Our names are Traci Jackson and Robert Boucher. We are two-time alumni of the Busting through your creative blocks program. This introduction is the culmination of the assignment we received during the first session back in June.
In the final week of that first session, we were paired together to collaborate on an article. As we met and began to discuss what this article should be about, we came to the conclusion that it should be about collaboration (as opposed to competition).
We both started off excited and full of ideas for this collaborative article! And then we got stuck!
So, what happened?
Without giving too much away from the articles that follow, we got caught up in feelings of inadequacy with neither of us realizing that the other was feeling the same thing.
At some point during the two months plus over which we tried to write these articles, we each had a moment of clarity that allowed us to tap into our own feelings and a message from the universe.
It’s almost like the universe had the same plan for both of us and in the end the same message for both of us.
One of the key lessons that we took away from this experience is that no matter what we are feeling, others are feeling the same way.
In full disclosure, we both wrote completely different articles for this project, articles that we thought we were supposed to write. When we get caught up in what we think we are supposed to do, we can find ourselves closed off from the message that the universe is trying to flow through us. Opening up to the message from the universe resulted in the articles that follow.
So, without further adieu, here are those articles that we wrote (the second ones). We hope that sharing our own feelings can help you to do the same.
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I wasn’t always in support of collaboration. I mean, group projects in school were the worst, mainly, because I was an overachiever and I felt others slacked because they knew I wanted a good grade. Can you say resentment and not setting healthy boundaries? Okay, I digress. Seriously though, I did feel that I worked better alone. I felt that I wouldn’t have to get anyone else’s buy-in that I could do what I wanted to do and I could be the star. I didn’t have to share the limelight and people would see that I was enough.
The feeling of being enough is what is causing me to write this article. I’ve struggled with it to be honest. I’m supposed to be writing it with another author and I had an article started and written, but I’m so intrigued as to why I have shied away from collaboration and possibly, why you have. Mine was the feeling of being enough. If I was enough, wouldn’t I be able to do it on my own? If I was enough, I wouldn’t need to work with anyone else. If I was enough, I could be successful all by myself. I’ve done it before, so why can’t I do it again here.
So I have to give you a bit of background, I grew up mainly as an only child (my baby brother didn’t come until I was 12). There was this unspoken rule in my home of achievement. I was expected to do well. I remember crying in first grade because I couldn’t count money or tell time. I was so afraid of disappointing my parents and I feel like it was the first time in my life that I considered that I wasn’t enough. In that case, it was smart enough, but it would be a constant theme in my life. Well, I would like you to know that thanks to my mother, I did clear the hurdle and I can absolutely count change and tell time now. However, learning these things only kept me on my path of achievement and attempting to make myself feel like enough through pleasing others.
It continued through middle school, high school, college, law school, in my career as an attorney and now, as I embark on my path as a spiritual counselor and teacher. I did not even realize how much work I still need to do on being enough and feeling like I’m enough. I believe the recent retrograde activity has had this come up for me, and I think it was somewhat amplified through the eclipse that occurred on July 12/13.
I am enough. I know that I am. I know that I have a ton of knowledge and wisdom. I know that I have value. I know that I’m absolutely capable of doing it on my own, but it took a while for me to get here and as I mentioned previously, I still lapse back as I did this past week. What helped me get here? Reading and learning from some wonderful teachers, mentors and coaches and healing a lot of those broken parts of me. I would love to share all of that and I’m sure I will in another article, but back to the matter at hand-collaboration. You totally forgot, didn’t you?
Well, as I mentioned, collaboration fed into this whole enoughness topic because if I was enough, why do I need to collaborate? I discovered several reasons that I’d like to share with you today. These reasons came about though when I surrendered my ego’s will and asked to serve. When I did, the idea of collaboration made so much more sense to me. But first, another story about how the idea of collaboration first came into my life. Towards the end of last year, the numerologists were speaking of the fact that 2018 would be an 11 year. Normally, a double digit number converts to a single digit, but in the case of master numbers like 11, they remain 11. However, if it had converted, it would be a 2 year. What is the number 2 all about? Partnership, collaboration, and relationships with others. I knew that this year would be a year on all of these fronts, and instead of running, I decided to embrace it.
