The last time I spoke at an international women’s day event - was nearly a decade ago. I was a high school teacher and as the welfare coordinator and girl’s advisor, I spoke of equality and empowerment - it’s a gift to be here speaking and sharing my thoughts on this exact theme all these year later.
While the theme has not changed, the vehicle to how I choose to promote inner-peace, equality and empowerment certainly has and while my business, Gumboots By The Sea, four years young, has very much left the conventional role of high school teaching and the department of education behind - the message remains stronger than ever -
Live in peace, live in love, live beyond our limitations, live to be all of YOU.
Gumboots By The Sea started simply as my Instagram handle, my husband and I had left Sydney to return home to have our first baby Eden, we moved back into the farm house I was so fortunate to call my childhood home and a week later was blessed by the birth of our daughter Eden. I knew that the birth of feisty, driven, intelligent little woman was going to see my life change forever.
Less than two years later and Lucy - a creative, hilarious and sensual little lady came into my life, my husband Silas and I - had two babies under two - hold on!
The Instagram handle came when I was walking the girls in a double pram down our lane way - both girls were snoozing (total win) and I was having a little daydream about my fortunate life - on a property, by the sea ...a life that my family and I were so blessed to live. This was when, I changed my Instagram name to Gumboots By The Sea, little to my knowledge - this was the beginning of my very special business. Before I knew it - I would have two babies and a business under three. But not without a pivotal moment...
The little squares of Instagram became a place where I shared snippets of my soul and daily inspirational messages of empowerment. I would joke to loved ones that I would love to become an empowering healer, reading oracle cards as my occupation - **quick side not - something I have learnt about your jokes - they can often be your soul’s deepest desires (..there’s a whole blog that I have written about that, which I will share soon!)
You see it was my deepest desire was to work with people, women in particular to help them live a life aligned with what lights them up...what makes them happy...but how could that possibly earn me as much as a respectable High school teaching position...what about the school holidays - what about job security!
Some time later the pivotal moment came - we had a family emergency- my younger sister Emma was Admitted to hospital. She was in intensive care and she wasn’t able to walk or talk. Her emotional stress as a single mother, in and out of a toxic relationship ended in her not being able to walk or talk properly - it was as if she had had a stroke. Standing around her hospital bed fearful of her health - I did what my heart knew best - I pulled an oracle card - the message of trust and self-love tumbled out.
We later discovered Emma had conversion disorder - Emotional stress had converted to physical pain and an inability to walk and talk - our mind is a powerful tool.
A lack of self-love my heart whispered, this woman needs more love, we all need more space to be loved, to be held - to be supported.
I made it my mission to not only support Emma and share my tools of meditation and mindfulness to help bring her back to optimal health but also to press play on my new beginning...to pour love, trust and courage into my brand new business - Gumboots By The Sea.
What began with natural products and card readings at local markets quickly evolved into me becoming a celebrant, a meditation teacher, an energy healer, a speaker and published author!
I’m please to share that four years later Emma is well, in a healthy happy relationship and has had another child. And I run a profitable, soul nourishing business that has not only supported hundreds of people (specifically woman) in connecting to heart space, to live a healthy, happy life, that they desire! It has also seen the birth of further creative projects, 3 published books and an oracle card deck that is coming soon. I have healing space and am driven to spread messages of inner peace and empowerment far and wide through, 1:1 healing session, meditation courses, training contracts, speaking gigs and online empowerment courses and my very special Moon Magic group an online moon intention setting circle.
My three books “letters to a Tibetan monk”, “Poems to a Wild Gypsy Spirit” and “Ramblings to an Awakened Healer” - make up the healing trilogy and I enjoy using them to share practical tools to help each of us come into the moment and celebrate ALL of who we are - exactly who we are meant to be. I’m fact I’m going to share some snippets with you from the healing trilogy here today...
In the early days of GBTS - I remember returning to work as a casual teacher just one day a week - it was so heartwarming to be connecting with students again, a stage in itself a definite happy place (have I mentioned I love the stage!) ** however on one particular day I was chatting with a lovely HT and we were joking about how it wouldn’t be too long before I would be applying for HT gigs and finding a teaching position - I agreed-yeah it’s not as if meditation can pay a mortgage I laughed”...that was my last casual teaching day - less than a year later I had separated from the department of education and communities entirely - no one, especially the little voice of my mind was going to tell me “I couldn’t” - especially when I knew I would – “I could”
This brings me to today - or almost today - one week ago I bravely booked my own stage, to celebrate words of the healing trilogy - to empower people to connect to soul to celebrate each of them. I encouraged members of the audience to book their own staged to believe in themselves - to wear their crowns to have complete and utter trust for self…for soul and I'm here today - to do the same.