Bonus episode: Introduction to The Seven Ways to Manifest Change

You're listening to the pause to go podcast, where we explore the process of turning life transitions into stellar transformations. I'm Bree Luck, founder of The Lovely Unbecoming and hos of the pause to go podcasts. I'm a transformational coach who helps people like you break through limiting beliefs to live a joyful and creative life.

You can expect weekly interviews with experts, straight talk with amazing change-makers and conversations about making the most of every phase of life. Because when we enter into life's transitions with knowledge support, and a little bit of inspiration, anything can happen. So join me, won't you? And together we can pause to go.

So the last season of pause to go was all about menopause. And as we wrapped it up, I've really been thinking about how to move forward. I've loved putting together this podcast and, uh, cherish the interviews with so many amazing people. And I've also really loved the feedback, the feedback from listeners like you, who have written in and sent DMS or a voice message or ,or sometimes even stopped me on the street.

And as I was figuring out, as I was mapping out how to move forward with the next season, I really took a particular piece of feedback to heart because one of the things that I heard from several of you was that you wanted me to have more of a presence.

To have a voice to speak up, to offer my perspective on some things and oh, That can be kind of scary, but I'm, I'm going to try to do that. I'm going to honor that feedback honor, that requests as I move into season two of pause, to go to step up and share my perspective and be more visible or audible, I guess.

But, you know, it's, it's funny because one of the things that kept coming up in the menopause season was the prevalence of invisibility in mid-life. How there's this feeling of being unseen or invisible that seems to emerge around the age of menopause or perimenopause.

And as we age. And, and that invisibility takes so many forms. It's cultural invisibility because we just don't see a lot of well-rounded women characters and midlife,  in the movies and on TV. And I also have to say, I really, really, really have to say this. It's not just about women in midlife, because this is a huge issue in the trans community, In the non-binary community. 

It's invisibility feeling like we're not valued in the workforce in the same way. I know that a lot of the women I talked to spoke about not feeling appreciated or valued as sexual beings at a certain time. And, uh, just so. So many ways that visibility or invisibility was just a pervasive issue and it can feel really heavy.

I mean, it does feel heavy, right? That's why it kept coming up. And every single episode, really.  I tried to be optimistic about it and I kept saying, oh, maybe there's a gift in invisibility. What can we accomplish? Think of what we can do if we're invisible and what kind of superhero role can we play under this cloak of invisibility?

And, and I was at this perimenopause group recently, and we were all sort of coming clean about some of the fears that we have about menopause,.about aging.

And I realized that I was kind of lying to myself and lying to you all. ' cause uh, although I haven't given up on being curious around the concept of invisibility, I am really curious about it, but also I recognize 

the need for balance, the need to be seen, and the responsibility for speaking up and being present, even when we risk not being heard. I mean, I send this podcast into the abyss every week and I have no idea who's going to listen to it. Like we gotta be comfortable with that. And it's not only our birthright.

It's our responsibility to speak up when we have something worth sharing. When we see something worth sharing. And it's easy to get in your own way. Right? Like I see this with clients all the time,  making assumptions about what they, or we have to offer, isn't going to be valuable to anyone else.

And maybe they are, we think, who am I to share this perspective? Right? Like, who am I. And that gets to another issue because there's this double standard, this paradoxical situation that so many humans are grappling with right now. And the paradox is this to be successful, whatever that looks like, whatever success looks like.

But like for me, I'm going to assume that it needs having a positive impact on your family or your community or the world,  to be successful. We're expected to stand in our worth and say what we believe and have a voice to make a difference and have an impact on the world. We have to be fully present, fully, fully vocal, and we have to show up and really take the lead.

But then, and here's the paradox on the other side of that message is don't stand out. Right? Don't seek too much attention. Don't make a speck. Oh my God. I can't even say it. Cause it like, it takes my breath. Like makes me, it makes it hard for me to breathe. Don't make a spectacle of yourself. I mean, it's so deeply ingrained.

