Resources for living happy and free

Have you ever experienced this?

Recently, in my role as co-founder of Australian Women’s Day, I’ve been sending out notice after notice after notice about the day, connecting with as many women’s organisations as possible.

In the process of sending many emails I’ve stumbled across a form of visibility I’m calling ‘visibility by association’.

Visibility by association works like this; the more connected to a big and established brand you are, the more confident you feel. So for example, when I worked within Government, I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable about calling people, or sending out invitations, or really approaching people about anything at all because my approach came with the gravitas of a government agency behind me. I felt the same when I worked for corporations and for large NGOs.

At the time I assumed that meant I was a confident person. I certainly felt confident in my interactions.

In hindsight, it wasn’t … [Read More...]

Do you know about the layers of visibility?

Visibility isn’t a one time thing. It’s a journey. There are layers. With each layer you travel through you lean into a deeper level of understanding about yourself and you are seen for more and more of the truth of yourself.

In today’s video I speak about 4 specific layers we move through:

Wanting to be seen in order to be acknowledged for who we are and what we do
Wanting to be heard so that we might be better understood for our opinions and ideas
Wanting to be valued – seen for more of the truth of yourself, as different from others, as special, as unique
Turning inward to see the truth of yourself and then allowing that to be seen by the world.

We cycle through these layers at different times in our life. Various circumstances and experiences looping us through them. In the video I explain them … [Read More...]

Feminism and the daughters of the Goddesses

The last couple of weeks have been a beautiful ride for me. I’ve been drawing together many threads of my business life, connecting parts of myself that I could never see the connection between, weaving them into one powerful integrated whole.

I haven’t known how to speak about it so I’ve stayed silent, waiting for the words to find me.

Today, here’s what’s waiting to be shared; we are living during the rise of the feminine and this is not a process that happens outside of us. It’s being built out firstly within us, and then it will be expressed in the world. This rising requires the participation of all. As each woman steps into the full power of her being, the feminine becomes more whole, visible, and luminous.

To take that journey we have to be willing to see the dark spots, the shadows, the ugly realities.

We’ve been … [Read More...]

What is visibility?

‘So what does visibility mean to you?’ the interviewer asks.

I take a breath. A deep breath.

It’s a question that’s been hovering, floating through the periphery of my mental landscape since the presenter at that conference invited us to ponder; ‘What’s your next big leap? What will you expand into now?’

‘Make the invisible visible’, I heard as tears welled up in my eyes. ‘But there’s so much that’s invisible I thought’.

Sexism, racism, oppression in so many forms. It’s all invisible to the privileged. Biases are completely invisible to those who benefit from them.

And stories. So many stories. Absent from mainstream narrative that excludes so many more than it invites to its table.

But not just stories. Actual people. People missing. From history yes. And from actual buildings too. Boardrooms and parliaments, television screens, award ceremonies, art gallery walls, public spaces and places.

And then there’s another … [Read More...]

Everyone thinks you can’t learn this…

Often you’ll hear people talk about the X factor in show business. The statement, ‘She has the X factor’ will often be followed with, ‘You can’t learn that’.

I disagree.

Actually I agree that you can’t learn it. You can learn to be technically proficient. You can learn techniques to minimise nerves. You can repeat a skill enough times that it feels very natural to you.

But you can’t learn to feel. You can’t learn to shine. You can’t learn authenticity.

That’s not a process of learning. It’s a process of unlearning.

I believe everyone has the X factor. We’re born with it. It’s an innate part of being a human being. What happens though, is that we’re taught not to let our X factor shine through.

We’re taught that by well meaning teachers and parents and friends who don’t let us be ourselves. People who try and fit us … [Read More...]