15 Sep, 2023

Are You Working Out With Life?

Hey Purpose Peep!

Are you working out with life, or does it feel as though life is working you out? The difference between the two may seem like a play on words, and yet it is a big deal because the stories we tell ourselves and our perception manifest experiences and create our realities.

When I expressed a sincere ask, an intention, to move with life instead of having what I call “rearview mirror” wisdom, something happened. It was not what I expected. It felt as though life responded by turning up the speed of life events that broke down the perception that I could control or manage this speed.

Think about being on a treadmill that is increasing in speed. Either you pick up your pace and be with the speed, or you will recognize the gap, usually by abruptly recognizing the difference, sometimes on your a**. But with the treadmill, you or someone else can turn down the speed so you can catch up. I discovered through many tries at “turning down the speed” that there was something else that wanted to be revealed, a different way to be with the situation.

One of my favorite purpose peeps and I have a metaphor for this. Imagine being in the “sea of change” with lots of waves, wild currents, and this feeling of being tossed about. You can fight the experience and try all of the swimming techniques you’ve garnered over the years, you know, totally wear yourself out doing all the things. The sea of change is about to overtake you, you start gulping water and feeling all the unknown creatures of change touching your body and amping up a fear response, when an intelligence connects with you. You turn on your back and float. You realize being as a new possibility, being with this unknown pattern that the sea of change knows and is trying to show you. When you look up, you see spaciousness, and possibility returns with the sea of change. Possibility and the sea of change are the contractions needed to birth something new.

Through my experience of floating on my back and trusting the speeding turn-up of events, life birthed a realization and a curiosity. I realized how I am responding to life is not working. Because I feel connected to what I am witnessing and the importance of understanding it from multiple perspectives, the curiosity of how to be present to the experience without trying to control what I do not yet understand opened. One possibility that emerged are reps, a new workout regime that life as the ultimate purpose coach is teaching. The thing is, life does not announce its program. It does not inform you of the format, the formwork, or the promise. Life shows up without an appointment, and sometimes we recognize the appointment. Life was answering my sincere ask with the reps so that I could cultivate the capacity to be with life instead of recognizing life lessons in the rearview mirror.

I believe we are having different experiences learning our way through the reps to be with the high volume of change we are experiencing as the world in change. I worked for a consultancy that specialized in transformational change. One of the identifiers of transformational change is the number of people directly impacted by the change. Purpose Peeps, with a world in change, there is an intersectionality of change that is impacting all life on the planet. How else would you describe humanity evolving and the way our planet is communicating the need for a different way of being with her?

Some of the Purpose Reps that allow me to build the capacity to be with a world in change (both within me and beyond me) are: conditioning (recognizing the many ways we are influenced from birth and before birth through epigenetics), deconditioning (the reckoning with conditioning to determine what stays, what gets composted, and what gets reimagined), life as a purpose partner (trusting that life is for me and us and knows something about how to restore us), awe (being with the vastness and mystery of the sea of change and trusting that there is something new and/or to be remembered that wants to presence, understand, and embody), and gratitude (thankful to be a part of restoration and healing that spans seven generations back, right now, and seven generations forward).

Purpose Reps are expanding and making themselves known through repetition. Notice repetition that you may be resisting and check in to see if it could be Purpose Reps in disguise, practices that are really important to your evolution.

Purpose Reps live in all of the courses that are in the Unlock YOUR keys App. They seem to integrate better as enablers in action rather the an idea. The Purpose Reps come alive and unleash their alchemy in us when they are woven into a practice we are committing our life force energy to.

When life is getting your attention in ways that you will recognize, I invite you to practice a purposeful pause in the liminal space between the world in change and the possibilities that it is alerting you to. You will be supported. There are Purpose Reps for you to practice and learn, enabling you to understand yourself better and unlock your core stability as you embrace the hope that resides within and flows through you.

Dena Wiggins, MBA is the founder of Success By Planning, LLC and co-lead of Soul To Soul Spaces. Dena pours her life force energy into ways of being for the purpose clarity, expression, and contributions of all (whom she intentionally calls Purpose Peeps). She believes the compassion of possibility is achieved through realized purpose, heartivism, and the acknowledgement and ending of harms to ourselves, each other and our planet. Learn more about her books, programs, coaching, and newly-released app, Unlock Your Keys featuring Purpose Reps, enablers and capacity builders for sustainable change at www.denawiggins.com.

