Spark

I'm going to meet Danielle LaPorte tomorrow.  This is pretty exciting since I've been following her for some time now and use her work with our McNair scholars (check out our recent McNair post here).  I would have to say that we have *several* Fire Starters (and Desire Mappers for that matter) among the group---and it's growing.  So, what has Danielle's work done for me?  It's inspired me to view myself and my own work in new and more elevated ways.  She's helped me to package my own thinking in a way that I am becoming more empowered to pursue my passions.

Clearly my passion is working with my students.  I also have a desire to expand this work to others.  My passion is helping others to craft a vision for themselves and then bring that vision to reality.  I also have a passion for spreading the gift of yoga to pretty much everyone I know (ask our computer "help guy" even).  I believe deeply that the practice of yoga unlocks our passion, creativity and courage to really live those passions.  As I always say---yoga is the key to life.  I've seen it in myself ever since starting my own practice with Baron Baptiste back in 1999 as well as McNair students I've been introducing yoga to over the past four years.  Yoga connects us with ourselves and grows our confidence to become ourselves.

In Fire Starter Session Ten, Danielle asks what business are we really in?  What's our creative genius?  While I'm certainly on the path to figuring this out, one of the things that still eludes me is taking consistent action on a daily basis to keep things moving forward.  I want to express my creativity through writing.  I also think that the process of writing will allow me to find my own voice and really tease out my creative genius.  Yes, I experience blockages to writing (like most everyone does), but I'm intent on managing those blockages and really putting them to bed--for good.

Through the years, I've written a lot about the graduate school process through my work with McNair.  What I've decided to do is to take that work and begin to package it in book form -- it will give me a focus for my daily writing practice as well as become a more efficient (and attractive) vehicle for disseminating information (and inspiration!) to our students (and perhaps other McNair scholars around the country). I think this is a great first step for me---it's the spark that could lead to some really big and beautiful burning fires, if you will.

So, I write this to declare my intention and to share a little bit about me with the other AMAZING women that are about to gather at the Spark of Awesome event.  I'm so grateful to Laura Caroon for creating this special opportunity to connect, reflect and share.  And, for bringing Danielle in to lead the way!