I have been talking dare to dream, nurture your dreams, play with them, building them in your heart and life, like the foundation of a home. But there comes a time when you’ve gotta say “Okay, enough talk. Time for action!”

Today I am starting all over again…but not from scratch, of course. I have a pile of work and experience, materials I have gathered and produced over the years. But most importantly I have confidence. At long last. I believe. I believe in me and the talents I have been given and so happily nourish. I am taking Verbal Remedies™ to the Gift and Stationery Show in New York once again.

Six years ago, I rented a booth space as a designer and showed the work-to-date of Lorelie and her Verbal Remedies. From that show I received a contract to write my book Dare to Dream, produce a giftware line, and illustrate an e-card line. I had enough belief system that I could do that, as well as great support from two friends who went with me to sell. Once all of that work was produced, I fell apart and so did it.

The story goes that, as I stepped out with Verbal Remedies, I had just divorced after a couple of decades of marriage. The marriage produced a very wonderful family and my ex-husband and I have remained friends throughout. It was purposeful to stay connected, work through the differences that caused us to divorce, stay the family we had grown to be. Six years later, I see it was well worth the effort it took, particularly when Scott and I get to share the joys of our first grandchild, Braven.

When I divorced and set off on my own for the first time in my life, I was filled with exhuberance for the possibilities. Things did not go according to my plan (do they ever?) and I began a roller coaster ride of very tall highs and very deep lows. And I was caught in my story. It is only recently that I have realized that by continuing to speak my story I stayed in my story. All things remained the same and my story was that I wanted out of my story!

I thought I was being so conscious all the time, and I was sure trying. Keyword…trying. When we are “trying” to do something, that is all we are doing. So now I am doing, being, having. As simple as it sounds, words are the energy we first put out into the world, which begin to create on the material plane the things that we desire.

Many times during the roller coaster ride, I made decisions to let go of Verbal Remedies, stop producing the work. I could never manage to pull that off. Lorelie kept showing up in my head. The Verbal Remedies stayed with me and developed into more. Not only do I write and draw Verbal Remedies, now I perform them as well.

A few years ago in Asheville, as part of a theatre company, I performed a humorous but inspirational piece that I had written. I was simply going for humor, but again, those Verbal Remedies popped out again. When I was asked recently to speak to a group of women at the Chatchewandchocolate organization http://www.chatchewandchocolate.com, I wrote and performed a poem, similar to the experience in Asheville. I loved it and was asked to come back a second and third time. Voila! Something new was born out of something old. And taking it a step further, I am now illustrating those poems and turning them into individual little books of inspiration.

It is interesting how a simple decision to change my way of thinking is changing my life. I simply grew exhausted with thrilling myself with hope and desire, then falling flat on my face when I ran out of steam. Oi. I don’t know how I kept it up for so long. Anyway…I’m changing my story.

My story now is that I have an amazing gift to offer and I am doing just that. Verbal Remedies come from my passion, my sense of being. How is that different from the old story? I am extricating the piece I clung to that said underneath it all I wasn’t really good enough or talented enough or anything enough to have what I want. Oi, again.

I have let myself take in how those simple and childlike expressions have brought joy to others, which adds to my joy. I love feeling valuable. I love waking up in the morning and knowing that today I get to do something that supports someone in expressing their true essence…and have fun doing it! It’s a win that keeps on winning. And it is an expression that is unique to me and there is nobody else in the world who is me and will do it for me…so I may as well get on with it, right? Right.

I invite you to join me in stepping out. We all have some particular gift that is ours and ours alone to give. Drop all those voices of fear, doubt and disbelief. They are voices of the past, certainly not of the present and who the heck wants to take them into the future?! Let’s take each other by the hand. Together we are taking the leap off the edge of all we know to be true and live our dreams.