by Heather Plett | Oct 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
It’s official – I have become one of those obnoxious people who rave about the joys of running while chatting with friends at cocktail parties. I know – I usually want to shoot those people when I see them, so I understand your sentiments. (Please don’t shoot me.)
Bear with me for awhile… (or run off to another blog and come back when I’m talking about things that don’t annoy you).
On Wednesday, just after I’d finished a vigorous 7 kilometre run and came home sweaty and red-faced like you see in the picture below, I opened my friend Desiree’s post, and she had done her Wednesday Wisdom video about the power and impact of sweat. She quoted Rev. Jesse Jackson… “Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. While tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you change.” I burst out laughing at her impeccable timing. Little did she know I was at that moment leaning my head away from the computer so I didn’t drip all over the keyboard. I sweat A LOT. Just ask my children, who like to laugh at me after I run.
Seriously though, it feels SO GOOD to sweat. If you don’t have a regular activity that brings out the sweat in you, maybe it’s time.
Here are a few of the benefits of my morning running routine (and almost any sweat-inducing exercise regime.)
- Energy. I rarely get that mid-afternoon energy slump when I’ve been running.
- Change. My body is changing – for the better. No, I haven’t lost much weight, but it feels healthy and strong and my posture is better (which is also partly due to my breast reduction surgery).
- Epiphanies! My brain does wonderful things when I run, and often my best ideas show up during this time.
- Alone time. When you’ve got as many people making demands on your time as I do, you certainly appreciate 45 blessed minutes when not one expectation is waiting to be met and not one person is interrupting your thoughts.
- Community. Although I love to run alone, it’s quite lovely meeting other runners and doing the smile and nod that says “hey – we’re in this together!”
- Music. I don’t often spend 45 minutes of uninterrupted time listening to good music, but when I run I do.
- Neighbourhood. You get to see more of your neighbourhood streets and notice more of the interesting details than you ever do in a car.
- Meditation. The repetitive movement of your footsteps on pavement really does magical meditative things to your mind.
- Sunrise. And mist on the river. And early birds getting the worms. And all that is beautiful in the early hours when the world is waking up.
- Something to talk about at cocktail parties. Ha!
Have I convinced you yet? Or do you still want to shoot me?
p.s. I just discovered that my friend Julie Daley wrote a great post about the joy and pride of being “women who sweat“.
by Heather Plett | Oct 7, 2010 | Uncategorized
There’s something BIG bubbling on the internet. Can you feel it?
It’s bubbling in the comments of my last post. It’s bubbling over at Jen’s site and Tara’s site and Rachelle’s site, and in conversations with wise people like Lianne and Desiree.
It’s not just me feeling the nudges of Sophia to get out there and DO SOMETHING. Lots of women are stepping up and saying “Hey! That’s enough! We are tired of seeing youth commit suicide because of discrimination. We’ve had enough of young girls getting taken into sex slavery or being forced to marry at the age of twelve. We are FED UP with the number of women getting raped in conflict situations.”
Those of us coming of age in the post-feminist era have spent a couple of decades figuring out just how to be fully alive, spiritually awakened, and in love with ourselves. We’ve been to the spiritual retreats, we’ve spent hours on yoga mats and meditation cushions… and that’s all good stuff. (Sophia loves it when we retreat and get groovy with her.) But now it’s time to get OFF THE MAT and shake this world up with a real live revolution!
I don’t mean we should leave our spirituality and self-discovery behind – I mean that we should take it with us and PUT IT TO USE! (This is not your father’s revolution, after all.)
This much I know… Sophia is a major pest and she won’t let us live with ourselves until we live what we preach.
So here’s what I’m going to do for starters…
I pledge to trust my feminine wisdom to help me make a difference in the world for the young women on this list (pictured below) who have been taken into slavery and are actively being searched for by a wonderful, home-grown organization I spent time with in India. (Read more about that here.)
I’m working on some plans to give a portion of the proceeds of whatever money comes in from Sophia Leadership to this organization. When I visited two years ago, they were building a new facility where the young women who they’d rescued could live and be rehabilitated and trained for some occupation (we met women who were learning to sew, for example). I don’t know if the building is complete, but I’m going to get in touch with them and find out what kind of project we can help them support.
It’s time, people. Time to start imagining what can change if ALL of us (women AND men) learn to trust our feminine wisdom, learn to act out of compassion instead of just the bottom line, learn to honour the beauty in everyone, learn to trust the spiritual core in each of us that longs to reach out to the spiritual core in others, learn to use our yoga, our meditation, our writing, our voices, our wisdom, and all of the things we’ve been gifted with to CHANGE THE WORLD!
Are you ready for a revolution?
If my post hasn’t managed to fire you up, maybe this video will. (Thanks to Kind Over Matter for the link.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg&feature=player_embedded]
by Heather Plett | Oct 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
Here’s the thing… Sophia won’t leave me alone.