The Wonderings/Wanderings Series are snippets to invite the curious soul forward in times that are calling her out to play.

6 Oct, 2020

EP 21 Of The #Sparked Life Podcast: Following Your Inner Star With Joyce Weru

Purpose Peeps,

We often hear phrases and buzz words that sound amazing and yet we may have limited knowledge of what it really means to experience or embody what sparked us in the words or between the words.  We hear words like resilience, nimbleness, pivoting, the ambiguity that easily lose power and potency without the stories of the experiences of unlocking the meaning and the journey that gives the words high placement as we co-create and write our life stories.

Unlocking Principle: We travel to understand the words that spark us and touch our soul.

When I met Joyce, within our first conversation, I knew she journeyed these words and life experiences–they became a part of who she is! I knew immediately that she had a sparked life perspective worth sharing.  Joyce has an aura of authenticity and “loving what she is doing” that takes her on many courageous risk experiences that show up throughout her life, including her work life.  Did you catch that sparked life placement?

How do you start a coaching practice at the beginning of a pandemic? How do you balance being a solopreneur and a single mom who is homeschooling during a pandemic? How do you wear many leadership hats within your community of peers and not burn out but burn up and spread out through a flame of intention? Listen and find out!

Joyce is the Founder of Rise Above Coaching, an executive and leadership coaching firm based in Washington, DC that works with international NGO’s and Associations.  Joyce has coached people from all levels of the workforce and cultural backgrounds, from senior executives to entry-level professionals. Being born and raised in Kenya and moving to the US, her story tells a real journey of resilience and following your inner star no matter how scary that journey appears. Her energy and warmth are liberating. Joyce serves on the Board of Directors for the District of Columbia Society for Human Resource Management (DC SHRM). She partners with Metro DC International Coaching Federation and leads their Racial Equity Community of Practice.  Joyce holds a master’s degree in human resources management and a master’s in business administration from the University of Maryland University College. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources® (SPHR). Joyce has also received the designation of Certified Executive Leadership Coach by Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. Joyce is also a founding member of the Lean In Sparked Women of Purpose Circle.  Learn more about Joyce at www.riseabovecoaching.com listen to her CEO interviews here.

Dena Wiggins (she/her) is a Best-Selling Transformational Author and MBA informed Purpose Doula. She wholeheartedly believes that purpose is the birthright of humanity and intentionally refers to all of humanity as Purpose Peeps.  Dena’s sweet spot of service is to transform the many ways of living survival as a lifestyle into the many ways of living thriving lives of purpose.  This shift is vital to members of BIPOC communities who have experienced systemic oppression as well as doing our individual and collective parts to the end intentional oppression that is the antithesis of thriving lives of purpose.  Her style is to be a voice of shared experience meeting clients where they are on their sacred path to purpose journeys with empowering frameworks reflective of her lived experiences, Divine guidance, and learnings in–spirituality, facilitation, purpose, and strategy–all working in service of clients delivering their purposeful expression into the world.  Learn more and grow in connection at www.denawiggins.com.

22 Sep, 2020

Falling Forward

Welcome to Fall 2020! We made it! Normally when I think of the fall season, I think of falling backward as time falls back during the fall solstice.  This year, instead, what resonated was a sense of falling forward.

The fall forward is a trip, no pun intended.  Our plans and action steps to move forward at a time when so much of our life seems to shift on a continual basis feels more like a fall going in a forward stance.  Truthfully, it feels as though life may have nudged me on the back, pushing me forward while I was attempting to hold my current space.  Can you relate?

It reminds me of being a young child in Northeast DC at my grandmother’s house.  If you did not know how to jump Double Dutch, well you could get your Black card revoked!  I remember being so afraid of these opposing ropes, usually fashioned out of cord because of the weight.  If you jumped between these fast turning cords and  did not get the rhythm  of those cords and they hit, wow they would sting!

To find the rhythm, I would move my body back and forth to get the flow because the trick is the catch the moment when the cord closest to you is down.  That is your invitation to jump in.  Once you are in, just keep the flow going with your body and jump.  Well I would stall. YOU DO  NOT stall in Double Dutch because someone is always waiting for a turn to jump.  It just goes against the rules.

