Thursday, May 1, 2008

Boston or Bust

So, I'm off to Boston to give a speech at the Financial Planners Association's National Conference. It's the night before take off and I'm running around getting things ready for the trip. I suspect that I am keeping busy so that I don't feel my fear. I've been playing a lot with fear as this is my first big travel speaking event and is a result of a commitment to be an international speaker.
In my genius work, I teach people about fear gateways, which are sort of a right of passage as we reach into our next level of genius. The cool part is that when you understand this you can use that fear as fuel as you step through the opening. (To learn more about fear gateways go to my website www.megansillito.com and click on genius.)

People have asked me why I feel scared as I know this material so well. My answer to them is: "It is not logical, it's just what I'm going through as I step in to this new arena. In my experience, people who commit to take the big step forward in the direction of their genius and life purpose all go through some sort of rabbit hole which becomes its own refiners fire.

One thing that I have learned from this particular fire is that I can choose what I want to feed. I realized the other day that what I was feeling was exactly the same feeling I had as a teenager the morning of a big basketball tournament which was the odd combination of total excitement and total fear. Basketball was my favorite thing in the world at that time. I loved the thrill of competition and that was always accompanied by a hill of fear. When I realized this, I got it that I was also very excited about this speaking trip. I had only been focusing on the fear part. However, I can choose to give the excitement more focus. Like the old saying: If you have two wolves at your feet the one that will stay is the one you feed.

So I've been noticing when I feel scared and taking a moment to tune in and breathe in to the excitement as well. As the famous psychologist Fritz Pearls said, "Fear is excitement without the breath." It's been a delicate balance to face directly in to the fear while also giving attention to my excitement.

Hope this might serve any of you who might be in the middle of a leap or transition in your life. Let yourself also feel the excitement of the adventure as well.

Bon Voyage
Megan