What I Needed to Hear — and Maybe You Do Too

Hear — and Maybe You Do To

What’s something that you need to hear right now that you wish somebody might say to you? Just think about it for a moment. It’s not that you are lacking something, but more like an awareness, a feeling that something is missing, that there’s potential for more.

You know, we hold such high expectations for ourselves to just stay calm and carry on, to keep our head up even when we are weary, nose to the grindstone valuing grit and grind over grace and gratitude. And while we as humans are built to be extremely resilient, I’m gonna ask you that question again.

Even though you’re doing okay without it, if there was something, just anything, that somebody could say to you that landed in a way that maybe you didn’t even realize you needed or wanted to hear, what would be of great value for you to hear, even though it’s not important in terms of your output or productivity or functionality in the world?

Take a moment to explore this question with kind curiosity.

Speaking to Myself, Speaking to You

I know if it were me, and actually full disclosure, I am speaking to myself today as I’m speaking with you. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that we are not so different, you and I, and that as humans, we share this innate sense that is often untapped. Sometimes it’s because we’ve lost access to it, and sometimes it’s because maybe we didn’t stop long enough to realize there’s something valuable there for us.

You know, the sense of knowing what we need, and I use the word need lightly because we can absolutely survive without it. And quite honestly, most of us do.

So instead of the word need, let’s use the word invite. If you were to invite something into your life, some kind of a message, either from somebody else or from the universe, or, well, from yourself, from ourselves, from myself, what would that message be?

Observing the Ordinary

I sat at my desk for a while looking at a blank page today, which is uncomfortable for me. So as I’m talking to you right now, I’m lying on my back in my office with my feet up in the air instead. There’s a sconce on my ceiling. I’m looking at it now.

It resembles a spider web or a flower. It’s beautiful. Not a scary spider web. Its surface has an opaque pearl luster, and there are nine charcoal colored lines reaching from the same center point to the scalloped edges of the sconce, each arriving at ruby colored points that look like jeweled sunrises. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, there are nine of them. And they’re perfectly symmetrical, emanating from the same center, but balanced.

You know, in this moment it occurs to me that I have been ensconced, and yes, pun intended, ensconced in my own uncertainty, which is very uncomfortable for me, without realizing that there is something constant, always constant, watching over me.

The Quiet Presence

It has quite literally watched over me silently, my sconce, never lit, because I don’t like the light that it gives. And yet, even though I never turn it on, it remains there. It’s been in every session with me and my clients, in every podcast with my wonderful guests. It’s witnessed my inspired moments and my writer’s block—always there, not judging me. Solid, consistent, centered, beautiful. Right in the middle of my ceiling, in the room where I do all my most inspired and passionate work.

If I wanted more light in my room, I could turn the sconce on, and it would give me more light. Maybe my sconce has just offered me what I needed to hear today, but only because I looked at it differently and invited the question.

Invitation to Pause

I’m feeling more grounded now, and I hope that my little brainstorm made you feel a little bit more centered. And maybe you can take this and make it your own.

This could be your God, the universe, your inner compass, but whatever it is, the metaphor is strong. Even though sometimes we don’t see it or pay attention to it, or really use it at all, it is always there.

Listen to Audio Version here!

Lisa Hopkins

Certified Professional Life Coach and Energy Leadership Master Practitioner -CANADA

Lisa is an ICF Certified Professional Life Coach and Energy Leadership Master Practitioner at Wide Open Stages. She specializes in partnering with highly successful creative people who want to be challenged and inspired to become artists in all areas of their lives. A passionate creative professional herself, Lisa has over 25 years experience working in the performing arts industry as a director/choreographer, producer, writer and dance educator in NYC, nationally and internationally. She is dance faculty at Pace University NYC in the Commercial Dance and Musical Theater BFA programs, and is co-founder of New York Stage Originals, an internationally recognized theatrical production company. Lisa hosts the popular podcast STOPTIME: Live in the Moment and is founder of Wide Open Stages, where she coaches high-performing creatives in the performing arts industry.

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