The invitation

You are invited on a journey. This journey is like any other journey in that it will take you through unexpected twists and turns and low places and high places, but it is unlike any other journey in that the final destination is not physically far from where you are now. The destination is your own heart.

This journey is like a pilgrimage or labyrinth (which is a symbolic representation of a pilgrimage). You are walking a spiritual path, stepping away from the noise of the outside world and becoming still in your walking so that you can listen more deeply to the whisperings of your Soul.

The labyrinth has three stages. As you walk into the labyrinth, you RELEASE what is weighing you down and what no longer serves you. This is not a direct path and some days the release will feel easy and some days it will feel very difficult.

When you reach the centre of the labyrinth and have emptied yourself of all that you needed to release, you are ready to RECEIVE. This centre place is where you listen to the God/dess of your understanding, your own Soul, the Sacred, or whatever you choose to name the Source of your most authentic wisdom. Again, it may not come easily and you may need to sit in silence for quite awhile before any wisdom comes. No worries - there is wisdom even in the silence, even in the doubt, even in the emptiness. Just listen. And be patient.

When you feel that you are ready to leave the centre, you rise up and begin to RETURN. You return with whatever you have received at the centre and you carry it with you back out into the world. You return with wisdom, with strength, and with a new sense of divine assignment.

The lessons in The Spiral Path are divided into three parts, reflecting the stages of the labyrinth journey. For the first 7 lessons, you will practice the art of releasing. You will write and make creative messes in your journal, releasing whatever has been holding you back. For the next 7 lessons, you will practice receiving, believing that what comes is the right gift, the right wisdom. For the last 7 lessons, you will practice the art of returning, bringing your gifts back into the world in which you serve. You may emerge a changed woman, or you may simply have opened your heart in a fresh way.

For each lesson, you will receive the following prompts: • A journal prompt that will guide you in a regular writing practice. • A creative prompt that will help you access your less logical, more creative right brain. This may be a collage exercise, a mandala, or intuitive art journaling. All prompts will be simple and you don’t need to be an artist to do them.

heatherplett.com - page 1 • An embodiment prompt that will help you remember to engage your body as well as your mind and heart. Again, these prompts will be simple and can be adapted if you have mobility challenges.

It’s important to remember that each journey will be different. You must not compare your journey to anyone else’s, because each of us walks a different path and we are all meant to receive different guidance and wisdom.

If you begin to notice that you are being too critical of yourself (“this is taking too long” or “why don’t I understand something that seems so simple?” or “why is my creative journal so messy?” or “why does everyone else seem to get there before me?”), it will be important to pause, take a few breaths, pat yourself on the head if you must, and say with gentleness “I am taking the journey in the best way that I can and whatever happens is the right thing.”

Before you begin your journey, there are a few things you may wish to do:

1.) Clear space on your agenda. A journey doesn’t happen by accident at the fringes of your life. It has to be intentional and you need the appropriate amount of time. Cancel some commitments if you need to, tell your family you won’t be available to them for one hour (or even 15 minutes if that’s all you can find) every day, or set aside an evening each week when you go on a date with yourself in a coffee shop. You know what you need to do - now you just need to make it a priority and do it, even if it means waking up half an hour before your family fills the house with their noise. Guard your time carefully.

2.) Commit to a physical (embodiment) practice as well as a contemplative one. Along with the creative and journal prompts, you’ll receive embodiment prompts and I encourage you to do them. Don’t just take a FIGURATIVE walk, take a LITERAL one - every day if you can. Or dance. Or do yoga. Just pick something that helps wake your body up and quiets your overactive mind. To avoid setting yourself up for failure, keep it simple (a walk around the block every day is a good place to start).

3.) Set an intention for the journey. Why are you on this path? Are you seeking openness, deepening, clarity, or guidance? How do you wish to walk? With a spirit of openheartedness, tenderness, vulnerability, freedom, curiosity, longing, or comtemplativeness? Or choose a mantra that will help bring you back to your purpose. A mantra might be something like: “I will trust the journey” or “Whatever happens is the right thing” or “The outcome is not my responsibility” or “I am open to what comes” or simply “I am enough”. Or find a special quote. Here’s an example: “Every time you don’t follow your inner

heatherplett.com - page 2 guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.” - Shakti Gawain

4.) Take something with you on the journey. Find a token or symbol that helps you honour the journey you’re taking - a talisman for your pocket, a symbol that you wear as a necklace, a stone you keep on your desk, etc. It might be the symbol of a labyrinth or spiral, or perhaps it’s a word that helps you set an intention for the journey. Keep it close at hand so that you have a regular reminder that you are committed to this self-discovery journey.

5.) Talk to a trusted friend or two and invite them to join you or at least to hold you in their hearts as you journey. You may wish to hold a special ceremony before the journey begins - a blessing ritual where they give you a gift for the journey, a quote that has inspired them, or their words of wisdom. You can also mark the end of the journey with this special person (or people) and share with them some of what you have learned. (Note: If you have nobody that you trust enough to share this with, contact me to see if you can be placed in a small group of others journeying through The Spiral Path.)

This journey is your own, but you are never truly alone. There are other travelers on the path, other spiritual seekers with open hearts. I invite you to be in conversation with some of these others when/if it feels right to do so. Join the Facebook group or ask to be placed in a smaller group, or invite your friends to sign up for the journey with you. (Note: The Spiral Path would be great content for a women’s circle or book club.) Do what feels right, but don’t be afraid to reach out.

It is possible that this pilgrimage may open some past stories and old pain that you have been carefully guarding behind locked doors in your heart. That’s important work, but I encourage you to do it gently and with the right kind of support. If you need to, please seek out help. Perhaps a therapist, a healer (eg. Reiki, art therapy, etc.), a coach, or a spiritual director might help you journey through the toughest spots. If you don’t know of one, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to offer suggestions. Or ask in the Facebook group to see what others recommend.

Here’s what you’ll need to work through the prompts: • A journal of some kind. You may wish to do both the writing and the art-journaling in the same journal (on opposite sides of the page), or you may wish to have separate journals for each. For the creative prompts, try to find a journal with heavy paper so that markers don’t leak through. (Tip: I always tear out a page in my journal and tuck it behind the page I’m working on to avoid leak-through.) • A pen or pencil that you enjoy writing with.

heatherplett.com - page 3 • Markers, paints, and/or crayons. The creative prompts are simple and can be done in a variety of mediums. Suggestions are given, but you can adapt in whatever way suits you. • Old magazines, collage items, or images printed from the internet. • A circular shape or compass for making a circle when a mandala is given as a prompt. A bowl from your kitchen may do the trick. Consider making a template with heavy stock paper or plastic that you can tuck into the back of your journal for repeated use. (Templates available for printing here.)

heatherplett.com - page 4 Lesson 1 Release your need to control the outcome

When you head out on a journey, do you plan everything in advance? Do you carry a little black book or folder with every detail of the trip - every hotel room you’ll stay in, every toll road you’ll need correct change for, and every emergency number you’ll need?

Or are you more of a “go with the flow” traveler, tucking your passport in your pocket, throwing some clean underwear in a bag, and heading out wherever adventure will take you?

For this journey through our figurative labyrinth to your deepest heart, I’m going to invite you to be more of the second kind of traveler. You’re going to have to release your need to control the outcome.

You won’t know where the path will take you. You can’t anticipate where the bumps will be or where you’ll need to stop for a rest. You have no idea when you’ll come around the corner to a view so spectacular you’ll just have to pitch your tent and stay awhile because you simply need to sit in reverence.

If trusting the unknown scares you, take a deep breath and... exhale. It’s okay to be apprehensive. It’s okay to want to turn back and cling to the safety of what you once knew.

It’s okay to feel those feelings (because they’re just that - feelings with no right or wrong and you don’t need to judge them), but it’s not okay to stay stuck. It’s not okay to let the fear control you. Because you have better places to go. You have spectacular vistas to see, and fascinating people to meet.

Most importantly, you have YOURSELF to meet. Your most interesting, most courageous, most beautiful self. The Self that has been whispering to you for a long, long time, but you couldn’t hear her above the noise of your life. She wants to meet you, but she can only do that if you step onto the path out of the noise and distraction and into the quiet places where her whispering can be heard.

Come to the centre of the labyrinth where your heart’s whispers can be heard.

That’s what this journey is about. We’re going to step through the fear, release our need for control, trust the path in front of us, and discover what there is to learn and discover. We won’t

heatherplett.com - page 5 pretend we’re fearless (because we’re not) or that this feels comfortable (it often doesn’t). But we’re going to take a deep breath and step forward anyway.

The beautiful thing about labyrinths (and the reason I chose them as a metaphor for this course), is that, even though we don’t know where the path leads, our only responsibility is to put one foot in front of another and keep walking. The path unfolds in front of us and we can see only as much as we need to see.

We don’t need to see the centre to trust that we will eventually reach it.

We don’t need to know our destination to trust that the journey is taking us where we’re meant to be.

Even though it feels unknown, the truth is that deep in our bones, we know intuitively where to go. We can’t see the map, but it is written on our DNA. We feel the longing, we hear the whispers and we see a pinpoint of light calling us forward. We just have to wake up and remember.

This is YOUR path and it’s been waiting for you since before you were born.

One foot in front of another. That’s the journey to self-discovery. Take a step. Follow the path. Accept the fact that sometimes the curves take you further away from centre before you turn again. Accept both the smooth road and the bumpy road as parts of the path you’re meant to be on.

Let go of the outcome and trust.

Yes, I know that those words can bring up fear, and that’s okay. Nobody’s judging you for the fear and you don’t have to judge yourself either.

Just take the first step. And then tomorrow you can take the second step.

In the words of Dr. Seuss...

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

heatherplett.com - page 6 Creative Practice

Find an old map from a trip you once took, or pick up a free one at a visitor information stand, or print one off the internet.

Tear it into small pieces.

Draw a spiral on your journal page. (Template for printing here.) Glue the small pieces along the spiral path. Embellish as you wish.

You are spiraling toward centre, but you don’t hold a map in your hand. You’re trusting that the path will be different than any you could have planned, but it’s going to be the right path for you.

Journal Practice

When I think about letting go of control, I feel...

On this journey, I am opening myself to...

When the fear comes up, I will remind myself that...

Embodiment Practice

Go on a walk without a destination. Head to a park you don’t know, or a neighbourhood you’ve never walked in. Follow your curiosity. Turn at corners that you look interesting, head into the woods if it compels you - don’t think about where you’re headed and simply be present for what you experience.

heatherplett.com - page 7 Lesson 2 Release the expectation of a straight path

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” We were all asked that question hundreds of times when we were teenagers, and there’s a good chance we’ve all asked it of others.

That question is based on a false assumption. It’s based on a perception of the world that we can all choose to go down straight paths and that we can figure out at 17 what we will be when we are 45.

We can’t. Sure, there are some people who choose a career path and start following it the day they pass from high school to university, but those people are rare AND their paths are never as straight as they may look from the outside. Every path has bumps and curves along the way that catch people completely by surprise and change the direction of their lives.

Even if your career seems straightforward, you may have a spiritual awakening at midlife that completely shifts what you believe in.

Or you might lose someone you love and suddenly grief is your constant companion and teacher.

Or you might begin to question the choices you’ve made and become restless for something more meaningful.

Or you may have had assumptions that you would be a mother some day, but infertility took you down a completely unexpected path.

When I was thirty four, I was pretty sure my life was laid out in front of me in a straight path. I was living the life I’d been conditioned to believe was everyone’s dream. I had it “all” - a decent marriage, two kids, a good career as a Director of Communication that paid well and had great benefits, a house in the suburbs, a minivan, and a camper and boat for family vacations.

Beneath it all, though, was a low level whispering that was nudging me to notice that I wasn’t truly content. I wasn’t living the kind of life I believed in. I was ignoring my spiritual longings. My career, though impressive on a business card, had nothing to do with what I felt called to offer the world.

heatherplett.com - page 8 It took the stillbirth of my son Matthew to shake me out of my stuck place and make me realize I needed to make changes. Half way through my third pregnancy, I landed on my back in a hospital bed after a failed surgery meant my baby’s life was hanging on a precarious thread. For three weeks I stayed in that hospital bed, hoping to keep my baby alive.

Those three weeks changed my life. In the quiet of my hospital room, I went on a spiritual journey like none I’d ever been on before. My faith and my perception of the world were shaken to the core.

It took that sudden and very difficult event to bring me into the silence into which Spirit could whisper. I wasn’t listening before. I was too busy creating the perfect life and building an impressive career to pay attention to the longings of my heart.

It was hard to lose my son, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. He changed my life even though he never breathed. He woke me up to what was really important, reminded me that my spirituality could not be ignored and that all of the exterior success I might attain could never make me truly happy if I didn’t follow my longings.

My path since then has been far from straight. I stepped into the labyrinth in that hospital room, and have been walking it ever since, learning to release, receive, and return again and again and again. Learning to take one step after another. Learning to trust that the path will unfold as it should. Learning to listen to the whispering.

Your path won’t be the same as my path, but you can be certain of one thing - it won’t be straight.

There will be pain and grief you never saw coming. There will also be delights and wonders. There will be hard lessons to learn and beautiful epiphanies to receive.

The sooner you let go of the expectation that you will have a straight path, the sooner you will begin to realize that you have the resources to survive even the hardest bumps and the steepest climbs. You are stronger than you expect. You are more courageous than you know.

Your trust builds your resilience. Lean into the sadness of disappointment. Lean into the grief of loss. Lean into the pain of rejection. Lean in and trust that you have the strength to emerge out the other side.

You are resilient and you are courageous. Lean in and keep walking. Some day soon the path will turn again, you will be heading in a new direction, and the light will change.

