I was recently invited to present at the monthly Meet of the Florida-based professional group of women entrepreneurs Women, Wealth, Wisdom & Wine, founded by Marianela Collado.*
I must say, I am proud to be part of WWWW and to have had the opportunity to contribute to Marianela’s mission in supporting women entrepreneurs by facilitating this conversation about Human Transformation.
Rather than do a lecture on this very vast and overarching topic, I chose to touch on some principles to ground ourselves and create space for participants to do experiential learning.
The first big concept we discussed was the difference between Change and Transformation, where the latter can only happen if we make a conscious choice towards a particular result we desire.
Then we realized that each person is at a present moment, living in a stage of the transformation and so their experience up to that point will shape their perspective of how life works, creating personal meaning, ideas and beliefs. We used the metaphor of a caterpillar and a butterfly. How would these two beings experience transformation? As for the butterfly, it is certain that one needs to change when for the caterpillar is a possibility full of questions, doubts and fears. You see, it is still in a prior stage of the full change that is waiting for it.
We reflected upon people’s experiences and perspectives, and how we should be careful not to judge others who are in a different stage of their own transformation. They may not quite grasp that transformation for themselves yet.
The group doubled down on awareness, going through an exercise to notice how some major pivotal moments in their lives changed them forever. Some moments were crucial because of the joy and sense of accomplishment they brought, and some were sad and painful, carrying loss and disappointment. It was a powerful exercise to help us understand how we got to be who we are now.
Knowing who we are now and how our experiences shaped our perspective is a fantastic tool to designing our future self. We are now empowered to ponder about who we want to be next? What kind of experiences would we want to go through if we could choose them? What kind of self-talk were we using at times of success and achievement? What were we feeling and thinking when we were able to pull through painful and difficult moments?
We noticed how our whole self is involved in our human experience: our thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, assumptions. Also, our feelings, state of our heart, physical health, level of rest, energy, and our purpose, values, life meaning. There were some participants that leaned more into their bodies and sensations to overcome these intense pivotal moments. Others were using mostly their minds and intellect. Some were in deep connection with their feelings and others just slightly aware of how they felt in some moments in their lives. We learned that the more we tap into these domains, the more we use powerful internal resources ready to serve us. Just by noticing and directing our energy to act upon it.
Last, we explored the Law of Attraction and how it is just magical how we can bring into our lives whatever we focus on. First, it is important to have a vision of your desired life or desired goal. And then, take action. Vision boards are one of my favorite tools for creating a colorful, heartfelt vision for your life. It is a versatile tool that can be created on a physical canvas or online. It is your “blank slate” where you can design how you would like to continue or “start over” if that is what you need. The freer your mind is when doing this, the more you will allow your intuition, deepest desires, hidden wishes and talents to be portrayed and manifested physically. It is like sending a very powerful and loud message to the universe asking for what you want and need.
The key to transforming your human self is to consciously turn your vision into reality by acting upon it.
