I Am Here
Success is defined as an accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
A few years ago, my teenage daughter and I went to 45 Jonas Brothers concerts. We drove 24,000 miles all over the United States and Canada over an 11 week period. I was in the process of selling my house, and the hope was that I would sell it before we went on this adventure to allow us to enjoy it mortgage and rent free. One month before the trip, the buyer lost her job and financing, and my house went back on the market.
When we started the trip, I had enough money for three concerts and a monthly mortgage. I had no idea how we were going to make it to all 45 concerts. We just held the intention and the vision, and resources showed up. It was hard to explain to people why we were doing this, especially when it was hard.
I knew in my heart and soul that something was compelling me to free my mind, to open to new ideas and possibilities, and carve a new path. I used that feeling to tune into my intuition, to access ideas based on experience, and be open to new ideas. My daughter and I drove in silence for hours every day and sometimes through the night. In the silence, I tuned into deeper listening.
Resources and people appeared. A friend offered us her home when we were in Denver even though she was in Hawaii (her friend left a key under the front doormat). We stayed with a friend’s relatives in Idaho. We were invited to dinner in Portland, Oregon by Jonas Brother’s lovers who had been reading my daughter’s blog. We were interviewed by several newspaper reporters who found us online. The back-up band’s bus driver gave us his hotel room at the Hyatt, the Marriott, and Hotel W after he read that we had slept in our car one night. Outside the venue one night, I had a random, one-hour conversation with Jordin Sparks‘ drummer, Michael Bedard, about a book called The Alchemist; his manager got free tickets for us that night. We were hired by a toy company to film Jonas Brothers fans playing with a toy called Bop-it! New ideas, new possibilities every day.
I learned a lot about living in flow that summer and that trip, and among other experiences, it has been my touch stone of success. That summer tour increased my desire to live from inspiration, and to create a new life based on what my heart really wanted.
Do you know what success is to me? It is the freedom to explore, experience, and express. It is the freedom of creative expression, being alive and seeking by following my intuition and desires. It is the connection to something that is bigger than me. Success isn’t outside of me. It is the feeling on the inside. It is fulfillment and the exploration that leads me there.
My touchstones of success are built on all of the experiences when I aimed my arrow in a direction guided by intuition, and I made it to the finish line of something. I remember the heart calling. I remember the certainty in the core of the uncertainty. I remember the naysayers and how they couldn’t see what I was seeing. I remember the journey and all the ups and downs. I remember the moments of victory and sweet success. The things I learned. The experiences of connection with others and with myself.
The summer of Jonas Brothers concerts with my daughter were filled with a wide range of emotions. My touchstones were the moments when I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.
And where I am meant to be right now is visioning the next wave of experiences.
*The next Writing Incubator is scheduled to begin on October 1. Writers are beginning to sign up.
*The novel I am writing is in a series of documents. My focus right now is to review journals from 2013-2104. Underlining and taking notes on ideas for chapters.
*30 days of Facetime LIVE begins on September 20. My book, Heal My Voice: An Evolutionary Woman’s Guide to Life is finished and the daily talks are based on the chapters in the book.
*For the next few weeks, daily walks in the Arboretum are giving me time and space to dream the next wave of my life into being.
I am here.
Written by: Andrea Hylen; Heal My Voice
