Birthing a Dream

At an age when many of my peers have been retiring, I started birthing a dream I’ve had for a long time.

I completed a novel I started decades ago, but set aside to pursue my journalism and communication careers. The story has always stayed with me, begging to be told, and the manuscript is at the publisher’s as I start the next book!

I recently used the first quarter of the novel to complete a University of Toronto (U of T) creative writing certificate that I began years ago, but also set aside as I dealt with numerous life transitions. Most recently that included companioning my mom and younger brother on their Alzheimer’s journeys. My mom is now in care and my brother just passed.

The journey has been worth it. Not only have I matured as a fiction writer, but the U of T adjudication panel lauded my work and recommended some paths to publication.

This exercise made me very aware of the importance of birthing our dreams. I like to think of it as connecting with our sacred pulse. For me, that’s our intuition and the joy we can feel when we’re truly living ‘on purpose’. I believe that’s key since you don’t want, as spiritual teacher Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, to “die with your music still in you”.

We may have a faint niggling about what we’re called into, but feel stuck by our sense of obligation or life’s obstacles, which can even include self-doubt. Or we may fall prey to others’ expectations or criticisms and block that niggling to protect ourselves. If you think there’s something more you’d like to try, it’s important to remove the blocks and connect with your heart joy to find your sacred pulse so you can live ’on purpose’. You don’t want, as Mary Oliver says in her poem, When Death Comes, to “end up simply having visited this world.”

That’s why I love to lead workshops. I love sharing what I’ve learned to help you overcome the various hurdles that can prevent you from living by your sacred pulse, too. So, watch for when my workshops begin again as I’d love it if you could also experience the deep soulful satisfaction of living by your sacred pulse, too!