“Success is not to be pursued; it’s to be attracted by the person you become.”
—Jim Rohn
A Heart Project
I’ve always thought that people who achieve great things; people who achieve the vision in their minds, have no fear. I now realize that we all do. The difference between the successful and those who fail to meet up with their deepest desire is not the amount of fear they harbor, it’s their ability to take action and keep on keeping on, in spite of fear. The past two years have brought many moments of abject terror, but I keep pushing myself to press on toward my vision of why I am here.
My wake-up call started as a whisper, then a statement, next a shout, after that, a whack upside the head, and finally a tsunami. The tsunami was breast cancer.
I can honestly say the road less traveled is a tough one. It has a lot of underbrush and rocks to maneuver and some serious peaks and valleys to traverse. You get bruised and scratched and at times find yourself exhausted and flattened from the strain. The beaten path is far less menacing—of that there is no doubt—but the view and the beauty are not even remotely as grand and breathtaking.
Someplace inside, I deeply believe we are here to take chances, grab opportunities and live an absolutely original life. I think now, more than ever, we are being asked to step into our courage. The day after I was hit by the tsunami, I instinctively started operating from my heart’s intelligence out of a sense of self-preservation, rather than the voice of logic, which is most often a voice filled with society’s dogma, the good opinions, and the bullshit of others.
I am an experiment in the making. My decision to live from the directives of my heart has, so far, proven to be interesting, daunting, and filled with some super cool surprises. My original life is about freedom, reinvention, nonconformity, my burning passion for travel and all things Latin, and a quest for love–all flying by the seat of my pants. On these pages you’ll find an authentic blend of both the reverent and the irreverent. Your original life is completely different than mine, however, I am unscientifically going to prove—for you and for me—that age, education, (a stash of) money, and circumstances don’t dictate our dreams.
When starting a blog, one never knows if it will be read. My hope is that something I write will inspire someone and give someone self-permission to live the authentic life they’re here to live. Before a nasty wake-up call. My hope for myself in writing this blog is that I pass through the eye of the needle into my original life and still have fun doing it. I know that if a chicken-ass like me can do it, so can you.
Wishing you lots of heart,
Wanda
September, 2011
