Our Journey
"We each have our own tree to climb."
Julia Butterfly Hill, founder, Circle of Life
I had the privilege of interviewing Julia for "Coaching Into Greatness". Many of you may be familiar with her story. She spent over 2 years living in a tree to protect the famous redwood from certain destruction, and to protest the logging of old growth forests. The picture on the left shows Julia at the very top of Luna. What courage!
Here is an exclusive excerpt from Julia's interview in my book:
The gift of Hill’s self-inquiry is getting to the core essence of who she is. The investigation was, to Hill, much like using a magnifying glass to start a fire. “When we choose to really delve into ourselves,” she says, “is when we turn the magnifying glass toward the sun. That’s when it gets fierce.” We’re so afraid of this intensity, we keep the magnifying glass turned the other way. “The results,” she continues, “can only happen in the space of that intensity, so that in the process of being pulled in a million different directions and being unhappy most of my life, I can finally say ‘OK, I’m going to take it on now.’”
She did burn, but as she puts it, what burned were the illusions she had about who she was, and the illusions about not being enough. She switched from “being in the world of fear to being in the world of joy.” She’s learned to laugh more easily, and she can see more clearly the way our existing systems feed off our scarcity and fear.
Living in the tree wasn’t two years and eight days as one event, she says. “It was two years and eight days of moment by moment access of who am I choosing to be in this moment, and recognizing that all we need to be is who we are.” When asked “what can I do?” she responds: “What do you love to do? Find a way to offer some part of that. Who we are is exactly who we were meant to be.”
Hill concludes: “Everything I needed to be is already within me, but I had to be willing to embrace the real burning of the illusions; the letting go of the illusions. In the butterfly analogy, the melting of myself so that I could become who I already am -- a newer, more vibrant expression of who I am.”
Which direction is your magnifying glass aimed at?
Comments
Perfection! The concept that "everything I needed to be was already within me" has been pointed out by several people who have actually gone through an experience that tests it. It is something we can no longer overlook!
These sages, such as Julia, are growing in numbers and so is their momentum. The statement "Who we are is exactly who we were meant to be" I believe also refers to the part we each play in the whole. Doing what you can do, is all you CAN do...and is what WE all need.
The work I am doing as a Human Design Analyst and a Coach is a real blessing. I am literally witnessing clients seeing their own "greatness" in graphical terms for the first time. The more they understand and can experiment with it, the more they see the perfection in why they were designed the way they were.
But knowing who you are doesn't really help you escape the conditioning and illusions that come with life. That is where your work Kim can be such a compliment and tool.
I'm very excited to see how Coaching People into their Greatness, will combine with my knowledge of Human Design. I believe they are great partners that can give people the courage to burn their illusions. Without a glimpse of your greatness first, it is harder to it combat the fears that keep our illusions in play.
Thanks for all you do Kim.
Carol Zimmerman
Posted by: Carol Zimmerman | January 10, 2006 09:23 PM