About 24 hours ago, I received a much-anticipated email.
Hello, Edie!
On behalf of the 2022 Speaker Selection Team, I am thrilled to invite you to be one of our speakers at the 2022 TEDxFaurotPark signature event. Should you accept our invitation, you will be speaking live at the Veterans Memorial Convention and Civic Center in Lima, Ohio on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
It was the culmination of years of seed planting, visualizing, intention setting, scripting, wishing and then…a key component of manifesting, surrendering. The talk was decades in the making as the initial catalyst occurred back in the 1980s when I was in graduate school, studying to earn an MSW (Master of Social Work, that I refer to as Master of Saving the World). This recovering co-dependent caregiver who has practiced ‘savior behavior’ for as long as I can remember, is still delusional enough to believe that I can don my cape and come to the rescue of a world in need. I had done a research project on the concept “Counseling Practitioners Views on Using Touch As a Therapeutic Modality,” which incorporated the results of studies around touch and the benefits to those giving and receiving.
In my field, we are taught that touching our clients, even in support, is taboo. I contend that with discretion and permission, it is not only acceptable to offer comfort and support through touch, but it can benefit clients tremendously. Holding a hand when someone is crying, offering a hug on the way out the door, or a handshake at the initial meeting can instill a sense of comfort and trust.
We live in a touch negative society, where touch is either coercive, abusive, sexual, limited, or non-existent. The result is a disconnected society. It contributes to loneliness, depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicidality. I’ve observed in my practice that when people don’t get enough nurturing touch, they fail to thrive. When they do receive that kind of physical contact, they are more likely to thrive and have healthier relationships.
I am also the founder of Hugmobsters Armed With Love which offers FREE HUGS worldwide. Since 21014, I have offered them throughout the USA, Canada and Ireland. It nourishes me and those to whom I have opened my arms and heart. I refer to it as consent education since I only hug people who say yes to my request/offer. If they decline, I respect that and thank them for taking care of themselves.
Back in October of 2021, I took a leap and began working with a coach, himself a stage performer and TED talk alum three times over, Cesar Cervantes. He helped me to craft my talk and assisted in creating a winning pitch. I sent them to a dozen stages, prayed and waited. I continued to imagine it, and even purchased a red fuzzy circular rug to symbolize the red circle in which the speakers stand to offer their talks. It is in my dining room and I walk across it and stand in it multiple times a day. I am part of a mastermind coaching group where members cheer each other on. In the early stages, I had processed my feelings about what was a reality only in my mind.
Now that it is a fact IRL, a multitude of emotions have arisen. My first expression (as seen in the photo above) was Wooohoo! and I offered gratitude. I was surprised and delighted and called Cesar to inform him and then had to call my friend and mentor Yvonne Kaye who has been my mama figure and most ardent cheerleader since my mom died in 2010. I also experienced (as I have when other long desired wishes have come to be) what I call ‘holy sh*t abject terror’ and Imposter Syndrome kicked in. It wasn’t that I doubted my worthiness to be on that stage. It was more a sense of fearing that I wouldn’t be able to deliver in as polished a manner as I wanted to. I have rehearsed my talk countless times the better to make it a natural expression of the ideas behind it, called a throughline that weaves its way as a thread from one aspect of the talk to another. I am natural and spontaneous communicator but this requires committing the talk to memory and expressing it in a genuine and natural form. My approach is high touch and low tech, so it’s a good thing that slides and Powerpoint are not a requirement. I know that there will be many hours of rehearsal and all kinds of magic strategies offered by the coaches on my team to help me to get into star-shape.
About a dozen years ago, I set an intention to be on ‘the big stage’. At the time, I had no clue what that would mean. Since then, I have been on the world stage as a radio/podcast host and guest many times over and a journalist whose work is read all around the planet. I have spoken in classrooms, sometimes even sitting on the floor with toddlers teaching them mindfulness techniques, and in Universities, hospitals and faith communities. I am convinced that all of them were preparation for the TED stage. I know that things happen when we are ready for them. Everything I have done, thought and felt has led to this moment when I am readying myself to present an idea worth sharing that just might change the world.
What do you do when your wish comes true? You take the leap and say thank you.
Hugs (by consent) from here.
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often | Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It | The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex | ..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.—
Photo courtesy of the author