Once I was swaying and testing the patience of everyone and I felt a nudge on my back.  I fell forward into the opposing force of the Double Dutch cords.  I cannot imagine how awkward I looked. Surprisingly, I kept the rhythm! I wish I had a picture of the smile my whole being experienced.

The more I kept the rhythm the rope turners increased the speed of the turns.  This tested the strength of the way I was in relationship with the turning ropes.  What worked? Paying attention to the rhythm of the turn and going with it. 

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Eventually, I got tired or the dance shifted with the rope turners and the rope hit my ankles.  It stung but it did not take me out. I lived and was happy to do my part in creating the experience for the next person. It was like a rite of passage that I clumsily got through.

As I reflect on the experience of falling forward it was the scariest thing to fall toward uncertainty, ambiguity, opposing forces, and fear.  Falling forward was also the most freeing thing instead of the dread of the wait.  Honestly, carrying the wait was heavier and more stressful to my body than being in the moment of action.

The moment of action was filled with wonder, curiosity and fear.  No one could explain the wind that you feel as the rope whips through the air that is the invitation to jump.  No one could explain how it felt for my body to move with instinct before my brain could tell my body to move.  No one could explain the mystery of how the shift in order of operations is everything to this craft.  No one could explain the unleash of creativity and possibility in the moment. It was a lived experience.

You know the life pushers; they get on your nerves until you act.  You do not want to call them when you are trying to find the perfect way or the perfect time, and yet you do because you know you need them.   Sometimes life is the pusher.  When life pushes us, it comes without warning.  We do not feel the footsteps of the approach or sense that someone is near us.  Life pushes us with a gentle nudge, perhaps an inner voice that says, “now, go,” or an event or series of events that turn up the discomfort with staying put.  Sometimes the life push feels like my childhood friend that pushed me in the face of opposing forces, unknown, uncertainty, publicly on display with nowhere to hide, and the only option is to fall forward and do something or face certain pain.

What if I fell, or got hit by the cords during my fall forward?  I did!  Jumping Double Dutch was not my thing as I learned from many times when I fell forward and caught the wrath of the cords.  I also caught the laughs of my friends and watchers; sometimes I laughed too.  What happened over time is that I was known as someone who had the heart of a tryer and eventually the person who cheered everyone on.  Cheering everyone on and sharing what I knew to help; that is my thing.  Now I understand learning to trust my body, spirit and brain is my jam.

There are some life lessons that we fall into.  Some life lessons that require courageous risk.  Some life lessons are experiential only, divinely orchestrated courses.  Some life lessons require switching from one rhythm and falling into another that introduces you to parts of yourself did not know and the bonus of life stoking your sparks of curiosity and wonder.

Happy Fall Forward to each of you.

Dena Wiggins (she/her) is a Best-Selling Transformational Author and MBA informed Purpose Doula. She wholeheartedly believes that purpose is the birthright of humanity and intentionally refers to all of humanity as Purpose Peeps.  Dena’s sweet spot of service is to transform the many ways of living survival as a lifestyle into the many ways of living thriving lives of purpose.  This shift is vital to members of BIPOC communities who have experienced systemic oppression as well as doing our individual and collective parts to the end intentional oppression that is the antithesis of thriving lives of purpose.  Her style is to be a voice of shared experience meeting clients where they are on their sacred path to purpose journeys with empowering frameworks reflective of her lived experiences, Divine guidance, and learnings in–spirituality, facilitation, purpose, and strategy–all working in service of clients delivering their purposeful expression into the world.  Learn more and grow in connection at www.denawiggins.com.

27 Jul, 2020

EP 20: The #Sparked Life Podcast: Life Shifts With Brandon Peele

Purpose Peeps,

During these unique times, you may be experiencing some emerging truths.  These truths bubble up on the inside and shake up our lives.  You may be thinking, do I really need any more disruption during a global pandemic and unprecedented social justice uprising, and whatever else is on our watch? It is during these times you can gain clarity on what you take a stand for and tap into what will sustain you during the marathon required for significant change.

Like the lotus flower that grows through muddy waters, these emerging thoughts are unclear, perhaps nudges that something is shifting.  And this process does not come with an instruction manual and can be beautifully messy!

