“We are our choices.” Jean-Paul Sartre
I remember, when I was a little girl, other kids asking me if I felt more Italian or Iranian. They were asking me to choose and split my DNA in half. In those same years, when asked what I wanted to be when growing up I would answer "I want to be a crazy scientist, a designer and a poet". Adults always said that I could not be all three things, but I had to choose only one. In my child’s mind I wanted to be all of them (and I did it!). When 6 years ago I decided to create ReNEW everybody questioned my choice to leave behind a good, solid and profitable career… I, instead, could only think about choosing to create a space where I could be all of me whole, not just fragmented pieces here and some other pieces there.
“It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.” ― Herman Hesse
Chances and choices converge to make us who we are. It is the awareness of the choices we make (or don’t) that shape our character. We might be tempted to think of resilience as a strength. What if instead is the embodied courage to choose? And, choose what?
Since a young age, we are confronted with the opportunity and the challenge to choose. At times, unaware of the choices we make, we navigate the world and shape a path ahead of us that may lead to a fragmented and unhappy place. We choose all the time. Even when we are un-aware of it.
Do we have the awareness, consciousness and heart to choose, really choose? Do we choose to fragment ourselves or to remain whole?
I remember few years ago a publishing house wanted to write a memoir on me. They were intrigued by my life’s path, the travels, the career changes…and asked me what title I’d like for the book. I said “Choose not to choose”. I did choose eventually not to have a memoir written on me by somebody-else. I wanted to preserve my story whole. I wanted to remain real, in light and shadow, both.
Almost all my clients, despite the different industries, fields, challenges and type of work they ask me to help them with, face a choice, a challenging choice that may require renewal (of their work conditions, strategy, vision, career, life-path, etc…). A renewal of old myths, old narratives and obsolete systems. The questions I often ask in these circumstances are: Who do you choose to be now in the middle of this chaos? And who do you choose to be after this has passed?
We can explore such inquiries with the care to re-connect with the sacred, the complex and mysterious, or we can polarise even more around our choices.
In our times, where knowledge is available at the tips of our fingers, immediately, as and when we want it or need it, should be easier to choose. Is it really? It looks like that in this over-saturation of data and knowledge we are loosing instead the wisdom to make choices that are authentic and aligned.
We are wiser than we think! Nothing is ever accidental or lost. Everything we do or have done, all we are, everything we love or fear, everything has left a seed within us. Our experiences have created a foundation on which we can stand and that support us in making choices and changes. There are stories living within us that carry our experiences and wisdom. They are the stories we use to navigate our way in/through the world, and the choices we make. They help us in finding ourselves, or losing ourselves. What if we could sing, draw, dance the maps of our inner stories? Which choices would we make?
“Being lost does not suggest the absence of a map.” Craig D. Lounsbrough
Our stories, when felt, seen, heard, guide us into the next steps. They guide us closer to wholeness. Without a practice of attention, care and expression we can’t hear, feel, see them. I invite you to go look for these stories and the metaphors that they contain. How they prepared you to make new choices? How they support your learning and growth? What is your relationship with them?
“Each of us is an atlas of sorts, already knowing how to navigate some portion of the world, containing innumerable versions of place as experience and desire and fear, as route and landmark and memory.” Rebecca Solnit
Our stories, memories and experiences are filled with patterns, signs, symbols. The map of our choices are drawn by the relationships we have with ourselves, others, the world, with fear, with confidence…once we become aware of this ecology, our choices (and the learnings that they bring) become more fluid and spacious. They hold the space for curiosity and exploration where before there was contraction and control.
I am here to help you make choices that feel authentic and aligned. Here (click on here) is how.
I feel at various times in my life that I've been at a point where I had to choose between a death sentence and a life sentence. And I want to live. What do I do to live? What do I do to be vital? And the answer is always creativity. The answer is always art. - Jodie Foster
If you’re interested in learning more about RNEWB services and would like to discuss any consultancy, workshops, talks, please reach out.
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