At first, it’s like an echo or a faint whisper, and you’re not sure if it’s real or imagined.

Maybe it’s both.

There’s this unknown spot – where you feel like there’s great potential for… something.

And even though you don’t have a clue how it’s going to turn out, you somehow know it at least won’t be any worse than where you are right now.

In fact, it could be better. A LOT better.

It’s that moment when Alice starts following the rabbit.

When Harry takes Hagrid’s hand and leaves the Dursleys.

When Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. 

When Steve Jobs decided to take a calligraphy class.

And long before any of these folks changed their world, they changed themselves.

They made a decision to answer the call inside them to something…

…something more.

…something greater.

…something honest.

…something true.

…something that resonated within their spirit.

None of them knew what would happen – just that they needed a personal change of pace or scenery. And they believed – even if only for a moment – that what they were going after was going to be better for them than where they currently are.

For a long time, I’ve held a belief that we’ve grossly misinterpreted what Jesus was about in this world. One of the facets of that belief stems from a statement Jesus was purported to have made, wherein he says that we will be able to do all the things that Jesus himself could do, and even greater things than that.

It’s always fascinated me that we somehow have all this miraculous potential inside ourselves – to manipulate energy and make miracles happen – and yet most of us don’t have a clue how to do it, if it’s possible at all.

We just don’t know.

And yet, there’s a whole world of people pursuing alternative healing modalities – without drugs, doctors or invasive/chemical procedures. People who wield their own thoughts, fancy (or simple) meal plans, stones and more to shift the energy of themselves or others.

It’s quite fascinating, and yet no one knows with certainty whether any of it consistently works. It may work for some, sometimes.

But we just… don’t… KNOW.

And it’s something I’m keen to explore – and I know it sounds crazy. I’m blessed that my biggest health issue is my weight. I’m rarely sick, have pretty high energy levels most of the time and rarely take an asprin when I have a headache.

But there’s this part of my curiosita (curiosity, for those that don’t speak Italian) that won’t shake it loose. So I keep reading, and keep getting fascinated by the subject.

And it’s this curiosity that drives innovation in the world.

See, 200 years ago, people didn’t fly in planes – but daVinci had drafted this fancy plan for a flying machine a few hundred years before that.

Believe it or not, in the 1980′s Sir Richard Branson cracked an April Fool’s joke about creating a little “music box” to download your music digitally, years before Apple introduced the i-pod.

While I’ll probably keep playing around with healing energy for the remainder of my days (and may never get a concrete answer), I have other curiosities that drive me. I want to help entrepreneurs see what’s really going on in their work and lives. That’s why I launched the Real Results program – and gave people the ability to really name their own price.

And I want to do more than that.

When the new LisaRobbinYoung.com launches, the first project I’ve got planned is something so vital, and yet so unlike anything I’ve ever done before (at least in terms of the topic). It calls to me like nothing I’ve ever wanted to do before. It wakes me up at night, keeps me up some nights, and won’t let me work on other days.

So I have to answer this call, because I know that wherever it takes me, it’s got to be better than where I’m at right now.

What’s your idea? What’s calling you from the unknown into a place that feels better than where you are right now? When will you answer that call?

“For you, fear is everything. Spirit wants me to tell you that you need to put pen to paper, make a list, and write down all that you would do if there were no fear. You are capable of some amazing things, once you get past the fear.”

Oh, snap!

The other reading was about a heavy weight that I’ve been carrying that will be lifted soon. I’m hoping that’s something to do with my oldest’s graduation from the wilderness camp he’s been at for nearly two years now.

But I digress…

For those of you new to, or uncomfortable with the idea of intuitive readings, I try to take an approach that’s comparable to what scripture tells us regarding prophecy and those who prophesy. At this moment in my life, I don’t believe that anyone has all the answers for my life, so I’m willing to take any guidance that is presented to me and take it under advisement in prayer. It is foolish, to me, to ignore such gifts, and equally foolish to take them blindly at face value. Since I often get intuitive hits myself, I know that you can’t always explain how or why you “know” something about someone or a situation. That doesn’t negate the value or potential validity of the message being offered.

So as I’m wrestling with this intuitive guidance, my friend, Amy Oscar, decides to launch a December writing circle with this prompt.

