“What is my own personal vision and unique set of gifts?”  “How can I use them to make a unique contribution in my company, industry or community?”  “Is it possible to follow the guidance of my inner voice as I explore what’s right for me?

Whether you are a communications professional searching for greater meaning or contribution in your current job or you’re looking to transition into a whole new job or career, know that you are not alone in asking these deeper questions.

Accepting the challenge to explore what is most true for you can prove essential to doing something that you truly love and living a happier, more fulfilling life.

In my coaching programs, I offer a unique and personalized approach that will help you build your personal brand from the inside out.  Together we will uncover and enable your true essence, gifts, and vision to shine through everything you do.

The intention of our work together is ultimately to help you cultivate a more magnetic and authentic presence, one that will resonate more powerfully with others and attract opportunities that are in greater alignment with what’s unique to you.  Additionally, I will support you in cultivating and following your own inner guidance and wisdom as you take on a new set of responsibilities in your current job or start a new career.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to learn more.

See Benefits

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What clients are saying:

“Helped me discover the gold within myself” — Matt Sloane – Coach and Artist

“An amazing ability to really see me and the deeper message I want to bring to the world”  — Sarah Kowalski -  Alaya Coaching

“The process was both energizing and inspiring”  — Cara Jones — CEO/Founder Storytellers For Good

“His work is both very deep and very skillful while being highly practical.”  — Annette Segal — The Valiant Group

“Helped me to achieve clarity of goals, distilling down to the ones that matter most and leading to a healthier and happier state of mind.” — CEO/Founder  Mobile Software Company

“A rare combination of integrity, compassion, brilliance, wisdom and humility”  — Deborah Rossouw - Professional Speaker & Coach

“Gentle compassion with a powerful presence.”  — Steve Leibman -  Human Resources Executive

“Helped me to clarify my message, let go of distractions that were not serving me, and help identify and articulate the unique value my work offered….and to have fun while doing all of that.” — Tara Mohr -  Writer, Professional Speaker, Coach

See Testimonials

Enjoy.

—–

Lately I’ve been on the verge of a shift. I’ve experienced a lot of them over the years – new living situations, new careers, new relationships. But this one is different. It’s like there’s a part of me that’s about to burst through and experience the world differently.

The possibility of what it can be like feels liberating. There’s no more fear of what others will think. No more shakiness in my body. No more second thoughts about what I’m about to say or the decisions I’m about to make. It’s just an expression of my truth with confidence and ease.

I’ve always referred to this state as ‘expanding into my full power.’ Each person may have a different image or experience of what this can look like for them. I’ve often seen it as my warrior self who’s finally ready to take center stage.

The Missing Link

Recently, though, this image has felt incomplete. In fact it’s left me resisting this new experience. But isn’t this what I’ve always wanted? To have the warrior stance? To experience a greater freedom of expression wherever I am?

I decided to explore my resistance and see what was up.

Eventually what came to me was a bit unexpected. It wasn’t that of an action hero waiting to pop out of my chest. Instead it was the image of a vulnerable side of me that was finally ready to show itself. It was like a little boy knocking on the door and wondering when it was safe to come out.

And with that image I suddenly realized what had been missing all along. I had been just expecting this superhero figure to burst on through at any moment. He would be a strong, confident and powerful presence. But I forgot about the little boy who would need to accompany him. I would need to create a safe space, so to speak, for him to step out and join the rest of me in the journey.

I can tell that this little boy has been waiting for just the right conditions to finally show up. He’s a part of me that has been hiding for many years. A little boy that’s full of love and compassion but worried that, if he fully shows himself, others could put him down. That if he really expresses his full truth and vision for the world, he would get trampled on and never come back out again.

The Magic Key

When I talked to this little boy, he told me that what was needed to fully accompany the rest of me on this journey was just one thing. Love. But not just love for others, but love and care for him. He wanted me to be kind to him even if I didn’t do or say things perfectly in my work, with my friends or in the public realm. And in return he would give me the permission to move forward with a powerful strength and presence. I would be able to speak my truth with compassion wherever I was. I would be able to contribute my gifts and bring them out more fully into my work, on a public stage and in a way that was bigger than I had ever imagined.