First, I collaborated on a biweekly talk show on Facebook with my friend and soul sister called Spiritual Discourse. Next, I felt called to share the talents of so many I encountered in my group, Spiritual Goal Diggers. I’ve also felt called to support my sisters and brothers as they share their gifts by purchasing them, sharing them with others and encouraging them to keep shining their light. What changed you might ask? Well, I did. I saw that when I asked to serve, I was led to support, share and collaborate. Here are the reasons I’ve found to collaborate:
- More People are Able to Be Served When We Work Together – This is the biggest reason I see for collaboration, which is why I’m stating it first. As individuals sent here for a purpose of elevating the consciousness, healing and “saving” the world (from itself, I may add), we can reach more people when we come together. People resonate with the teacher that they can identify with in some way. If we have multiple teachers in one space, more people are going to resonate with someone there. They are going to see themselves in at least one of those teachers. I know this to be true because I’ve seen it happen. One of my favorite companies is Hay House, and through Hay House, I have discovered so many authors on various subjects that speak to my soul. I have friends that love Hay House too, and yet, when I ask them their favorite teachers, they differ somewhat from my favorites. This is because they see something in those teachers that they identify with and I see something in mine that I identify with. By having them all together in one space, Hay House is helping each of us and we are more prone to go there first to find teachers on new topics that interest us because we trust that they have served us in the past and can continue to do so in the future.
- We Don’t Have to Be All Things to All People – We are able to direct people to experts in various fields rather than attempting to teach on a subject that is not one that we are passionate about or one that we don’t feel equipped to teach because we haven’t had an interest in learning more about it. My first mentor in the spiritual space was Gabby Bernstein. I identified with her simply for the fact that she had always had a connection with a higher power but it wasn’t until she hit rock bottom that the connection became so active that she felt called to make a change in her life. I also identified with the fact that she was the same age as me. I saw her struggles with romance in so many of my struggles. My second mentor was Colette Baron-Reid. Want to know how I heard about her? Gabby Bernstein. Gabby referenced her in The Universe Has Your Back. That caused me to sign up for Colette’s mailing list and the next thing I knew, I was enrolled in her Oracle School. It took nothing away from Gabby to share that reference. Many people may have bypassed that line in The Universe Has Your Back without looking up Colette, but I thank Gabby for that reference because without it, I wouldn’t have found Colette or my love for oracle cards.
- Diversity of Perspective – We all have unique perspectives and ways of approaching various matters. When we collaborate, we share that diversity and provide several ways to connect to Spirit rather than just one. We are allowing people to see that there are unique and varied ways of doing things in the spiritual space and that no one way is better than another or more spiritual than another.
- We Encourage Others to Collaborate – The more we show it can be done, the more it will be done. In seeing how many teachers and mentors have collaborated, it has given me my ideas on how to collaborate. I now have been encouraged to seek collaboration in my own way. I mainly collaborate by showcasing another’s talents on Facebook LIVE, but I foresee collaborations on podcasts, retreats, and events in my future. In so doing, I’m encouraging those who fear collaboration to see that it can work and it can be beneficial for everyone to do so.
- We’re All on the Same Team – As I mentioned previously, we are all here to help to elevate the consciousness and help people in this world. Recognizing that unity in purpose can eliminate the need for competition and separateness. We can see that working together works better because it is not only helping us to help the collective, it is helping us to heal our separateness to recognize truly that we are one.
Collaboration benefits the collaborators as well as those who receive the result of the collaboration. It doesn’t have to be a competition. In fact, it benefits more people when it’s not. When we pool our talents to serve the collective, everyone wins. Diverse ideas can be shared, each collaborator can showcase his or her own gifts and talents, the pressure comes off and the client gets a richer experience and much more value. In collaboration, I can be enough and own my enoughness because I recognize more readily how I’m contributing in service to the collective. In partnership with others, I am able to experience my wholeness more fully because I recognize that I’m not alone in my feelings and that we all have the same purpose and the same goals. The focus shifts from me to we. It shifts to how can we help all these people rather than I’m not good enough to help anyone. This has led me to see collaboration in a completely different light. I hope after reading this article, you will start to see it differently too.
For an alternative take on the subject of collaboration from a similar albeit different viewpoint, check out Robert’s article on collaboration here: http://robertwboucher.com/2018/08/19/collaboration/
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash