ave you ever gotten to the top of the ladder or the end of the finish line and felt confused and lost rather than full and accomplished? Over and over for me, every time I reached a goal, I was left with the feeling, “Is this it?” With each accomplishment, the yearning for something more only became more pronounced. This awareness created a desire to make a shift. I dove into reading biographies, self-help and spiritual books with a tenacity that surprised even me. During my research, I read some cutting-edge science on gratitude and its spiritual component. This theme was present in many of these books and was the catalyst for me in starting my own gratitude practice.

Fast forward 15 years and I have a deep and faithful gratitude practice that has enabled me to find happiness in all the moments in between along the journey. Inside this practice I have explored new and exciting lands within myself. The wonder and curiosity cultivated from my practice have led me to understand my purpose in this life: to create safe spaces for souls to show up. Once I had this awareness, I started to align all that I do with this purpose. As a result, I have been able to live my life with much more commitment, clarity, grace and love, which translates into how I lead and guide executives in my work. We start each partnership with the establishment of a gratitude practice, and I have published the Trybal Gratitude Journal to support participants in their journey.

There were many pivotal markers in my life that brought me to this place. I find that sharing how I uncovered these key connections along my journey is helpful for others. One of the most recent pivots that awakened some reoccurring themes came from a reflection period in which I was reviewing more than a dozen of my past gratitude journals. Throughout the pages, my gratitude for fresh air, running water (brooks and rivers) and mountains was repeated hundreds of times. I remember looking around while sitting in my suburban home in Houston, Texas, and finding no mountains, fresh air or fresh water for hundreds of miles. A flood of energy came surging through me; it was the realization I would soon be leaving Texas.

Each year I practice two YES months in May and October. A YES month is when I say yes to all opportunities, as long as they align with my personal mission statement of creating safe spaces for souls to show up and I have the resources required to say yes. In May of 2017, I said yes to attending two retreats, a concept generally new to me as I am not one for large crowds. As can easily occur with the busy day-to-day, I said yes in May and promptly forgot about the commitments until the calendar reminder popped up in August, alerting me it was time to manage travel plans to New York and Vermont.

In October, I attended a seven-day silent retreat in New York. Seven days of silence with more than 300 people was as deafening as you could imagine. I conquered childhood fears and cleared a lot of inner-critic noise around my fear of success and being worthy. From there I moved on to my home state of Vermont for a four-day yoga retreat. My experience with yoga was limited when I joined a room of twenty-somethings from New York City and a master yoga instructor for six hours a day, but I am happy to report I made it through the classes and admit I was very thankful for the afternoon naps.

My spouse joined me in Vermont so we could enjoy some time with my family. I had found a piece of land that would be perfect for a seasonal cabin and was excited to share it with her and make the purchase. We drove along the New Haven River awed by its beauty. She was experiencing the magic and the anticipation was high. We pulled into the woods and drove to where two streams came together. I was holding my breath when we got out of the car, sure she would feel the same excitement that had captured me. The energy dropped rapidly as she began to see all the work this purchase would require. When I centered myself, I had to admit that it would be a lot of effort, and just like that the magic was gone.

As we started the drive to the surveyor’s office, in my frustrated state I suggested we cancel, but she encouraged me to keep the appointment. As we drove into Bristol my mood started to lighten. The place fostered good childhood memories as it was where my paternal grandparents lived and where my father grew up. The town was abuzz with young people and great little shops.

The local surveyor was a school chum of my dad’s, and the old house being used as his office on Main Street was just down the road from a park I played in as a child. The familiarity felt warm and welcoming. I relaxed and remembered a reoccurring dream I had many years back about acquiring land in Vermont for a seasonal home with my family. Drifting through memory lane, I heard my spouse ask if they knew of any land on or off the market that met our wish list. My head spun around, and I sat quietly in awe of what I saw happening. A young man jumped up from his desk with several maps rolled under his arms. He was excited to share with us two farms that had 5+ acre lots subdivided but not yet on the market. He recalled one having all three: running water from a year-round stream, fresh air (we are in Vermont) and mountain views. The dream rekindled, and a new adventure lay before us.

We headed to the property, our senses newly awakened at the beauty around every turn. When we arrived, the mountain views were breathtaking. Stepping out of the car, at that moment, we both knew we were home. I walked to the stream and took a deep breath, tears falling from my cheeks. The power and love I felt from and for that place were immediate. The next day we met the land owner and purchased our own little piece of Vermont.

In this space, we are building an intimate retreat center for leaders to do focused integration work. They will be supported throughout a 12-month period to create clarity in their WHY and align it to the leader within.

In a world that needs clarity, compassion and love more than ever, we raise the consciousness for all when we each create it for ourselves.

As a direct result of my own integration work and walking my talk, each leader I have the honor to co-create with starts with the development or deepening of their own gratitude practice. It doesn’t take long for the conscious connections to become available. A leader’s perspective often shifts to align with who they are and how they lead. This integration is the secret to each leader’s internal and external power. If we pause for a few minutes and reflect on the leaders in our environment, we can very quickly identify those who are in alignment with themselves.

My gratitude practice has brought so much from my subconscious mind into my conscious mind. The result is the clarity with which I now make decisions and align what I am doing with who I am. My faith to make these moves without all the data is nimble and resilient at the same time. My compassion and tolerance for people has deepened in all situations as I have come to understand that we all want love and grace as we chart our own course. In a world that needs clarity, compassion and love more than ever, we raise the consciousness for all when we each create it for ourselves.