It was a huge revelation to finally see this: that what’s going to allow me to fully stand in my power is to be kind to the part of me that wants to burst on through and love. Not to go out and ‘fight’ or ‘resist’ the imperfections of the world, or within myself. But to love them all, while also expressing my truth with a powerful and compassionate presence.

And what this little boy wanted from me all along was just to make sure that the conditions were right for him to more fully stand with me in this journey. To be kind to him, and all the other parts of me, in the midst of the beauty and wonder of life’s imperfections.

What are the parts of yourself that want to be more fully seen and understand? What do you feel it will take to more fully expand into your power?

A while ago, I heard a teacher ask a group of students to consider four conditions that can bring about greater happiness in our lives.  They included:

• Building up our tolerance for ‘what is’ and becoming more aware of our resistance in that moment.
• Building our capacity to re-center ourselves in the midst of difficult or unexpected situations
• Having a big enough story to hold all of life.
• And…gently holding our expectations

Each of these can be a very rich topic of discussion.  The one that caught my attention the most was how we hold our expectations.  It’s certainly a relevant topic for this time of year, but I find it an important discussion for anyone who is setting new goals and intentions as they build a new business, transition into a new career, or take on new responsibilities at work.

The very act of setting goals can bring about greater stress, anger or frustration in our lives, particularly if we don’t ‘see’ them manifest quickly enough or in a way that we had originally expected.   Ironically, this feeling runs contrary to the very end results we were intending to create — greater peace, joy, freedom, or <plug in your favorite state of being>.

So how do we work with the expectations that inevitably show up?

For many years I’ve explored ideas around the power of our thought energy and the conditions needed to apply it more effectively in our lives.  I would find myself wondering why some people seemed better at manifesting their intentions than others.  I would even notice the judgment within myself when I couldn’t manifest something quickly enough, or even at all.  Wasn’t it just a matter of putting my thought energy on and visualizing the desired outcomes?  Why did some intentions seem to work and others didn’t?  Over the years I’ve been asked similar questions from many of my clients as well.

There are many ideas, spiritual insights, and even scientific data now to help us understand what makes a conscious intention eventually take root and manifest as reality.  I may, in fact, save some of these discussions for another blog topic.  For now, I’d like to offer a different approach to thinking about it, one that may lead to greater happiness overall.

In exploring this I find the practice of “gently holding our expectations” to be an important ingredient. What is it that could bring about this ‘field of gentleness’?  How could we build the capacities within ourselves to do this?  What practices could help us to cultivate this?

Over time I’ve developed three helpful practices for myself and many of my clients.  The practices have certainly required focus, diligence and patience, but the results have proven quite helpful and often times unexpected in their impact.

Additionally, these practices haven’t lessened the enthusiasm for bringing about the intended outcomes or the energetic power behind expressing them.  It’s just that the outcomes, and expectations around them, haven’t played such a dominant role as they once did.  And ironically, the state of being that we were intending to create – peace, joy, a greater sense of meaning and fulfillment — occurred from the cultivation of that quality of gentleness.

Here are three practices that I’ve found helpful.

1. Being grateful for ‘what is’

The first practice is about being grateful for everything, even for the painful moments in our lives. It’s all these little moments that are often the gatekeepers to a new reality waiting to be experienced.  When we acknowledge their existence, feel their presence (without attaching to the story surrounding them), and yet understand their importance, new insights and experiences can open up for us.

I recently re-read a book called “The 12 Conditions of a Miracle” by Dr. Michael Abrams.  In it he describes the concept of gratitude.  You’ll notice in his language many connections to the power of our thought energy.

“Affirmations channel the power of positive thought forms from the confines of the mind into the world where they can set real changes into motion.  It all comes back to the great law:  Like attracts like.  When you focus on the good, letting your thoughts dwell on all the great things in your life, you will attract even greater good.  When you lift your thoughts to a higher level of solidarity by putting them into words and verbally affirming your good, you greatly facilitate the process.  The mindset that underlies this process is called gratitude.”

Abrams then asks us to think about a gift we recently gave to someone who really appreciated it.  And then think about a gift we gave to a different person who took the gift for granted.  Which person would you want to give more to?  He equated this to the Universe as well.  Why would we expect the Universe, God, Spirit to feel any differently about its gifts to us?  As he states,

“Divine intelligence generally won’t go too far out of its way to provide for you in a miraculous way if you are negative and complacent about the gifts you have already received.”

