find your fire: take action + live your purpose
THE PULSE: There Will Be Light!
SUNNY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
Hopefully you're adjusting to losing that hour of sleep -- and are feeling excited for longer days with the sun. We're gearing up for the Spring Equinox next Monday, March 20 and life just feels a tad brighter already.
What are your intentions for this month? This year? In addition to working towards your goal, remember to feel into it. I was just reminded of a time that I achieved something that I thought would never happen...and what it felt like when it finally did. What are those moments and feelings for you? Embody and use them as you continue to do the work and move forward. It makes such a difference!
SPRING-ING FORWARD
Next Monday, March 20, we will officially have Spring in the air! We want to help you make the most of this special day.
The Spring Equinox brings equal hours of day and night. So, it's good time to ask yourself how the concept of balance is showing up for you in your life. Are you finding yourself pulled in any one direction too far? If you're finding that's the case, how can you realign this aspect, so that you can feel more balanced in your day to day? Identifying and calling attention to it is half the work!
Traditionally, the Spring Equinox represents new beginnings -- and renewal. Think of the physical seeds that have been planted and are now starting to come back to life. You can see flowers and buds starting to sprout. How can you take this analogy and see it reflected in your own life? How are you showing up as a new and even better version of yourself? What work have you been doing on yourself over these past few months that will help you show up as more of YOU? And if you haven't done the work, there's no better time than now!
HAPPY ASTROLOGICAL NEW YEAR!
March 20 is also the beginning of Aries Season, which marks the first sign of the zodiac. We now begin a whole new year of trekking around the sun. Aries is a Fire sign and according to Forever Conscious "it carries some incredibly bold, vibrant, and fresh energies that feel like a whole new world is opening up." More on this next week!
For this week, Pisces season is wrapping up, and while today and tomorrow may feel a bit dreamier and could even feel a tad confusing, they may offer you an opportunity to set boundaries in your world. Towards the end and weekend, don't be surprised if you start something new...whether it's a project, relationship, or a whole new path.
FIRESTARTER
It's no coincidence that as we talk about more light -- and Aries season...that Terri B. Williams is our podcast guest this week. She is here to help you create change in your life -- and the world at large. She's ready to ignite the fire within you. Read on.
LATEST PODCAST: Find Your Fire: Take Action + Live Your Purpose
We've all heard the phrase “Be the change you want to see in the world,” by Mahatma Gandhi. Terri Broussard Williams, our podcast guest this week, is doing just that!
Terri is an executive, author, keynote speaker, lobbyist, philanthropist, and social impact strategist. She’s the bestselling author of Find Your Fire and the movement maker behind “The Great Me-Set.”
We’re talking to Terri about how to align your life’s path with your purpose. Isn’t that what we all want to know? And even more than that, how by doing so, you could make meaningful change both in your community and the world. How does it get better than that? Terri knows how to do this because she has done this in her own life and she has helped so many around the world.
She has spoken at Fortune 500 companies to inspire teams to create change, served as a mission ambassador for large nonprofits, and has traveled internationally to tell her story.
Terri's sharing practical ways to realize and live your potential and purpose, and helps you think about how to impact your community, and maybe even the world.
Robyn + Karen: Terri, you've had what we’d call a ‘winding, fantastical, meaningful, and fabulous path!’ What would you say is “your calling?”
Terri: Oh, I love that word, fantastical! I feel like I am just doing what I was brought here to do and every day is a new adventure. I’ve had the privilege of doing things I would've never imagined.
The work I've been doing for the last 20 years has had one through line. And that is that I've truly been called to listen to people's stories. To listen to problems that they want to solve, and then to distill it into data and into a different type of story so that people would want to take action. Action either in the world around them or action within them.
I've always been assigned the role of “the doer” and “the bridge builder,” and I've never thought twice about it. I’ll hear something that others don't hear as a problem, and I’ll start to ask questions. And then once I dig deep, I find an easy win or an easy solution. Usually I can help teach people how to do it themselves. I tell them that you don't need a pedigree to create change. You need a good heart, good work ethic, and just a good soul. And the Universe will bring the right helper to you.
R+ K: This is a good transition to your book Find Your Fire. Can you talk about your definition of a firestarter?
Terri: Yes! A firestarter is a person who sees things that others ignore, but they take action. They take that first step to create change. This applies to any structure, any building, anything that you believe in.
