From me to you
Hi, I'm Wendy and thank you for being there!
We all have a mountain
Look deep within nature and you will understand everything better.” Albert Einstein
There is a moment, one you might recognise, when the noise and pace of work/life gets overwhelming it is hard to hear yourself think. When you are doing everything that is expected of you and more, yet something essential feels missing. A signal of some sort lost beneath the noise. I know that moment well.
The Mountain – call of the signal
It was early morning in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains. The air was cold and crisp, the sky was the brightest of blue with the promise of a warming sun. A fresh layer of snow made the landscape look like a perfect photo, a dream. I stood at the base of the mountain with eleven others, having been told, with quiet certainty, that this was going to be a soul filled journey. Yes, a mountain climb.
What I felt, looking up at that daunting incline, was something less soulful and more…..dread. The kind that settles into body and takes over the mind with chatter creating noise with all the reasons you can’t do this and you’re not ready. To me, everyone else looked fitter, more prepared and certain of themselves.
Though I loud doubtful thoughts, there was a choice to make: am I doing it or not.
I took a slow breath of cool air, and committed, by reducing the noise and focusing on the signal. “I’ve travelled a long way to get to this point, I feel safe with the group, I can decide for myself, so let’s go.”
I set out and took my first uncertain step, into nature, and journey and adventure that would alter my life path
My travel journal for that day had a quote by Miriam Beard:
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent in the ideas of living.”
It is true, if we are open to it. If we take the time to really journey, to be fully present, open, and curious, then new insights and ideas come to us more easily. We can grow and know ourselves and others better. And nature is a great teacher.
Before the mountain:
For years I had navigated the well-worn roads of corporate life, absorbed in its demands, deadlines, KPI’s in a variety of roles – all requiring leadership and management. I was good at what I did. I cared deeply. But I was often running on empty in ways I didn’t know how to change. I developed an auto-immune disease which slows me down.
I felt the pull and tension between purpose and performance, being doing (getting shit done) and being (kind to self).U saw the gap between the values on the office walls and the ones actually demonstrated. Busyness mistaken for effectiveness. Performance mistaken for leadership. And places where the heart and soul of some organisations and work quietly absent.
This way of working, wasn’t working. Not just for me, but also for many people. I wanted to find out how to experience work/life differently.
Lessons from the mountain
At times I couldn’t keep up. My legs were heavy, my was short at times. Feeling inspired by the environment and team comrade, something unexpected happened.
Our guide fell quietly into step beside me. Some of the group moved in behind me. The momentum of those around me, steady, unhurried, generous, carried me forward when my own reserves were thin. No one left behind in shared connection and purpose. The team told me they were drawing from me determination and honouring the pace that allows me to succeed.
1. Asking for help and receiving it with gratitude and grace. Strength is not self sufficiency. It can be knowing when to let others walk beside you, and allowing them to.
2. Simplify by making the goal smaller. One. Simple Step. At. A. Time.
“Can you make it to that group of trees ahead?” “Yes, I can.
“Let’s take a break at that rock ahead a bit”. Done.
In taking small clear steps, the daunting becomes do-able. The do-able builds confidence, confidence creates momentum.
3. Presence
The pauses were not lost time. They were when breath returned, where stories lived (and we shared), where being present created the experience fully. It is where the clearest thinking happens. By being present it helped my energy, spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically.
The Experience from the Top
When we finally reached the summit, I sat at the rim and looked out across a world I had never seen from this height while supported by the earth. A bald eagle circled below us with a call that extended some kind of invitation. The trees below looked small. The silence was so complete it felt almost alive.
I shed a tear, not from exhaustion, but from a sense of profound peace, connection and a feeling of coming home. This clarity was an experience I had been searching for a long time. The ancient elements of nature helped me understand.
In the midst of stillness, something shifted permanently. I had found my signal.
The mountain in work/life
Returning home (at the time in Wellington New Zealand), my new purpose was clear; to make a difference in my life and the lives of others. I wanted to help leaders to experience a more natural work/life flow.
I delved into studying the mind, body, spirit, and heart with alignment of the elements. I combined this with how the elements are embraced by cultures around the world as something we all share, even those people who have not had the benefit of connecting to their roots for different reasons. The elements were revealed business and leadership practices, and were named different things.
My challenge was: How to remove the ‘busy’ clutter and create work/life flow with to simplicity, practicality and do-able, to people who need it most? And how to remember to have fun along the way? Or in my case fun making snow angels 🙂
Have fun on the journey, stop and smell the roses. Or in my case, have fun making snow angels.
The Remarkables
I now currently live in Western Australia and I returned to New Zealand in the presence of the Remarkables Mountains, that iconic ancient skyline as part of Queenstown. I felt the full weight and grace of how far the journey had come. The Rocky Mountains in Colorado had given me a beginning – The Remarkables offered me confirmation. A recognition of the path I had walked with all its uncertainties, setbacks, connections, experiences had been leading somewhere true.
What began as one certain step up a mountain int he snow has become a body of work I am deeply proud of. and more importantly a way of being in the world.
Currently residing in Western Australia, I have had the privilege of travelling the world working with diverse individuals and organisations, witnessing personal and professional transformations. My mission is to help people consciously, holistically and successfully make a difference in their work/life.
What does this means for you?
If you have found your way here, I would imagine there is something in this story you recognise. You lead. You care. You give a great deal of yourself. And somewhere in the pace and pressure of it all, the signal – that clear, quiet knowing of why you are here and how you are at your best, has grown faint.
The world does not need more noise. It needs more leaders who lead from a still, clear, purposeful place. Those who have done some inner work, who bring authentic presence and who know the difference between being busy and being effective.
That is what I have spent years learning how to help you find. Through meditation and mindfulness, solid principles and practices that work. Through the kind of honest, supported conversations that happens when you lead from the inside out.
Its time
Time to cut through the noise. Time to discover clarity and purpose. Time to make the difference you came here to make, in your own life and the lives of others. Your mountain is waiting and you don not have to climb it alone.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”
– Lao-Tzu