Since I can remember, I have lived in an imaginary world. A world that has existed outside of this reality. The two worlds look so different and became much harder to hold together and see as I got older. One’s voice became stronger and louder than the other; and slowly the imaginary world became distant and something harder to feel and see.

It is only now, at the age of 46, processing the past few years of my life in deep pain and loss, that I have been able to see and remember the beautiful imaginary world that existed –  like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz said, “but maybe it wasn’t a dream at all.”

Maybe it was a real place. Maybe the imaginary world existed all along. Maybe, just maybe, we somewhere over the rainbow.

This awareness and knowing has lit a fire inside of me, it keeps calling to listen.  Let it be, it says, let it live and share it with all who will listen.  I believe in loss,  I was given a gift that has reminded me to look behind the curtain of the great Oz, a second chance to be what was intended. I believe I was witness to what we call miracles, or what I would call now as being awake or fully aware. I now fully recognize and see that we are part of this integrated fabric, part of the beat that moves this world. We breath in the air this world provides and we breath it out – it is part of us, and we are a part of it.  At least, now, while we are in the land of the living but do believe the past and those who lived upon us are still here and with us often.

I want to share my experiences, and continue to breath into the fullness of all and everything we as humans collectively and individually are capable of being. To recognize the vibrant energy that lives within us and around us – it wants to be held, nurtured and loved.  Just like we do.  We live beyond the rainbow – we just need to see it, feel it and live it.  While this journey and my experiences starts with me, as humans, we grow and learn from one another.  I am so excited to be on this journey with you and grow and learn from you.  It starts with each of us individually and continues with all of us collectively as humans.

I think at some point in our lives, many feel or hear the voice calling; we feel pulled to it like a familiar song or place, like we have been there before and know it exists and is looking to come home.  If we stop to listen, see, and feel it inside our hearts, souls and minds and give it light and love, it will grow and so will you. It is our life calling to live and realize our potential as humans individually and collectively.

This declaration, this sharing of stories and experiences was in part a commitment to myself, to own my story and then to share it and allow it to breath.  If for nothing else, it was me continuing to fight the good fight of greater connection and meaning in life.  However, saying and sharing it felt empty. I know that there are so many people out there, while having your own stories, share in the connection and meaning of the life-less traveled.  My hope and vision is that this platform and within our story telling, we realize and dismantle our myths, and live how we were intended.  My want is to hold each other in our uniqueness celebrating our collective humanness in our loving, our pain, our joy, and our wonder – honoring the beauty of ourselves and the delicate musical/dance of the world in which we live. It is through our experiences of hard emotion of truly living, where we may feel lost, but find our way back to the rawness and realization of why we are here breathing, beating, blending, connecting – being, being lost to get to our found.  We are not alone on a deserted island – we are in a world of humanness,  we all come into the world and leave the world all the same….. so there while there is uniqueness in each of us, we share an undeniable bond.

Maybe in each of our stories, we remember.  We find our inspiration in the glimpses or flashes of impactful life memories and we remember how to set ourselves free – live outside of this alternate dimension we created, in the living place.

I think Ralph Emerson is right, that trying to make your voice heard and stand for yourself is the greatest accomplishment. Although, I believe it is not the world that has changed, it is all of us humans that lost sight of the gift we were given, and we forgot how to shape our world aligned with our human purpose.  We forgot where our home is and how to take care of the people we live with in it.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment – Ralf Waldo Emerson

You may be distracted with the business of life or may have dismissed a time when you heard your soul talking, your bones breaking, your heart beating – but I know you have heard it. I know you see glimpses of the world reaching out to you to take it all in.

You know it can be different, how you live, how we live, you know there is a different path.  If we keep running from it, we end up no-where, continuing to feel lost and empty.

I share my experience and learn from yours. We grow closer in our knowing that we are here in this world as unique individuals although united and woven from the same cloth in our human experiences of our hearts, souls, minds and body. I commit to not giving up on me, and on us.