You won’t be given a straight path, but you can trust that you are given at least enough strength and courage to take the next step.

heatherplett.com - page 9 Journal Practice

Times in my life when I have felt far away from Centre are...

Times when I’ve felt most connected to my source of power are...

When I look back at my life’s journey, I feel...

Creative Practice

Draw a labyrinth in your journal. Use a template (either the downloadable one or printed one if you bought a journal) or find a pattern on the internet that you like. Along the path of the labyrinth, write short phrases that reflect some of the life experiences you’ve been through (ie. first daughter born, Mom died, changed jobs, etc.). At the places where the path turns, write about the moments that changed your life. At the places where the path is far from centre, write about the hard times when you felt isolated and alone. It doesn’t need to be linear - just do it intuitively.

Embodiment Practice

If you have a labyrinth in your neighbourhood or city, visit it this week. Walk the path and pay attention to how it feels to turn the corner and find yourself taking a different direction than you expected.

If there are no labyrinths nearby, print one and run your finger along the path, or visit a virtual labyrinth.

heatherplett.com - page 10 Lesson 3 Release your old stories

While you were growing up, you collected many stories about yourself and your place in the world.

“Don’t rock the boat,” might be one of the stories you picked up, told to you by cautious parents who didn’t want to see you get hurt.

“You’re the smart one so you need to be a doctor, lawyer, or professor. Art might be a nice way to pass the time, but you’d be wasting your intelligence.”

“A woman needs to care for her home. Taking classes, going out for coffee with friends - those are selfish things that you need to give up in order to be a good mom/wife/person.”

“You’re from a broken home with an alcoholic parent and so you’re stuck in a pattern that you won’t be able to get out of. You don’t deserve any better than that.”

“Traditional medicine is the highest good. Stop messing around with that alternative healing stuff - it will only get you into trouble.”

“How could you dare to deviate from the belief system that you inherited? Don’t you know that you’re betraying your parents when you explore some other spiritual path?”

There are as many stories as there are people in the world.

The old stories are all based in shame and fear, but often that shame and fear wasn’t our own. It was passed down to you through generations of story-keepers who probably don’t even remember its original source.

We keep carrying these stories because they feel safe and comfortable and they’re all we’ve ever known. Or we’ve become so convinced that we don’t deserve any better that we don’t know how to reach for more. Or we’re afraid that letting them go will hurt the people who love us (especially if those people sacrificed a lot for us). Or we don’t know any other way, having watched those who walked before us carry the same stories generation after generation.

While it’s hard for all of us, women have an additional challenge, having been raised in a world where the patriarchy has worked hard to keep us in our place. Women’s wisdom is a threat to a patriarchal, hierarchal world, and so we’ve been told many stories about our lack of value,

heatherplett.com - page 11 our need to stay silent, and our need to stay in line with the way “things have always been done” so that we don’t risk being hurt. We’ve been subjected to all kinds of weapons - shame, violence, anger - that were meant to control us and keep us from our own power.

There are few things more powerful than a woman who has learned to release her old stories and step into new ones.

You don’t need to figure out what the new ones are yet, but it’s definitely time to release the burden of all of those old stories that are dragging you down.

Imagine you are a pilgrim on a long journey. You’ve been walking through the jungle where the path was often full of undergrowth, so you carried with you a hatchet to hack away the branches that threatened to trip you. The path was rocky and treacherous, and so you wore your heaviest hiking boots to protect your feet. There were animals in the jungle, and so you filled your backpack with rocks and clubs to fend them off.

Now you’ve reached the shore of a large lake, and the only way to reach the other shore is to swim. But you’ve got a lot of extra weight on your back and feet, and you know that you’ll soon sink to the bottom if you don’t let it go.

What do you do? Do you carry it with you into the water, willing to risk drowning rather than risk stepping onto the new shore without protection? Or do you drop it onto the shore and strip down to whatever will give you the least resistance in the water?

Leaving your luggage on the shore takes a lot of courage and trust. You don’t know what will greet you on the other shore. You don’t know what kind of predators there will be or what the path will look like.

But if you don’t let it go, you won’t make it across.

Like the hatchet, hiking boots, and weapons, your old stories may have served you in an old life, when you needed to protect yourself from hurts inflicted by people or systems with their own reasons for trying to keep you small. But they don’t serve you anymore.

You’re ready for a new journey, and on this journey you need lightness rather than protection.

It takes a long time to release those old stories. I’ve been on this spiral path for many years already, and I still find myself letting those old stories keep me small. For example, I have this old story about what it means to be an effective leader, and it looks a lot like how the patriarchy defines it. In a hierarchical world, a leader needs to be a hero, with vision and strength and a whole lot of armour. He needs to charge into battle with little fear and he needs those he leads to believe he is invincible.

When I became a leader, I took to it intuitively and brought my vulnerability and softness to my role at first. That was trained out of me, however, after repeated messages that “feelings have nothing to do with leadership”, that “I needed to develop a thicker skin”, and that “I needed to have a clearer vision and stricter discipline when staff didn’t adhere to that vision”.

I tried to be that kind of leader for awhile, but I failed. It just didn’t fit with who I was. I believed in collaboration and vulnerability and community and those things didn’t fit in the places where I worked.

Eventually I left traditional employment to become a teacher, writer, and coach, but the stories I heard stuck to me long after I thought I’d let them go. I now teach leadership workshops where I invite leaders to see themselves as “hosts” rather than “heroes”, but there’s still a tiny voice in the back of my head that occasionally tries to convince me that what I’m teaching isn’t “real” leadership and that it would never work on a large scale. “It might be good enough for touchy-feely women’s circles, but it really has no place in important environments like governments and big business.”

I know that this one simple lesson won’t allow you to release ALL of your old stories. I also know that some of them that you believe have been released will come back to you in moments when you feel threatened.

But you have to start somewhere. And if that somewhere is simply acknowledging that you’re tired of the weight of the old stories, then that’s good enough for a start. Take one step today, and then you’ll take another step tomorrow, and another, and another. And maybe next year you’ll suddenly realize that you’ve found the courage to do something you wouldn’t have allowed yourself to do a year earlier because an old story was holding you back.

Start with an exploration of what some of those old stories are. The journal prompts will help you do that. Identifying them is the first step in releasing them.

Visualize yourself on the labyrinth, setting down your backpack full of old stories. Open up that pack and peer inside. Pull out each story one by one and ask yourself “Is this a story I need? Is it true? Does it serve me anymore? Am I ready to let it go?”

If you’re ready, release them. Tear them up and let them blow away in the wind.

heatherplett.com - page 13 Create a simple ritual for yourself, or use the prompts below to help you turn the act of letting go into a meaningful act that will help with the release.

Journal Practice

When I was young, I was told that I was...

The old stories that I’m tired of carrying are...

I have the most trouble releasing the stories that...

The first small step I’ll take in releasing at least one old story is...

Creative Practice

Write or type the old stories from your journal prompts. Tear them up into single words that are no longer threaded together and no longer hold the stories within them. Rearrange them on a blank page, either randomly all over the page, or transforming them into a poem. Add colour or images to your page.

Embodiment Practice

Go for a walk. When you begin the walk, fill your pockets with stones. Bring a pencil, marker, or piece of chalk. As you walk, stop whenever an old story pops into your head and write that story on a stone. Drop the stone on the path, or toss it into the woods or river. As you release it, say out loud “Thank you, old story, for serving a purpose in my past life. I no longer need you in my life. I am releasing you and trusting that I can learn to live without you.”

heatherplett.com - page 14 Lesson 4 Release Your Fear

At the heart of all of those things we’ve already practiced releasing - the need for control, the desire for a straight path, the old stories - is one common denominator. It’s fear.

We are all afraid of something.

Afraid of being hurt, afraid of failing, afraid of exposing our flaws, afraid of our own success, afraid that we’ll let people down, afraid we’ll be rejected... afraid of so many things that keep us from moving forward on our journeys.

Fear has a way of shapeshifting into other emotions that make it harder to recognize. Sometimes it shows up as anger, sometimes as shame, sometimes as rebellion, sometimes as arrogance, and sometimes as humility. All of those things have fear as their roots.

The fear that holds us back when we want so desperately to move forward emerges from the oldest, most pre-historic part of the brain commonly referred to as the “lizard brain”. We inherited our lizard brains from our evolutionary ancestors, and those ancestors, with much simpler brains than we now have, had very simple responses to any threat - fight or flight.

We don’t face many of the same threats our pre-historic ancestors faced (no mammoths will eat us when we go out to get water), and yet our lizard brains still react with the same instantaneous reaction to any threat. It’s all they know how to do.

The lizard brain hates change. It hates rejection. It hates the pressure of too much success. It hates it when people expect too much of it. It hates a lot of things, because every one of those things feels like a threat to its survival. The lizard brain can’t tell “rejection” from “saber-toothed tiger”, and so it runs from them all.

“The entire purpose of your reptile brain is to continually broadcast survival fears- alarm reactions that keep animals alive in the wild. These fears fall into two different categories: lack, and attack. On one hand, our reptile brains are convinced that we lack everything we need: we don’t have enough time, money, everything. On the other hand, something terrible is about to happen. A predator– human or animal–is poised to snatch us! That makes sense if we’re hiding in a cave somewhere, but when we’re home in bed, our imaginations can fixate on catastrophes that are so vague and hard to ward off that they fill us with anxiety that has no clear action implication.” - Martha Beck

heatherplett.com - page 15 Your lizard brain is trying very hard to protect you from perceived danger and it hates it most of all when other more developed parts of the brain take over and try to convince it to calm down and take a back seat. But that’s the only way to move beyond the things that are holding you back.

It’s important to remember that fear is not a bad thing. Fear protects us from harm when we are truly at risk. We won’t ever truly be fearless, but we can learn to live with the fears and convince our lizard brains that we are safe and that even if bad things happen, we have the strength to carry on.

As you continue on toward the centre of our figurative labyrinth, practice releasing your fears by having conversations with your lizard brain. The next time a fear comes up, ask yourself “What is at the root of this fear? Is it justified? Are the stories around what will happen true?” If they’re not true (and they’re usually not, even though they may be rooted in half-truths), say to your lizard brain “Thank you for protecting me from harm. I know you have my best interests at heart, but I believe that this fear is ungrounded and so I choose to let it go.

In order to move closer to the Self that is waiting for you at the centre of the labyrinth, you’ll need to let go of new fears each and every day. Just when you think you have one fear silenced, another one pops up to take its place. At first, for example, you may be afraid to speak out loud the things that are really important to you. Gradually, you’ll conquer that fear and learn to speak to a few people that you trust. Then you’ll be nudged to speak in even more public arenas, and the fear will crop up again. You’ll work on that fear and maybe speak out loud in your community, church, or work place. That will become comfortable, and then someone will invite you to share at a retreat or conference where the room is full of strangers. Suddenly the fear shows up again and wants to keep you silent.

Your lizard brain won’t ever go away. But as you grapple with one fear after another, it will gradually become easier to wrestle the control out of its hands and let the more developed parts of your brain take over.

Journal Practice I am afraid of... (Write this a dozen times on the page and fill it in with whatever comes to mind. It’s like peeling the onion to get closer and closer to the root of your fears. If after a dozen times, it feels like there are more basic fears underneath, do it another dozen times.)

My lizard brain wants to protect me from...

One small step I’m going to take today to release some of these fears is...

heatherplett.com - page 16 Creative Practice

Draw a lizard in the centre of the page (or find one online, print it, and glue it in). Around the lizard, write the messages that your lizard brain sends you, such as “you can’t speak about this in public or people will laugh at you” or “you need a stable job or you’ll end up poor and destitute”.

Embodiment Practice

Turn on the song Brave (by Sara Bareilles) as loud as you can and DANCE like nobody’s watching!

heatherplett.com - page 17 Lesson 5 Release “what other people think of you”

There is always someone who doesn’t want you to take this journey to yourself. Your mother, your sister, your husband, your kids, your coworkers, your friends, your church community - somebody in your life wants to hang onto the old version of who you are and is afraid that you’ll change too much and abandon them.

Their resistance is based in their own fear. Their own lizard brains are telling them that their lives are in danger and so they do what they can to keep you close and safe and unchanged.

This resistance shows up in the way they tease you for all of those courses you keep taking. Or the way they get annoyed when you want to go away to a retreat. Or the obstacles they put in your way when you want to focus on your own interests. Or the way they ignore you when you have more success than feels comfortable for them. Or the expectations they place on you to look after their needs above your own.

Remember the backpack of old stories you tried to let go of a few lessons ago? The bad news is that it’s not only full of YOUR old stories, it’s full of OTHER people’s old stories too. All through your life, people have been dropping their own stories into your backpack and it keeps getting heavier and heavier until you can barely move.

It might have been your third grade teacher who told you that you could never be a writer. Did you ever consider that she might have dumped that story on you because she was too scared to pursue her own love of writing and couldn’t stand the thought of you surpassing her?

It might have been your mom who keeps implying that “a good mom wouldn’t leave her kids behind for something as frivolous as a yoga retreat.” She wants you to carry that story because she’s still carrying the wounds of her own history, never having given herself permission to invest in her own interests or self-care.

Maybe it was your brother who laughed when you told him you’d signed up for a meditation class. He’s dumping a shame story on you because he’s afraid to start his own spiritual journey for fear that the guys on his soccer team will make fun of him.

Or maybe it was your coworkers at the job you just quit, letting you know just how foolish it is to pursue a new career because you might fail, you might go broke, and you might come

heatherplett.com - page 18 crawling back with your tail between your legs. They probably hate to see you go and they hate to see someone take a risk that they’re afraid to take.