The first firestarters that I knew were my grandparents. They lived during segregation. They were sharecroppers. They didn't consider anything a handicap. They had everything they wanted and everything they needed. They believed in faith, in fortitude. So it's not a surprise that when there was an opportunity to build a church in my mother's neighborhood, my grandparents stood up and built that church.
They never went to capital campaign training. They didn't know how to do those things, but they got it done. That church later burned down in 2010. My Mom and Dad raised their hands and became the next generation of firestarters and led the “legit” capital campaign. They rebuilt that church. I was there last week and took my 95-year-old grandmother to the service. And I thought, I am sitting on this land, this property that every single person I love in my immediate family built. A place I could return to when I am seeking my center.
So I tell everyone I had no choice. I was surrounded by fire starters. It's in my DNA and I just hope to sprinkle it around like a little bit of gold glitter for someone else to capture a little bit of it.
R+K: This really leads to the next chapter for you, which was really coming up with “The Great Me-Set,” which came out of a couch falling on your head?!!
Terri: It's a funny, not so funny story. I was doing too much, when a couch literally fell on my head! I always say that when God sits you down, the Universe puts that seat under you. When that happened, the ER doctors said, “Girl, you are not going to be working for a couple of months.” So I go from a sofa hitting the center of my head, back to the sofa trying to find the center of my life.
These things had to happen. I had to get my life in order. And I began to do the inner work, questioning. I said, “God, why? I am listening!” And it became so clear. It was time to change it up. It was time to really say out loud what I wanted to do. And not just say it, but to live it. And I just began to do the work from there.
R+K: You have told us that you were raised super Catholic, but you are also spiritual. What would you say to those who might be trying to balance leaning into new spiritual practices with their religious beliefs?
Terri: I have always been intuitive, but I never knew what it was. Even when I think about my time lobbying, I never lost a bill. Now some of that's going to be common sense…and some of it is that I'm highly intuitive and just had a knowing.
It wasn't until the couch fell on my head that I really leaned in to this. I am Catholic and now I’ve embraced it. I want to pray more. I also want to be more aware, and thanks to you both, I know these things work well together. I started with breathwork and I became a little bit more myself. Then I started talking to people about it and a friend introduced me to a spiritual teacher and that was it! I knew I was home! I definitely know this was something I've done before. And I feel whole, like I know me now and I didn't before. I am improving my meditation practice. This Lent I've given up crazy things like caffeine, but I'm working to meditate at least 10 minutes a day to build that muscle.
I'm trying to write in my journal every day this year, and I have so far. But not just capturing, but writing where I am. What am I grateful for? What did I learn today? I’m looking for synchronicities. I've been working with a medium about twice a year. I spent a weekend with her at an intuition immersion. I left with a pendulum. I know so much more about myself than I've ever, ever thought I would know. So these tools just keep coming to me and the more I look, things just happen.
R+K: Terri, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We’re so excited to see where “The Great Me-Set” takes you, both as the book and a platform. You have so much to teach people!
You can find out more about Terri at terribwilliams.com. Find out more about her groundbreaking approach in her "The Great Me-Set" TedX Talk. You can purchase her book Find Your Fire on Amazon. You can also follow her on Instagram @terribwilliams.
Listen to the full podcast conversation.
SECRET POWER
Lighting Your Fire: How to Get from Passion to Action
Is there a cause that is calling to you? In Terri’s book, Find Your Fire,she shares examples of how we all can answer the call to take action towards “finding our why.” Here are a few ways you can step out of your comfort zone to create change in your inner and outer world.
Build Your Community: Regardless if your movement is for social good, or a movement within yourself, Terri says it’s important to start by building your community. “These are the people that are going to help you,” she says. “Your community will listen and amplify your cause and the work that you do.”
Identify Your Cause: Choosing what you want to do can take some time and soul-searching. But it should come from a place of inspiration – a knowing that comes from within your soul. “Your cause is your why and your goal.” Terri says. “Your why is the answer. You see it and it's what truly drives change.
Communicate the How + the Why: Amplify your vision with other voices. Tell others how they can join and don’t sugarcoat any challenges. Terri says, “Talk about the obstacles. It's an opportunity for people to trust you. Trust your community to step up in a greater way to light those little fires a little more.”
Be the Change: Create the plan to create the change…just know that it will have to evolve over time. A movement is all about going the distance.
Terri, thank you for sharing your vision and for those clear, courageous steps for how we can follow our inspiration to be the change we all need to see in the world!