She’s like a kid who won’t stop begging and pleading and stomping her foot until she gets a big red lollipop. But she’s not just an annoying neighbourhood kid who goes home at the end of the day – OH NO – that would be too easy. SHE HAS MOVED IN AND IS TAKING OVER MY LIFE! She doesn’t just want lollipops, she wants everything I’ve got to give!
No, I haven’t mysteriously given birth to a fourth daughter named Sophia, and yet it sure FEELS like this is something that is being birthed in me.
A few months ago, I shared an epiphany about how I felt called into a new space, a new vocation… something I tentatively called “Sophia Leadership”. It was based on a pretty strong sense that what the world desperately needs right now is a whole lot of people (women and men) who will step forward in courage and trust their feminine, spiritual wisdom. I believe that this wisdom can shift the course of leadership and help the world move in a direction toward light and hope instead of darkness and despair.
I believe all of these things, but… a whole lot of doubt and fear keeps drawing me away from that beautiful epiphany. Even though I finally took a BIG step and moved away from my full time job with the intention of more fully committing myself to writing, teaching, and consulting, there was still a huge piece of me that thought “I have to be practical. I have to pay the bills. I don’t have enough skills for this work yet. I won’t find work in Sophia Leadership – at least not right away – so I have to market my other skills in communications, public relations, blah, blah, blah.”
But here’s where things get interesting… You see, every time I let myself follow fear into that tunnel called “practicality and paying the bills”, Sophia finds me and lures me back.
First, there was the horse.
The day after I’d told my boss I was quitting my job (in July), I went on my annual pilgrimage to the Folk Festival. As I often do at some point when the crowds have begun to overwhelm me and I need some quiet, meditative time, I wandered to the edge of the fenced-in area where there’s a labyrinth, some outdoor art, and very few people. As I wandered, I wrestled with just what I was going to birth once I’d walked away from my job. The argument was there in full force… “I’m pretty sure I’m being called to do this Sophia work.” “But that would be foolish! Nobody will get it and you won’t make any money and your family will hate you and… blah, blah, blah.”
Standing by the fence, I watched two horses and riders approach. It was a mother and daughter out for an evening ride. They stopped near me, and we began a conversation. I grew up with horses and have always felt a strong pull toward them. This moment was no exception.
“What are the horses’ names?” I asked. Well… you’ve probably figured out by now… the bigger of the two, the most magnificent horse I’ve seen in a long time, was named Sophia.
“Why did you call her Sophia?” I asked the woman, trying not to let on that this was hugely significant for me. I saw the woman’s eyes light up. “Well, I named her that because I’ve been reading about how Sophia means wisdom and how there were knights in King Arthur’s court who used to worship the goddess Sophia.”
As if that wasn’t enough, the next thing she said sealed the deal. “It’s a good thing my husband isn’t around,” she said with a blush and a sideways glance over her shoulder as if she expected him to vapourize out of thin air. “He hates it when I talk about this stuff and doesn’t want me to talk about it in front of other people. He thinks this goddess stuff and feminine wisdom is a bunch of horse shit.”
And then it came to me, like a lightening bolt… “It is for women like this – women who have been taught not to trust their feminine wisdom – that you are being called into Sophia Leadership.” Gulp.
I wish I could tell you that was the end of the internal arguments, but that would be a lie. Apparently I’m a slow learner, because even after that encounter, I spent the rest of the summer wrestling with what to call my business, whether to be a generalist or a specialist, what kinds of contracts I should look for, etc., etc.
The truth is, I need to pay the bills, and that keeps weighing heavily on my shoulders. I created a generic website. I started accepting contracts that I knew I could do quite easily, but that weren’t really on the path Sophia was leading me down. But then, once again, it seemed Sophia had different ideas.
I was supposed to be working this week, but the contract got taken away. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I breathed a sigh of relief, and began to focus on taking October as my sabbatical/thinking/learning/growing month before jumping into any kind of work.
Which leads me to yesterday, my first day of self-employment. I decided it was time for my annual pilgrimage to my dad’s grave in the town where I grew up (two hours from where I live now). I enjoyed a lovely drive out into the prairies, wandered around the almost-ghost-town where I once lived, spent a little time talking to my dad, and then headed to Neepawa, the nearby town where I’d gone to high school, to find a place to eat lunch.
For reasons I can’t explain, I felt an inexplicable desire to visit the Stone Angel (a monument in the cemetery that was made famous when Margaret Lawrence named a novel after it). I’ve never been a huge Lawrence fan, so the Stone Angel never held much significance to me. I don’t think I’ve visited since high school. But this time the thought wouldn’t leave me alone. I had to visit.
I drove into the cemetery, and before I even realized that I’d reached the monument, my eyes fell to the base of it. Guess what name was there? Sophia. She was the wife of the founding father of Neepawa in whose honour the monument was erected.
I stopped my vehicle, stood in front of the monument, and started to cry. There was Sophia, in beautiful weathered stone, looking down at me and nudging me once again.
As a bit of a postscript to all this serendipity… today, things got even more freaky.