There may be some magic behind the scenes when this Law is applied, but there’s certainly no magic to actually doing this as a practice.  Just a lot of focus and commitment.  There are a lot of ways to develop this practice which are well known to us all – gratitude journals, sending hand-written thank you notes, giving thanks before dinner…the list goes on.  I find that choosing something on a daily basis, particularly right before or after we set our intentions, can soften the field of expectations around us and help us to be open to all that we receive.

2. Being kind towards ourselves

I recently heard the phrase, “The secret of the heart energy is that it performs miracles not with force or will, but with ease and kindness to ourselves.”

After putting forth new intentions it’s common to feel emotionally invested in the outcome.  It’s easy to try and “force” or “will” something to come true, even in very subtle ways we’re not always conscious of.  The idea of “gently holding our expectations” can sound like a nice theory as we become frustrated or angry that things aren’t turning out the way we had originally intended.

An ongoing practice of being kind towards ourselves can be a powerful way to create a softening, or gentleness, around our expectations.   There’s a number of practices that can help with this.  I find that using some type of mantra, prayer, or self-love journal on a consistent basis can be quite powerful.

One practice, for example, is called a loving kindness prayer, which is a Buddhist meditation.  You can generally do this for about 5 minutes in the morning or anytime throughout the day when you’re feeling the need.  Here’s an example you can say to yourself over and over again for a short period of time.

May I be filled with loving kindness

May I be well

May I be peaceful and at ease

May I be happy

If you want to do the complete meditation you can then say it for other people in your life and then for all beings on the planet.  There are a number of versions of it that you can find online.

If you haven’t used this meditation before it can initially seem a bit overly simplistic at first.  That was certainly my first reaction — how can four little phrases change the way I feel about myself and my perception of others and the world?  Over time, though, I gave it a try every day and saw a difference.  When I integrated it into my intention setting practice, it took a life of its own.  If you’re curious, give it a go for a few months and see what comes up for you.  The results are often subtle but profound.

3. Cultivating qualities that accompany our intentions

What if all the DOING in our lives was actually secondary?  Even the outcomes themselves.  What if the most important thing was how we went about BEING?  And the most important part of setting intentions was actually cultivating qualities that we brought into the very experiences we were setting out to create?

I’m posing this question for a number of reasons.   The first has to do with what can naturally happen when we do put thought energy into motion.  It can be very easy to get so focused on the exact experience we want to create that our minds go into hyper-drive.  Thoughts can easily come in like, “Everyone knows that I’m trying to build this business now.  What if what I’m setting out to do doesn’t work?” or “Will I really be able to launch this project successfully?”  This mind chatter doesn’t indicate that there’s anything wrong with us.  It just means that we’re human and this is a part of what our minds currently do.  And part of that human experience is to get attached to some degree to the outcome we’d like to create.  With this attachment comes an element of control which actually makes the intention setting process more fraught with expectations and thus becomes less effective.

When this happens, and I’d say that it happens more than we’d like to admit, or are consciously aware of in the moment, I recommend thinking about the qualities we’d like to cultivate in ourselves along the way.  If your intention is about cultivating qualities in the first place then even better.

Do you want to cultivate a quality of ease in your body, confidence and strength as you’re getting out there and promoting your business, or trust in your own innate wisdom as you’re taking on greater leadership responsibility at work?  What one or two qualities would you bring into your life to create the changes you’d like to see?

Ghandi certainly didn’t say “Do the change you want to see happen in the world.”  He was very explicit in saying “Be that change.”  This takes a lot of practice and patience.  And like a plant, you never quite know when it’s going to start growing.  But it needs a lot of tender loving care along the way to get it going.

It All Started…

Ok…this may sound a little out there but…here goes.

I’ve been playing with time.

It all started one day last year.  I was getting worried about my business.  Where would I find my next clients?  Would I have to go back into the corporate world?  If I did, would I feel like I lost my freedom?  Would all spark of joy and passion drain from my body?   Oh my God…it all comes down to getting new clients!!   Dramatic I know but the mind can be a funky thing.

