Welcome to the New Decade!

“Joy is not in things; it is in us”
--Richard Wagner, Composer

Welcome 2011! I cannot believe another year and another decade is upon us!

As I celebrated my nephew Andrew’s 5th birthday on December 15th, it struck me that it was also the fifth anniversary of my Rosa Parks moment, when I left my career in the telecommunications industry. When that happened, I sent my gossamer web out into the wind with no clear destination in mind, simply a vague picture that I wanted to work in a way that made a positive difference in the world, and maybe that difference should have something to do with education, because kids are our future.

Cut to today, and this paragraph in my parents’ Christmas letter: Kristin's biggest change came in October, when she accepted the position as Program Director for Olympic Park Institute, [a non-profit focused on environmental education] working from the Lake Crescent campus. She is responsible for financial reporting, retention sales & marketing, and furthering relationships with local schools, businesses, and Olympic National Park. She was able to rent an above the garage "loft" apartment three houses down from John and I, and can commute by kayak to work! She is enjoying the proximity to family, the beautiful commute, and reconnecting with the local community. Her life coaching business continues to grow as a side business (now based in Port Angeles) and she is offering her Snoqualmie River Cabin as a vacation rental.

“A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.”
–Hugh Sidey, Journalist

I continue to laugh in delight and amazement at the way the universe sends me exactly what I need when I am ready for it. My life coaching business was breaking even by June, but not covering my cost of living, and I was torn between my desire to be with my extended family at the lake, and the knowledge that if I wanted my business to be financially sustainable, I would have to commit more fully to my local community.

Enter a job posting on Craigslist … a place I rarely look. The posting was for a Program Director position for Olympic Park Institute. I’d heard of them, but equated them with arts classes, such as basket weaving and wild flower drawing for adults, since they offered those classes back in the 90's, and sent catalogs to advertise their programs. I pursued the lead, however, and researched them online. The more I read, the more amazed I became at both Olympic Park Institute and NatureBridge (the parent company) for the work they are doing to advance environmental education and create a more sustainable future.

I applied for the position, and within six weeks had received the offer and was packing up my cabin to move farther west! I did have some panicked moments, (major change can be exhilarating, but also frightening.) I had to sit on the banks of the river a few times to clear my head and be at peace with the rapid change, reminding myself to be as the river … go with the flow.

I have been following my gossamer thread over the past five years, sometimes skeptically or while hyperventilating, as my inner guide has continued to challenge me to step more and more fully into authentic leadership and a vital and joyful life. The challenge grew throughout my grad program at Seattle University and grew more in my fledgling year as a self-employed life and leadership coach.

In my work as a coach, the principles I most embrace and hope to inspire in others are a focused reconnection to your heart’s deepest passions, full engagement in a community, and a strong reconnection with nature. The more I taught those principles, and felt the call to greater acts of leadership and commitment to community in my own life, the more I tried to persuade myself to engage more directly in the community closest to my riverside home near North Bend.

I knew I needed to center my energy on a smaller sphere, both in the issues and in the location, and although North Bend faces some of the same challenges and issues of the North Olympic Peninsula, the more I told myself to engage, the less I felt inspired to do so. I love the Snoqualmie Valley, and my riverside cabin, but I don’t have the same level of connection to community that I experience on the Olympic Peninsula.

Lake Crescent and its surrounding areas are “home” to me. I feel the challenges and triumphs of the North Olympic Peninsula in a more personal way.

It was in the middle of those mental struggles that I stumbled upon the ad in Craig's list. Trust. That's my message. Know yourself, listen to your struggles, then let go of them, and pay attention to synchronicity.

Here I am, in my “loft” on the Lake, enjoying the serenade of Eagles and Mt. Storm King’s snowy crown, close to my family, making a difference, and earning a living. As I step fully into this new life waiting for me in 2011, I look forward to full engagement in community, and opportunities for influencing some of the key issues that are most meaningful to me: education, a sustainable economic model, engaged communities, and the well-being of people and the planet.

Wishing you all a joyful and abundant year!