Woo hoo!! 🎉 Thanks to you and this community, The Soul Solution book launch last week was a huge success.
The book was even ranked a #1 New Release!!!
If you enjoy the book, please leave an Amazon Review HERE. If you don’t enjoy the book, you never read this. I don’t know you. Stop looking at me.
***Special Announcement***
As part of the book launch, I’m offering a FREE Soul Solution Live Immersion 4 Part Series in Nov & Dec (think of this like a book club + coaching course + dance party all wrapped into one!)
The live sessions will take place via Zoom so you can join from anywhere in the world. Bonus points if you join from a yacht in the caribbean. Or from your toilet. Or anywhere else weird, interesting or fabulous.
If you want to join this (Free) LIVE Immersion 4 Part Series you must buy the book by October 15th and save your receipt! That’s your ticket to the Free Online Immersion.
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Ok, onward with today’s blog…
Today’s blog is about how not getting what you want in life always includes a silver lining of clarity.
Not getting what you want ➡ shortcut to clarity
Earlier this year, a dear friend offered to host a big book launch party at her gorgeous home in San Francisco. Then, she took a challenging + fabulous new job that precluded her from hosting the book launch event.
About a month ago, our social media team asked me; “So, what special thing do you have planned for your book pub date on October 4th?”
And I was like…”Um, nothing.”
I was embarrassed. Ashamed. I felt like a loser. Who had no friends. And I felt like a bad businesswoman. Who didn’t organize an important event for her own book tour.
After wallowing in self-pity and martyrdom, with a side of self-criticism, I got curious.
Every time I tried to imagine some big “book launch party,” it felt forced and off.
I wondered if I was uncomfortable with the limelight or struggling to celebrate myself. Maybe I should push through the discomfort and find someone else to host a book launch party for me?
But each time I tried to envision it, it rang hollow.
Pausing, I asked, “Do I even want a big book launch party?” No.
Sitting with the question “Hmm….what do I want?” and talking to a dear soul sister, I realized what I really wanted was a book blessing ceremony. Similar to what Native American tribes do to welcome a new baby, but with the book.
As soon as I landed on this idea, everything in my body lit up.
It felt just right.
A “book launch” felt like something I was supposed to do. A “book blessing” felt like what my heart really wanted.
Everything came together at the last minute, and it was truly divine!
This was hands down the most joyful, expansive celebration of a professional milestone I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was absolutely perfect. Dear friends, soul sisters, my husband, clients and even my editor from SoundsTrue (who I’d never met in person!) joined in a circle, along with my daughter Eva and her little friend Gemma. My hubby Brent organized a fabulous dinner afterwards and the good vibes continued.
It was magical, uplifting, healing and powerful.
And…it all came out of not getting what I originally wanted.
Sometimes, when we don’t get what we want, it pushes us to get really clear on exactly what we do want instead.
When the original plan falls through or feels hollow, it’s important to PAUSE.
And ask a question every woman could ask more often (daily, even!):
“Hmmm….what do I really want?”
In a world that tells us how to be, how to look, how to act, how to please others, how to keep ourselves small, asking what we really want in each situation is one of the most empowering and life enhancing things we can do.
When I imagine all the women in corporate America, all the working women, all the mothers, all the women in other countries like Iran, all women everywhere who are not getting what they want, I think there is incredible untapped potential. All the sadness, anger, frustration, lack of recognition, lack of respect, lack of equality, lack of human rights, the feeling of pushing a boulder uphill…this is all energy that can be transmuted, transformed and catalyzed into inspiration, will, resilience, clarity, defiance, desire, a refusal to give up, a rejection of the old way, the hard way or the painful way. An urge to lift each other up rather than feeling pushed down.
(how did a book blessing turn into a feminist rant + rally? Well, it really is all connected.)
This energy is what powers a new vision. And there is a lot of this energy in the world right now.
New dreams and desires are birthed out of the pain of not getting what you want.
So today, I ask you, how have you not gotten what you wanted in life? And what new desire, project or plan is that calling forth in you now?
How is your heart pained by the suffering of others? And what new vision does this call forth in you or in the collective at this time? What do you really want?
I’d love to know! Leave a comment BELOW.
May your roadblocks turn into bridges,
Vanessa
P.S. When you listen to your heart and ask; “What do I really want?” Magic happens.
You get what you thought you wanted, plus things you didn’t even know you wanted.
Like this precious moment, when my dear soul sister Kristen Firpo taught my daughter Eva and her friend Gemma how to play the crystal sound bowls during our book blessing:
Getting clarity on what you really want = Pure Joy!
More pics from our Book Blessing…
Everyone deserves to feel celebrated – that is my wish for you, too.
P.P.S. Don’t forget to get your copy of The Soul Solution if you want to join our Live Immersion in Nov & Dec!
Thanks for the blog post and encouraging us to seek what our heart truly wants and not what society says we should. Instead of a baby sprinkles party during lockdown, I had a small blessing ceremony and it was much more special. May you continue to have an amazing journey with your book and career!
Oh thank you for your kind words Heidy and what a lovely thought to have a blessing ceremony for your baby! I’m sure it was much more intimate and meaningful. Thank you for sharing!