For two weeks I panicked.  I slipped back into my old work patterns and my self-care was almost non-existent. I cut my daily meditations short or skipped them altogether.  I didn’t go to yoga or do any exercise.  I started setting up meetings with anyone I could think of in my LinkedIn profile.  I didn’t return my personal emails and almost lost touch with friends.  I skipped meals and found myself going to bed at 2am.  I was exhausted.

Fast forward in a ‘not so good way’

And all the while my life sped up.  And not in that ‘flow’ kind of way where we lose our sense of time and it’s exhilarating, but the other kind of speeding up.  The one where it feels like you’re hurling through the world and it’s hurling itself back at you, over and over again.

It all seemed to be going endlessly out of control.  The more emails I sent out, the more appeared in my inbox, particularly spam.  The more business calls I made, the more people called me out of the blue for what appeared to be random requests.  The more meetings I set up, the more scheduling conflicts and cancelations I had.

I was confused.  I was ‘getting out there’ and looking for new business.  I was doing all of those marketing outreach strategies that I had always been told to do…that I had encouraged my clients to do!  Why was everything suddenly exploding on me?  Whatever business I was creating turned into busyness.  Everything seemed to be going a million miles an hour but nothing seemed to be getting done.

Hitting the Pause Button

At one point I saw in my mind’s eye a massive ball of energy that was starting to spin out of control.  I was both the ball of energy and the one spinning it from the outside.  Every movement I made, email I sent, meeting I set up, was all part of that spinning ball.  The more busyness I created, the faster the ball went and the more the external world seemed to throw itself right back at me.

I paused and for the first time got curious about what was really happening.  For a brief moment of what felt like total freedom, I stopped judging myself.  Then it clicked.  What if I was actually able to control time, or at least my experience of it?  And not only that but what if the flow of experiences that were happening to me were actually stemming from me?

Anything was better than the state I had gotten myself into.   So, I started to play.

Playtime

I decided to speed everything up for a few hours just to see.  Everything intensified.  More emails, more calls, more cancelations.  Was I going crazy?  Was this really true?  And at that moment I decided I had enough.  I finally slowed down.

I got up and went to meditate for an hour.  I canceled a bunch of meetings that didn’t feel right.  I took the rest of the day off.  At first, it was extremely painful.  I felt like I was going through a detox program as I sat in stillness.  So much mindless chatter.  Wow!  How did all of this accumulate so quickly after years of meditation?  I felt restless and embarrassed that I had even gotten to this point.  Work habits that I had spent years ‘getting rid of’ were suddenly back and as big as ever.

But I was determined to understand what was really going on.  If I could create an outer world that looked as if ‘random’ events were bombarding me, and time was speeding out of control, then maybe I could create a more natural flow of experiences with an adjustment to my inner world and more attention and care to myself.

So I kept at it.  I sat down and wrote out my intentions for the next six months.  I canceled more meetings, said no to more requests, and said yes to the ones that I sensed were more aligned with my intentions.  I took a day off from work and spent the time cleaning my place, my car, and giving away stuff I didn’t need.  Very painfully I got back to my daily and weekly self-practices and exercise routines again.  I cleaned out my email and called everyone back who contacted me.  I finally attended to myself and put more care into others.  I let go of the fear of what would happen next.

A New World Revealed

After a couple days, it happened.  My outer world changed.  My email communication returned to normal, the right people were coming into my life, and I was actually getting things done with less effort.  Time no longer felt like an enemy that needed to be managed.  I felt more at ease and more rested.

The intensity of that flow experience certainly didn’t last forever.  It was almost as if I was allowed entrance into the experience for the sole purpose of knowing that it was there and could be accessed at any time.  But the potentiality of it at any moment was very real.  To this day I continue to live into the questions that came out of that experience.  I continue to experiment.

Could it be that the more we attend to our self-care and act from a place of inner guidance, the more flow and synchronicity we experience in our lives?  What if our natural state is really one of ease and grace?  What if the invisible life force flowing through us is just waiting for us to surrender to its care and guidance?

What if, in doing the internal work on ourselves, we really could play with time?

“What is my unique contribution and vision for the future?”  “How can I more effectively integrate that into my life?”  “Is it possible to follow the guidance of my inner voice without succumbing to the powerful social and cultural pressures to live another way?

