“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.”
~ David G. Allen
The year is young, and still fresh with the scent of hope and possibility.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, my inbox is filled with the sad, agonised and even defeated messages of those who have laboured long towards their dream and who have never been able to achieve it. These are dreams they also can’t walk away from. Inside them is a vision – an idea that calls them to action. An idea that has transfixed them, and which holds some kind of mystical spell over them so that they are unable to give up the vision and move to something else. (Please note – I am talking about callings here, not love affairs!)
Writers who write one genre to mixed success while holding a story in their heart that they are sure is unmarketable and that could destroy an otherwise adequate career. Healers who have been beset by all manner of health problems themselves. Coaches and counsellors whose own lives have been messy or impossible. Lightworkers whose relationships or finances or personal circumstances are in tatters. People needing to work day jobs which suck the life out of them and leave them with no time or energy to go work on their own project.
All of which has prevented them from realising the dream in their heart.
People working with my Year of ME Planner who are trying to define their One Big Thing for the year (or perhaps for their lives) have contacted me, not because they can’t work out what the One Big Thing might be, but because they are fearful that they won’t be able to deliver on the promise. They’ve already decided long ago. The vision is there. But so is this history of failure, limited success, or inability to even properly start.
So I wanted to write you this letter of encouragement, and ask you, please, not to give up!
I have been where you are. Yes, I have. And I speak from my heart to yours, hoping that you will truly hear me.
You see, you’ve been let down so many times. You’ve had this vision. You’ve had this One Big Thing dream for so long. And at the same time you haven’t done it. Life got in the way. Illness got in the way. Lack of money and support and being in survival mode with no energy to devote to your dream got in the way. Body not working got in the way. Brain not working got in the way. People who really needed you, or who took everything you had got in the way. Yet the dream remained.
Once, in your long-ago lives, you were someone who GOT THINGS DONE. Who overcame obstacles and met deadlines and was reliable. In that life it seemed entirely feasible that you could easily and passionately get your One Big Thing done. Then little by little it all fell away, and on your good days you’d make plans, only to have them dashed as the next day came and you couldn’t keep up with the things you’d organised for yourself. Feelings of failure crept in. You began not to trust yourself. You began not to trust the Universe.
Why would you be given a dream that burned such a blaze inside you, only to be cruelly thwarted and left unfulfilled, with the dream out in front of you as a reminder of all of that failure. Right?
I get it. I’ve lived it.
And I have a new paradigm for you. But it requires a BIG shift of your current thinking.
You see, what if it’s actually not a failure? What if it’s about timing?
What if it’s about truly KNOWING struggle, so that you can speak to that energy in others (as I am speaking to that energy within you right now, having also lived it).
What if the world wasn’t ready for what you had to share if you’d delivered any earlier?
What if it just wasn’t your time before now?
So many people like you and me have been held back in our progress because it wasn’t our time to peak in the old energies. We’re part of the pointy end of change and healing and expansion in this new post-2012 energetic era.
What if it all happened because your soul and the Universe contrived all manner of stuff to get you into a space of right timing for the sharing of your talents and gifts?
Let go of blame and shame and concepts of loss and punishment. That’s so old energy – and you, my lovelies, are here to work with the NEW. You’re healing. Things are changing. Now is your time. Start small. Expect delays as you regroup and regather and open to new ideas and energies. Open your arms to it all and trust. Know that you will still make forward progress. Know that your One BIg Thing may come to look completely different to the picture you have held in your head. Know that this is okay. You are here in response to the new energies, and these new energies are co-creative. Get it? You don’t have to do it all on your own. You don’t need to be in struggle and isolation anymore, and it WILL get easier. It is already getting easier.
Make peace with yourself and the Universe and your One Big Thing. It’s not too late. In fact, the timing is just right. Take a nap. Find some gratitude for good stuff to level up your vibration. Start bravely or not bravely in one little corner and trust in miracles and magic and synchronicity and amazing happenings BECAUSE THAT IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN NOW. Not the echoes of the old world that are bouncing around in your head, causing you so much pain.
You’ve got this. We’re here for you. We love you. You were born for this. Onwards, one limpy little step, nap and cup of tea at a time. Soon enough you’ll be flying. I know it!
Much love, Nicole xoxo
Dearest Nicole.
I have been a reader of yours for sometime now and I must say this one gives me hope. I have very much been living in the dark myself for many years. It is only now when you stated “what if it was for truly KNOWING struggle”. I have been saying that to myself many times, but I truly believed it was my mind trying to justify the situation (as it has a tendency to) just to make me feel better.
