Greetings!
Today I am happy to introduce you to one of my friends, Rachel Gilbertson! Rachel and I have had many conversations about well-being, personal and professional growth, the joys and challenges of life, and much more. I invited Rachel to be a guest writer for this edition of the newsletter so she can share a very exciting project she has been working on. Please enjoy!
Words from Rachel
Hello, dear readers!
I’m grateful to be invited as a guest contributor for this month’s newsletter! My name is Rachel Gilbertson and I’m a long-time friend of Julie’s, a fellow wellbeing professional, owner of Art of Presence, and newly published author of “Aligned Enchantment: 100-Day Self-Reflection Journal.”
I’m delighted to share a little story with you about the ripple effects of how Julie literally Empowered Possible.
But first, I must take you back to the beginning when Julie and I first met more than 16 years ago. We both worked in higher education, but at different local universities, supporting the wellbeing of faculty and staff on our respective campuses.
We would meet monthly for walk & talks to discuss current well-being initiatives, share resources, and brainstorm new ideas. Our professional lives took unique, but similar paths as we transitioned to different organizations and as we developed our own small businesses. Although we had changed roles, we stayed committed to connecting monthly. |
Now, to the ripple effects
Last February, after one of our regular chats, Julie sent me an email connecting me with a local author and indie publisher, Heather Wilde. Heather was planning her book launch releasing “Tumbled” out into the world. I contacted Heather, and attended her book launch celebration, and we hit it off right from the start. Heather and I agreed to meet up again in a few weeks. When we did, she shared that she was planning to sign up for Sarah Seidelmann’s 100-day Creative Soul Retrieval group as it had been transformative the previous times she’d participated. The premise is simple yet impactful - do something creative for 15 minutes per day for 100 days, post it in the private Facebook group and see what happens. I was curious and decided to sign up.
My project was to embark on an adventure of being open to enchantment and following inspiration by creating a mini watercolor painting each day for 100 days. I wanted to learn more about watercolor painting; I love words and their meanings, and I find the practice of reflection to be powerful. Therefore, I braided these elements together and called it “Aligned Enchantment.” Each day, an image would catch my eye, or a word would resonate, and it would become the day’s theme, which I then paired with reflective questions.
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Some days, my project flowed quickly and easily; other days, inspiration was more elusive, and it felt like a stretch to pull it all together. Sometimes, the word would come first. Other times, the image became crystal clear, or a question would surface for me to ponder. Even though I initially planned to complete my project in the morning, these clues would emerge over the course of the day. As much as I wanted to confine this project into a set time and space, inspiration wanted more freedom, and enchantment refused to be rushed.
Along the way, I worried I had taken on more than I could handle as I struggled to fit it in and fell behind posting daily. About every ten days, I noticed the urge to switch gears and change the theme by dropping the word, black box outline, or reflection component. However, each time I sat with these thoughts long enough, a whisper of a word or inkling of an image would encourage me to stick with it. Curiosity invited me to wonder what the collective result would be as I continued to add to this over the summer. So I carried on.
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Now the ripple effect comes full circle.
Once I reached 100 days, I felt proud of the journey I took and glad I stuck with it. I also had a lingering sense that it wasn’t quite done. On the 100th day I wrote: “I’m not sure what it is yet, but it feels like there’s a few more steps to fully complete this project.”
However, I actually didn’t do anything with it for two months until early November when I met with Julie and another friend, Lora. We had a mini retreat day full of connection and creative thinking about our next steps personally and professionally. We had planned some independent work time and I sat with my mini watercolors, reflected on the lessons and wondered how I might gather them all in one place. As I did this, I knew I needed to connect with Heather again to brainstorm ideas for pulling these together.
When the two of us met later that month, it became clear that this was meant to be a journal. We got to work and “Aligned Enchantment: 100-day Self-Reflection Journal” was recently published.
Now, here we are less than a year from starting the 100 day project, 8 months from day 100, and 4 months after starting the publishing process and it seems this was the plan all along. I’m extremely grateful to Julie for sending that initial email that started this ripple effect of connection and possibilities. I’m also thankful for that quiet voice inside that urged me to slow down, sit with the pieces, and gather them up into a complete collection.
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Ripples into Waves
As for launching “Aligned Enchantment” out into the world, I’m proceeding one step at a time and am trusting the unfolding. This has been a key lesson throughout this project.
Aligned Enchantment is an opportunity to journal for 100-days and beyond about the things that matter most to you. The things that light you up and make you feel alive. It provides a space to imagine, wonder, and reflect. It helps you set intentions for how you want to be today and what you want your impact to be in the future.
My greatest hope for this journal is that it allows your inner wisdom to emerge. I hope you notice any inklings of insights arise, you feel any glimpses of soul shimmers, and that you follow the subtle hints of curiosity. I have found that intuition, enchantment, and inspiration hang out in these seemingly insignificant places. The extraordinary is hidden in the ordinary, not just in the grand gestures or the big, bold moves.
I share this story to say: please don’t underestimate the power of one small action as it can set off a ripple effect and empower what is possible.
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Excerpt from Aligned Enchantment by Rachel Gilbertson |
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