During this episode, we have Purpose Peep, Brandon Peele with us.  Brandon lives and breathes purpose. Listen as Brandon takes us through some recent inner shifts.  We touch on some of the inner work that is happening within us that is shaping our responses to the clarion calls for we hear sounding loudly for change.

Purpose Peeps, there is homework! Apply Brandon’s heart-centered advice to arrive at your authentic and intentional action towards your vision of flourishing.

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Brandon Peele (he/him) is a Midwesterner, best-selling author, international speaker, the Vice President, People Science at ion Learning. He has written / co-written 4 books on purpose activation and worked with many organizations to activate purpose-led and inclusive cultures. He has also taught at several universities and has had his work featured in media outlets such as Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and Conscious Company Magazine.

Brandon is a PGI Certified Purpose Guide™, Imperative Certified Purpose Leader™, serves on the Council of the Global Purpose Leaders and has an MBA in Leadership from Columbia Business School. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Stephanie.  To connect with Brandon, visit his website www.BrandonPeele.com.

Dena Wiggins (she/her) is a Best-Selling Transformational Author and MBA informed Purpose Doula. She wholeheartedly believes that purpose is the birthright of humanity and intentionally refers to all of humanity as Purpose Peeps.  Dena’s sweet spot of service is to transform the many ways of living survival as a lifestyle into the many ways of living thriving lives of purpose.  This shift is vital to members of BIPOC communities who have experienced systemic oppression as well as doing our individual and collective parts to the end intentional oppression that is the antithesis of thriving lives of purpose.  Her style is to be a voice of shared experience meeting clients where they are on their sacred path to purpose journeys with empowering frameworks reflective of her lived experiences, Divine guidance, and learnings in–spirituality, facilitation, purpose, and strategy–all working in service of clients delivering their purposeful expression into the world.  Learn more and grow in connection at www.denawiggins.com.

22 May, 2020

EP 18: When Tragedy Births Purpose, The #Sparked Life Podcast

When the unthinkable happens, we are built to respond in fight, flight, or freeze.  Our bodies are wired to slow down, conserve energy, and limit our view to what is right in front of us. Remarkably, when tragedy happens, there are some Purpose Peeps who shift to evolve tragedy into some of the most purposeful action. Somehow they shift to see possibility in the middle of impossible grief.

As we are months into the world’s response to the COVID19 pandemic, many of us are experiencing the extreme stressors of the attack on human life as well as the painful requirements to reduce its impact.  During this time, the ailments of our time are revealed in full view as the capacity of the world is too full and stretched to cover them.

During the last weeks, the world mourned with the family of Ahmaud Arbery as we watched the video of his murder amongst intense public outcry.  Let me ask the question that is the elephant in the room, does the sparked life matter and exist within such difficult and challenging times?  While the world is in survival mode, is thriving an option?

Thanks to a friend sharing his heartbreak about Ahmaud’s murder, I was reminded of a part of my purpose story, my family history, that is so painful I locked it away.  Locked away with that pain and trauma is also the story of a family hero who in the face of indescribable pain, weaved an amazing story of love, purpose, and social advocacy.

I am thrilled that The #Sparked Life Podcast’s first interview format features a painfully complex and beautiful purpose story that will help us answer some of the big questions many have during this challenging time of history.  Please open your hearts and hear a story of a tragedy that birthed purpose and societal change with Mr. Kenneth Barnes, Sr., Community Leader, Purpose Prize Fellow, Founder of Reaching Out to Others Together (ROOT Inc.) and father.  Here how the unthinkable allowed him to coin the term, Chronic Traumatic Stress Disorder™  (CTSD) that built a platform for change in how we view and treat youth who are repeatedly traumatized by gun violence.

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Check out our COVID19 Sparked Life Support here.

Dena Wiggins is a Transformational Author, Consultant, Certified Purpose Coach & MBA. She takes an unwavering stand for your purpose. Dena unlocks purpose in sparked Purpose Peeps facilitating businesses and organizations to transform into lighthouses that shine solutions into the marketplace, no matter what. As a Purposed Resultant, she combines her experiences and passion for spark, purpose, and strategy to create impactful solutions that deliver your results that matter. Learn more about her Unlock The Keys To Your Success And Turn Them Into Results® programs and A Life of Purpose® Products that shift your sparks (or ahas) into action at www.denawiggins.com.

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