Expert Authors Interview: Courage, Confidence, & Creativity at Any Age

I was privileged to be interviewed recently on an episode of Brave Healer Productions with Laura Di Franco for my writing contribution to the newly released book, “Wholehearted Wonder Women 50 Plus: Courage, Confidence, & Creativity at Any Age.”
 
During the podcast episode, Expert Authors Interview, I discussed the chapter that I wrote, “Lead From Within” (Chapter 13). I talked about how and why I shifted from always following other people’s advice and their ideas of success to leading myself with courage and confidence, and the powerful difference that has made in my personal and professional life.

Prior to this profound shift, I had allowed myself to be externally guided, led by other people’s points of view rather than my own. The “You’ve got to do it this way if you want to succeed!” mentality. Many people give their power over to others, believing that others know better than they do. But that is not true. I had understood this intellectually but hadn’t fully embodied the concept yet.
 
My turning point came when I was lying in bed one day, exhausted. Although I was extremely thirsty, I could not even reach out to pick up a glass of water on the table next to me and just fell back asleep. By the time I got up the next morning I had decided that I was going to slow down and take each step with quality, excellence, and mindfulness. Whatever would be next would be revealed. And that was it.
 
Whatever would be next would be revealed.
 
The actual moment when I felt something profound was as I was standing in front of open French doors overlooking the town square, feeling the sun on my face. And in that moment, I realized the back and forth — the sun beaming on me and feeling the sun — was the same thing, like I was made of the same source, I was just manifesting in a different form.
 
That was when everything changed.
 
The journey to the place where all the answers were coming from within had begun. I began to slowly guide and lead myself. In our society, everything is about success, and leadership is typically defined as from the outside-in. I made a 180⁰ shift to leading and creating success from the inside-out.
 
Leadership is typically defined as an outside-in process.
 
The outside-in model was a whole lot of doing with no sense of being, and I lost myself in the process. So, it was really a return to myself, of feeling more of what I want and being more connected to that and to my guiding principles of mindfulness, quality, and excellence.
 
I love the total freedom that comes from not having to depend on what other people think and instead to define what success means to me. Once you realize that this is your life, you get to tune in more, be more on-purpose. I’ve learned that awareness opens up infinite possibilities, and I now live in a more receptive and curious state of being, free to tap into the intuitive superpower within all of us for confident and courageous success.
 
I live to support other women to unleash their greatest potential for beautiful success in life and business.
 
You can watch the full interview here.