When you carry inner growth and change out into the world through your actions, the whole world begins to shift along with you.
Imagine a dawning revelation that suddenly, in a flash, brings remarkable clarity and understanding about your goals and dreams. Some defining moment or “aha” when a light-bulb goes off.
Or, perhaps it’s a shift that’s been years and years in the making — when the stars seem to align and, finally, all of the hard work and struggle you’ve endured morphs into an effortless momentum that carries you with ease and lightness.
Whether one or the other, I do know this: for all of our talk of inner change, perspective-shifts and profound moments of learning and growth and evolution, if you really want to create change in your life and in the world around you, it’s not enough to just change within your own skin.
Change begins there, surely.
That’s Part One, yes.
But Part Two — the part where the talk of changing the world actually begins to change a small, small piece of it — occurs when you carry your inner growth out into the world through your actions. Commitments and risks. Pursuits and gambles. Seeking the struggle and diving into uncertain waters.
Internal change and growth sets the spark and with that spark you must carry its light out into the darkness of the world. And there, when you begin to light the torches carried by others, lives begin to change. The world begins to change.
Yes. When you carry your internal shifts into actions and changes in the world, the entire world begins to change along with you.
And the change-making life for which your heart eternally clamors suddenly becomes remarkably real.
This is what I’ve been learning over the last few months, my friend.
And I desperately wanted — perhaps, needed — to share that though with you this morning.
You see, I’ve been very quiet with you in the past few months after abruptly moving out of New York City in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. But that’s not been for a lack of stories or lessons to share.
In truth, over the last few months I’ve been fully and pleasantly immersed in my writers’ group called the Literati that, by now, you’ve probably heard me discuss.
The Literati is a premium-subscription writers’ group that was founded to shatter the “tortured artist routine” and serve writers of all kinds with expert guidance and invaluable community support — all structured within a positive, empowering environment that helps creatives and artists find the freedom in their lives that they desire.
And for the past three months, 24 writers from around the world and I have been knee deep in a profound exploration of the artistic life, harnessing the self-explorative power of writing to experience profound personal growth and revelations while starting new blogs, publishing books, penning tens of thousands of words and beginning to craft the lives that we desire through ink and sweat.
It has been beautiful. Amazing. Invigorating and so wonderfully reaffirming.
I can’t begin to explain how remarkably rewarding and valuable it is for me to have had this experience with each member of the Literati.
And within our small and supportive community, we are, this holiday season, ready to expand our membership and invite new members into the fold:
What if you could give the gift of writing to a loved one this holiday season and help a loved one find purpose and passion in his or her life through a supportive community of writers from around the world who unite to cherish their craft and help one another flourish?
That’s what we do in the Literati, and it all happens under the guidance of yours truly: writers of all shapes and sizes begin to learn from expert instruction, amazing group structure and a community of truly amazing people who want to help one another succeed in achieving their goals.
Now available today (and for a limited time, since it’s already the holiday season, after all), you can [highlight bg=”#fff699″ color=”#000000″]purchase a quarterly membership to the Literati for a loved one for just $97 (around $1/day) and help give him or her find the accountability, support and guidance that our writers’ community provides to everyone of its members.
Better yet, this is a real gift — not a digital invitation or email.
You receive this gift in the mail and get to hand-deliver your gift to a loved one in a unique, wax-sealed envelope containing their membership invitation and instructions on how to dive in and join our community:
Purchase here.
This also means — yes! — after being closed for three months, there are new membership opportunities coming soon!
And if you’re really serious about your writing life, I would love for you to join us and become a part of the Literati.
But this is not a writers’ group where you sit and idly watch. Or gather up some info and “How-To” instruction and think you’ll find some shortcuts to success. This writers’ group is for writers who believe in the power of the creative life and wish to not only live but love the artistic journey — while forging happiness, inner peace and freedom in their lives.
Add your name to the waiting list at LiteratiWriters.com and you will be notified when I reopen membership in the next few weeks.
The Literati where I’ll be spending most of my time in the following months — and longer.
And meanwhile, here on the blog, I’m finally ready to continue a shift that’s been in the making since the summer: an evolution in the public face of my writing and business. That shift comes at the crossroads of artistry, holistic entrepreneurship and personal leadership.
I call this crossroads, “Human-Powered Happiness.”
Human-powered happiness is where your life converges at the intersection of experiential living on your own terms while creating for the world and embracing holistic business through divine self-expression.
What is all boils down to is your Freedom.
So, happy morning to you, friend. I hope this note finds you well.
Whether you’ve been a longtime reader or have just joined us in the last few weeks, thank you. Thank you for who you are and what you do. For the light you shine and the path you forge. For fighting the good fight and defying all odds. We get farther faster when we’re in it together, and so I honor you as I write today.
And remember this: there will be moments in life when you fall remarkably quiet, even for week and months on end. And the world will still spin, and the days and nights will ebb and flow as they do, and people around you might begin to wonder if your quietness is a sign of defeat, or regret, or confusion, or lack of effort.
After all, socially, we have this long-ingrained idea that loudness is a sign of victory. Of fight. Of pursuit, and of strength.
But you and me?
We know better.
Never count out the quiet ones.
Because eventually, all noise dies out. And in the space of that peculiar silence when the boisterous and rowdy are left without breath to shout and command, its the quiet ones like you and me who’ll stand and, lungs cooled and primed, make our voices heard.
Flickr photo credit: Move The Clouds
