Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Professional Certified Coach Penny Gundry talking about trapezes and transitions.

Here’s Penny!

Ever thought of doing something a bit different? I was talking to a woman the other day who was telling me she felt quite trapped. She wanted to do something completely new with her life, to reinvent herself, but she couldn’t because it would be letting her family down. Also she couldn’t see how she could leave such a well-paid job. As I listened to her story I felt quite sad.

I started thinking about how important transitions are in our lives. It reminded me of the story by an anonymous writer about trapezes and transitions.  As we hang on to our current trapeze bar we feel safe, it is familiar, and we know what is expected of us. But sometimes in the distance we spot another trapeze bar coming towards us.  What do we do? This new bar may offer us a whole new world of many possibilities. It starts to swing closer and closer. There comes a time when we have to make a choice. Do we jump or do we stay? The decision is difficult enough but if we do let go, for a few terrifying moments we are in the void between bars with nothing to hang on to.  The writer tells us:

“What this also means, of course, is that for some moment in time I must leave behind this bar and hurtle through space in order to reach the new one. Each time I am filled with terror. It makes no difference that in all my previous hurdles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. Each time I am afraid I will miss, that the new bar won’t hold me, that I will abandon the safety of what I have, only to plummet into the bottomless chasm of the unknown. But somehow, I have to take the chance. No guarantees, no safety net, no affordable blanket insurance policy – but there you are, soaring across the dark void of ‘the past is gone, the future is not yet here’, It is called transition.”

Bio

My life has evolved and changed over the years just like many of us. I started my career as a youth worker in Dublin Ireland working with teenage girls who lived on the streets and were often drug users.  I was later involved in a number of conflict resolution programmes as part of the Peace Process In Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement was signed. I wanted to be useful, to make a difference in the world but all too soon found out that change comes from deep within us not through trying hard to save others.  It was my brief time living in Venezuela, South America which had the biggest impact on me. At one point I took a trip to the Angel Falls in the centre of the country.  As we were slowly drifting down through the Rain Forest in a dugout canoe watching the toucans fly overhead and the monkeys leap from branch to branch I realised I was in paradise but I was not at peace. The contrast was so defined I made a decision that day to start on a spiritual quest and it has led me on an extraordinary journey.

About four years ago during times of meditation I started to see pictures almost like visions and noticed full sentences were coming into my mind. They seemed different from my thoughts; I didn’t recognise them as mine. I started to take notes and realised that a story was emerging. And this is how the book Glimmers of Light Dancing: A Fable for Our Times came into being. It was the easiest thing I have ever done.

Glimmers of Light Dancing follows Idan on a journey across a world that reveals the true meaning of life. Idan crosses an ocean full of storms, vast plains that reveal our true nature, a snowy wilderness, the Great White Mountain of truth and life beyond. It fills the senses, capturing the imagination, telling us secrets of a journey well travelled.  It is a tale of hope and success in the face of self-doubt, fear and adversity. The purpose behind it is to tell a narrative that captures the essence of who we truly are and give the reader pointers for their own self-discovery.

Where to find Penny…

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Joanne here!

Thank you, Penny, for sharing your extraordinary journey and providing us with unique insights into transitions.