When these people make fun of us or criticize us or get annoyed with us, it’s hard not to take it personally. We get hurt, and our lizard brains react to what their lizard brains have inflicted on us.

And so we stay home and postpone the journey, not wanting to face the judgement and rejection we’re pretty sure we’ll be subjected to if we open the door and step out into our own lives.

But once you’ve felt the call to start the journey to your own life, staying home can never feel comfortable again.

To go where you’re meant to go, you’ll need to release the hold that other people’s stories have on your life.

Your job is not to carry their stories. They need to take responsibility for their own journeys and for releasing their own stories.

Your only responsibility is to take the journey meant for you, however scary that may be.

Yes, it’s true that sometimes people will reject you when you step out of your comfort zone and into something new. It’s true that you might hurt people. But you’ll need to decide that your own life is worth it. Because it is.

You might lose a few relationships that are holding you back, but you will almost certainly gain some new ones that are worth so much more. Once you’ve set out on your path, and learned to talk about it with people who feel safe, you’ll encounter other people on similar paths and you’ll make deeper connections then you’ve ever had before because you’ll understand each other on a soul level. Your newfound authenticity will invite the authenticity of others and you’ll witness a shift in the way you relate to others.

Another interesting thing might happen... the people who once held you back might come looking for advice and support once they are ready for their own journeys. That’s happened to me more than once. People whose rejection I feared early on in my journey have signed up for my classes, hired me as a coach, sent their friends to my workshops, or emailed looking for reading suggestions and other advice. They saw the courage in me, and though they resisted it and even tried to hold me back, they admired it and - when they were ready to take their own courageous steps - wanted to know how I’d done it.

heatherplett.com - page 19 Even though it’s risky, and even though you might lose some friends, this journey is worth it. You’ll gain so much more than you’ll lose.

Starting today, begin to release the fear of what other people think of you.

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” -E.E. Cummings

Journal practice

I am afraid that people will think that I’m...

Because of this fear, I haven’t had the courage to...

I really want to release the following fears...

Creative practice

Make a bowl mandala to hold all of the fears you have about what other people think. In the centre of a large circle write “If I am more authentic, people will think...” Then fill the bowl with all of your fears of how you might be judged for living more authentically. Once the bowl is full, begin to fill it with more beautiful things. Paint or draw over the words, or cut small pieces of coloured paper or magazine images and glue them like mosaic pieces all over the bowl until there is no sign of what’s written underneath.

Embodiment practice

Go through your closet and consider what clothing you wear to fit with other people’s expectations and what you wear because you love it and it reflects your personality. Get rid of at least some of the clothes that don’t suit you. Dress up in your favourite clothes (whether or not the outfit is something others compliment you in) and take yourself out on a date to a place that you really want to visit.

heatherplett.com - page 20 Lesson 6 Release your tears

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.”― Washington Irving

One of the catalysts for this course was a recent trip to the Black Hills where I participated in the annual gathering for Gather the Women, a global organization that supports women’s circles and the work of women finding their voices and claiming their power.

As we sat in the kind of deep conversations that circle invites, I witnessed the same pattern I always see in settings like this - whether it’s workshops, retreats, or sharing circles.

Tears began to flow.

It’s inevitable. When women feel held and safe in a way they haven’t felt for a long, long time, their release valves open and the emotions they’d held tightly under their control begin to seep out through their eyes.

Something else happens after the tears begin to flow.

Women apologize.

Conditioned for most of their lives to distrust our deepest emotions and to see tears as a sign of weakness, they worry that the tears won’t be welcome, that they’re inappropriate, that they communicate something they dare not communicate, or that the opening of that valve isn’t something they can undo and the tears will never stop.

Our tears trigger our shame and fear.

Women’s tears are dangerous and so we’ve been taught to bottle them up. They’re dangerous to others who don’t know how to access their own emotions and who therefore think they’re being manipulated by our emotions. They’re dangerous to those who realize that women in touch with their emotions are harder to control. They’re dangerous to workplaces, schools, and churches that are built on structure, control, logic and order. They’re dangerous to those of us who release them because we don’t know where they will lead us or what they will shift in our lives. Tears are dangerous because they open us up to emotions uncontrolled, secrets untold, stories unlived, and longings untapped.

On this journey to yourself, you’ll need to begin to trust that it is safe to feel deep emotions and to allow the tears to flow. Why? Because tears heal us.

Imagine a pressure cooker without a valve. As it heats up, the pressure builds, and at some point it will explode.

Unless we learn to trust our emotions and release those that we’ve bottled up for too long, we’ll be like that pressure cooker and we’ll explode.

While at that gathering in the Black Hills, I spent some personal time up in the hills, reflecting on the grief that women have carried for centuries - grief that we have not been allowed to feel because of the threat it causes those around us.

We’re like that pressure cooker, holding within us the grief of centuries of patriarchy, centuries of violence (to ourselves, our sisters, and our earth), centuries of fear, and centuries of being silenced. We’ve bottled up the grief, the rage, and the tears caused by so many years of being forced into lives that didn’t resemble the journey we felt called to.

Now it’s time to release that pressure and begin to find (and create) spaces where we are safe to cry and laugh and feel all of those deep emotions we’ve blocked. That’s why women’s circles like those supported by Gather the Women are so important. They offer a container for our tears, our rage, our joy and our ecstasy.

When I wandered into those hills, carrying the stories I’d heard in the circle and carrying the weight of the shame women feel when they’ve been judged for their grief, I had a powerful vision of a river of blood flowing down the hill. It was the blood women had shed for centuries, and the blood the earth is shedding as we exploit and pillage her. I sat down on the ground and wept.

The next day, I felt called to invite other women up into the hills for a pilgrimage and a ceremony of lament. (You can read more about that here.) Each of us spoke to the stories we were carrying (our own stories and those of other women who’d been victimized and silenced) and then we wandered into the hills and we wept.

The ceremony helped us release some of what had been building in that pressure cooker we each carried.

heatherplett.com - page 22 On this journey to yourself, you will encounter your own grief along the path.

Sometimes you’ll understand it and be able to identify where it’s coming from, but sometimes it will sneak up on you and not have any identifiable source. It may be the result of your own past hurt or trauma, or it may be the centuries of old stories that you’ve been asked to carry by your lineage. Or it may be new hurts that trigger even deeper hurts we don’t understand.

Release it. Don’t bottle that grief inside you. Let the tears flow. Let the emotions rise and fall.

If you need to, find someone to support you in this release - a therapist, a women’s circle, or a trusted friend. Make sure it is someone you trust and who makes you feel safe.

Remember to take good care of yourself in your moments of grief. Treat yourself as you would a young child who comes running to you when she bangs her knee on the play structure. Be tender and compassionate and don’t judge yourself for whatever emotions emerge. Soak in a hot bath while you cry. Wrap yourself in a warm blanket and curl up with a cup of tea.

Your tears are not a sign of weakness, they are a sign of strength. They are a sign that you are coming closer to who you really are and learning to live an authentic and powerful life.

I had a coaching client once who was walking through deep grief over losing two babies. Early in our coaching session, she said she felt like there was a river of tears inside her and she was drowning in that river. Half way through the session she had a sudden aha moment. “I’m drowning myself by holding in those tears. Unless I release them, I won’t be able to float on that river.”

Let the tears out before they drown you. Once you’ve released them, you’ll begin to notice their power to heal.

Journal Practice

I feel grief over...

Allowing myself to feel my deepest emotions is...

I will take care of myself when the grief comes by...

heatherplett.com - page 23 Creative Practice

Create a container for your grief. In the book The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, one of the women gives another woman a small bottle called a lachrymatory, which is meant to be a container for tears. “In olden days it was one of the greatest gifts you could give someone. It meant you loved them, that you shared a grief that brought you together.” A lachrymatory seems a beautiful way to honour the place that tears hold in our lives.

Create your own lachrymatory. Buy a small glass vial, or repurpose a perfume bottle or other small bottle. Decorate or label it as your vial of tears. Keep it somewhere safe and take it out when you need a reminder that your tears are sacred and not to be feared. You can also draw one in your journal and fill it with teardrops.

Embodiment practice

What makes you cry? A sad song, a sad movie? Go ahead and invite the tears in by watching or listening. Or create your own lament ceremony and let yourself weep over the grief your body has carried. Imagine yourself at the wailing wall where tears are a thing of honour.

heatherplett.com - page 24 Lesson 7 Release what no longer serves you

You’ve already released a lot along this journey (or at least you’ve begun the process of releasing). You’re learning to release control, your expectation of a straight path, your old stories, your fear, and your concern over what others think about you.

What else do you need to release?

An old belief system that’s holding you back?

Your expectation that life was going to be easier than this?

Your need for financial security?

An unfulfilled dream?

An old grudge or some unresolved anger?

A religion that doesn’t hold your faith anymore?

A longing for popularity?

Resentment over wounds inflicted on you?

A low self-esteem, trampled on by a family that didn’t know how to love you?

A family history of addiction?

An old definition of who you are and what gave you value in the world?

Whatever is holding you back from finding your true self needs to be released. Nobody knows what that is but you.

Once you step into the centre of the labyrinth, you need to have emptied your backpack of at least some of the burdens you’ve been carrying so that you are prepared to receive the gifts that are waiting for you. A backpack that’s still full of old stories, fear, grudges, anger, or low self-esteem won’t have any room for new stories, new inspiration, or new Divine assignments.

heatherplett.com - page 25 There’s a very good chance that “emptiness” will feel really uncomfortable and quite scary. Without the comfort of your old stories and the old fears that helped to keep you safe, you can feel lost and set adrift, like a boat without an anchor.

That’s the reason we hang onto old stories, old fears, and old habits - they give us comfort and fill our emptiness. Why does an addict turn to her addiction? To fill the emptiness. Why does someone stay in an unhealthy relationship? To avoid the empty feeling of aloneness. Why do we stay in jobs that don’t fit us? Because we’re afraid of the unknown, the empty place.

I know it feels bad, but you need to trust me on this - the emptiness is a necessary part of the journey. You’re supposed to be here. You came to this journey because you wanted to feel full and alive and more authentically yourself - and you will - but first you need to experience emptiness. First you need to release so that you can receive. First you need to let go of the ground and trust that you will be held.

Have you ever moved out of an old house or apartment into a new one you dreamed of, and, in that moment of pure exhaustion after packing the hundredth box and seeing the empty walls of the place that held so many of your stories, suddenly felt despondent and hopeless? Even though you KNOW you’re moving on to something better, suddenly you doubt everything and fear you’re making a big mistake. My brother once took a picture of me in that exact moment and every time I look at it I remember that moment in every transition when fear and exhaustion and emptiness grips me. I’ve let go of the old but haven’t yet entered into the new. All I had were empty walls and lifeless cardboard boxes.

That’s the place of release, the place of fear, and the place of grief.

Go ahead and feel the grief of this. Go ahead and feel the fear. These are healthy, normal responses to the release. They are also your teachers. Walk through the grief and be open to what it wants to teach you. Remember the comfort of the old stories, remember the ease of the “way things have always been”, and then say a fond farewell.

My friend Sheri recently moved into a new home, and when she was in the middle of that moment of transition grief, she decided she wanted to wish a healthy farewell to what she was leaving. She wrote a letter to the old house, thanking it for the place it had held in her life and for the way it had housed her family. She found it so helpful that she began to write similar letters to other things she needed to let go of - old relationships, old habits.

In the journal prompts, you’ll have a chance to write a farewell letter to whatever you’ve released. Let yourself feel the emotions that come up, and then take some time for self-care. Make art, do yoga, go for a walk, have a hot bath... and don’t forget to breathe. Journal Practice

I need to release...

Write a letter of farewell and gratitude to whatever you need to release.

Release feels like...

Creative Practice

What does emptiness look like to you? Imagine that moment that I described, when I was standing in an apartment surrounded by empty walls and cardboard boxes. Visualize such a moment in your own life. Now create a visual representation of it in your journal. Does it look like darkness and shadow? Like a frame without a picture? Like a boat adrift?

Embodiment Practice

Spend time in water and let yourself feel held and soothed by it. Take a hot bath or visit a local spa and sit in the hot tub. Imagine yourself warmly held in a womb awaiting birth. Soon you’ll be invited into a new place, but for now you are in the void. Let the water hold you.

heatherplett.com - page 27 Lesson 8 Receive the gift of darkness

We suffer from a collective fear of the dark.

Almost everything in our culture is designed to help us avoid the dark, whether it is figurative or literal dark. Street lamps and well lit homes help us avoid the literal dark, and self-help books, positive thinking gurus, and anti-depressants help us avoid the figurative dark. We spend a great deal of money keeping the darkness at bay.

The darkness is not a comfortable place and it’s not something we naturally welcome. You’re probably questioning why the first lesson in the centre of the labyrinth, when you are prepared to receive the gifts that are waiting for you, is about darkness. It’s not natural to welcome darkness. What could we possibly have to receive from it?

Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time at my husband’s favourite lake. While he fished, I wandered the woods with my camera. At first I stayed on the path near the shore, where the light shone brightly on the water, reflecting the brilliant blue of the sky. But then something drew my attention away from the light and I found myself pulled into the dark, shadowy woods. There I became entranced by mushrooms, lichen, and moss - all of those things that grow in damp shadowy places.

There were rocks covered in blankets of soft green moss. There were decaying branches hosting lacy white lichen. And there were endless varieties of mushrooms - some flat and brown, some puffy and white, some as big as my head, and some smaller than my fingernail.

As I crouched on the shadowy, mossy ground with my camera, staring at the intricate detail of the lacy lichen, something clicked for me.

“Beautiful things grow in the dark.”

