Paradigm Shift
Some of you know, and some of you don’t: in addition to teaching here at thrive.onlinealoha.com for Life Mastery Business Academy, I own a chocolate shop and a chocolate school. And that, for some reason, absolutely mystifies people who connect with me to catch up.
I get it. Prior to the chocolate shop, I’d been a trailblazer in the Fitness Industry, tackled the Spa Industry and after September 11, 2001 dove headfirst into the Yoga Boom. I rode the wave of yoga through 2015. Yoga was my longest running career – prior to it, I’d get a job, work my way to the top with a series of quick promotions, begin to run everything for whatever company hired me (usually as CEO), then quit and find something new that fed my curiosity.
But in spite of this, most of my jobs and businesses were related to fitness and wellness.
2015 was different. That’s the year I decided to move permanently to Kauai and open a Bean to Bar Chocolate Shop.
The trajectory from Yoga to Chocolate on the outside may seem like a huge leap, but it really was an accumulation of micro-steps that made it all doable. My passion for yoga, fitness and wellness lead me to training as a Raw Chef, then into raw chocolate and eventually to Bean-to-Bar Chocolate.
I had co-owned a Yoga Studio in Bali with a group of individuals and spent a great deal of time teaching yoga and immersing myself into the culture of the island. This is where I found Big Tree Farms and was first hooked on making chocolate from the bean.
And there were other similarities. There is a sacredness to yoga as well as chocolate.
During my sacred journey from yoga to chocolate, I was really trying it on (the leap of faith that would eventually lead me to open my chocolate shop / chocolate making school in Hawaii).
Anything I learned about (from raw foods to chocolate making to longevity and superfoods) would be added into the yoga teacher trainings and life coach certifications that I was teaching. I completed more and more research and refined my skills as a maker. The secrets to making delicious tasting chocolate and creating an experience around it began to flood my mind in my time off, and I’d experiment by sharing these ideas in mini-workshops for my yoga community.
Sir Winston Churchill said, “It’s a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be handled one link at a time.”
This reminds a story I would always tell in my Coach Trainings. We like to say yes to our most compelling vision but can’t seem to see the chain of destiny.
I would tell my students to imagine standing at the edge of a river bank. I’d remind them that it’s okay to look across the river at your vision. Many people will only see a single rock in the river. They can’t see the trail of rocks across to their end goal and thereby get frustrated and go back the way they came without ever attempting a crossing.
But there is no need to leap across the whole river.The test is to take only the first doable step.
When you take the first step out onto a rock in the stream, you have a whole new perspective and often times can see the next rock or even the next few that were previously out of sight. It takes one rock at a time to reach the other side.
Dream big in terms of where you think you’d like to be. Don’t begin with your vision on the end goal – this could be limiting. You need the “right vision”- the ability to see multiple possibilities all at once. Start by looking for what is right in front of you. You may get out onto the rocks and see a whole new path or even a whole new landing. The micro step to your dream of a completely new life and exciting career and work-life is within your reach.
As I started my journey into yoga, I never thought I would end up owning a chocolate shop and teaching chocolate school these many years later.
Why I am sharing all of this with you today?
Because I want you to remember that your agenda and your path may change, and it’s ok for this to happen. It’s ok to do something new – even if it scares you and those around you.The possibilities are endless and you have permission to change directions at any point along the way.
Additional Resources:
Put Your Shoes On – The Next Doable Step – This is an article I wrote for Forward Metrics, and it’s something to keep in mind when approaching any big life decision. You never have to do it all at once. And it’s not willpower that will get you through. Sometimes it’s knowing how to first outsmart yourself, and then MOTIVATE yourself. If you’re curious, read this blog post on how a pair of tennies got me into action when nothing else could.
Naked Chocolate – This is one of my favorite chocolate books, and the one that really got me thinking about formally adding chocolate to my life in a business perspective. It has great information about the health benefits of chocolate, and has some fun recipes that you can make from home with minimal equipment.
The Dream Manager – This book is intended to be for someone who is managing other people, yet it perfectly expresses the beauty and joy that emerges from identifying and living from inspiration and your life dreams. It’s told in story form, and it’s a good book for personal development, or for team building.
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