Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The SPACE in BETWEEN, neither HERE nor THERE
13 Plays10 days ago
You know those moments where you have one foot in the past and one stepping into the future? Dipping back into the shadows & forward into the light…
In this video I share my own experience with being in this space and what I has served me in stepping forward in the hope it serves to inspire you to edge yourself forward into that next phase of your journey with your inner essence as your outer expression.
_____________
COACHING with MARIE-NICOLE
Online Store
YouTube
Register here for ALL ACCESS
Digital Solutions Program - Up to 4hrs of 1:1 Coaching for $45+GST
[Em]Power Dressing Guidebook ...will be help you curate your wardrobe in a way that fosters effortless flow of energy, so you move through your days with confidence, ease & grace, fostering health & well being on so many levels.
e-book AU$11
Monthly Newsletter
Intro & Outro Music: Shaman Dance by slavamusic
We respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present, and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions, and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this land and commit to building a brighter future together.
_____________
By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Marie-Nicole Meunier, or used by Marie-Nicole Meunier with permission, and are protected under AU and international copyright and trademark laws. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purposes. No other use, including, without limitation, reproduction, retransmission or editing, of this Podcast may be made without the prior written permission of the Marie-Nicole Meunier, which may be requested by contacting
info@bymarienicole.com
This podcast is for educational purposes only. The host claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Theme of Courage
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Alife by Design podcast. I'm Maureen Nicole, for those of you who don't know me, and for those of you who do, welcome back. It's nice to have you back here. In today's episode, I really want to focus on that space in between, where you're neither here nor there.
00:00:16
Speaker
You've got one foot that's in the past and one that's stepping into the future and you find yourself dipping back into the shadows and then a little bit forward into the light. But you're just still in that kind of grey area and you start to feel that doubt and fear creep in because you're not sure if you should edge all the way forward.
00:00:34
Speaker
And then courage takes hold and you keep edging forward a little bit further. And before you know it, you're closer to the the light than you are to the dark. And you're no longer in that full grey area.
Maureen's Decade of Transformation
00:00:47
Speaker
Now, I've been in that space for the last three years.
00:00:50
Speaker
And I am a lot closer to that next step of that next iteration of my life's journey. But I'm still edging on the grey area.
00:01:03
Speaker
To the point where sometimes I actually have found myself wearing grey. which I found interesting. Colours for me play a big part in either amplifying a mood or representing a mood or fostering a mood that I want to move into.
00:01:19
Speaker
And so I've been wearing grey a fair bit lately and I've just gone, oh, that's very interesting because I feel like I'm actually closer to the light, to that new phase, that new stage than what I was three years ago when I started this big transformation journey.
00:01:34
Speaker
And when I say transformation journey, I've been on a big transformation journey for over 10 years now for many reasons. And on a spiritual level, it has been for over 10 years. But in the last three years, I had my marriage of 24 years end. And then in the last two years, I closed a commercial space that was my main portal for connecting with clients and customers.
00:01:55
Speaker
and have gone to operating predominantly online. And that's been a big transition. So I have felt myself sitting in this gray area of neither out of the past or into the future fully, and feeling a little bit of uncertainty around some of the steps that I'm taking forward and trying to trust what's going on rather than expect that I'm going to know exactly how things are going to turn out because 24 years of marriage, I didn't know exactly how that was going to turn
Facing Fear and Embracing Nature
00:02:25
Speaker
out.
00:02:25
Speaker
I thought that was going to be forever and it wasn't. And you know what? It serves me now that it isn't. But three years ago, that was a really hard transition to step into. And so while I'm not fully out of that transition, I still live in the home that was that is connected to my past and I am preparing to move out of this home.
00:02:46
Speaker
I still feel like I'm far enough along this journey to be able to help you with some of the things that I have done that have supported me in that transition and hopefully serve you with your transition.
00:02:59
Speaker
One of the things that I want to talk about here is the fact that what we fear is what we attract. That's something I was told. I had my trust broken and I was told that it was because that's what you feared and so you then attracted that into your reality to transmute it.
00:03:14
Speaker
And that's a really hard thing to accept when you're going through the challenges that you're going through. But I've really thought about this and contemplated, how how is this actually in service to my thriving?