I have had many blissful times myself with the higher power, just as I am sure you have. Looking at that time now. Is just a distant memory of truth. I believed I fell into healing due to my lack of belief, my domain statement I remember saying to myself is “I’ll believe it when I see it”.
I now know that whilst working with it for many years just before my life closed on me, through grief ect. I even took that for granted, not in an obvious way, I just worked with it like I was born with it. As you have time for yourself and regress. I have had heartaches and so much sorrow. Before I knew it I was drinking and smoking …. I miss the life I was blessed to experience. But I guess my time has gone. And I am feeling uncomfortable about being normal and have to look for normal work. I feel my higherself has left me, or the loving Guardian angel that has always been there to comfort me. I say that because this sudden shift that I am feeling has never been so cold. That is why I assume they have left me.
Kindest Regards Angela
Every word in every blog, resignates to my very core Nicole, you truly are Heaven Sent and I am thankful and blessed every day that you came I to my life. Thank you for all that you are and everything that you do that helps, guides and strengthens so many. Much love to YOU <3
Nicole, Nicole you make me smile 🙂 It has been a pretty full on time catching up with everyone over xmas… A lot of realisations have happend over this period… Early this morning I suddenly had clarity and peace of mind and made a huge decision that I know will change the course of my life. Then just now I opened up your blog. THANKYOU sweet lady.
We have a saying around here that everything happens in it’s right timing. Takes the pressure off. There are things we just can’t control and the struggle to control is exhausting.
So true. We all have to believe that our lives are unfolding exactly as they should be. I, too, have wanted things to progress faster, but am always told that all is well and not to worry. I so agree that our visions may need a bit of tweaking in this new energy and we should hold onto the dream and accept little changes the perhaps the universe sees as the better way to go. I always have to remind myself that I cannot see the bigger picture and to trust my guides and the universal timing [even though my human impatience does come in at times ;-)]
Just what I needed to read this morning. Thank you.
Ooohhhh thank you, miss.
🌟❤️
Thanks once again Nicole. I have already come to the realisation that I needed to experience/do what I have done all my life to appreciate what I have now and do what I do. I does make sense xxx
Dear Nicole,
Thank you and also on behalf of all the sisters who got encouraged with your kind words. Much needed were those words and gratefully appreciated for their impact on our hearts. Thank you once again dear.
Lots of heartwarming love…..
Inspirational!!!! JUST what I needed to hear Nicole. I think its time for baby-steps without any major expectations – just walk the talk; walk the journey. Just start!!! Thanks you HUGE – your words are powerfully reassuring Hugs xxx
Dear Nicole, I was sitting in a puddle of self pity and frustration this morning, face in hands, crying to the Universe out loud (although a bit muffled) that I was open to receiving messages and guidance from my beautiful Guides and Angels because I was just so tired and anxious about missing some opportunity or other when it seemed that EVERY ONE ELSE was getting on with it…oh dear… …and then I opened this email and cried again – this time with humility and a huge sense of relief – I got my answer – your beautiful insights hit their mark and I just sat with it for ages, allowing, breathing and trusting that every little thing is going to be alright… …and in this mutable year of 2016 it’s all about learning to trust even more, going with the proverbial flow, and being in the now…surrendering to the process. Thanks so much for taking the time to send these words of encouragement and comfort…just the beautiful breeze I needed to lift these wings…onward and upward! Warmest Regards and Best Wishes, Poppy
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 20:07:21 +0000 To: poppyfoutoulis@hotmail.com
Thank you – as always, impeccable timing and words that know my heart.
It’s like you wrote this just for me !! Thanks Nicole!!
Thank you for this perfectly, perfect (divine) timed gentle reminder Nicole. Thanks for the letter of encouragement. You are gifted with many abilities, among them, one of my favorite, is your writing and your power with words for casting spells of enchantment, planting unseen seeds of Love and Light. As we transform\manifest, it is natural to feel weak…we are changing…growing…becoming…but soon we will be strong again. Our wings are always within us, it takes time to trust them…thanks again!
Yep . . . ‘energies’ of late have been pretty gruelling 🙁 pulling up the last remains of old decayed and dying bits . . . from both our personal and collective journey. A huge time of detox, preparing us for standing fully in our wondrous self ~ so much for us to do this year; all obstacles need to be removed. Big times as usual . . . Thank you sweet Nicole <3 <3
Once again you deserve a major high five Nicole. Thank you so much for your blog, encouraging and uplifting. Love and blessings.