and support us in changing the world in ways that are yet to be fully embraced.

Over the years I have supported many women in reclaiming their voices. By doing so, they are doing the healing which allows them to step past the pain and into their superpower.

Because I am a strong believer in walking my talk, I have never expected a client to do anything I would not do myself.

Recently, I published a book called Inward and Beyond- Transformation is a Conscious Choice. This book came out of a very dynamic experience of falling in love and experiencing the explicit yes in stepping into opening my heart, having my heart opened, and at the same time, having my heart broken. Because the woman I was with was not interested in sharing or speaking about what was happening, I had to find a way to process and express my innermost feelings. These emotions were true, violent, painful, turbulent, awkward, revealing, intense, and scary.

I know the struggle in looking at our shadow or pain. All our abilities rise up from this curriculum of our lives. It is the healing, the choosing, the intention that creates new results. When we choose to reprogram the past, the present is focused on what our passionate heart aches for and we are claiming a new story for ourselves. This is where we find the superpower in the adversity we have overcome.

I have followed women’s stories and their reclaiming for years. It’s especially rewarding to watch women learn the craft of storytelling in the Raise Your Voice Speakers Club. They become Badasses at owning their story and connecting with their tribe because of what they learn in the Club. Their strength and confidence shines through because there is no longer a place to hide from their pain; they have the power to focus their work and energy on what really matters. It lifts them up and gives them wings to take off into the life they designed.

This is where imagination and creativity are powerful tools. It’s the power of our minds. The mind knows no difference between a story told from the past or the future. Then when we retell a story from a new perspective, the mind takes that and generates all the neural pathways to create feelings to generate new outcomes.

I have witnessed the power of creativity in the healing process. There are many ways that creativity can be brought in to support stepping through the pain to claim your super power.

We are going to start with claiming your power, retelling your story to heal, and claiming your voice.

You have an amazing opportunity to heal old stories and limiting beliefs by taking the time to write out your story. When you reflect on your journey, look at what influences you, what interpretations of events keep you hitting the glass ceiling or sinking down the rabbit hole of feeling confused, frustrated, or uncertain?

When you can call out your beliefs within the narrative, you can choose a different story to tell yourself. Becoming aware of your underlying beliefs will give you the power to change your story and change your life.

Here are a few exercises to get you started.

Exercise 1:
Word Play 
A. List 100 words that you use to express your emotions,
B. Once you have that list – use them to write out a short 50-word story that would describe an incident that was a fun time for you.

Exercise 2:
Write a poem or a song using those words.

Exercise 3:
What words do you use to describe your relationships? Write out a list then use them to tell a story about someone that is significant to your growth.

Exercise 4:
Tell a story about the last time you were attracted to someone.

Exercise 5:
Take one of the stories and write out how it strengthened you. What did you take away that was a growth situation for you? What words reinforce a positive self-image?

Now, how do you feel?