Yes indeed. Beautiful things DO grow in the dark. None of these fascinating plants and fungi grew on the sunny shores of the lake - they all found the habitat they needed in the shadows of the tall trees.

Last year, when I had the privilege of visiting Whidbey Island off the shores of Seattle, my friend Ginny took me to a magical garden hidden in the depths of the rainforest. For ten years,

heatherplett.com - page 28 she’d tended this garden, living among the wild things in a tiny cottage. She knew every plant, every tree, every crooked path, and she loved it all like a mother loves her child.

This garden was magical. There were ferns of every shade of green, flowers in the most surprising shapes I’d ever seen, and hundreds of varieties of shade-loving foliage. It was the kind of place you’d expect fairies and wood-nymphs to dart between the trees. It was pure beauty, and all of it was growing in a place where the sun never reached.

Beautiful things grow in the dark.

What beautiful things grow in your life when you are in a dark place? Have you had relationships flourish in the middle of deep grief? Have you witnessed personal growth while everything feels hard? Have you learned a new spiritual practice while ending a marriage or walking away from a community that no longer fit you?

The darkness isn’t an easy place, but when I look back over the course of my life, I know with certainty that my deepest learning and transformation came in those times when I walked through darkness. Having a stillborn son brought depth to my spirituality and strengthened my marriage. Walking with my husband through mental illness and suicide attempts taught me more about what I valued in life and how I wanted to be in relationship. Being in a difficult leadership position and having a lawsuit filed against me by someone who had been fired made me a stronger, more resilient leader.

In order for a caterpillar to transform into a butterfly, it must first enter the darkness of the chrysalis. It doesn’t simply morph into a butterfly the way a tadpole morphs into a frog - instead it completely deconstructs in the chrysalis until it is a gooey mush that resembles neither the caterpillar nor the butterfly. Only then is it ready to transform into the beauty its being called to.

Like that almost-butterfly, you’ve been invited into the centre of the labyrinth so that you can be transformed into the butterfly of your beautiful Self. You’ve released all of what made you a caterpillar and you are ready to receive your wings.

But first you must be willing to walk into the dark. Don’t run from it when it comes. Step into it, and ask “what are the lessons I’m meant to learn in this dark place? What is the beauty that grows in these shadows?”

The more we avoid the dark, the more we short-circuit our own growth. The darkness is our teacher - unless we sit at its feet and let it teach us, we’ll miss the lessons it has for us.

heatherplett.com - page 29 Journal Practice

When I find myself in darkness, I feel...

When I look back in my life at the times when I was in darkness, I see that...

The darkness has taught me...

Creative Practice

Remember back in grade school when we used to colour the whole page with various bright wax crayons, and then we’d colour over the whole page with black and etch drawings into the black to reveal what was underneath? Try that!

Embodiment Practice

Start by listening to The Darkness by Rose Cousins. “the dark is a river though it may divide if you wade into it, with your arms open wide let it take you with it, you don’t have to fight it will provide” Lyrics here.

Then, with those words reverberating, try an experiment in sensory deprivation. Lie in a quiet room or in a bathtub full of body-temperature water and turn the lights out or cover your face with a blanket that blocks out the light. How does that feel? How does your body respond? How long before you need to turn the lights back on again?

heatherplett.com - page 30 Lesson 9 Receive stillness

“Be still Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity” ― Lao Tzu

A journey to the centre of the labyrinth invites stillness. Walking the path inward invites you away from the noise, away from the distractions, and into the stillness.

“The quieter you become the more you can hear.” - Ram Dass

Ironically, as I try to focus on the wisdom I need to write this lesson, I am having trouble resisting the distraction and “noise” of Facebook. I write a sentence, and then I open Facebook. I write another sentence, and then I watch a silly Youtube clip someone shared. I write another sentence, and then I stop to check my email. I am avoiding stillness and filling the space with too much noise.

It’s true what they say - we teach what we most need to learn. I’m going to get up from my computer right now, step away from the distraction, and walk by the river for a few minutes. I invite you to do the same. Let’s regroup when we’ve both invited stillness back into our lives.

....if this were a script, it would say “time passes” here....

I’m back on the computer, but I’ve taken my laptop away from the distractions of wi-fi. Instead, I’m sitting on a bench at the centre of my favourite labyrinth - the Carol Shields Labyrinth. It seemed appropriate to write a lesson on the stillness at the centre while sitting at the centre of a labyrinth.

If you stand at the very centre of this particular labyrinth, because it’s slightly bowl-shaped with small hills around the edges, you can hear a slight echo when you talk. You have to be at the very centre and not move even an inch in either direction and you have to be surrounded by silence in order to hear your own voice echo back to you.

There are a few important learnings in this metaphor: • There is wisdom that can be found only in your own voice and it resonates back to you when you are attuned to it.

heatherplett.com - page 31 • You can only hear the wisdom resonating from your own voice when you stand in stillness. Any noise or distraction will drown it out. • You can only hear that voice when you’re centred and you can’t be centred until you’ve made the journey to this place. First you have to release before you can receive. • Sometimes it takes some adjustment and alignment before you find the centre where your voice resonates.

In this lesson, I want to invite you into that still place where you’ll begin to hear the wisdom of your voice.

This is important. Lean in and listen...

You need to seek stillness regularly, guard it like a rare treasure, honour it by showing up with attention, and never apologize for needing it.

And when you’re in that stillness, listen deeply. Listen for the wisdom beneath the words, beneath the thoughts, and beneath the judgement. Like the Buddhists teach in meditation, when your thoughts come, simply label them “thinking” and let them pass. When self- judgement comes, breathe deeply and let it pass. When fear comes, kiss it gently and send it on its way.

Your stillness doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s stillness. If you don’t find sitting meditation works for you, then try walking meditation. Or try going for a walk in the woods. Or have a hot bath. Or sit in the garden. Or sit at the centre of the labyrinth like I am doing. Or do intuitive painting.

If stillness is hard for you, and there are too many voices still vying for your attention, then start with short increments. Commit to 5 minutes a day with no distractions. Try this for a few weeks and then stretch it for 10. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t “get it right.” Just try again tomorrow. And the next day.

Your voice wants to be heard. It wants to reverberate against the hills and echo back into your own ears. It wants to wake you up to who you really are after all that you have released. But it can’t be heard above the noise.

Be still and listen.

heatherplett.com - page 32 Journal Practice

When I am still I...

Stillness feels like...

When I really listen for the wisdom of my own voice, I hear...

Creative Practice

Start with at least 5 minutes of stillness where you listen for the sound of your own voice. Then grab some paints or crayons and intuitively fill the page with colour, shape, lines, etc. Some of your wisdom is beyond words - some of it wants to emerge from your right brain space that doesn’t have clear articulation. Let it show up in colour and surprise.

Embodiment Practice

Still your body. Sit quietly for 5 minutes a day. Find a comfortable, quiet place to do it. Create a meditation corner, if you have the space, or sit on a park bench.

heatherplett.com - page 33 Lesson 10 Receive healing

All of us have wounds that need healing.

Even the most confident, self-assured people I’ve met - even those at senior levels of government - reveal deep wounds when they allow themselves to be vulnerable. In one of my past jobs, I spent quite a bit of time on the road with a long term Member of Parliament, and in the safety of a car, far away from the political stage, he’d tell me stories of his childhood, his marriage, and even his career that revealed that under his confident exterior, he carefully hid a wounded child.

It takes a lot of time to heal these wounds, and once you’ve healed the ones you know of, you discover that there are more ancient and deeply rooted ones hidden underneath. Some of those aren’t even your own wounds. Some of them are wounds that you’ve inherited from the generations that have gone before you.

Not long ago, I attended a vigil for a 15 year old girl whose body had been found wrapped in a plastic bag, floating in the river. This young girl had been living on the streets after running away from foster care. She’d been sexually exploited and murdered.

It was clear that this young girl was carrying a lot of wounds and they weren’t only the result of her short and tragic life. She was carrying the wounds of her people. Born into an Indigenous culture that’s long been victimized by marginalization, residential schools, racism, and countless other atrocities, she carried ancient wounds even before she was born. On top of that, her father had been murdered before her and her family hadn’t been able to sufficiently care for her so she’d been placed into foster care.

Now, I suspect that few of you who read this have as many marks against you as this young woman did. I, for one, was born into relative privilege, so I can’t possibly understand what her life was like.

That being said, I still believe that each of us lives with some old wounds that are beyond our comprehension. Simply being women means that we have suffered ancient wounds inflicted on our female lineage by the patriarchy.

I recently heard a speaker say “the patriarchy is a system in which women agreed to trade their rights for their survival”. This is not about male-bashing. It’s about recognizing that we

heatherplett.com - page 34 have been victimized by a system that asked us to compromise what we should have had access to in order to survive.

An article I read recently spoke about how trauma changes our dna and how that dna is passed down through the generations and shows up as phobias and irrational fears. We don’t understand these phobias because they don’t come from anything we ourselves have experienced.

I come from a Mennonite heritage, and there were periods in history when my ancestors were slaughtered for their faith. Often they had to meet in secret or risk torture, imprisonment, and death. More then once, they fled their homeland, seeking a safer place to live in alignment with their beliefs. I’ve been wondering lately how those traumas have been passed down into my DNA.

The same can be said about the witch burning that happened to our female lineage. Many women who now practice feminine spirituality, seeking the Feminine Divine, are recognizing that they still carry ancient fears that they could be burned at the stake for what might be seen as witchcraft.

All of that to say that our fears and our wounds are deeper and less rational than we understand. There’s been a great deal of talk lately about the “confidence code” and how we as women need to “lean in” and I applaud that conversation, but I also believe that before we can step into our power, we need to heal old wounds and release old fears.

Think back to the last time you were triggered by something someone said. Perhaps a family member criticized you and you instantly reacted with anger. Did you understand why you acted like that? Did it send you back into your childhood when you were criticized too often and not encouraged enough? Or was your reaction somewhat irrational, not directly related to any particular wound that you can remember?

The next time you are triggered, pause for a moment to reflect on what happened. Find that stillness that we talked about in an earlier lesson and open your heart to the healing that can come even if you don’t understand the wound.

Then ask yourself a series of questions. • What am I feeling? • Why am I angry / upset / sad? • Why am I feeling the need to defend myself? • What am I afraid of? • What do I feel guilty about? • What part of me most needs my compassion, love and attention right now?

heatherplett.com - page 35 • Why have I denied what I feel? • What have I not been willing to see? • Is there a wound in my past that’s being triggered by this?

If you can find the source of the wound, then invite healing into your life for that wound. If you can’t find a source, still invite healing for what you don’t understand. Follow the example of those in twelve step programs. Because we can’t understand all of our wounds and fears, we have to admit first that we are powerless. Once we have acknowledged that, we need to turn our wounds over to our Higher Power and ask for help in the healing.

There is healing available to us on this journey, but we can’t do the healing ourselves. We need help from a source of power much bigger than us. It doesn’t matter how you define that Higher Power - whether you call it God, Goddess, Source, the Collective Good, the Universe, etc. - what matters is that you ask.

The first step is to ask. The second step is to wait. The third step is to receive.

When we are open to receiving, we have to be open to however that help shows up, whether it comes through community support, through therapists, through new relationships, and through forgiveness of those who’ve wounded us.

Be ready, because the healing will change you. And it will wake you up in ways you don’t expect.

Journal Practice

The wounds that I know I need healing for are...

The phobias and fears that show up that I don’t understand are...

These phobias and fears may be rooted in...

My lineage has been...

Creative Practice

Imagine the wound on a trunk of a tree where a branch has been cut off. The tree grows a protective layer of bark over the tree, but the wound never fully goes away. Sometimes that

heatherplett.com - page 36 healed over wound looks like a mandala on the side of a tree. There’s one tree near my house where the wound has been healed in the shape of a heart.

Draw a healing mandala that reflects a wound that you have. Write that wound in a small circle at the centre of the larger circle and imagine it is healing but still leaving a mark on your life. Around the smaller circle, draw and colour the petals of a flower, unfurling from that wound and transforming it from a hole to a thing of beauty.

Embodiment Practice

Healing work calls for tenderness. Be tender with your body. Spend some time wishing it healing for wounds you know of and those you don’t. Stand naked in front of a mirror and say to yourself “You are a beautiful body. I know that you are doing your best to heal from wounds you don’t even know about. I will do my best to be kind to you in this healing.” Then spend some time tenderly rubbing lotion all over your body. (Feel no guilt whatsoever for the thoughts or feelings that come up. Simply receive them and carry on.)

heatherplett.com - page 37 Lesson 11 Receive the Sacred

The Sacred wants to meet you at the centre of the labyrinth.

She wants to dance with you in ecstasy. She wants to delight your senses. She wants to hold you gently in her arms and whisper kindness in your ears. She wants to caress you like her precious child.

The more I do this work, the more I believe that women need to seek the Feminine Divine. This doesn’t mean that we need to leave whatever faith traditions we’ve been committed to (or adopt a faith tradition if we don’t have one), and it also doesn’t mean that we have to replace a male version of God with a wholly female Goddess. It simply means that in order for the feminine to be fully alive in us and in any faith tradition, and for women to be able to claim the power of the Divine, we have to be able to honour the feminine in the Sacred along with the masculine.

My dear friend Tubears is an Indigenous elder from Reno, Nevada. At our annual Gather the Women gatherings, she leads us in sacred ceremony in the medicine wheel each morning. There she speaks to the Grandfathers and Grandmothers - the Spirits all around us in the sun, the sky, the earth, the trees, and the creatures that roam on the earth. Each morning, we stand in reverence, acknowledging that we are in need of both the feminine AND the masculine in the world.

