If not now — when?
Mighty Forces is a place where people who feel called to create something can get into action to make it real.
Which is why I love this Instagram post from @radiantsomatics:
I mean, that’s it, isn’t it?
There is so much I want to say to you about this, it’s flooding me, so I’m going to allow myself a list instead of a beautifully woven essay:
I know it’s not as simple as deciding to live the life you truly want — a life in full alignment with your heart, your spirit, and your values — and then, poof!, you make it so. If it were, what a different experience we’d be having here on planet earth. And a whole bunch of life coaches would be out of work ;).
And yet, in some ways, IT IS THAT EASY. Living the life you truly want is as easy as making a new choice, in this exact moment. (If you’ve read my book Improvising Adulthood, you know that this is its theme: Learning to tune into what’s “yes” for you, and what’s “no,” and creating a life of choosing yes.)
It’s no accident I spent 20 years focused on storytelling before pivoting into identifying more as a creativity coach — storytelling is of course a pivotal part of our creativity. Not just in terms of the stories we tell in the things we create, but in terms of the stories we live by (which, in turn, influence the things we do or don’t create. This is what last week’s newsletter (which you can also read here on my blog) was all about: the stories we tell ourselves. If you are feeling stuck, if there is a gap between the life you’re living and the life you truly want, then on some level you are choosing to believe a story that is holding you back.
Sometimes, no amount of mental effort helps us reach the stories that guide us — they’re stored in our bodies. If you sense this might be true for you, I want to recommend several healers who have helped me access and work with the stories in my own body: Eliza Volk has been my intuitive, somatic experiencing coach for years now and the impact of our work together has been genuinely life-changing. She is deeply gifted and I am deeply, deeply grateful that she’s in my life. More recently, my husband gifted me a set of sessions with Tanya Dajcic (scroll down on this page of her site to “Level of Energy”), and in just two meetings we uncovered and helped me release some deeply held stories about money in ways that felt profoundly supportive.
Related to money stories: Something that’s come up for me lately is how deeply our conditioning teaches us to “do the smart thing,” the responsible thing. And yet, if we’re really honest, we must acknowledge that in the times we’re living in, the “smart” or “responsible” choices of our parents’ generation often do not serve us…and in fact, may do us harm. What if, fundamentally, the entire idea that long-term planning creates safety is a myth? What if, instead, the path to safety looks like learning to improvise in response to life as it unfolds?
I know this last point may sound scary. Our desire to be in control runs so deep. But is that desire innate, or is it the result of how we’re raised, together with cultural messages — in other words, how we’re conditioned?
If you sense that you’re making choices from a place of conditioning, rather than sovereignty, first of all… we all are. It’s part of the human journey. And, there are ways to tilt the balance away from conditioning and towards sovereignty. Many of them boil down to this: Prioritize keeping in touch with yourself. For me, this is about journaling and meditation. For you, maybe it’s about early morning walks, or painting, or lots of coffee dates with dear friends where you can ramble at will and process what’s happening in your life.
As a story coach, I saw so many people become “unlocked” and more free simply by virtue of having space in their life to get clear on what they wanted to say. People thanked me for helping them find their voice. Which raises the question: Where does your voice go, when you “lose” it, or when you don’t feel connected enough to it to use it? And what does it mean, to move through this world, without it?
Voices are an expression of sovereignty.
Sovereignty is choosing to be who you are, instead of who other people or the culture at large suggest or tell you outright you should be.
Which brings us back to:
In other words: Imagine being free.
Despite all the noise in the outer world, imagine feeling the peace within yourself of knowing that you are expressing the truth of who you are.
I’m rooting for you.
And if I’m honest, I also want to say something more direct. I’m nervous, but honestly, the stakes are so high, I’m going to be real: With our absurdly harmful president; amidst fascism and war; with tech billionaires making choices every day that harm our wellbeing and safety and the wellbeing or safety of our planet; with all the incredible anger and despair so many of us are feeling about all of this: If you are not choosing to do the thing that matters to you most… what on earth are you choosing instead, and why? For what imaginary reward as our future is compromised further every single day?
If you’ve been living in a dream, it’s time to wake up and create a waking life you can stand, or even, love. I know it’s scary, I know it might feel impossible — and, I know that you are a mighty force, and that, together, we are even fucking mightier.
Amanda
P.S. This is the last week to enroll in my fall cohort, a space where you will do the thing that matters to you. I’ll be offering it again in January; after that, the next session won’t be ‘til October of 2027. If you’d like to explore options, let’s have a virtual coffee date and chat.
