circle of kindreds (a guest post with jen louden)

September 12, 2013liz lamoreux

I'm away hosting one of my retreats and thrilled to share another Circle of Kindreds post with you this week.

Today, I'm so delighted to share some wisdom from Jen Louden. I love the way Jen moves through the world with her honesty and open heart and laughter. So grateful to know her and to share her words with you today.

And, I can't wait for her free The Shero's School for Revolutionaries that begins September 23. I hope you come along because it is going to be so good.

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Last week I tracked Diana Nyad as she swam the last two miles of her record breaking odyssey from Cuba to Key West, Florida.

I couldn’t tear myself away. As someone who doesn’t usually care a fig about sports, I watched myself with curiosity as I sobbed and clicked from CNN.com (horrendous coverage) to Breaking News (equally horrendous) to a rousing conversation on Twitter.

Why did I care so much?

Because it is never too late.

Diana wanted. She burned with a desire for 35 years - or longer, how do I know? There is something fundamental to all dreams and that is declaring, “I want that.”

When I groan, "It's too late," what I really mean is I am unwilling to proclaim, “I want this.”

When I moan, “I’m too old, it’s too hard, I don’t know how, someone else has already done it better” but what I'm actually saying is “I’m not willing to ache.”

When I get sleepy and leave crucial details to chance near the end of project (like this one), I’m actually saying “I’m too scared to bet it all.”

It’s never too late doesn’t mean one form of a dream doesn't end – Diane Nyad knew this was her last attempt at swimming the 105 mile mile stretch of treacherous open ocean – and if she hadn’t made it, the essence of her desire would have continued to reveal itself to her in new forms. Yes, you must grieve all the dream avenues that fail, become dead-ends, you must face those griefs and mourn, and doing that is very different than donning a stained T-shirt inscribed with “Too late.” The essence of every dream continues to reveal itself, to be the grit in the pearl of your becoming, if you allow it. You must not let the husk of failed dreams bury what still urgently calls you.

It’s never too late to take the essence of what you care about and build it, savor it, offer it to the aching world. It’s never too late to become the fullness of yourself, not because that fullness is a better you, but because something pulls at you and that something is your own pounding heart, singing “Experience me even more!”

And too late by whose clock?

Before clocks, there was only cow time as in, “I’ll meet you when the cows come home.” Before that, dream time where the world was sang into being. You are here to live out your personal myth, to become the shero of your own story. Too late doesn’t exist in mythological time, in the land of soul making.

What time is it in your heart? What calls you? Why not sit with those questions instead?

***

Jen Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement with her first book The Woman’s Comfort Book. She's the author of 5 additional books on well-being and whole living, including The Life Organizer, that have inspired more than a million women in 9 languages. Jen has spoken around the world on self-care, written a national magazine column, and even sat on Oprah's couch talking about the power of retreats. She believes self-love + world-love = wholeness for all.