Whether you are a social entrepreneur building your own business, a business professional searching for greater meaning and purpose, or an organizational leader working to inspire your team around a collective vision, know that you are not alone in confronting these questions.

Accepting the challenge to explore the answers that are most true for each of us can prove essential to both our professional and personal growth.

The idea of a personal brand, of course, has many definitions.  I will be using my monthly newsletter and blog as a way to explore it from the perspective of our inner world — one that helps us to gain greater clarity around who we are and how we’re here to serve ourselves and others, and to do that with a sense of freedom that allows us, and our work, to take shape in new and unexpected ways.

What I have found in my own experience and that of my clients is that uncovering and integrating our unique purpose and gifts more deeply into our lives and learning to cultivate our own inner guidance are key ingredients to developing a more magnetic personal brand and leadership presence.

Ultimately, this form of personal branding is not about how to project the perfect image to our audience, but rather how to tap into a personal power that we each have that comes from allowing our core essence and gifts to shine through everything we do.  It is an approach that works from the inside out.  The more we become conscious of our inner world and build the courage and resilience to live from a deeper, more loving place within ourselves, the more our outer experiences can change and align with our personal vision.

Of course, I am very much a student of this work.  The idea of becoming more conscious of my deepest intentions and consciously attracting that which is aligned with my highest good is a lifelong journey for me, as is the very nature of coming to a greater understanding of that very idea.

As I continue to develop my own coaching practice as well as other new ventures, I will be sharing my own personal stories and insights of what it means to me to cultivate a personal brand from the inside out and the impact that bringing our full presence into the world can have on ourselves, our communities and the world around us.

My hope is that you will also feel inspired to share your thoughts, ideas and experiences as well, as we co-create a newfound acceptance for our authentic selves and each other.

Many Blessings

Ryan

89.5FM San Francisco, July 15, 2010

I was recently a guest on a radio show called, Reality Sandwich, hosted by Jay Kumar.  The show explores the epic shift that humanity is currently experiencing as we awaken to the emerging global paradigm of Wholeness, individually and collectively.  The description of the show segment I was on is below.

CLICK HERE to listen to Ryan’s Radio Interview

Show Title — “Becoming a Conscious Business Leader — How to Live Your Values and Awaken Your Purpose” with Ryan Rigoli and Miriam Karell, of Three Point Vision.

Show Description — Business Leaders in the 21st century are becoming awakened and aware of the importance of integrating consciously driven values and aligning to a higher purpose as prerequisites for success.  Guests, Ryan Rigoli and Miriam Karell discuss the importance of being authentic to your values and driven by a higher purpose in order to become the next generation of conscious business leaders.

You can also listen to the full interview with both Ryan and Miriam here: Full Radio Show

I recently heard a quote that was given by Randy Pausch, a Professor who gave a talk called “The Last Lecture — Achieving your Childhood Dreams.”  In his talk he said, “Taking risks is like jumping off a cliff and building your wings on the way down.”

If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably know this scenario well.

It takes great courage, dedication and kindness towards oneself to move along this path.  There’s a movement into the unknown that can be both exhilarating and terrifying.  A force that drives you forward that is often beyond comprehension.   When asked what you do and why you do it, words aren’t always the first things that come to mind.  It may just be a deep feeling, a sense, a knowing that’s waiting to be expressed but hard to convey. 

You can see it when someone on the entrepreneurial path has tapped into the flow of their craft.  They can touch a group of people at the level of the soul.  Even at the beginning stages of that path when very little money is flowing in and the kinks are still being worked out, there is a unique essence that shines through urging that person to take the reins and to create.  

They may be coaches helping their clients step into a new world, yoga instructors creating a sacred space for their students, artists defining a new medium of expression, or social entrepreneurs inspiring change in an underserved community.  Whatever it is, each one is bringing something new into the world that speaks directly from their heart … a gift that moves others to feel more connected to themselves and to those around them.

I grew up with one of these people in fact.  From an early age I’d watch my father go from gig to gig to earn a living.  He was and still is a musician.  A composer, studio musician, jazz club player, symphony player, music teacher, elementary school teacher, high school substitute teacher.   If you’re an entrepreneur you probably know the story.  There’s often not one service that defines you.  Ultimately, it’s you that defines your set of experiences.

