Your Heart’s Inner Whispers…

My heart is called to reflect, do yoga (which for me, includes a lot of meditation), creative pursuits (particularly oil painting) and being near the water

What is your heart whispering to you? Have you been quiet enough lately… or created enough space in your life to allow that whisper to be heard over the noise of everyday life?

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The past year has been an interesting one indeed.

There I was ‘enjoying’ a successful start in a challenging new business venture with a good friend... 

I was back in wine (a personal passion and industry I have trained in and worked in over many years). I had great flexibility and balance. Time for my morning meditations, a hit of golf after school drop offs on Fridays and even an office I could bring the dogs with me to work and the ability to take off during the school holidays… from most perspectives, it looked like it could be the perfect venture.

We had found producers interested in putting fine wine in a box, an audience interested in the product, developed our design, packaged our wine and brought it to market. 

We successfully sold out of our first release of wine - and though customer acquisition wasn’t quite where it needed to be, we had plenty of options to try for a second release; from connecting with different audiences, working with different price points & toying with new designs.

Indeed, we had even been selected to be part of a government backed food and beverage accelerator… (alternative sustainable packaging will become a bigger part of the Australian landscape, mark my words :)

But as we considered what a pivot should look like… I decided I needed to take a little space away from the office to reflect on our fledgling business was and where we were looking to go - and more so, reflect on what my heart was calling me to do.

I took a few days off — invested in connecting to my heart through my painting, yoga and contemplative time - and what I heard crystal clear… wine isn’t where I’m meant to be.

My first thought - relief.

My second - how am I going to break this news to my friend and business partner? 

I didn’t want to let him down - but what I know more than anything about myself, it’s that I have to wholeheartedly feel called to doing the work I throw myself in to.

While I love the mindful enjoyment of wine and wholeheartedly believe it can be a part of a healthy lifestyle… I realised working solely in the wine industry was no longer where my heart was calling me to be. Surprisingly, I found myself being called back into the health and wellbeing space that I thought I had closed the door on in ‘22. And (somewhat unsurprisingly), my heart was also calling me to paint. 

I broke the news to my business partner that while I didn’t know what was next, unfortunately wine wasn’t it.

It’s hard to disappoint someone, but as a wise friend pointed out, if it wasn’t working for me - it wouldn’t work for him, either.

I know it wasn’t the news Mike was expecting to hear… and in truth, he may have thought me a bit mad when I told him I was feeling the need to slow down, reflect, paint, do yoga and play golf) instead of continue our wine venture 🙃 .

Though I had no idea what that actually meant for me (and certainly recognise these aren’t the ‘traditional’ ingredients for ‘career success’) I knew it was authentic to what my heart was calling me to do.

Within two days - something magical happened.

As soon as I was honest with both myself and my business partner - new doors quickly appeared.

Doors that allow me to do just what my heart was calling for - reflect, paint, do yoga and play.

This website - and ‘Nourish Your Soul Retreats & Stays’ are what have come out of that magical moment.

But before anything real could happened… I had to get clear on my vision… how I did that is shared in my next post.

When was the last time *you* took time away from work - from life - to find stillness?

To breathe? To create space for your heart’s quiet whisperings to rise above the noise??

You might be surprised to hear what your heart is calling you to do. 🧡

If it’s been a while… may I recommend you - this week - find some space for yourself. And if you find it hard to find time for yourself without booking time away - you might want to join me for an upcoming retreat.