I got a note from my friend Desiree telling me someone she knew online thought she should connect with me because we have a lot in common. She chuckled when she told her we already knew each other. Then I got a note from my friend Lianne, inviting me to join a blog party. One of the other women she had invited turned out to be the same woman who’d told Desiree she should meet me. She said she’d never heard of me before, but had been inexplicably drawn to my blog today (through a link on Jamie’s blog) and then found out both Desiree and Lianne are connected to me.
Her name? Tara SOPHIA Mohr! One of her deepest passions? Convincing women that they should be trusting their wisdom and changing the world. Oh my! Goosebumps!!
For some reason that I don’t fully understand, Sophia chose me for this work and she is NOTHING if not persistent.
I GET IT Sophia! Here’s that big red lollipop, and here’s ME!
So… guess what I’ll be doing for the rest of the month? Hanging out with Sophia and letting her guide me down this path.
by Heather Plett | Oct 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
In her increasingly shaky hand, my grandmother used to paint it on cushions and wall hangings with her beloved liquid embroidery. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”
Of course it is, Grandma, I used to think, but why is such an obvious statement worth painting on a cushion?
Now that I’m over 40, I get it. Today is a beginning. Every day is a beginning. A new chance to get it right, to learn from your mistakes, to show grace, to share beauty.
And this day, for me, marks an even more significant “first day” because it’s the beginning of a long held dream. I am self-employed. I answer to nobody but myself. I get to make myself up as I go along.
I’m practising saying these words. “I am a writer.” “I am a teacher.” “I am a leadership consultant.” “I am a communications consultant.” “I am an entrepreneur.”
I’m not sure yet which will be my favourite elevator pitch. For today, I’ve decided that I don’t have to know for certain. I get to practice for awhile and see what fits.
In a rather fortuitous turn of events, the first contract that fell into my lap was just as quickly taken out of my lap, and I couldn’t be happier. It would have required of me that I jump into work right away this week and not have time to catch my breath. Plus it was old work that I’ve already done, so it would have been mostly about making money and not about the new path I want to forge. So I breathed a sigh of relief and let it go.
Because it has always been my intention to turn the month of October into a sabbatical. I need rest and replenishment. I need time to be in the “neutral space”. I need to be able to wander and think and learn and explore without feeling the pressure to be doing something more productive.
At the same time, though, I don’t want to wake up a couple of weeks from now and realize I’ve wasted all of my time on the internet, so I’m setting some intentions for every day. For today, I started by getting up with the sun and going for a 7 kilometre (4 mile) run. And now I’m going on a pilgrimage to some special places in search of some of the wisdom I often find there. I’ll tell you more about those places when I have returned.
On my way…
by Heather Plett | Oct 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
Today is my last day of work as the Director, Resources & Public Engagement at Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Time to let go of that title, recycle the business cards, and start a new journey.
It’s a full day, with all the packing and wrapping up and saying good-bye. I don’t have a lot of time to process my thoughts or write about them right now, but that will come next week when I’m sitting on my couch, sipping my tea, and letting the transition fully take shape.
For now, I’ll share with you a short piece I wrote as a farewell for our donor newsletter, complete with a picture of me touring a grain elevator in Alberta where generous Canadians had donated grain for the cause of ending hunger. I can hardly tell you how often I was moved by the incredible commitment and generosity of so many. I have definitely been changed by this experience.
As I write this, I am in my last week of employment at Canadian Foodgrains Bank. It is with mixed emotions that I make my departure. The six years I’ve spent here have been truly incredible. I’ve learned so much and met so many fascinating people across Canada and around the world. Though I feel a calling into something new, I leave with some sadness that I will no longer be a part of such an incredible organization.
I will carry with me many incredible memories of the times I have spent with you, the faithful supporters and friends of Canadian Foodgrains Bank. I remember bidding for homemade cottage cheese at the annual auction at Osler, Saskatchewan; gathering pumpkins in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia; participating in a cattle auction in Abbotsford, B.C.; working at the booth at the annual farm show in Red Deer, Alberta; sitting at the world’s largest picnic table at the annual plowing match in Ontario; attending a growing project harvest in Landmark, Manitoba; speaking to a church group in Charlottetown, PEI where they sell Christmas cards as a fundraiser every year; attending an art show in St. John, New Brunswick; and speaking to educators in Montreal, Quebec. How blessed I have been to be part of all of these incredible experiences!
On my first trip to Africa, I slept in a tent on a farm in Kenya near a herd of goats. The farm was owned by the local church, and so it puzzled us where the goats came from. We were told by the pastor that the goats were the tithes of the parishioners. Many of them couldn’t afford to give money, so they gave of their herds. That story has stuck with me ever since as it reflects what I have seen many of you do as well. You might not be able to write large cheques in support of the work of ending hunger, but you give of your time, your energy, your fields, your grain, your handiwork, your food, your commitment, and your passion.
May you be blessed for the way that you have blessed so many others! Farewell and God be with you.