00:03:25
Speaker
And one of the areas that I have considered lately that potentially what I fear is what I attract is I love wild nature. I love going out hiking. I love exploring in the wild and connecting with the wild elements.
00:03:40
Speaker
but And I have done that with my two sons over the last three years. We've gone on camping adventures and hiking adventures and chasing waterfalls. And it's you know a beautiful experience to have.
00:03:51
Speaker
But I've also really thought about the fact that before I know it, I will have my younger son will be independent and will eventually move out of home and I will be on my own. So getting used to that idea of going out into wild nature on my own because I actually really want four-wheel drive more and I want to go deep into the wild.
00:04:12
Speaker
But that fear of what would potentially happen with me being out there on my own, will I be safe? Now, am I attracting that reality by having that fear? That part I still have haven't quite resolved.
00:04:25
Speaker
But one thing that I have really thought about, or one thing that has really come to my attention on this, was recently I was listening to a podcast with a guy by the name of Mike. He's Outback Mike, is his Instagram feed and his YouTube channel and He was on a podcast which was talking about the wilderness and he is a survival adventurer. And he was talking about this big adventure he did in the Great Barrier Reef where he had built by hand a dugout canoe and went on this three-month adventure living on the ocean, recounting a survival scenario of a true account.
00:04:59
Speaker
from I think back in the 1800s and he was reliving that and um he was talking about the preparation for it. And one of the things that he was preparing for was actually not to rely on being rescued by rescue services and putting provisions into place so that he could keep himself safe.
00:05:19
Speaker
For his family's sake, he has a wife and two kids from what I understand, think two kids. So he was putting little practices into place place to actually just ensure that he could get himself out of situations without having to use the resources of the rescue services as much as possible.
Overcoming Challenges and Reconnecting
00:05:37
Speaker
And I was thinking about this in relation to my fear of potentially going out hiking in the wild on my own and needing to feel safe. And I thought maybe I should do martial arts and just, you know, get that defense, those defense skills up. At least I know I'm prepared a little bit.
00:05:55
Speaker
And I thought I was being a little paranoid by thinking this. And then listening to Mike talk about his survival journey and how he was just preventing this, I thought, actually, no, I'm trying to prevent it not just because I fear of being hurt, but because of the flow and effect that that would have also on my children.
00:06:10
Speaker
Because if something happened to me, and then that affects them. And so what does that have to do with being in the in-between? And that is, well, first of all, only I can know what I need that actually helps me to thrive.
00:06:25
Speaker
Really, only you can know what you need to help you thrive. And if there's a fear that's holding me back from moving forward, then really I'm the only one that can foster overcoming that fear.
00:06:37
Speaker
No one else can do that for me. If I sat here waiting to go hiking until I had someone else to hike with because of that fear, that I could be waiting forever.
00:06:48
Speaker
But knowing what is essential for me and recognizing what's holding me back from fully stepping into that next version of self, and what I'm doing is a really important step.
00:07:00
Speaker
It's that self-awareness, that fear that I have internally that is holding me back from a reality that I know would actually serve me well, because I know being connected to wild nature serves me well.
00:07:12
Speaker
And so anyway, that's just one out element of this. I want to go into a little bit more about the gray area and hanging out in that gray area. Now lately, have like said, have been in that space of neither here nor there. When I closed my um commercial space two years ago, i was very I had to very quickly pivot my business activities to try and bring attention to being online, again, more than relying on that physical space that drew people into my services, which I used online as a portal to bring people into the space. But now I was moving from
00:07:47
Speaker
using the online space to draw people directly to me and my services. And so I have found that to be quite a transition. And I've worked on many ways of fostering that happening.
00:07:59
Speaker
And I've learned a lot from that. But one of the things I was thinking about, ah about sitting in this gray area, I could have just sat here going, um I don't know what to do Maybe I'll just close down the business.
00:08:09
Speaker
Maybe I'll just go and get a full-time job and and just give up on my dreams, which I'm not really prepared to do because That isn't what I'm here to do. But actually spending that time in the grey area a little bit, the way that I've actually found helpful to edge forward despite fears and doubts, because that's another thing, moving out of a commercial space and then suddenly directing people to me directly rather than the experience of the space, which was a really big part of what I was promoting online, that has brought up fears and doubts that I've had to process and overcome.
