A strange thing happens when you release a dream, hope or a passion out into the world. The universe starts responding back in ways you can’t imagine. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard until I experienced it for myself. I attended a seminar on “How to Build Strategic Thinking Skills” and one of the exercises was about how we communicate and being an effective listener. For the exercise we were paired up with someone who we didn’t work with and was told that each person would take turns talking for a full two minutes while the other person just listened without interrupting. I chose to listen the first time around and learned that my partner was passionate about her job (she worked with kids aka “little people”). Then it was my turn to speak. After my first sentence, my partner literally had to put her hand over her mouth so that she wouldn’t talk. What did I say to cause such a reaction? The one thing I’ve been walking around with for the past 8 years…I’ve written 11 chapters of a book that I just very recently printed out and gave to a dear, close friend of mine to read. Why did she have such a strong reaction? This random woman who I was paired with moonlights as a book editor. There several topics I could have talked about but my gut told to talk about the one thing I’ve been keeping to myself.
Fate + Opportunity + The Absence of Fear = One Step Closer to Destiny
I could have talked about work, my kids or anything else but I chose the one thing that I’ve been terrified about sharing. It was self-doubt and negative talk (Do you really think you are an author???) that has kept those 11 chapters hidden on my laptop and on a thumb drive. Creating this blog is a stretch for me. Making it public nearly put me into heart failure. Why? Because I’m terrified of public opinion. There I said it. Afraid of what people might say, I held on to 11 chapters of my book. Releasing it to my very good friend opened up the opportunity for me to share it again…with a complete stranger and that complete stranger is now excited to read what I have written.
What have you been holding to that you need share?