Each year, I pick a theme and a song to undergird my doings for the year. This year’s song was “The Motions” by Matthew West, because my theme was “Enthusiasm”. I wanted to infuse everything I brought to the table with spirit, zest, and life. I didn’t want to go through the motions or pay lip service to anything I was about this year. I’d say I hit my goal most of the time, although there was definite room for improvement in this area.

For 2012, I chose “Brave” as my theme, and the song “Brave” by Nichole Nordeman was a perfect fit for my continuing journey. In light of the whole fear thing, I find it equally illuminating that relinquishing fear is part of being brave.

So on my journey, I’m bringing bravery. My journey includes pit stop destinations of two new books, a new music CD (it’s been a few years since the last one), and an interactive television program where viewers can actually be part of the program and help shape the direction of the story lines. And, if I have to, I’ll go it alone, but I plan to enlist the help of many friends for this journey (that would be you, and others, silly bean!).

I’m also bringing my can-do attitude, my duct tape, pocket knife, laptop, smartphone, and chewing gum. MacGyver would be proud, me thinks.

Lastly, I’m leaving behind a lot of baggage. I look at my living room, which is slowly starting to empty out of storage unit mode and back into living room mode. I recognize that I (and my family) have carried around a lot of lifecrap for years and years. Like the boxes in the living room, it will be a slower, more deliberate process to clear out. I am determined to leave as much of it behind in 2011 when 2012 dawns. For me, this is at least as significant as any of the pitstops my 2012 journey may provide.

Oh, and presuming the world doesn’t actually end in 2012, I’m looking forward to plotting a virtual retreat during the holidays next year.

Let the games begin!

We see and understand truths we don’t always articulate. We hear the voices in the heads of those around us not yet courageous enough to say what they’re thinking. Sometimes we’re one with them, and sometimes we’re courageous enough to speak up, step out, and shine a little – even if only for a moment.

But standing out (even briefly) can be scary or painful. One woman I know said it was like a big target was on her back. That being visible meant people were poised to attack her the minute she began to shine.

I hope I’m not the only one who relates to that simile.

Previously, I mentioned that one of my biggest fears is being abandoned by those closest to me. This fear – like many fears – is not completely unfounded, but rather borne from a seed of truth that grew up like a weed in my heart.

As a child, I watched helplessly as my oldest brother was excommunicated from my family. Then, my parents separated, divorced, reunited and split up again during my adolescence. As I got older, I began to believe that any male I grew fond of would “leave me.”

My fears would be confirmed when my youngest brother (older than me) was also estranged from the family and tragically died when he was 38. Then, Dad died at the ripe old age of 80. Many of you know the story of how my Mother died the night we buried my Grandfather. Woven in between those “milestones” I loved and lost more times than I care to count. And for the past two years, my oldest son has been away at a wilderness camp for boys with emotional issues  - without a clear graduation date in sight.

Is it any wonder I’m afraid anyone (especially guys) I get attached to will disappear?

But I’ve also managed to build some pretty remarkable relationships along the way with some pretty amazing people. Relationships that fear tries to cover over, ignore, or otherwise discount, so that my lizard brain stays focused on the need for safety.

This is how fear – your Shadow Self and his evil henchman Safety - infiltrates your spirit. It decomposes the living, organic heart that beats within you, triggering all kinds of scarcity issues in your life – and your business.

It’s how you end up “modeling” the work of successful people around you, instead of becoming the best you that God intended for you to be. We see other people “doing it” successfully, and think that all we have to do is do what they’re doing, and we’ll be equally successful.

Um, no.

The Masterpiece Inside You

Inside you is this gorgeous, magnificent Masterpiece waiting to be displayed. And you harbor it, shield it, and protect it from gawkers, onlookers and would-be haters of your brilliance.

Over time, it gets a little dusty. Then, as the dust settles on the canvas, embedding itself into the top most layers of the colorful oils, it becomes grimy, and then the cobwebs begin to span the edges of the frame.

Once you tried to dust it off and bring it into the light of day, but people didn’t get it. They didn’t understand your brilliance. They suggested you make a few “enhancements” or modifications. You tried to oblige, but your heart wasn’t in it. Someone threw a tomato or two, so you decided it’s better to place that canvas back in the dark recesses of your heart.