00:08:46
Speaker
And so the way that I've worked through that is by spending more time what truly lights me up. And spending more time doing what lights me up has brought me back to my artisanal practices.
00:08:58
Speaker
in a bigger way than before. Like in my commercial space, I had a workshop I actually made on site. People saw me do that. when they came into When they came into the retail store, the conversations were around that.
00:09:11
Speaker
Then when I closed it, I moved to doing more online coaching and there was less of the artisanal focus as an income stream. And so I really wasn't talking about that as much for a while.
00:09:23
Speaker
But I have found that for me personally, creating lights me up and it helps me move through my own internal challenges and processes and emotional challenges. And so to do that is actually really supportive to my thriving.
00:09:41
Speaker
And so I have really connected back into the artisanal crafting. And then I realized that that actually connects me to my audience in a strong way too, because my coaching service is all about empowering people.
00:09:54
Speaker
And for me, my artisanal way of being is empowering. So I decided to start a new playlist, which is devoted to artisanal living, where I'm sharing the journey of making and creating artisanal and what I have learned in the past and what I'm experimenting with now That whole video series is going to be the journey of discovery and exploration in the artisanal realm.
00:10:21
Speaker
And I really want that to be a place or space. So if you're listening to this podcast, you're not actually watching it on YouTube. If this interests you, I encourage you to go over to YouTube and just have a look at these videos that I've started creating because I'm sharing the techniques that I'm working through as well and what I'm learning through the process of working with different materials.
00:10:41
Speaker
And for those of you are watching um on the YouTube clips, this pendant that I'm wearing here is one of the featured pieces that I was working on in in the last video that I shared. So I'm so happy with how this turned out.
00:10:54
Speaker
And you'll hear more about that if you watch that video. So starting this playlist, I have been out here in the shed more creating, capturing footage of me creating, and then putting together these videos to share in that playlist.
00:11:09
Speaker
And the other day when I was doing that, I was processing this whole idea of being in the grey area. And I noticed that I was wearing grey a lot over the last few weeks because I feel like it's actually time to step out of the grey area and more fully into that light of that next iteration of who I'm here to be.
Symbolism and Uniqueness
00:11:32
Speaker
And so I consciously became aware of how often I've been wearing grey lately. And for me, colour that I wear or colours that um colors that I wear actually can either represent where i how I'm feeling or what I'm trying to feel into or what I'm trying to foster.
00:11:49
Speaker
So that plays an important element in my process. And so anyway, i was contemplating this and that video I was actually working with some bones that I had washed and sterilised and I was bringing the bones into the studio to work with and one of the the bones is actually a part of this necklace pendant that I've made.
00:12:11
Speaker
And the rest of them i was I went to put them outside on the table in the sun just to continue that sterilising process. And when I that, I was standing outside and i looked up and there were two peregrine falcons that were flying above me and just circling around each other.
00:12:32
Speaker
And they were like dancing. It was beautiful to witness. And then... One of them flew into this dead tree in one of the yards on the property and it just looked at me.
00:12:44
Speaker
And I was looking at it, connecting with this bird. And this is my connection to wild nature is quite strong. And so communication between the bird and i And it let out its piercing shriek and just looked straight at me.
00:13:00
Speaker
Now, at that time, I didn't have my phone on me. I didn't have it in my pouch because I had had it on the tripod because I was filming. And I just looked at this bird and I said, can you just wait there? I would really like to try and capture some footage to show my son. He's not going to believe this.
00:13:16
Speaker
So raced into the shed, took it off the tripod, came out and I got a little clip of this bird sitting in the tree looking at me. And then it took off and it flew gracefully over the top of me. was so beautiful.
00:13:27
Speaker
Now these white peregrine falcons we don't see very often around here. We see a lot of the browns and greys. And lately, in the last few weeks, I've seen two peregrine falcons that have been circling overhead as I've driven back from dropping my son off at work in the morning along the highway.