And along the way you define your brand as well.  You just may not know you’re doing it.  Or even how to do it.  But if you can find a way to tap into it and create it from a place deep within your own soul, it can work much more powerfully for you.

For so many years I have seen social entrepreneurs, creative professionals and independent practitioners trying to do good things in the world but struggling to create a sustainable business.  They have a craft but can’t seem to align all the pieces together — their audience, offers, messaging, outreach strategy – and do it in a way that helps them to build a thriving business doing what they love.

With so much chatter in the marketplace and the inevitable fears that pop up along the way, it is easy to think that we need tons of marketing programs to ‘generate’ a consistent stream of customers. The right marketing strategies and tactics can certainly help, but if they aren’t aligned with who we really are at our core, we can waste a lot of time and energy along the way.

Developing a personal brand that connects our core purpose and vision with our foundational marketing elements is what provides this glue and keeps us grounded as we build our business. With it we can create a personal brand that will connect deeply with our audience and help us attract a flow of customers whom we enjoying supporting.

As entrepreneurs with our own business practice, one of the most exciting opportunities we have is that we are our own brand.  Who we are as a person, what we do with our time, what we communicate at work and in our free time, and our very presence as a unique human being all make up our personal brand.   Everything that is created by us, whether it is seen or unseen and spoken or unspoken, is part of our personal brand.  Our personal brand is, in essence, the collective thought and feeling energy that we send out into the universe that continually creates who we are.

This may seem a bit intimidating at first but it can also be quite powerful as well.  Although we are all connected as human beings and as spirits, our life experiences and our very soul’s essence have something unique to offer the world and our own personal growth as well.  This offering to ourselves and others is inextricably linked.  It’s not always what we do but the very presence we bring to what we’re doing that can create such a powerful impact.

People will immediately recognize our essence when they’re around us.  They may not be able to describe what it is, but it’s there.  The beauty is that it is our choice to bring forth our essence with great power and vibrancy into our work.  The more we can recognize, accept and allow it to shine through us, the more powerful our personal brand can become.

The very act of just being ourselves creates a powerful resonance that will ring true with the community of people  we are here to support.  They will feel it, and the more we cultivate our presence, not only will they be more drawn to us over time, but we will experience a greater sense of meaning, joy and freedom along the way.

If this speaks to you let’s walk this journey together.

A while back I had a vision for a new kind of marketing.  It’s a future state that I feel, in time, we have the power to co-create as a society.

It’s one where, as business leaders, we can attract opportunities to us that are in greater alignment with our deepest intentions, both individually and collectively as organizations.

In this new world, there would no longer be a need for advertising based on the fear of ‘lack’.  Instead, it would be about the presence we cultivated in ourselves and the alignment of our unique purpose and gifts as the key ingredients to attracting a more sustainable flow of goods and services for ourselves, our organizations, and everyone around the globe.

In essence, the more we can become aware of our internal world and build our businesses from a more conscious place, the more we can attract both customers and opportunities through a set of powerful synchronicities in our lives.

This vision, of course, doesn’t negate the importance of doing outreach, advertising and promotions for ourselves and our businesses.  It does, however, paint a brief picture of what it could be like in the future if we took the ‘fear’ out of the way we marketed ourselves to the broader world and used the power of our media for the collective good.

I am very much a student of this new approach, and it is one that I continue to experiment with alongside more traditional ways of doing marketing.  I find it to be a lifelong journey to move towards this vision.

———-

A Future Vision of Marketing

There’s a better way.  I know there is.  In fact, I see it all the time.  We just don’t always do it in business yet.  The current way of marketing is often still too dominant.  As business owners it is easy to come from a stance where the uncertainty of the future can often dictate the over-promotion of our services in the present.  

We see them everywhere.  The abundance of fear-based advertisements that clamor for our attention.    The promotional tactics that tell us to buy before it’s too late.  And in the end many of these ads end up speaking to ourselves or scaring people into buying our products.  Until we really understand how to go inward and trust our inner guidance, we will be cluttered with fear-based ads and promotions on TV, in the streets, on the internet, in all other forms of media that we invent.  That type of advertising will be everywhere until we change how we see ourselves and our connections to each other in the world.