Hidden back behind the furnace, decades of neglect have done more to age the Masterpiece of your soul than any onlooker ever could. New ideas enter your heart and you begin trying to fill up the room where your great Masterpiece resides. Thinking that quantity will somehow override quality. Hoping you’ll forget what’s hiding in there, because it’s just too painful to expose it to more abuse.

Congratulations. You have buried your voice deep within you. That’s what fear can do.

Where is your voice?

As I write this, my living room is filled – floor to ceiling, wall to wall – with boxes from our relocation. I’ve committed to taking one box at a time and giving everything in that room a thorough examination. I’m exploring every box for treasures worth keeping, items that no longer serve my family, and that ever repressive “maybe” pile that never seems to quite go away. Those “maybe items” end up back in a box to be reconsidered at a later time.

I am determined to substantially reduce the maybe pile. They are the objects, trinkets, and also-ran ideas that keep me from accessing my Masterpiece in the back of the room. In my living room, that Masterpiece is the oak buffet that was hand crafted from wood scraps for Mom when I was a toddler. In my business, that Masterpiece is a faith-based media company that I’ve hidden in the back corner of my mind for decades.

I’ve had so many people tell me to steer clear of anything faith-based, without giving me substantial justification. I just took their advice at face value. The first objection came when I was still in college working on my first album.

“You don’t want to go into Christian music. That’s too small a market.”

Today, that market is roughly a billion dollar industry. I think I could’ve coped with that. Instead, I buckled to “safety” and recorded an “ecclectic, jazzy” first album, and followed it up with a nice, safe album that leans more in a Christian direction, but isn’t a very strong musical offering.

Although I sold out the last run of my first album, neither album sells/sold very briskly. Still, I’m proud of the effort I put into them, and the lives they continue to touch.

I settled for “good enough” when I could have been amazing.

The next objection was when I wanted to shift my business focus from brass-tacks, how-to stuff into a more intuitive, faith-based approach, because I believe that my biggest successes have come when I’ve allowed faith (not religion, but pure belief and faith) to be at the core of everything I do – my life and my business. My desire was to open a dialogue and begin speaking openly about the transformational effect faith has on business, in a non-denominational, ecumenical way.

“You don’t want to start talking about faith. You’ll close too many doors and cut off your audience.”

Um, isn’t that the point of target marketing? But because it was one of my coaches, whom I admired, trusted, and was paying good money to learn from, I nixed the idea, and instead tip-toed around discussions of faith for several years.

Again, I chose safety, over the bigger, “scarier” more gratifying direction in my business. I squelched my own voice.

Recently, I began writing a business parable (the one the lady on the airplane suggested I write). I’ve never done it before, but I’ve studied up on how the genre seems to work, and the story was so inspired, it felt like it was exactly what I was supposed to be writing.

But a conversation with an expert in the field left me grasping for safety:

“If I were writing my first book, I don’t think I would do a parable. If they’re done well, they’re great, but if the story doesn’t hook the reader’s interest… you could just do a how-to book and people can still glean the nuggets.”

But that book is nearly half done. This time, I don’t intend to settle. I’m scared as heck about how it will turn out in light of the guidance this trusted source provided, but I’m clear that if I don’t attempt it, I’ll be full of regrets about it.

Then there’s this whole TV show thing. Don’t get me started on all the resistance I’m getting on what could be one of the first interactive series in the world – if we can get it off the ground.

In the last year, we’ve made some big changes in our family. For me, it was in preparation for the next evolution of my life. I laid off my wonderful assistant, held a crazy yard sale, sold my car, moved into a smaller house, took a huge hit on our old mortgage, and made a substantial investment in my personal and professional development.

Now, I’m cleaning out the living room as well as the storage space in my heart. I’m getting back to that Masterpiece, and this time, I’ve brought the cleaners in. I’m ready to gussy up this work of art and put it on display in a big way.

I’m rediscovering my true voice, and inviting you to do the same.

Where in your life have you stopped speaking up because of past hurts? Where in your business have you chosen to let others speak for you? What are you doing to change that?

“Be a voice, not an echo.”

-Laurie Beth Jones