00:13:46
Speaker
So between the Yath Valley exit and um the on-ramp to our village is where I've seen them regularly. And the other day was the first time I've seen them right above the property and right above where I was, as I was contemplating being in this grey area and needing to move out of the grey area.
00:14:05
Speaker
And I thought that was a really poignant experience to have, because when you look at the Peregrine Falcon in terms of what it stands for, and it stands for acting boldly,
00:14:18
Speaker
and actually acting when it's the right time and to move towards your goals with determination and speed, knowing where you want to be next and going for it because that's how a peregrine falcon works.
00:14:32
Speaker
It hovers, it hones in and it darts and it gets what it's after. And that's what I find really fascinating about them. On top of that, I actually do wear a pendant with the Eye of Horus, which is actually connected to the peregrine falcon.
00:14:46
Speaker
That's a whole other story. I won't go into all of that right now. But the point is, is that these birds turning up the day that they did made me really start to look at, okay, it's time.
00:14:58
Speaker
I have been in this gray area for long enough and it's time to just move into that next phase. And so now I need to start looking at where I need to really close off loops on the elements of my past and consider how my choices may be impacting not only myself, but those who are still dependent on me, like my son. So it's not just about taking off and going to that next thing. Even though I know where I want to be next personally, I still have a son here that lives with me that's dependent on me. So I need to consider his needs as well.
00:15:33
Speaker
And he's dependent on me for his daily needs. so that comes into the consideration. but not sacrificing my own needs in order to meet his, which would serve neither of us in the end.
00:15:46
Speaker
And this made me think about Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I love that book. And he talks about the third way. It's not just about what's right for him and what's right for me, it's what's right for us, which is a third way.
00:16:01
Speaker
And that's the same with me everyone that this impacts, everyone involved in the past that is being closed off to allow for what what we're going into in the future.
00:16:13
Speaker
So it's considering that. The other thing that I've thought about, which is really important, is to trust in our uniqueness. And that has a place and it serves a purpose in the collective. We are not all here to be the same.
00:16:28
Speaker
So just because something works for someone else or supports their thriving, does not necessarily mean that it will support ours. So tuning tuning into our own needs physically, mentally, spiritually.
00:16:41
Speaker
so I've been really thinking about this in terms of trusting in our uniqueness. That has been something that over that my lifetime, I've actually struggled with a bit, that I don't fit in anywhere, that I don't actually...
00:16:58
Speaker
I just am not a conformer. And so I am always, I always feel out of place, no matter where I am. But that has actually also been something that is a superpower, because I give other people permission to be themselves and to trust in their uniqueness.
00:17:16
Speaker
So it's understanding these elements that make us who we are and how we serve others that empowers us to really step into our truth and to step out of that grey area in between where we're holding ourselves back from truly realising our potential and moving into that next space.
00:17:33
Speaker
So that's where I want you to think about where are you actually holding yourself back from progressing into that next phase and stage? Where are you not allowing yourself to be met with your needs and your wants to be fulfilled?
00:17:48
Speaker
Because only you can know what you need. And that is something my younger son and I, even my eldest, we've all been discussing very deeply what each of our needs are and how we can support each other with each of our needs without sacrificing our own to serve the other.
00:18:04
Speaker
And looking at that third way that's going to be supportive for everyone. And sometimes in order to move forward, we need to move sideways first. So understanding your needs and the needs of others is what I want to inspire you to consider in this whole when you're stuck in that in-between phase and you know you want to move forward but you're still connected to the past and you just don't know how to move out of that grey area.
00:18:29
Speaker
Consider your needs and the needs of others and let's not try and sacrifice ourselves in order to serve others in the process. But we need to be self-aware first. Now, for me, understanding a part of what I need is how to stay connected to the outside world, even while fulfilling all the requirements in my little neck of the woods, with the house and the home and animals and children and taking stock of what is actually supportive and what is not.
Authenticity in Digital Presence
00:18:59
Speaker
Choosing to create more content online has been a big part of that, which is why I started this artisanal living playlist. It is a way for me to connect with other people that I'm potentially here to serve or even be supported by the other people that I connect with, like people that I follow online.