And that is what I believe is needed in the world - a balance of both feminine and masculine. Honouring God as only masculine has created an imbalance in the world. It has meant that we have allowed ourselves to rape and pillage Mother Earth for our own gain. It has meant that we’ve let the patriarchy run rampant, especially within religious cultures. When we look back in history and recognize the power that religion has had over culture, we recognize that a religious tradition that defines God only as masculine is the source of much of the wounds we talked about in the last chapter.

This is not about blaming men. Far from it. Though they may not realize it, men have lost a great deal in this imbalanced world too. This is about recognizing that the world needs to be in balance and that neither the masculine nor the feminine should dominate over the other.

In this lesson, I invite you to receive the Sacred as Sophia, Goddess, Gaia, Shakti, Mother Earth, She that is a Mystery, or whatever name you choose to honour the Goddess in you.

heatherplett.com - page 38 Because that is what the journey to yourself is all about - it’s about learning to recognize the DIVINE THAT IS ALREADY WITHIN YOU.

You are Sacred. You are Divine.You are a beautiful Daughter of the Goddess.

That is why we need to seek the Feminine Divine instead of simply trusting the religious teachings of the patriarchy. Because if we don’t see ourselves in the Divine, we have a great deal of trouble seeing the Divine in us. If God is only male, then only men have the divine within them.

Once we begin to see the Divine in us, we begin to recognize our beauty and our power. We begin to see that our wisdom matters, that our intuition matters, and that our creativity matters. We realize that those voices that were keeping us small were the wrong voices to trust because they were not the voices of our Divine Selves.

We don’t have to stay small anymore. We don’t have to be powerless. We have access to the power of the Sacred, available to us at all times, within us.

That’s why we do all that hard work of releasing, healing, and seeking stillness - because we want to encounter our Divine Selves. And once we begin to experience that encounter, we know that the path has been worth it.

How will you receive the sacred? How will you begin to see the Divine in yourself? Will you do it by paying more attention to the beauty all around you and the beauty in yourself? Will you do it by listening more deeply for your own intuitive wisdom? Will you do it by valuing your own work more?

“The Goddess as merely a concept doesn't mean much. In order for her power to be activated, she must be channeled through real women (and men). If American women were awake, 17,000 children would not starve every day; 1 in 5 American children would not be food insecure; and the earth itself would not be under chronic assault. To serve the Goddess means to serve her purposes, by standing within the insanity of the world and interceding on behalf of what is beautiful and true.” - Marianne Williamson

It’s time to activate the power of the Goddess in YOU!

heatherplett.com - page 39 Journal Practice

I experience the Sacred in the world as...

The idea that the Divine is already within me makes me feel...

My Divine Self is... Creative Practice

Place the word Sacred at the centre of a circle. Then fill the circle with words, images, colour, etc. that represent the way you witness the Sacred in the world.

Embodiment Practice

Make art on your body. Use paints or markers to draw on your skin. You could write “loved by the Goddess” or “I am a Daughter of the Divine” on your arm or across your chest. Or paint a mandala on you belly. Engage with your body in a new way, seeing it as a thing of beauty that houses the beautiful Divine.

heatherplett.com - page 40 Lesson 12 Receive your curiosity

Curiosity is one of my favourite words.

Once, when I was completely burnt out from a demanding job and some family struggles that seemed insurmountable, I attended a unique leadership gathering that had grown out of the Shambala Buddhist tradition. (Authentic Leadership in Action Summer Institute) I will never forget the opening speaker, Michael Chender. First, he spoke words that reached right into my weary heart. “At this gathering, we invite you to bring your brokenness, your failure, and your weakness.” Really? That was the first time I’d been to a leadership event where I wasn’t expected to be all put together.

Then he said something else that I’ll never forget. “Bring your curiosity too,” he said. “Your curiosity will lead you down the path you’re meant to follow. It will help us find answers to the challenges of our times.”

From the stage, he was inviting us back into our childhood when we didn’t have to have everything figured out, when we could simply follow our curiosity to the next adventure. I was hooked.

At that gathering, I met some of the most delightful curiosity-seekers I’ve ever met, and many of them have become lifelong friends. We’ve developed networks of curiosity-seekers, exploring whatever paths present themselves to us and whatever our hearts long for. Amazing work has come out of those networks, mostly because we view the pursuit of curiosity as our purpose and play as a valid way of engaging with the world.

Your curiosity is a gift. Don’t ever shut it down.

Curiosity is what drives inventors, explorers, healers, and artists. It’s what drives us to discoveries and inventions. It’s the reason we can now fly around the world and have video chats with our family with a device we hold in our hands.

Your curiosity is an expression of your Divine Self. Every time you’re curious about something, She is whispering “will you come and play with me?”

When did you become too practical to follow your curiosity? When did you become too pragmatic for play?

heatherplett.com - page 41 If there is one thing I regret about the education of my three daughters it is the fact that the education system does so little to turn them into curiosity seekers. They should be spending hours every day exploring the things they’re curious about rather than hours memorizing the things they’re supposed to know. Even in art school my oldest daughter is on the verge of burnout because she spends her evenings producing what the teacher tells her to produce rather than exploring what excites her. She took a recent 4 day field trip to visit art galleries in another city, and I thought she’d come home excited about all that she’d been exposed to. Instead she came home tired and disappointed because she’d had to spend so much time copying a few pieces that she didn’t even get to visit the parts of the art galleries she’d really wanted to visit.

We emerge out of our education systems trained to exist in industrial systems that value hard work and productivity but don’t value creativity and curiosity. I teach in a public relations program at university and I have a hard time getting my students to be creative because they’re much more concerned about pleasing me so that they’ll get good grades. I keep insisting that they’ll get more points for creativity than regurgitation, but they have a hard time believing me, having been so well trained otherwise.

On this journey, you are invited back into your own curiosity.

You’re invited to do those things that you’ve been trained to believe are a “waste of time”. You’re invited to PLAY!

Not long ago, I had a coaching client who was agonizing over a new business she was planning to start. She felt overwhelmed, quite certain she wouldn’t know how to do it right and that she’d fail miserably.

“Why don’t you use different language?” I asked her. “Why don’t you think of yourself as an explorer rather than an entrepreneur? Imagine that your work is simply to explore what your heart longs for rather than to build a business.”

That new definition helped her release the pressure she was putting on herself and soon she was having fun playing with ideas rather than worrying about failure.

I invite you to do the same. Think of yourself as an explorer, following your curiosity. Your curiosity is what makes you uniquely you. It’s a gift from the Sacred, drawing you closer and closer to what wants to be born out of you.

heatherplett.com - page 42 Journal Practice

I am curious about...

When I follow my curiosity, I...

Thinking of myself as an explorer makes me feel...

Creativity Practice

Instead of a “vision board” make a “curiosity board”. Fill the page with images that make you curious, whether it’s animals you want to learn more about, places you want to visit, or art you want to learn how to make.

Embodiment Practice

Visit a place you haven’t visited before - a park, playground, garden, museum, etc. Don’t follow any particular logic or direction as you travel through it - simply follow your curiosity. If you see something sparkly, follow it. If you hear an intriguing noise, follow it. If the light slants in through the trees in an appealing way, follow it. If a deer or bunny emerges from the woods, follow it.

heatherplett.com - page 43 Lesson 13 Receive your Divine Assignment

By now, you have practiced receiving stillness and healing, you have welcomed the Sacred, and you have followed your curiosity. All of these things were leading to something important.

They were leading you toward your Divine Assignment.

What is a Divine Assignment? It’s an invitation from the Divine in You, born out of your curiosity and your longing, to step into your gift, your power, your greatness.

I’m not talking about something that feels far too big for you to handle or something that you’re not prepared for. I’m also not talking about one straight path to a career that will be the be-all and end-all that fulfills everything in your life. I’m talking about a genuine expression of your giftedness that nudges you forward into the heart of your longing.

If, as we discussed a couple of lessons ago, the Divine is already in you, then your Divine Assignment is emerging out of who you are. It is your invitation to live truly into WHO YOU ARE.

Your Divine Assignment is not like anyone else’s Divine Assignment. It’s a unique invitation that emerges out of everything that you are - your personality, your curiosity, your gifts, your stories, your style, your wounds, your weakness, your mistakes, your beauty, and your desires.

How do you discover your Divine Assignment? By living into it. By following your curiosity. By paying attention to what makes you come alive.

We should probably be talking about the plural here - your “Divine Assignments”, because I’m not sure you ever get just one. I think you get a whole series of them that lead you throughout your life.

Raised in a pragmatic, evangelical Christian home, I grew up convinced that God wanted us to sacrifice our happiness and live out our lives in drudgery. I was pretty certain that following “the calling” would mean doing miserable things that I hated to do because God was asking me to.

heatherplett.com - page 44 Back in Sunday School, when I was a child, we’d listen to stories like Jonah and the Whale and I’d be terrified of what God would expect of me. God called Jonah to the city of Nineveh to tell them how wicked they all were. Fun, right? NOT! Afraid for his life, Jonah ran away and ended up in the belly of the whale. After three days, when he cried out to God, the whale spit him out and he finally obeyed God and went to Nineveh.

The Sunday School version of that story did not give me much hope that following my Divine Assignment would have anything to do with fun. Ugh.

But now, years later, I’ve come to a different understanding of that story. For one thing, I see it as a metaphor for this very journey we’re on - The Spiral Path. (I see most Biblical stories as metaphor and am no longer concerned whether or not they are meant to be believed literally.) Jonah felt a nudging to make a difference in people’s lives and at first he resisted it, not believing he was up for the task. Surely the people of Nineveh would slaughter him for the message he had to deliver.

The truth was, he really WASN’T up for the task - at least not right away. Before he could get to Nineveh, he needed to go on a journey - his own version of The Spiral Path. What we think of as the centre of the labyrinth for him was the belly of the whale. He had to get to a place where he was ready to release his fear, release his need for control, and release his old stories. While there, he had to receive the gifts of the darkness, receive the Sacred, receive his own curiosity, and receive his own Divine Assignment. Sound familiar?

While inside the whale, Jonah prayed a beautiful prayer. “From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

Only after Jonah had been through all of that was he ready to return and do the task he’d been invited to do. Sure it was scary, but those three days in the whale had given him courage and strength and he knew that he was not walking into enemy territory alone.

When I look back at my own Spiral Path, it’s not much different from Jonah’s. I had a good life, back in the days before the death of my son shook me up, threw me into grief, and cast me into my own “belly of the whale”. Before that, I’d been running away from my own Divine Assignment, thinking instead that I’d be happy if I just made enough money, got a prestigious enough job, and stayed under the radar. I had my own Nineveh and my own invitation to speak into people’s lives and invite them into a deeper spirituality, but I was sure I wasn’t up for the job and so I avoided it. Like Jonah, I was scared to speak to my Nineveh, because what I saw as a spiritual path was different from what I’d been taught in the church of my youth, and so I was sure I’d be ridiculed and rejected.

heatherplett.com - page 45 What I didn’t understand then was that our Divine Assignments invite us into JOY, not into drudgery. Ironically, the truth is actually the OPPOSITE of what I’d feared. The drudgery comes when we stay stuck in fear and resistance and the joy comes once we step into what we’re being called to do.

I’m not saying that it will be easy to get to joy - there’s still that whale’s belly thing to deal with - but I’m saying that the only way you can get to it is if you find the courage to receive your Divine Assignment and to step into it.

According to Pema Chodron, the wise Buddhist teacher, “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” In other words, that thing that scares you most may be the most truthful thing in your life. It may be the thing that will most excite and delight you once you receive it.

Go ahead, open your heart and receive your Divine Assignments.

One more thing... It’s important not to attach the idea of Divine Assignments too closely with your career. Sometimes it’s true that career and calling are closely tied, but that isn’t always the case. You may be invited into a life of compassion, for example, and you can live that out while doing whatever career you’re already in. In one hospital, for example, a janitor was impacted when he noticed that some patients died alone without family or friends to comfort them. During his breaks from cleaning the hospital, he started to sit with some of those lonely patients and noticed that it made a difference for them. Gradually this became his vocation and he invited other janitors to do the same. He never quit his paid janitorial work, but he stepped into a vocation of caring for people dying alone.

Also, don’t look for just one thing that will answer all of your longings for the rest of your days. That will only frustrate you. Just follow what you are being called into right now. Feel a nudging to paint? Do it. Feel a nudging to advocate for someone who’s been marginalized? Do it. Each time you follow a nudging that feels right, you’re stepping into your Divine Assignment.

Don’t know where you’re being led yet? That’s okay, just start following your joy, your curiosity, and your fear with an open heart. Start trusting the longing in you. And remember to regularly seek stillness so that the Divine voice in you can be heard.

“I believe in signs....what we need to learn is always there before us, we just have to look around us with respect & attention to discover where God is leading us and which step we should take. When we are on the right path, we follow the signs, and if we occasionally stumble, the Divine comes to our aid, preventing us from making mistakes.” - Paulo Coelho

heatherplett.com - page 46 Journal Practice

When I consider the idea of a “Divine Assignment”, I think of...

Fear is nudging me toward...

The Nineveh in my life (the people that I’m most afraid will ridicule or reject my message) is...

Creative Practice

Trace or draw a labyrinth on the page. A the centre of the labyrinth, write “My Divine Assignment”. On the path leading to the centre, write notes about those times when you felt like you were following some nudging or some invitation into your joy. Perhaps you took a course you really enjoyed. Perhaps you took a trip to a place that excited you. Perhaps you created something that you loved.