THE WEEKLY DOWNLOAD: Choose to Be Free + Feel Your Aliveness
Our Downloads are for everyone reading THE WEEKLY. This week reminds us that we have a choice in choosing the freedom that lies within each of us and that "life's workout" makes our soul's stronger. Read on.
ROBYN’S DOWNLOAD
Picture yourself floating and feeling free of all of the weight of the world…of yourself. What would it be like if you could feel free? Free of burden? Free of fear? Free of lack? Fear of worrying about money? What would you be? What would you do? Allow yourself time to fully embody what that feels like — to be free. Are you smiling? Are you laughing? Are you flying? Do you feel invincible? What are you doing that you aren’t doing now? How can you take this feeling and take a portion of it back into this current reality?
You always have access to this feeling of freedom and yet you choose not to use it. We understand that you live in your reality and that feels so heavy. So bogged down with to-dos and what seem like don’ts as well. This is your own construct, it is not actual reality either. Think about that for a moment. The heaviness is on you. You can make a different choice.
How can you approach life with lightness? With the knowing that freedom exists. You can choose to free yourself by removing the fear, the heaviness. Your perspective is everything. It contributes to the energy. Once you make the choice to choose yourown freedom rather than imprisoning yourself with the bounds of what you think are heavy chains of fear and lack holding you down— your life changes. You start to attract more light. Your day to day becomes “easier”. Your heart begins to fill with joy. You start to feel that floating feeling even though your feet are firmly planted on the ground. You start to spread that lightness and attract more energy that continues to lift you up rather than bringing you down. We ask for this week that you begin to lean into the freedom…make new choices. Unburden yourself.
As you unburden yourself you free yourself up for new opportunities, New connections. New experiences. Your life on Earth begins to expand. Your days are brighter. You are capable, this is all possible. We are here to support you. When doubt creeps in, picture the clouds, picture the floating — feel what it feels like to float and laugh and smile. You can cycle through this so that you can always take a portion of this feeling and bring it back into your every day. It is possible. Here’s to the freedom that is within.
KAREN'S DOWNLOAD
You are ready for the next phase of your journey - the planets are aligned for it - your spirit team is prepared for it - everything is perfectly on time.
Do not measure things by an earthly clock - you are exactly where you have always intended to be - to offer your soul these opportunities for growth. Are you ready to dig in and really engage in the juiciness of this journey?
Rejoice in the hard - in the unfinished and the challenging! It is like a virtual gym for your soul. Feel into both the emotional and physical sweat labor of all of the work you have already done. Your vision, your passion, your commitment is to be celebrated! You have taken on the weights of the world and carried them. You have built your muscle on struggle and dedication. All of your life’s experiences have shown up precisely on time to give you new unseen strengths that have made you the ready warrior to lead the Light.
We are here to say lovingly that you can show up even more. You can make a decision to really lean into both the pain and promise of your “life’s workout” and reap the benefits of a true spiritual awakening. It is never done or complete, but there is always the opportunity to go deeper.
Start now. Feel your feet on the floor of where you are and take a moment to think about all the decisions that have brought you to this very place on the planet. How do you feel sitting in this chair? Are you joyful? Confused? Hopeful? Impatient? If you answered, “Yes,” be grateful. It means that you have had the courage to make a decision. That you are alive. That you are honest with yourself about the ambiguity and the certainty. And that you always have new choices in front of you.
Take a mental and emotional inventory of any discomforts that you have. See them as only another exercise that will make you stronger, more ready to take on this new journey. The time you have put into the preparation has brought you over the mountain. Look out into the horizon on this new world that awaits. Leave any doubts or hesitation behind you and move into the future of your making. Your community is with you. Your cause is in front of you. Your mission in YOU. Follow your bliss.
SEEKING CENTER PODCAST SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY 14: The Love Experiment You Didn’t Know You Needed
FEBRUARY 21: The Design Whisperer: Find the Soul of Your Home
FEBRUARY 28: Moving Through Pain, Releasing Shame + Using the Akashic Records
MARCH 7:Finding Your Way: Connect with Spirit + Your Soul’s Path
MARCH 14: Find Your Fire: Take Action + Live Your Purpose
WE WANT TO BE FRIENDS
We want to hear from you.
Are you at a crossroads in your life? Are you seeking guidance? What do you want to hear about? What practices have you tried? Do you have a healer or practitioner or spiritual modality that we need to know about?
Email us: connect@seekingcenter.app
And follow us on instagram at @seekingcenterrobyn and @seekingcenterofficial.