00:19:20
Speaker
That whole online activity can be a very supportive thing for us. Now, I'm going to go into that a little bit more in a minute, but before I do, I i want to actually share with you first that when I first decided to start this new playlist and share more broadly the elements that add magic to my existence so I could connect with others across the globe who live in this way too,
00:19:43
Speaker
I couldn't help but think about this social media dilemma that we find ourselves caught up in. You know, hearing from clients all the time that they don't want to spend all their time online. However, they do desire to reach a broader audience so that they can support the lifestyle that they desire to live, which is not selfish.
00:20:02
Speaker
I believe it's a part of their purpose to live the way that they're here to live and share that with others. But we've got this thing that being online is actually, it's almost demonized.
00:20:15
Speaker
Why are we demonizing being online? Is it a fear of actually being seen as self-obsessed or vain? Now, in my experience, I have found that the more I appreciate the truth of who I am, and the more I am able to share that truth,
00:20:32
Speaker
The result has been that more people are reaching out to me, thanking me for offering them permission to be more of themselves. Now, we have been conditioned to believe that we need to look a certain way and live in a certain way to be deemed acceptable.
00:20:49
Speaker
And yet, we've all been designed with our unique differences that set us apart, which we just need to look at wild nature to see that diversity is the key to a thriving ecosystem.
00:21:01
Speaker
But we also need to connect to that part that we play in the ecosystem and focus on fostering that superpower. When I decided a part of my purpose was to share my exploration and experimentation and the artisanal way of being, i first thought I needed to start a whole new channel on YouTube.
00:21:23
Speaker
we But after all the changes I'd just been through over the last three years, closing my commercial space marketing, changing my name back to my maiden name and all of the things associated with the commercial space and my name that i had to actually physically change after making those shifts.
00:21:43
Speaker
And then closing down my previous website, which was connected to the commercial space and the name of that business to going back to my name. Now, all of this was a mammoth task.
00:21:54
Speaker
um I'm not going to lie. It has been... three years in the process and I still haven't fully finished making all of those changes especially those associated with my personal name but that's a whole other story but to in order to move into that next phase closing off those loops and tying off those loose ends is a really important thing to do And so I realized that if I do that with the YouTube channel as well, start a whole new YouTube channel that I devote to artisanal living, then I'm just creating more administration work for myself.
00:22:27
Speaker
And I've just been through that massive process with my name changes and business changes. So maybe in getting caught up in all that administration, I would potentially delay the growth and expansion that myself and my business can go through by just stepping into that truth and operating from that place.
00:22:45
Speaker
And so I chose not to start a new channel, but instead to just create a new playlist and focus my energy on the content I was creating, being in alignment with a message I wish to share with the world and sharing from sharing more of the truth of who I am and all those elements that others deemed strange or weird or too left of center or too out there.
00:23:09
Speaker
Now, my love of wild nature and connection to wild nature and my curiosity around that goes to the point of me actually really internalizing and taking on the contemplation of what is this all about?
00:23:23
Speaker
This life here on this rock floating around in this vast universe, a little rock that is full to the brim with abundance and variety and every little nook and cranny, a world within worlds.
00:23:37
Speaker
Now, that has been a big contemplation. And it's not necessarily something you can just walk up to anyone on the street and have a chat about. So I wanted to open up this space where I can talk about these things and connect with other people who are also thinking in that same way.
00:23:52
Speaker
But in order to do that, I needed to take action. needed to take action on realizing that dream that I desire to connect with other people while still working through the process of closing off my own loops and from the past and and operating in that gray area, not yet into that next version themselves.
Steps Towards Empowerment and Coaching
00:24:14
Speaker
And that was a big task. And so I had to decide on, well, what's important to focus on and how do I get through it? And I wrote myself a big list. I wrote it according to the what needs to change in terms of my personal name and then what needs to change in terms of my business and all of the links.
00:24:31
Speaker
And I looked at this list and it was very overwhelming. But if I didn't actually take action, I would not be where I am right now, where I have a new website and I have a new playlist and I'm stepping into that next phase because I've taken those incremental steps to do at least one to three things every day.
