The past few years have been a powerful, painful and extraordinary journey through rise and fall, public shaming, loss, grief, guilt, growth, reinvention and rebirth. These life-changing experiences, though sometimes brutal, also opened up profound beauty, depth and richness in my life, for which I am truly grateful. This has resulted in a shift in the focus of my work.
It has been quite an odyssey getting here and I wanted to give you a personal explanation why this new direction is so incredibly important to me.
I have always had a love for Nature and underdogs and I got bit by the advocacy bug in my early twenties. It was totally outside the realm of my blue-collar family's experience. I became a first generation college graduate with a Masters degree in Environmental Studies. Over the next many years I launched a couple of non-profits, built a consulting business and ran, unsuccessfully for the Oregon House of Representatives - all with the mission of protecting the environment and endangered species, tackling climate change and reducing poverty.
Then, in an amazing turn of events I wound up in love with the Governor of Oregon and serving as First Lady of the state. That was a difficult position for me but I felt I was doing some really good work on the issues I cared so much about. And then, with the Governor in a reelection campaign, a reporter dug up some dirt from my past and my life and career blew up in spectacular fashion.
It is almost impossible to describe the pain of losing my work, not knowing if I would ever really make a contribution again. The way through those terribly dark times involved a tremendous amount of reflection, regrouping and personal development work, study and research.
I had to own up to the fact that I really
hadn't been
happy. I was stressed. I was angry a lot of the time about the damage being done to things I loved. What I now see is that I was in many ways part of the problem. I was trying so hard to bring positive change but the approach was dominated by fear, scarcity, competition, ego and anger. There is no way we can be our most effective if we are using the same level of consciousness that created the very problems we are trying to solve. But it's hard not to be when we are so focused on the problems and immersed in the battlefields of politics, media sensationalism and polarized opinions. We need to learn ways of shifting our focus and the energy with which we approach the problems. I now know that is totally doable. What a relief! And what fun!
The results we deliver in the outer environment - the causes we care about, our families and relationships - are utterly dependent upon the work we do in our own inner environments. Healing the planet, eradicating poverty, stopping abuse, oppression and exploitation requires healthier minds and a shift in consciousness.
A fire has been lit in me to help empower fellow social change advocates and professionals by helping you become more peaceful, more resilient, more hopeful and more powerful doing the incredibly important work you do. That is the point and purpose of our ChangeMaker Empowerment program.
ChangeMaker Empowerment strategies are built on evidence-based cutting edge neuroscience, neurolinguistics, Human Needs Psychology, organizational psychology, health and wellness science and wisdom traditions. We took 3½ years developing the ChangeMaker Empowerment program fundamentals and foundation. It is continuously evolving.
With every organization we work with we custom design the format and curriculum to fit the organization's specific needs and goals. Program components include:
- mindfulness and presencing techniques
- stress reduction strategies
- identifying and overcoming fear and limiting beliefs
- strategies for interrupting disempowering thought loops
- working with our stories and the stories of our causes to create breakthroughs.
We also do one-on-one resiliency and empowerment coaching.
More info can be found here.
Contact us for a free initial assessment and consultation by calling (548) 292-4342 or send an email to [email protected].
A little peep into the dark night of the soul experience and insights can be seen in my recent TEDx talk.
"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
-
Rumi
Carpe Diem!
Cylvia
