Wow.
So this is what happens when you forget about making plans and just keep committing to your deepest sense of purpose?
You suddenly have more opportunities than you know what to do with, more energy than you thought possible and more collaborators than you ever dared dream of?
I’m riding a wave of purposeful, but completely unplanned, enthusiasm at the moment. My initial contact with Off the Mat, Into the World one year ago has grown into a role as the Regional Leader for Off the Mat in New Zealand and Australia.
This is a role that comes with buckets of support and no agenda. It’s completely up to me to discover what our yoga communities in New Zealand and Australia might want to do with this amazing organisation.
So, if you are a yogi or an activist in New Zealand or Australia who is excited by the idea of using the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and to ignite grass roots social change, please get in touch and let’s see how we can work together.
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited.
I’ve also been invited to participate in the European Summit for Global Transformation this October. If you’ve been reading here for a while then you’ll recognise the names of some of the other people who have also been invited: women like Mama Lucy, Stacey Monk, Letha Sandison, Maggie Doyne and Jen Lemen.
These women are my people and it gives me chills to think that we might all come together in Amsterdam this October. I can only imagine the things we might make happen!
The summit is not a sit-and-listen kind of group. It’s about connection, collaboration and action.
This is what happens when you get a group of committed people together to share resources, pool knowledge, engage in conversation and move forward together. The European Summit inspires, connects and creates breakthrough actions for its participants – entrepreneurs and activists worldwide.
Our specialty is building bridges between people of diverse backgrounds with varied skills, shared interests and mutual admiration. We create and facilitate productive working relationships. Passions are rekindled; commitments spoken aloud, new actions made not only possible but probable.
I hope I can be there. And I’d love it if you were there too. Registrations are now open. If you feel any sense of calling to be there, please sign up. If the voices of fear and doubt try to shout you down, please know that you are not alone. We all feel those fears. It’s when we can move past them that we can really begin to be of service in the world.
When I received my invitation to attend my first thought was “but I’m not doing anything important enough to be part of this.” That’s the voice of fear. That’s the voice of my old belief that I’m not good enough.
I have all the love in the world for the scared little girl who sits behind that voice, but I don’t let her take the reins of my life any more. I’m learning to trust that the work I’m here to do is bigger than me. I’m learning that my fears and doubts are completely natural, but they have no place getting in the way of my service in the world. I’m learning to trust and follow my enthusiasm.
That voice of fear was loud this morning when I thought about my book. I was suddenly seized by the conviction that if my book is published, I’ll expose myself as an idiot and a fraud. Oh yes, Fear was showing up this morning.
Thank goodness for faith. Faith, to me, means trusting that if my intention is clean and I am committed to serving the greater good, then I’ll be guided to where I can be of most service. Maybe that will include a published book. Maybe it won’t.
And yes, maybe it will involve people seeing me in all my human frailty and fallibility.
But when I remember that all of this is bigger than me, I’m no longer afraid. I show up and I serve as best I can. And I know that it is enough.
Yup. I’m on purpose. I’m on track (which means nothing more than simply showing up, without any agenda other than love). I’m on fire.
PS: The European Summit for Global Transformation is looking for sponsors. They run the entire show with volunteers but there are some costs involved in the actual venues, and in helping get some amazing grass-roots change-makers to the summit. People like Mama Lucy and Maggie Doyne. If you or your company would like to sponsor this fantastic event, you can find out more here.
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I had a similar moment last week when someone very clever and amazing offered me an unexpected opportunity. I thought “But I can’t! I haven’t done anything near what is required to do that. I am not qualified.”
My favourite thing about those fearful moments is discovering the greater fear that comes with thinking “But what if I DON’T do that thing…??”
That is, when the sadness/regret of not doing it overpowers the fear of doing it. Fear conquered, fakery vanquished. Rock on, my friend.
Yes! enough and sometimes overflowing.
I’m still finding my way. I can’t see clearly, but I’m feeling my way down this uncertain path. You inspire.
“I’m learning to trust that the work I’m here to do is bigger than me.”
Oh that’s such a big, bold statement and one I’m trying really hard to hang onto as I step away from my non-profit job into the unknown world of self-employment. I feel very strongly that I’m following my path, but some days that feels really scary. The exciting things happening for you give me hope.
You absolutely sound on purpose, on track and on fire, and I am not at all surprised. You bring such a powerful awareness and mindfulness to everything you do, and you continue to inspire me. You live a life in alignment with your greatest values and ideals, and you do it with incredible grace and integrity. I am privileged to call you my friend.
“I’m learning that my fears and doubts are completely natural, but they have no place getting in the way of my service in the world. I’m learning to trust and follow my enthusiasm.”
This sentence is beautifully put, only why is it often hard to hold on to this?
I am going to write your quote down and looking at it every morning when I wake up. Life is worthwhile and beautiful
Congrats!!! I’m going through something similar myself right now with my travel writing and it’s wonderful.
Dudette, that is WONDERFUL news.
If I can be at the summit to support you and congratulate you in person, I sure will be.
Awesome.
I absolutely had to comment on this brave, inspiring post. I am at a crossroads in my life and most days I find myself looking back with feelings of comfort and looking forward with a mix of excitement/panic!
These words spoke so clearly to me that I will print them out to give me courage:
“If the voices of fear and doubt try to shout you down, please know that you are not alone. We all feel those fears. It’s when we can move past them that we can really begin to be of service in the world.”
“I have all the love in the world for the scared little girl who sits behind that voice, but I don’t let her take the reins of my life any more. I’m learning to trust that the work I’m here to do is bigger than me. I’m learning that my fears and doubts are completely natural, but they have no place getting in the way of my service in the world. I’m learning to trust and follow my enthusiasm.”
Marianne, you have been of service today and like you said at the start of your post; wow.
Thanking you,
Amanda
P.S And yes I’m interested in Off The Mat.
Exciting stuff! Congrats!
Thanks so much, Marianne, for this post and including the Summit! What a group we’ll have! I can’t wait to see what we all create together. Thank you.
Thank you, respect & admiration, Doris
Great stuff!!!
Very timely message for me to read this morning!
Bright Blessings to you on your amazing journey
Oh dear, I’ve just found your blog, and this particular post… It’s like a sign, the sign I’ve been waiting for, as I’m slowly beginning my journey to, dare I say it, service? How inspiring!
I live in Brussels, it’s not that far from Amsterdam, I so want to go to the Summit now that I know about it, now that it’s found me. Thank you
Hi Emmanuelle, I do hope you come to the Summit – it is going to be such a fantastic gathering of people who share the same goal – to serve with joy!
[...] As Marianne Elliot said so eloquently, “I’m learning to trust that the work I’m here to do is bigger than me.” Somehow it feels like the Sophia work is bigger than me and it’s the direction I need to place my energy. I expect that (at least at first) it won’t be the only thing that I do, and really, I think if I do it right, all of those things can be incorporated into the Sophia work. [...]