Just think.  What if all of that collective thought energy that was used to create all of those ads could be used to attract the right people to our services with less effort?  What if the incredibly creative and analytical power of these masterful communications specialists was put towards ensuring our companies and ourselves were in greater alignment with our core purpose, collective vision and our ideal customers?  What if all forms of media were reserved for authentic messages of inspiration while still promoting the products and services we offer?

I believe there is a new possibility waiting to unfold.

It is no longer an era of promoting or advertising our products in the traditional sense of the word.  It is no longer an era where winner takes all and only a few can play.  Instead it is an era of remembrance about who we really are.  About what we’re truly capable of co-creating and attracting to ourselves.  It is an era that recognizes that we are all, individually and collectively as organizations, uniquely gifted and have something to offer the world.  There is no more room for competition.  Only collaboration.  We are human beings ultimately exchanging wisdom that takes the form of offerings, or products and services as we call them now.  That wisdom may come in the form of a physical good, an idea or strategy or a spiritual healing.  In essence we have all been given something to offer as individuals.  We come together collectively to co-create individually and in organizations.

In fact, I believe that there is a way to attract the right customers to our unique offerings without excessive planning, burnout and the pollution of our planet.  We’ve just been using old marketing tactics too long to realize that the answer is right in front of us.  In fact it’s in us.  It’s the secret behind the secret, that the amplification of our intentions only happens when we are more fully aligned with a higher purpose and vision and work to heal ourselves as individuals and collectively as organizations.

And one of the greatest self-healing resources can occur by deeply connecting with the emotions and fears that are waiting to be released from ourselves and our companies.  It is inside these emotions that the old stories and the limiting beliefs are revealed and let go.  With this healing we gain clarity of perspective, a new narrative so to speak, that allows us to transform limiting beliefs into true possibility.  It allows us to individually and collectively create a new narrative for our planet.  The new reality we want to live in.  Our new vision for the future.

And when this alignment with our true nature occurs, we create a foundation for powerful intentions to be fully realized with ease, grace and love.  Our heart-centered intentions amplify and set into motion with a power greater than anything previously imagined.  They truly create that which we collectively intend for our highest good.

My vacation buzz quickly wore off and before long I was back at work. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.  Later I would realize that I was actually the one putting it there.    

Because of my past experiences launching high-profile products at Yahoo!, I was asked to be on a newly formed team where that was part of our mission.  Given the heavily matrixed organization we were in and the size of the projects we were given, it started to feel like trying to move entire mountains with a pinky.   My team had experienced these challenges before, only this time I was getting burned out after years of trying to ‘move the needle’ and putting everything I had into high priority projects at the company.

I found myself dreaming about my next vacation.  Peru, Iceland, India…where to go next?  Only I wasn’t there.   I was here, smack dab in the middle of the matrix working harder than ever before.  I was working on the newest of the new projects and simply pushing on through to the next vacation.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

The feeling in my gut was screaming:  “Are you nuts?”  But I wouldn’t listen.  I was too scared to make a change.  And if I did, I wouldn’t know what to do next anyways.  It was just too fuzzy of a plan to make a move.

One night I woke up around 3am and felt the walls closing in on me.  I had to rush to my patio to catch my breath.  Still feeling enclosed, I ran out of my building and onto the street.  I sat on the sidewalk and started to catch my breath.  I knew right then that this was the beginning of the end for me in this kind of life.

When you start feeling claustrophobic in a 1200 square ft. loft with 30 foot ceilings, then you know something’s wrong.  My body was telling me it was time for a change or it would shut down.  I liked my body and I also enjoyed being on this planet, so I decided to listen for the first time in a very long time to see what it had to say.

After a few minutes some images came to me.  I envisioned what it would be like in five years at the age of 40 – working in the same company and with the same two hour round trip commute.  Only this time I imagined being an SVP of Marketing, the role I had always been striving for.  That claustrophobic feeling immediately started to come back.  And there it was.  The path I was headed down made me feel more and more compressed, less fully alive, and, frankly, physically ill.  And the funny part about all of it was this:  I created this world for myself.  Not because I had to, but because I thought I would be happy and fulfilled.  I felt that if I just pushed a little bit more, I’d be totally secure and free of all financial worries.