Embodiment Practice

Take your Divine Self out on a date. Imagine what you would do to honour the Goddess if she showed up at your house. Whatever you would do for royalty, do for yourself. Take yourself to the spa or out for a nice meal. Or spend time in your favourite park or garden.

heatherplett.com - page 47 Lesson 14 Receive what you need for the return journey

What do you need to receive before you’re ready to embrace your Divine Assignment and return to the world to live it out? Do you need an extra dose of courage? Do you need friends who support you? Do you need more clarity? Do you need space and time? Do you need money?

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” - Paulo Coelho

Do you really believe what Paulo Coelho says - that the universe has got your back? It’s a tough thing to believe, when you’ve been wrestling with self-doubt, trying to heal from past wounds, and coping with rejection and failure.

But there is deep truth there, beneath the layers of resistance and disbelief.

You will receive what you need in order to live out your Divine Assignment. You will receive courage, clarity, space, time, and friends, if that is what you need. It’s all available to you when you dare to step into your calling. It might not show up in the way you want or the timing you think is right, but it will show up in the way that is needed.

How do I know? Because I have been receiving it in abundance since I have been on The Spiral Path myself. It started in those weeks in the hospital when I was waiting to see if my baby would survive.

I have rarely been so helpless as I was for those three weeks, and yet I have rarely been so well provided for. I had a busy life to manage at the time, with a demanding career and two young daughters. I was forever juggling child care, business travel, laundry, management team meetings, media calls, grocery shopping, etc., etc. Suddenly, when I landed unexpectedly in a hospital, I had to put all of that on hold and just rest. Too much motion and too much stress wasn’t good for my condition, so I had to do my best to let it all go.

At first I resisted, trying my best to juggle my life from a phone, but gradually I had to learn to trust that all of my needs would be cared for. And they were, in the most beautiful ways. My Mom and Dad took my two daughters to the farm where they received not only exceptional care but the opportunity to play and explore farm life like I’d experienced as a child. My

heatherplett.com - page 48 employees and colleagues stepped up to the plate (in the busiest time of year) and took on extra duties so that nothing would fall through the cracks. And friends kept showing up with all manner of gift and offers of help to make sure my every need was provided for.

It was quite humbling being part of that. It was beyond what I could have hoped for.

It also became clear that there Forces Unseen that were orchestrating my care. Gifts and offers of help were showing up at the exact moment they were needed. One day I’d notice that my nails needed trimming, and within a few hours a friend would walk in with a care package and say “I thought you might need a nail clipper, so I stopped at the gift shop to buy you one.” Another day I’d remark about my dry skin and another friend would walk in with body lotion. When I was tired of hospital garb, a package arrived from my sister-in-law in California with the most beautiful luxurious pajamas. These mysterious responses to needs I’d barely even acknowledged to myself happened nearly every day I was in the hospital.

I haven’t experienced anything quite like that since that time (mostly because I’ve been more in a position to care for my own needs), but I can still speak to the abundance that is available to those who dare to step onto The Spiral Path and receive their Divine Assignment. Since I’ve been self-employed, for example, working hard to live out the calling that first started nudging me in the hospital, I’ve had magical moments like those again and again. Many times, when I was pretty sure we wouldn’t have enough money to pay the bills, a cheque from a client would arrive just in time, or someone would send a gift, or I’d get a new contract.

Sure it’s been scary, and I am far from getting rich on this work, but it’s been clear to me that the universe wants me to keep doing it. Last year, I was invited to be part of two events in Lake Tahoe and Atlanta and I really felt that they were valuable places for me to be, but I had to pay my own way and just couldn’t afford it. So I mentioned it to my readers, and within 48 hours, I’d received enough financial gifts to be able to pay for the whole trip.

When we step onto the path, we’ll be provided with what we need.

The hardest part is learning to trust that that will be so. Even after several years of doing this work, I still need daily reminders of this. I still forget to trust on a regular basis. Even as I write, I’m fighting some worry about how we’ll be able to pay for my daughter’s braces and whether we’ll have enough money for Christmas.

I KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS. I’m not inviting you onto this path because I’ve got it all figured out. I’m inviting you onto this path because even though it’s hard, I know it’s worth it. Even though it’s scary, I know you will be provided for. Yes, the universe conspires to help you, but you’ll have to do your part. You’ll have to keep releasing those old stories and those old fears. You’ll have to keep practicing stillness and surrender. You’ll have to keep asking for what you really need. You’ll have to let go of the things you don’t really need. You’ll have to work up the courage to receive your Divine Assignment. And most of all, you’ll have to make a daily commitment to practicing trust and doing the work required of you.

Journal Practice

I need...

The things I think I need but might just be attached to old stories are...

I trust that...

I am ready to receive...

Creative Practice

Gather images (from old magazines, online, etc.) that reflect what you need and are ready to receive. At the top of the page write “I trust that I will receive...” and then fill the page with the images that reflect those things you need and are ready to receive.

Embodiment Practice

There is a group of young people in India who go on bicycle journeys in which they trust that the universe will provide them with what they need. They take nothing - no tents, bedding, or food - and simply rely on the kindness of strangers in the villages they meet to provide for them. They believe in the Gift Economy and so they offer what they can and receive what they need. It’s like a month long version of the trust fall, where you trust a friend to catch you as you fall backward into their arms.

What might your version of a trust fall be? Leaving the house for a day without your wallet? Asking your friends to help you with something you need? Try to find one small way that you can lean into trust today.

heatherplett.com - page 50 Lesson 15 Return with generosity and patience

You’ve spent the last seven lessons at the centre of the labyrinth, receiving what was there for you. Now it’s time to begin the return.

The return is about bringing what you learned and the gifts that you received out into the world with you. It’s about learning to be in the world while still very much in touch with the Sacred and connected to the stillness at the centre. It’s also about making an active decision to live out your Divine Assignment.

The problem with too much of what’s being sold in the self-help industry is that it stops at SELF help. That’s like staying at the centre of the labyrinth and never making the return journey.

It is good and absolutely necessary to work on yourself, to extend great care and tenderness to yourself and to focus on your own personal healing and growth journey. Much of the work I do in the world is about helping women do just that. But that’s not enough - that’s only part of the journey. If you stay in the place of self help and don’t acknowledge your calling to serve the world in some way, you will stagnate and your life will never feel complete.

Your Divine Assignment is never about selfishness. The Divine wants you to thrive and grow AND She wants you to be delightfully happy AND she wants you to live a purposeful life of service. Even if you’re called to a monastic life, far from the hustle and bustle of the city, your life will be of service in some meaningful way. Even if you’re a shy introvert and you’d never dream of speaking in public or teaching a yoga class, there will be some element of service to your life if you live it well.

A selfish life is not a happy life.

Your service may be quiet, under the radar, away from the public eye, but it will be an act of service none-the-less. A reclusive gardener, for example, who never talks to people, still serves the greater good by serving the earth.

Perhaps you’re thinking “But I’m not ready. I still don’t have enough clarity. There is too much chaos in my life.” Relax. That’s okay. This journey takes time. Even though these lessons will be coming to you in a relatively short period of time, the things I’m talking about can take years

heatherplett.com - page 51 and years. It’s been fourteen years since I had that wake-up call in the hospital, and it’s only been the last four years that I’ve felt I really stepped into my calling.

For ten years, I waited for the timing to be right. I knew that I was being called to teach and help people uncover their giftedness and courage, but I wasn’t ready for it yet. I needed those ten years for stretching and growing and learning more about myself.

Though I wasn’t ready to respond to my Divine Assignment just yet, those ten years were rich and meaningful. Shortly after my son died, I began a journey of self-discovery, in pursuit of more clarity about what I was meant to do. After reading a book called “The Path”, I wrote this personal mission statement: “My mission is to inspire excellence in people, to facilitate growth and the discovery of giftedness, and to serve as a catalyst for positive change.” When I wrote that, I was charged with excitement. Around the same time, I discovered the circle work of Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea and I knew instantly that their work had a lot to do with what I was meant to do. I felt like I was on the precipice of an incredible journey. I was ready.

And then... nothing. No opportunities for doing the work I dreamed of doing, no flashing lights pointing me to the path that would help me fulfill that mission. Nothing. Just a job that no longer fit me, a longing, a heartache, and a calling that sounded too much like “Wait.”

Wait I did, and not very patiently. I waited through depression, waited through tears, waited through fear, waited through the years when most of my energy went into parenting young children, and waited through deep learning.

That’s the important part. There was deep, deep learning. I was learning about who I really was when everything else was stripped away. I was learning to be a courageous, authentic leader. I was learning how to walk through grief and discouragement with grace and faith. I was learning how to use my creativity and spirituality to serve the world.

After ten years, I was ready to teach, and the stuff I was called to teach was all of what I’d been learning while I was waiting.

Nothing was wasted. Nothing was pointless. Those ten years - though they often felt excruciating and discouraging - were seasoning me like a fine wine, preparing me for the banquet. I don’t regret any of them.

Interestingly enough, just yesterday, out of the blue, I received an email from one of the scientists I worked with back in those waiting years. He offered a brief but heartfelt compliment about the good work I was doing back then. It was a nice reminder that, even though it felt like “the waiting place” that Dr. Seuss talks about in “Oh The Places You’ll Go”, I was still doing good work and serving people well.

heatherplett.com - page 52 If you feel like you’ve been spinning your wheels, wasting too much time on the minutiae of life and not having the opportunities to do what you long to do, consider that your invitation right now might be to wait, to learn, to stretch, and to grow. Some day you will look back on this time and know that it was teaching you something you needed to learn.

Journal Practice

The waiting feels like...

In the past, the waiting times have taught me that...

When it comes to serving the world, I feel that I...

Creative Practice

From “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss... “You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break- necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place... The Waiting Place…for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.”

Imagine what that waiting places looks like. If you have the book, take a look at what Dr. Seuss envisioned it to be, or check out this video of John Lithgow reading the book (that shows the book pages). Create a visual of what your waiting place looks like, either by drawing it or using found images.

Embodiment Practice

Consider what might be a good spiritual practice for those times when you’re stuck in “the waiting place”. Would silent meditation be helpful, or would that feel too motionless for your impatient mind? Perhaps going on photo walks, where you capture the beauty all around you with your camera? Or doing intuitive art that captures the restlessness of this time?

heatherplett.com - page 53 Lesson 16 Return with your Authenticity

Your return from the centre of the labyrinth is inviting you back into the world to live an authentic life, recognizing the Divine in you and living out of your own truth and Divine Assignment.

What does it mean to live an authentic life?

Authenticity is about living as honestly and wholeheartedly as you can. It’s about being courageous enough to step away from the way people expect you to be and into the way you know you were created to be. It’s about “individuation”, as Carl Jung says, “the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated [from other human beings]; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology.”

As we mature into adulthood, we individuate, separating ourselves from the world views of our parents (if they no longer feel true for us), the teachings of our childhood, the indoctrination of our religion, the need to fit in, and the effort to live in accordance with what other people expect of us. There is a risk inherent in individuation, and some of us never work up the courage to take that risk. Some of us stay stuck in people-pleasing mode, afraid that if we say what we really think we’ll be rejected.

Living with three teenagers has been an immense opportunity for me to learn about the individuation journey. Each time they disagree with me, I try to remind myself that they are learning who they are apart from me.

I used to think (or at least faintly hope) the journey to authenticity was a linear path - that I’d one day arrive and never again feel the pressure to conform. The older I get, however, the more I realize that I will never arrive at a city called “authentic” and then set up camp there. All of our lives, we’ll be on a quest to discover who we are and how we can live in that truth more fully.

We’ll try new things, test out new ways of being in relationship, realize that some of those things work for us and some don’t, and then we’ll try again. At the same time, there will always be forces working against our quest for authenticity. Those forces – our own fear of failure and rejection, the voices of our ancestors, the oppression of our lineage, the generational wounds

heatherplett.com - page 54 we carry, the judgement intrinsic to our religion, etc. – will try to convince us that it’s much safer living behind a mask.

Sometimes we’ll grow in authenticity and courage, and then something will happen to make us feel unsafe, and we’ll shrink back behind a mask (or behind the safety of the rules of engagement we learned in our youth). It might be a change in a relationship, a big move that finds us in a place where we don’t feel at home, or some kind of trauma that halts our growth. Or sometimes we’ll be part of an authentic community and we’ll feel at home there, but the relationships will change, betrayal will happen, we’ll grow in ways others in our community haven’t, or people who model authentic leadership will move away and the community will cease to show up in an authentic way for each other. This is not failure – it’s simply a detour along the journey and an opportunity to learn new things about ourselves and/or our community.

Authenticity takes a lot of courage, resilience, and self-reflection, and these things are best supported by a spiritual/heart practice of some kind. Spiritual practice helps us peel away the layers of ego to reveal the authentic self underneath. It also helps us stay grounded, letting the waves of self-doubt and fear of rejection pass over us without destroying us. When we talked about the stillness at the centre of the labyrinth, for example, we talked about the practice of mindfulness where we label our thoughts and feelings as such and let them pass without attachment. Those thoughts and feelings are not wrong, they just are.

Let them come and then release them. When I find myself getting lost in an ego-place, with fear of rejection threatening my quest for authenticity, I go for a long walk in the woods and that helps me return to ground zero where the ego has less of a hold on my life.

Living authentically is easier when we are supported by people who make us feel safe.

When we fear judgement or rejection, it’s very difficult to stand in our truth and live authentically. Our egos will do their best to convince us that our safety is more important than our authenticity.

When you’re alone in a crowd of people participating in an activity that runs contrary to your values, for example, it’s hard to find the courage to do otherwise. If you can find at least one person in that crowd who will stand by you when you buck the trend, your chance of success goes up exponentially.