00:24:52
Speaker
Every day just going, if I get at least one of those things checked off my list, and it could be little, like changing the links in the bottom of the episode or changing a um changing a handle name in my signature on the email so I'm directing people to the right place.
00:25:09
Speaker
Those one to three things every day make up a big part of actually realizing our dreams. taking action. Now, I was sharing this with this list with a client who was going through a similar process of change and she was like overwhelmed by how much needed to be done.
00:25:29
Speaker
And the discussion, I actually said to her, look, I'm going through this myself and I showed her my list and I said, but time's going to go by anyway, whether or not i go through that list.
00:25:40
Speaker
So if I choose at least one up to three things every day that I attend to, before I know it, the list will be done. And about maybe five weeks later, we had another session where I said, remember that list that I showed you? Like physically, I have it in a i had it in an art process journal. It was such a big list.
00:25:59
Speaker
And i said I finished that list. I didn't even realize I was getting close to finishing it because I wasn't doing it in order. I was just ticking things off randomly as they were getting done. And then the next time I went to tick the list off and I checked a few pages back where I was up to, i was surprised to see that I had nearly completed everything on that list.
00:26:19
Speaker
But it was actually taking action in those little steps that made that happen. So that's how we get ourselves out of those grey areas, those in-between spaces where it just feels like forever away that you're going to get there.
00:26:35
Speaker
So I hope that me sharing this with you offers you inspiration to see that this is your calling. You are meant to embrace your uniqueness and live your life according to your design.
00:26:45
Speaker
There's no shame in being who you truly are at an essence level. And to create yourself that life that you desire, you've got to start taking little steps, little action steps and recognising where the action needs to be taken first and then moving towards it one step at a time.
00:27:05
Speaker
and if you feel like you need some support in managing your time and reducing that overwhelm on how to start this process more effectively, you know, being self-directed is not easy. But tuning into and trusting your intuition and what to actually focus on That I can help you with with my embodiment coaching service.
00:27:24
Speaker
but And this service will actually help you become more self-aware, more self-empowered, and embody who you are here to be and help to serve the collective with your unique gifts. But if you already have a business and you just need support in establishing your content creation process and you are in New South Wales or the ACT Australia, then a great entry point to working with me as a coach is through the government funded program, the digital solutions program, which I'm a coach for. So you can find links to both of these options in the show notes.
00:27:55
Speaker
And I would really like to encourage you to consider that investing in yourself is what is going to serve you in a establishing those habits and practices and systems and processes at a foundational level that will help you move out of that gray area and into the light and live your life by design.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:28:13
Speaker
So I invite you to work with the energy of this illuminating full moon right now, which Partly it's why I've been wearing white. I've moved out of wearing grey and I've gone into wearing more white and cream because I am, well, first of all, it's inspiration from the peregrine falcons that turned up the other day circling above me and being white peregrine falcons and then thinking about the full moon coming up which we're now in that full moon energy and that illumination of the things in our shadow patterns and areas that we kind of avoid looking at because sometimes it's too hard to go there.
00:28:50
Speaker
And so I am wearing lighter colours to encourage myself to move into that next phase and to illuminate those things, those last little steps that need to be taken to get me to where I want to be next.
00:29:03
Speaker
So I want to encourage you to look at ways that you may be holding yourself back from truly stepping into that next version of your truth, waiting for permission to be given to you by others, which actually you need at an essence level from yourself.
00:29:19
Speaker
And then tuning into what you are doing out of habit or fear of being seen as too much or too left of center and realign with that way of being. because that's who you are here to be.
00:29:31
Speaker
Being yourself is so much easier than trying to be something you are not in order to be accepted by others. And it's time to stop hanging out in the gray space, in that in-between space, and edge yourself forward into that next phase of your journey, where your inner essence is your outer expression. Thank you so much for staying all the way to the end of this episode. I hope it provided you with the insights and inspiration that you need right now on your quest of fostering thriving if you are looking for a coach to support and guide you through your own unique journey of creating a life by design reach out for a connection call you'll find a link in the show notes also please do pass this on to someone you think could get value out of it and i'd really appreciate if you left a review for this podcast or comment on youtube i'd love to hear any insights or inspirations it activated in you and i look forward to soaring alongside of you too