Motivation Archives | A Million Beautiful Pieces

I love poetry and good quotes. It is amazing how the stringing together of words can effect a heart as powerfully as Mary Olivers’ The Journey affected me when I first read it a few years ago.

Enjoy xxx

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice —

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voice behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do —

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

by Mary Oliver

Most recently I changed careers to work as a trainer, a public speaker and a freelance writer. It is my great love to teach. To use the mediums of speaking and writing to do that is a wonderful opportunity.

In my professional career my great passion was teaching and training. As a facilitator for training sessions, I know that it is vital to ensure that everyone understands the content, they feel confident to engage in the session and that they find value in the time that is spent in training. It gives me great satisfaction when trainees feel confident at the end of a session.

As a speaker, I am passionate about helping people to live their best lives. Using the experiences that shaped my life from being a teenage single mother in post apartheid South Africa to building a family and a career and now to facing the future with an adult child who will require full care, has taught me so much about what influences our decision making especially when one has to choose from a set of bad options. As a motivational speaker my goal is to share stories that remind people about the preciousness of each moment and that life is still beautiful.

As a writer, last year I entered the blogging space to contribute to social change in my own small way. I have learnt a little something about human behaviour because of the unusual circumstances that my life path has followed. Writing and sharing my insights is a way to give a little Faith, Hope and Love to the world. For my journey as a writer, I have also embarked on content writing for businesses which is an interesting avenue and one that creates diversity in my ability as a writer.

If you would like to engage with me in any of these capacities please complete the form below:

Motivation

The Journey by Mary Oliver

This Is What I Do