Growing up in a religious context that did not support women in leadership, for example, I found it difficult to speak out against what I believed to be oppressive. It was easier to simply go along with it and stay silent. Once I discovered there were other people asking the same

heatherplett.com - page 55 questions as I was, I was able to find my courage and walk away from (or challenge) those places that did not honour me as a leader. When we create places of safety for each other, we all have the opportunity to live more authentically.

Authentic living is risky but it’s worth it.

You may lose relationships when you choose to live more authentically. You may have to stand up to people who don’t honour your truth or who threaten your safety. You may even need to quit a job or leave a community in your quest for authenticity. These risks are real and your fear of them is not unrealistic. That’s why many of us choose to stay safe. BUT you won’t feel fully alive unless you take the risk to step more fully into yourself. Your freedom and your happiness depend on your courage to be authentic.

How do you live more authentically?

1. Begin by being more present for yourself, listening more deeply for what your hear whispers. Each time you make a decision, ask yourself “Is this what I truly want? If not, why am I making this choice?” Pay attention to those times when you make choices to please other people rather than yourself. 2. Connect with people who honour your authenticity. Make new relationships, if you must, or deepen the ones you already have. People who truly love you will want you to be authentically yourself. 3. Get rid of the baggage you don’t need. Start by giving away clothes that don’t fit or don’t make you feel like yourself. Then give away books that you read because you were “supposed to”. Clear the clutter so that what is left really reflects you. 4. Be honest about what you value. Re-evaluate what feels right and align your actions around those things. Get clear on what you care about. 5. Be kinder to yourself. Stop judging your choices or failures as “bad” and see them instead as “teacher” or “learning opportunity”. 6. Trust your intuition. Pay attention to hunches, physical sensations and impressions. Your instincts could be telling you that you're not genuine. When you're on track and authentic you'll feel it. 7. Do more of what makes you happy. Let yourself get lost in those things that make time slip away.

heatherplett.com - page 56 Journal Practice

Living authentically means...

The areas of my life in which I feel the least authentic are...

If I live more authentically, I fear that...

Creative Practice

Create a collage of the authentic life that you aspire to. Gather images, words, headlines, etc. and glue them onto a page labeled “My authentic life”.

Embodiment Practice

Take yourself out on an “authenticity date”. Spend an evening doing that which you most long to do but perhaps don’t have the courage to tell your friends and family about. If you’ve always wanted to take a painting class, check with your local art store to see what they offer. If you long to write, find a quiet coffee shop where you can write and sip a good cappuccino. If you’ve wanted to explore a different spiritual practice than what is comfortable at home, find someone to teach you.

heatherplett.com - page 57 Lesson 17 Return with the Sacred

Have you ever gone on a really good retreat, where you had lots of time for play and self- reflection and where you were well loved and cared for, only to discover - the moment you walked in your front door and were faced with demanding family members and a messy house - that you left all of those good feelings behind and are now grouchy and easily irritated?

It happens to me all the time. In fact, now that I understand it more, I normally plan an extra day into every trip so that I can transition more slowly. Sometimes I take the slow way home (train instead of plane, for example) and sometimes I stay an extra day in whatever city I’m in so that I can enjoy a quiet hotel room.

Returning from the centre of the labyrinth - whether you have done this virtually or literally - is like that. We are full of goodness and promise when we’re at the centre, but as we reach the outer edge again, we begin to fill our heads with worry and concern. “How will I handle my Mom’s deteriorating health? What will I do about my friend who’s mad at me? How can I go back to a job I hate tomorrow morning? What if all that stuff at the centre isn’t really and life is just a series of unfulfilled dreams?”

Your life will not magically change once you’re on The Spiral Path. There will still be lots of problems and lots of failures. Remember that you are on a labyrinth walk, and the path will often take you far out to the outer edge where you can barely remember what the centre was like.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t take the centre with you. You can.

You need to take the Divine in you that you encountered while at the centre into the world with you. You need to find a way to remind yourself every day that you are held by a universe that cares for you. You need to invite your Goddess to come with you to work, to the hospital to visit your mom, to the soccer field to watch your son, to the laundromat, and to the grocery store. You need to learn to see the Sacred in the frost in your window, in the bunny hopping across your front lawn, and in the spirals of your dirty dishwater as it drains from your sink.

Someone asked me recently what my primary spiritual practice was, and after I thought about it for awhile, I said “reverence”.

I don’t sit on the meditation cushion nearly as often as I should. I do yoga only sporadically. I wouldn’t say I have a disciplined prayer practice, or any kind of disciplined spiritual practice for that matter. But what I do well is reverence.

heatherplett.com - page 58 Reverence is about paying attention. It’s about pausing to notice the design on the bark of the tree in your front yard. It’s about kneeling down on the ground to watch the ladybugs on the dry leaves. It’s about pulling over to the side of the road when the sunset has you on the verge of tears. It’s about really listening when you hear the laughter ringing from a playground.

Reverence is about seeing the world the way the mystics see. Richard Rohr describes this as “third eye seeing”.

“Three men stood by the ocean, looking at the same sunset.

“One man saw the immense physical beauty and enjoyed the event in itself. This man was the "sensate" type who, like 80 percent of the world, deals with what he can see, feel, touch, move, and fix. This was enough reality for him, for he had little interest in larger ideas, intuitions, or the grand scheme of things. He saw with his first eye, which was good.

“A second man saw the sunset. He enjoyed all the beauty that the first man did. Like all lovers of coherent thought, technology, and science, he also enjoyed his power to make sense of the universe and explain what he discovered. He thought about the cyclical rotations of planets and stars. Through imagination, intuition, and reason, he saw with his second eye, which was even better.

“The third man saw the sunset, knowing and enjoying all that the first and the second men did. But in his ability to progress from seeing to explaining to "tasting," he also remained in awe before an underlying mystery, coherence, and spaciousness that connected him with everything else. He used his third eye, which is the full goal of all seeing and all knowing. This was the best.”

Many of us go through life simply seeing with our first and second eyes, never fully entering into that more mystical way of viewing the world. Sometimes, however, by coincidence or intention, our heart space, our mind space, and our body awareness are all simultaneously open and nonresistant.

I invite you to set an intention to see the world through that third eye. Slow your life down enough that you have time to marvel at the mystery.

Take time for reverence. Fit it into your day-to-day existence. Pause and pay attention.

A couple of days ago, I was climbing out of the van with my daughter in the grocery store parking lot when I stopped mid-conversation and stared up into the sky. Puzzled, my daughter asked if something was wrong.

heatherplett.com - page 59 “No, there’s nothing wrong,” I said, pointing to the sky. “I just wanted to watch that eagle.”

“What’s so special about eagles?” she asked.

“I just love to watch the way they float in circles in the sky,” I said, and then we carried on into the grocery store. Just that one moment of reverence changed the way I went on with my day.

“I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.” (from The Color Purple)

I feel the same way about eagles. If I spot one, I have to pause in reverence, whether I’m mid- conversation or mid-drive. I do the same for deer, for pelicans, for bears, for beavers... oh heck, for almost every creature I encounter in the wild. I’ve had the most remarkable connections with deer who come quite close to me because I spend time in their presence in stillness and deep reverence.

Reverence changes us. It opens us up to the world. It reminds us of our connections with creation and with each other. (Note: you may be most accustomed to referring to this as “mindfulness”. I think they’re essentially the same.)

What brings out the reverence in you? Perhaps it’s bugs? Or waterfalls? Or leaves? Or children? Or well organized spreadsheets? Or music? Or dance? Or conversation?

Whatever it is, pause and be in awe of the beauty of the moment.

You may wish to carry a talisman in your pocket or around your neck to remind you to be reverent. For example, I have a necklace that was made from a slice of a deer’s antler (that fell off naturally). I wear it when I want to remember my connection to deer and my commitment to reverence.

Journal Practice

I define reverence (or mindfulness) as...

The things that most often bring me to reverence/mindfulness are...

To remember to be more reverent and to see with my third eye, I will...

heatherplett.com - page 60 Creative Practice

Go through your old photos and notice which ones you took out of a sense of reverence. Do you have a dozen photos of the sun setting on one particular summer day? Did you take a hundred photos of your daughter’s contagious smile? Print a collection of those photos that most reflect reverence and glue them into your journal to remind yourself to make this a daily practice.

Embodiment Practice

Go on a “reverence walk”. It doesn’t matter where you go - to the park, around the block, to a shopping mall - it simply matters that you pay attention and pause in reverence. Walk slowly. Watch the birds fly over or the people walk past. Notice the way the grass blows in the wind or the way a child’s hand looks as it clasps her mother’s. Try to see the world through your third eye, pausing to notice the mystery and beauty.

heatherplett.com - page 61 Lesson 18 Return with your power

Recently I was asked to teach a workshop at a retreat called “Sister, Stand in your Power”. For some reason, this workshop was harder to prepare for than almost any I’d done before. While trying to figure out how to teach other women, I suddenly found myself butting up against my own blocks where power was concerned.

All of the women I’ve ever worked with have had an uneasy relationship with the word “power”.

Even those who exude confidence still struggle with what it means to be powerful.

For one thing, we have a long history of experiencing what it feels like for others to have power over us. The patriarchy models the abuse of power, where some members of society have greater access to power than others. We’ve been marginalized, abused, belittled, and mocked. Because of that, we often associate power with abuse and we want to have no part in it.

We’ve also witnessed what happens when a woman tries to claim too much power and is either knocked down at the knees and had the power taken away from her, or becomes an abuser herself and takes other people’s power away.

When we think of claiming power for ourselves, we shrink back, not wanting to be abusers and not wanting to face the rejection of those who don’t think we deserve the power we claim.

Recently there have been several articles floating around the internet about how many things women apologize for. We apologize for being too much, for not being enough, for being too pretty, for not being pretty enough, for being too bossy, and for not being bossy enough. We apologize for taking too much space, for claiming what is our right, for wanting the best for our children, for taking time for self-care, and for focusing on our own careers.

I’ve done it myself many times. When I worked in leadership, for example, I found it difficult to make decisions that were unpopular. I apologized when I did things that people didn’t like. I apologized for taking up too much of people’s time. I was so resistant to being seen as “bully leader” that instead I often gave away my power.

heatherplett.com - page 62 We apologize because we have been taught that claiming too much power is dangerous. We apologize because women have been marginalized and forced into small spaces for so long we don’t know how to fill up larger spaces.

We have to practice taking up more space. We have to change our mindset about power and realize that it is not dangerous or bad if used in the right way. As mentioned in an earlier lesson, we have to work on healing the wounds inflicted on us and our female lineage, and then we have to stand strong and courageous in our power.

In the book Power and Love, Adam Kahane talks about how he once believed that love was what was needed in order to change the world and that power had little to do with it. Adam worked in high profile, high conflict situations where power had been abused, such as post- apartheid South Africa, and so he held the same kind of uneasiness with power as I’ve mentioned above.

Gradually, however, he realized the truth of the Martin Luther King quote: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

As much as he tried, he could never impact change in those situations where power had been abused unless he worked with both love AND power. He equates it to walking - where power is one leg and love is the other. We cannot walk if we stand on only one leg, and each leg is dependent on the other for forward movement. Each leg must surrender to the other leg in each footstep and together the two of them move a body forward.

Many women I know have tried to walk with only one leg - thinking they can change the world with only love. But love isn’t enough. “Love without power is sentimental and anemic.” Others - especially those who have risen through the ranks of business and government - work to change the world through power. But power isn’t enough. Power without love is reckless and abusive.

In Shambhala Buddhism, they talk about spiritual warriors as those with “strong backs and soft bellies”. In other words, they hold both power and love simultaneously - showing their strength in their backs and their love in their bellies. They are not afraid to stand firm and be vulnerable simultaneously.

To walk in the world, to live out your Divine Assignment, and to impact change, we need to step into our power with strong backs and soft bellies. While still extending compassion, we need to stop apologizing for taking up space and we need to stand our ground for the cause of justice.

heatherplett.com - page 63 How do we practice standing in our power? • Learn to say "No" and mean it. • Practice silencing the voices that tell you that you’re not worthy. • Trust in your own convictions. • As for what you need. • Believe that you have the right to be treated respectfully. • Stop apologizing. • Speak up in the face of injustice. • Find people who stand alongside you in their own power. Lend each other courage and support.

I intentionally said “practice standing in our power” because I believe this is a lifelong practice. Each day, you make a renewed commitment to claiming your power. When you fail - when you shrink back in fear - you forgive yourself and try again tomorrow. Just like shrinking back in fear doesn’t serve anyone, neither does the self-abuse when you realize you’ve done it. Simply try again as often as you need to. And remind yourself that you are carrying generations of wounds that are contributing to your fear, and these wounds are only healed with lifelong kindness to yourself.

Journal Practice

I associate power with...

The thought of claiming my power makes me feel...

When I’ve claimed power in the past, I...

Creative Practice

The Inuit make inukshuk in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found. Other similar stone structures were objects of veneration, signifying places of power or the abode of spirits.

Make your own inukshuk (either draw one in your journal or make one from stones) to mark the place in which you stand and to signify that you are standing in a place of power. If you wish, write on the stones with your intentions around power, such as “I will say no when it doesn’t feel right” or “I will ask for what I need.”

heatherplett.com - page 64 Embodiment Practice

Stand in your power. Practice a powerful stance in front of the mirror. Consider how you embody power. Does it appear as straight posture with shoulders firm? As a head held high? As a hand on your heart, accessing the source of your power? Find that stance and practice it in front of the mirror for at least a minute every day.

heatherplett.com - page 65 Lesson 19 Return with your original medicine

Upon returning from the hero’s journey, Joseph Campbell tells us, every hero must bring the elixir (or magic potion) that s/he gained on the journey back to the village. “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

In your returning from the centre of the labyrinth, you too carry a gift, an elixir meant to heal the world.

