I was listening to Hoda Kobt’s podcast “Making Space,” and she was interviewing Viola Davis.  Viola Davis said, “Don’t confuse achievement for healing.”  I heard myself say YES!!! 

I loved that she said that.  It is so true.  

Even though we have achieved a lot of success in many areas of our lives, doesn’t mean we have healed the wounds of our childhood.

Neuroscience research has found that most of our beliefs, subconscious patterns, and how we see ourselves fitting into the world are formed by the age of 7.  

If we haven’t done the inner work to heal our inner child and clear the beliefs and  subconscious patterns, our achievements only cover up the fact that our 7-year-old self is still running the show.

Two significant points in my life called me to deep inner work.

The first was at 24 years old when I joined Mary Kay Cosmetics instead of taking the accounting job I was offered after graduating from college (a story for another time).  

I remember coming home and telling my mom I had joined Mary Kay Cosmetics, and she just stared at me with her mouth open.  When she could finally speak, she said, “How are you going to do that? You don’t like working with women, you don’t wear makeup, and you don’t talk to people.”

I immediately began questioning my decision. It was crazy, but I just knew that I couldn’t work in an accounting firm.

The two women who brought me into Mary Kay promised to teach me how to talk to people and how I could build a business, work for myself, and win a car.  That was all I needed to hear.

They were right.  Eighteen months later, I learned to talk to people and liked it.  I had earned my first of fourteen free cars and moved up into an upper leadership position.

I put my head down, powered through, and achieved.  Trying to prove to my family and others, including myself, that I had made the right decision.

Along the way, I was bumping up against the 7-year-old me running the show.  She was trying to keep me safe.  I was powering through everything until I was finally introduced to two significant books in starting my journey of self-development and healing.  The first was “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino, and the second was “Your Erroneous Zones” by Wayne Dyer.

This began my journey into a deep dive and lifetime passion.  I read everything I could get my hands on, from Self-development, Sales, Leadership, Spirituality, Quantum Physics, etc.  I researched anything that could help me achieve more, and it did.

I knew a lot but hadn’t healed a lot.  

At thirty-three came my 4×4 hit and catalyst. I was taken to my knees, and my life turned upside down.  Every goal I had set to achieve by the age of 35 was nowhere in sight.  

It was one of the lowest moments in my life. I found myself sitting on the floor of an empty condo I had just moved into.  I had lost a child at birth, I was divorced, and I sold my house. 

I still had my business.  Everything else was stripped away.

I wasn’t listening.  I wasn’t healing. I was ignoring my gifts. I was playing by everyone else’s rules.

The day I sat on the floor of that empty condo was when I decided to heal and do the deep inner work. To listen and reopen the door to my intuitive gifts. To create a life that played by my own rules.

This is not a journey for the faint of heart.  It’s not an easy journey, but it is one I highly recommend.

The healing begins with your beautiful inner child.  That inner child that has diligently and faithfully been by your side. 

When you begin to heal your inner child, you will open up space for yourself to create something new in your life.  The freedom to choose what you want to create and how you want to live.  You will get in touch with your light and power in a way that allows you to be more fully expressed. 

Your creative voice will be unleashed. You will drop into your heart.

You will experience more success, impact, fulfillment, and meaning. 

I know this because I’ve done this work for the last 24 years and helped thousands of women do the same.

When you heal yourself, your achievements have so much more fulfillment and meaning. 

Here are three steps that can get you started.  Are you ready??  Yes, you are!

• Find the perfection of your inner child.  When you get into resistance, overreact to a situation, find yourself powering through things, or just keep bumping up against something you can’t get past, stop.  Take a moment to connect to your inner child.

• Have a conversation with yourself.  Find some space where you can sit quietly and close your eyes.  Picture yourself at 7 years old standing in front of you. Pick her up and sit her in your lap.  Have a conversation with her.  Thank her for all she has done for you and how beautifully she has protected you all this time. Let her know you can protect her now and anything else you feel is important.  Let her know she can play, create, and have fun.  YOU have her now.

• Invite her in. Invite your inner child/younger self to create with you – honoring her.  Call on the creative, playful part of you.  The part of you that at one time could be Big, Bold, and Beautiful. Continue to communicate with yourself and create the safety your inner child needs.

This is SELF-LOVE – Finding the perfection in all of you.  There is nothing wrong with you.  You are whole, free, powerful, and full of light.

“The unseen energy that was once in Shakespeare or Picasso or Galileo, or any human form  is also available to all of us. That is because the spirit energy does not die, it simply changes form.”  ~Wayne Dyer

Shine on Brightly!