Practically speaking, of course, staying on with my company was somewhat of a known quantity.  And, if not there, then another similar company.  Another couple of years and I would have had the chance to become a VP making even more money and in charge of an even larger team.  I imagined what that felt like and observed the sensations in my body at the very thought of it.  First, the nausea (spitting up what I knew would poison my soul), then the claustrophobia (feeling trapped on a path that wasn’t for me), and finally a feeling of sadness and helplessness (my anger at myself turned inwards that I wasn’t owning my freedom to choose).

Quitting and maybe even traveling abroad, on the other hand, was a complete unknown and scary but again I observed my feelings and physical reactions — lightness (freedom to reinvent myself) and nervous yet energetic excitement (the prospects of new people, new passions and new adventures).

That was enough for me.  A week later I handed in my resignation and started planning an extended trip through Latin America, many of the experiences of which I captured in my travel blog.

And it was from that day onward, that I started a four year journey into the unknown. Travels through remote lands, ‘successes’ and ‘failures’ of new businesses and relationships, universal mysteries revealed, even more questions and mysteries surfaced, moments of complete confusion and fear, times of absolute clarity and peace.

Would I trade any of it?  Never.  The most challenging four years of my life were the ones during which I felt most fully alive.

Anyone who goes through a process of breaking free of their own version of the matrix may have a different set of circumstances but the emotional experience is often the same.  Right before it starts and the black hole of opportunity opens, there’s a sense that there’s something more.  There’s a feeling of longing for something that you just can’t put your finger on.  There’s a terrified feeling of the unknown and questions about how you’re going to manage without all of the answers laid out right in front of you.  There’s exhilaration at the thought of freedom — the freedom to be who you really are and to live that fully whatever that may be.

And then one day you take the leap off a cliff only to realize that you’re falling without an end point.  It just keeps going.  Ever changing.  Ever moving.  The exhilaration, the fear, the joy, the anger, the sadness, all rolled up into one big leap of faith.

And it’s that jump for me that led to an extraordinary journey that continues to this day.  Yes, when I returned, I took adventurous leaps into new businesses and relationships, but the biggest jump was inward.  And with that came a process of remembering who I really am.  ‘Self-remembering’ was not just a set of words anymore but a deep feeling of who I am as a Spirit in this body.  Of what I’m here to do and be.  Of how I’m here for others.   And a new and completely unexpected version of that continues to unfold.

This kind of path is a different one than before.  Although there’s a time for planning and goal-setting, there’s a different quality to the experience.  A recognition perhaps that no matter how many goals we set, or plans we make, there’s still a grand mystery to it all.  Maybe we’re not meant to completely understand everything or know how every intention we set out will turn out.  Maybe it’s more about how we respond and awaken to the mysteries that unfold right in front of us rather than to the actual content or outcome that we originally expected.

Perhaps it’s really about the type of person we become along the way.  It’s about the capacities we cultivate in ourselves to speak our truth with strength and dignity but also with compassion and discernment vs. blame and judgment towards others with a different view.  Maybe it’s a holding of our intentions with a powerful energetic, focused presence but also with a kind of gentleness, or lightness, for how the outcome will really appear to us in the end.   Perhaps it’s about a sense of openness about what wants to emerge from deep within…something much bigger than ourselves.  It is life expressing itself through us.  And it’s the very art of surrendering and then allowing that brings forth this new creation into the world.

Maybe it’s really a journey about how we treat others under the most trying of circumstances.  And, of course, how we treat ourselves even with all of the mistakes we make, the shame or guilt we feel, the broken promises we’ve made along the way.   Perhaps it’s, ultimately, about how much love and kindness we can show ourselves in the midst of it all.

There’s a painting in my house that says:  “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”  As people on a spiritual path, we are all on a sacred journey that takes an extra-ordinary amount of faith and trust in ourselves.  We are on a personal journey of healing and through our presence we create a space for the healing of those all around us. For our clients, our friends, our families, our communities, our partners.

Whatever our path may be, creating social change through personal transformation is no easy calling.  It takes patience, diligence and immense kindness towards ourselves to explore the truth behind who we really are and work with others to do the same.  Our work does not come with a rule book or a set of predefined answers but simply with the presence of our hearts and the support of others to help us move forward.

I want to thank you for doing what you do and for the very presence that you bring into the world.

I will do my best to support you in this journey.

Blessings

Ryan