In the shamanic tradition, they refer to this as your original medicine. In indigenous cultures, the term “medicine” means both power and healing. Each of us, the shamans teach us, is born with original medicine and each of us is responsible to share that medicine with the world.

That means that you were born with the power to heal.

You may have forgotten about this power as you sought to live a life that fit into the boxes and mask expected of you. That power may have leaked out little by little as you internalized all of those messages that you weren’t good enough, smart enough, male enough, or special enough.

But it is still available to you. Your visit to the centre of the labyrinth is helping you find it again.

In Indigenous culture, the original medicine is only powerful if it is used to benefit both the person who carries it and their community. Selfish intent destroys the power of the medicine.

To understand each person’s original medicine, elders would observe the young ones to see where their natural curiosities and talents lay. In this way, the elders could encourage and nurture the child’s original medicine and help the child recognize the unique gift they were born to share with the rest of the community.

Recently I was part of a profound and emotional ceremony in which an Indigenous elder had recognized leadership and wisdom as the original medicine of another young woman. The elder invited the young woman into the centre of the circle to assist her in that morning’s pipe ceremony at the women’s gathering we were at together. By doing so, the elder was placing

heatherplett.com - page 66 the mantle of eldership on the younger woman, inviting her to step into her power and live fully into her original medicine.

Sadly, in our self-reliant culture, we have abandoned the role of elders in our culture. That’s been a huge loss and I believe that it has contributed to the deep wounds that women have experienced. Not having older women to support and guide us as we grew into our original medicine, we get lost and we lose trust in ourselves. We don’t have models of what our spiritual pathways should be like.

I’ve had the good fortune, in the last four years, of having such elders in my life and it has been transformative. I didn’t know I needed it until I found it, and now I feel incredibly affirmed and supported in my work, knowing that my elders have my back and are cheering for me as I step more and more confidently into my original medicine.

How might you invite that elder wisdom into your life? Start by acknowledging that you need it.

We haven’t been taught to recognize our need for it, and so we assume we’re meant to go through life figuring it out all by ourselves. I was the classic example of that. I worked my way up to a senior leadership position in government, never admitting that I needed mentorship. Looking back now, I recognize that I was lucky enough to receive it along the way, even though I was too arrogant to acknowledge it.

Once you’ve acknowledged it, begin actively seeking what you need. If you’re lucky enough to have parents and older relatives who see your original medicine in you, turn to them and welcome the support they offer. If your relatives have not traveled far enough along their own journeys to serve as your elders, then look for it in others. Join multigenerational women’s circles, or create them in your community. Gather the Women is a great place to start - that’s where I’ve found many of my elders.

Your elders do not necessarily need to be over 70 to serve this role in your life. They do, however, need to be a little further along in their spiritual journey so that they can they understand the journey you’re on and can help you find your way.

Start by seeking out someone whose spiritual journey you admire, whether they serve in the formal role of teacher or spiritual director, or simply walk in the world as one. Ask them if they would consider mentoring you and helping you find your original medicine.

Even if you don’t find someone right away, you can continue doing your own work to explore what your original medicine is. Ask yourself these questions: • What brings you joy every time you do it?

heatherplett.com - page 67 • What gift have you witnessed that emerges naturally from who you are? • What are the things other people always thank you for? • What are the things that come easily for you that other people often ask you to teach them? • If you were to ask a friend what she appreciates about you, what do you think she’d say?

The world is in need of more people who bring healing and power through their own original medicine. Now is not the time to shrink back from this responsibility and invitation.

Journal practice

Starting with the questions above, explore what your original medicine is.

I interpret the term “original medicine” as...

I believe that my original medicine is...

The people who serve the elder role in my life are...

I will seek people to serve the following roles in my life...

Creative Practice

Create an original medicine mandala. Find an image that represents what you believe your original medicine to be and place it at the centre of the circle. Between the image at the centre and the outside circle, draw three concentric circles. Within the smallest circle, begin to journal (spiraling out from centre) about how this original medicine serves you. In the next circle, journal about how it serves those who are closest to you (family, friends, etc.). In the outer circle, journal about how it serves those outside your inner circle (your clients, neighbours, community, church, etc.).

If you don’t yet know what your original medicine is, then start with a question at the centre - something like... “what if my original medicine is the gift of teaching?” or “what if my original medicine is based on my ability to make children laugh?” Journal about how that particular question impacts the three circles of people mentioned above.

heatherplett.com - page 68 Embodiment Practice

If you have access to some place in your community where you sense the ancient wisdom of the Indigenous people, visit that land. Perhaps there is a lodge where people gather, an area where there are petroglyphs or petroforms or where people have built inukshuks or teepees. Spend time there, inviting your ancestors to speak to you and help you understand your own original medicine.

Note: If, like me, you worry about whether this is an appropriation of a culture that is not your own and perhaps is not respectful of the culture, consider that we are all Indigenous people and those of us who come from an immigrant culture do not have access to that kind of land because of our ancestors migration. That does not mean that there is not Indigenous blood running through your veins. If it concerns you, consider meeting with an elder in your community to ask for their wisdom. Many Indigenous people I know are happy to embrace all who are seeking their connection to the earth, to their own roots, and to their original medicine.

heatherplett.com - page 69 Lesson 20 Return with your courage

It takes a great deal of courage to release what no longer serves you, to heal the generational and personal wounds you carry, to claim your own authentic space, and to begin to speak and act from a place of power. Every one of the lessons in this program is asking you to do courageous things.

Do not underestimate how much courage this journey takes.

There are many forces at play that resist you coming back to your authentic self. There are your family and friends who are afraid that you might change too much and possibly reject them. There are the people who are afraid to step onto their own journeys and so have a hard time watching someone else step onto theirs. There are those who adhere to religious or cultural traditions for whom your journey seems dangerous and possibly even headed in the direction of eternal damnation. And then there is the patriarchy that is afraid of being obliterated by women who step into their power.

Keep in mind that anyone who resists your journey is doing so from the perspective of their own story and their own journey. They can only see through the lenses of their own fear, even though they do everything to convince you that they have your best interest at heart.

The truth is, it’s possible that their fears might be realized. Some of your relationships might change or end when you become more authentic and true to yourself. You might even take some of the risks and put yourself in danger the way they’re afraid you’ll do. And you might get hurt and they’ll be able to say “I told you so”.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.

Authenticity is always worth the risk.

If you want true joy and true freedom, you’ll need to embrace every bit of courage you can muster and take that first dangerous step onto the Spiral Path that takes you back to yourself. Once you’ve awakened to the restlessness that brought you here, there is no turning back. There’s no going back to sleep. There’s no contentment unless you move forward.

So I invite you into courage. I invite you back to your heart.

heatherplett.com - page 70 “Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor - the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’ Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences -- good and bad. Speaking from our hearts is what I think of as ‘ordinary courage’.” - Brene Brown

The beautiful thing about courage is that it multiplies with use. The more you step into courage, the more your supply will grow.

You only need to start with a little bit of courage. Like the tiny seed of a giant oak tree, if properly cultivated and exposed to sunlight and rain, your courage will continue to grow.

To prepare you for your first small act of courage, start by packing your basket of courage stories. You’ll be more prepared for the journey when you have the right baggage.

I’m writing this lesson from an airport lounge, on my way home from co-hosting a women’s retreat. After nearly 20 years of business travel, sometimes ten times a year, I’m getting better at packing only what I need, but I still make mistakes. I still carry things with me that I never take out of the bag. I still end up with too much weight that makes long treks across airports arduous and tiresome.

For your journey out of the spiral, I encourage you to consider what you don’t need on the return journey and what you do need. Most importantly, you’ll need courage.

To gather that courage, start with the stories of those times in your life when you’ve had courage. Scan your history. When did you do brave things? When did you say no after being pressured to say yes? When did you walk away from things that felt unhealthy or inauthentic? When did you choose to take a risk instead of staying safe? When did you stick up for someone being bullied? When did you confront someone who’d hurt you? When did you start over after failure?

Gather those stories together like tiny treasures. Write about them in your journal. Paint them into your art. Fill index cards with them. Print them on rocks. Do something to remind you of as many of the things you can think of - as little as they may be - that took courage.

These are the courage stories that you will carry with you as you move forward. They will prepare you for that next small act that you’re going to take, and the one after that, and the one after that. After a few small acts, you’ll be ready to move onto something bigger, and so on until your courage grows.

heatherplett.com - page 71 Start today. Fill your courage basket with stories, then do one small act. It might just be the act of buying a paint brush and some inexpensive paints because you’ve always longed to paint. Or perhaps you’ll sign up for a course. Or you’ll say no to something that gets in the way of your quiet time. Or you’ll say yes to an opportunity that scares you. Or you’ll forgive yourself for a mistake you made.

When you’ve done that small act, add it to your basket of courage stories. Then give yourself a moment to relax before you move on to the next small act.

Courage takes time and commitment. That oak tree doesn’t grow overnight. For the first few years, it’s spindly and vulnerable. But then gradually it grows until it would take a great deal of effort to topple it.

Keep watering that seed, keep filling that courage basket. Keep trying and keep putting one foot in front of another.

Journal practice

The times in my history when I have acted courageously are...

The small act of courage I will take is...

In the future, I will need courage for...

Creative practice

Create a courage basket in your art journal. Draw or trace a basket full of fruit or seeds or other objects that serve as a metaphor for your courage. On each of the items in the basket, write one of the courage stories from your life.

Embodiment practice

Carry a small basket with you into the woods or along the beach. Gather things into the basket that make you happy - stones, leaves, acorns, etc. Place the basket where you can see it, on your desk or mantlepiece. Whenever you find quotes or remember your own stories that remind you of your courage, write them on small pieces of paper and add them to the basket.

heatherplett.com - page 72 Lesson 21 Return with your open heart and ready feet

This is your final lesson on this journey. You’ve come through a lot, explored some deep and personal territory, stepped into healing and courage, and learned to be more authentic.

On the return journey, you’re learning to bring your authenticity back into the world with you, to expose it to the light of day and to risk being seen for who you truly are instead of who you’ve always been expected to be.

This means living with an open, vulnerable heart. It means exposing yourself to the hurt that might come AND it means opening yourself to the joy that will most certainly come.

Our open hearts connect us to each other. Imagine trying to hold someone’s hand when they have it closed like a fist. You can’t do it. But when you both open your hands, the fingers interlace and there is real connection.

The same is true for your heart. Close it and you will remain isolated. Open it and you will connect with those whose hearts are open too.

Authentic living is openhearted living.

It means living with the mess and the imperfection, the risk and the grief. It also means living with deep soulful relationships with others, deep soulful connection to your own heart, and deep soulful connection to the earth and the Sacred.

I can speak from personal experience... The more authentically I live, the more meaningful relationships I have. Sure, there have been risks, and some of my relationships ended, but the sacrifice has been worth it. The relationships I now find myself in are so much richer and more full of integrity and compassion than any I had when I wasn’t living authentically.

At the beginning, it was lonely. I’d made changes in my life that people didn’t understand and that some judged me for. I’d walked away from communities where I didn’t feel like I could live authentically. There were moments when I regretted my decisions and wanted to go back to the way things had been.

heatherplett.com - page 73 But then, I began to find my joy people. Slowly at first and then more and more quickly I found myself in circles where I could be myself without fearing judgement. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever encountered - like coming home after a long period of being lost in the desert.

It will happen for you too, if you open your heart and light the light shine on who you truly are. Your authenticity will attract other authentic hearts. Believe it and take the risk.

Start by figuring out where people with your interests and longings hang out. Art stores? Creative writing classes? Women’s circles? Yoga studios? Garden stores? Then spend some time there, sign up for classes in those areas of interest, and open yourself to new friendships. Be vulnerable and invite vulnerability in others and relationships will blossom.

And then... prepare to go even deeper on this journey to yourself. Because there’s one last thing I want to tell you about The Spiral Path...

It never ends.

You won’t reach the end. You’ll never get to a place where you can say “I’ve arrived. I’m setting up camp and I’m never changing anything in my life ever again.” Nope. It won’t happen. Instead you’ll be invited to spiral deeper and deeper, always learning more about yourself, always being challenged to find new ways to speak your truth, and always opening your heart in bigger and more vulnerable ways.

So, along with your open heart, you need to leave this journey with ready feet. Make sure you wear shoes that fit well!

Carry with you your courage, your power, your original medicine, and your relationship with the Sacred. Seek stillness and walk reverently. Remember to take care of yourself and be gentle with yourself when your body gets tired.

Be open. Be real. Be present. Be kind.

Be yourself.

Journal Practice

Living with an open heart means...

When I think about being more authentic, I feel...

heatherplett.com - page 74 My joy people are... Creative Practice

Create a mandala or storyboard that holds the intention of how you want to live. Consider all of the things you’ve learned on this journey - what is most authentic to you, what your original medicine is, what your power looks like, etc. Find images that reflect these things, or go back over your journal and pick out the words that best capture your journey to yourself. Attach these images and words to the page, creating a visual that helps guide you in your intention to live authentically and courageously.

Embodiment Practice

Find a labyrinth in your neighbourhood, or look for a park with a circular path. Walk the path, carrying with you all that you have learned on this journey. If you have a chance, sit down and write your final thoughts and intentions about how you want to live.

Bonus Embodiment Practice

Find a talisman that represents The Spiral Path and carry it with you or wear it around your neck to remind you of where you’ve been on this journey and where you’ll be going in the future. Perhaps it’s a labyrinth necklace, a spiral stone, or a medicine pouch. If you need to, save up your money for something really special. You might even want to save up for a real pilgrimage, to a retreat or special destination that feels like it carries some of your intention.

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