I see it in clients. I feel it in myself. I see it in so many people that I love. It's like, it's an act of hubris to seek too much attention to stay humble. Stay small, stay quiet. Oh, damn. That's. If you're there, if you in that place, I, I hear you. I feel you. I developed incredible stagefright for years because I was so afraid of, of, seeking too much attention.

 But. Isn't it just as much, or maybe even more an act of hubris to assume that what we have to say is not valuable to someone. I mean, you can stay quiet and maybe not offend anyone, or you can speak up and maybe piss off a lot of people.

But maybe also serve others, maybe make a difference in someone's life, maybe that's success. Right. But also, and maybe this is the most important part of it all. How can we ever grow? If we don't put ourselves in the very vulnerable position of being challenged? So I read recently that the most nutrient-rich vegetables, the ones that had the most concentrated nutrients are the ones that have been periodically stressed by their environment.

They're safe. They have all, they need to survive mostly, but to really thrive, to really be filled with life force. They have to be exposed to the elements. They have to be challenged. They have to be vulnerable. So one of the things that I'd love to do in this next season is to make more room for sharing the vulnerability and the presence that comes with making changes.

 How can we be invisible and not invisible?  How can we use our voice effectively? And also let what we have to say really be the thing that is heard.   I'm a coach.

This is a space that I love to share with my clients, with colleagues, with strangers, this space of finding strength and vulnerability of finding ways to live authentically in the world to ask hard questions, because I don't have the answers, but I have a lot of questions.

And that's how we find the way to really show up,  is by asking questions. And another thing about really being authentically present, really feeling purposeful, really finding joy , Is having good strategies and my coaching work with my clients and with myself and really exploring seven ways to truly manifest change.

 I don't mean manifest and like poof, bring something out of thin air, like magic. I want to be clear about that. I really, really like his notion of making change, making something happen, making something manifest is bringing to fruition. Something that you believe in with your own energy and harnessing the energy of the world around you. And there are just so many people who do this and just remarkable ways. And so. I see seven ways of doing this seven ways of really accessing this.

And we all have access to these seven ways and in some will be stronger. And in some, we have room to grow, but when we have access to all seven of them, then we have more tools to be vulnerable, to show up, to be challenged, and to thrive. And so I'm going to go into these seven ways in great detail in the coming season, but I'm just going to start out right now, but just telling you what the seven ways are.

And so I'm testing myself on this so I can try to remember them all.  Number one is physical. How do we physically affect change in ourselves and in the world around us? Like, what are we doing? Physical. Number two is spiritual, and that can mean so many different things to different people.

It's not necessarily religious, but it's about connecting with some kind of source that is greater than yourself. Number three is emotional. Really tapping into our vast emotional faculties to connect and affect change. Number four is creative. Number five is analytical and cognitive.

Number six is social. How are we engaging socially? And number seven is intuitive. And really figuring out how to tap into that deep intuition, which is separate from emotional and separate from creative and separate from cognitive. So over the next season, we're going to explore those seven ways,

and we're also going to interview people who are really affecting change in manners, large and small. I mean, who's to say what's large and small, right. But what I mean is that maybe it's just an internal change, but how does that ripple outward? And I'll also be talking to people who have been community change-makers and people who are making a change on a global level and we'll talk to them and we'll hear what motivates them, what drives them, what excites them, what challenges them and how they move through it, because we're all the same in that way.

Well, maybe, maybe we're not all the same. We're more alike than we are not. And we are each capable of making incredible changes in the world. So that's one thing, these interviews, and then I'll also be doing solo episodes and there'll be shorter much like this one, a little short episode. And in these episodes, I'm going to talk you through some of the tactics to affect change in your life.

And you can take what works for you. You can leave behind what doesn't, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun to build out our toolbox so that we can all just take a few moments to pause, to go together.