The Art of Reinvention

Introduction:

In June 2024, I hosted a panel discussion on the art of reinvention featuring three influential figures who have inspired my own reinvention over the last decade: Jennifer Main, Lilia Sinclair & Lynette Gray. Renowned for their leadership, passion and eloquence, these women have made it their mission to: initiate change, revolutionize the health of a nation and foster community by facilitating important conversations and meaningful experiences.

Together with our audience of courageous peers, we dug into the topic of reinvention. We talked about what it means to reinvent ourselves, the signs life gives us to change, what blocks us from trusting these signs and what can help us feel more supported while leaning into the discomfort we feel when creating lasting change.

This is quite a chunky read taking around 20minutes which reflects the value and generosity of the speakers. Its a beautiful blend of personal stories, poignant anecdotes and nuggets of wisdom. So the invitation is to make yourself a nice cup of something tasty, put your feet up and enjoy.

At the end of this blog you’ll find more information about our speakers Jennifer, Lilia & Lynette. 

BLOG SECTIONS:

1. What is Reinvention?

2. Invitations for Reinvention:

3. What gets in the way of Reinvention?

4. What helps Reinvention?

5. Supportive Tools & Strategies

6. Summary

7. About the Speakers

1. What is Reinvention?

We began by critiquing the dictionary definition of reinvention:

“the act of producing something new based on something that already exists,
the act of changing your job or the way you look and behave, so that you seem very different”

We felt this definition was too shallow. It missed the deep emotional change that happens when you truly transform yourself. Other ideas were shared by the audience including:

"Rearranging the puzzle pieces of one's identity and taking a big leap of faith"

"Reinvention equates to evolution"

Lilia shared that the word that comes for her when thinking about reinvention is “imagination”, as a form of communication with life, the universe, god, a higher power, whatever you want to call it, to co-create the change or reinvention you want.

In reality, many of us have our imagination “knocked out of us” by the painful experiences life brings. Heartbreak, loss and rejection can make us give up on our dreams and lose connection to our sense of hope, magic, possibility and wonder.

From this discussion, two types of reinvention emerged:

1. Superficial Reinvention like changing our hair or style or setting resolutions at the New Year. It tends to be chosen by us, and can feel easy, fun and exciting. This level of reinvention may not be long lasting, especially if the foundational mindset piece is missing.

And

2. Soul-level Reinvention that shakes our core and triggers fear and resistance. It comes from a deeper place and begins with awakening. The soul in us is ready for change but the human in us doesn’t feel ready. Transformation is afoot and life starts conspiring around us to bring about this change. There is an intensity to the experience that is “felt” in the body: stomach in knots, constriction in the throat, thoughts spiralling and head spinning with confusion for example.

2. Invitations for Reinvention: Awakening & Awareness

Jennifer eloquently described reinvention as “moments of awakening and awareness” of the signs life is sending us, inviting us to change.

Awakening often begins with an inner stirring, an indefinable shift that unsettles the familiar. Behaviors and constructs once deemed acceptable now chafe against our consciousness. It's as though rose-tinted glasses have shattered, revealing a reality we struggle to recognize and refuse to accept.

Emma shared her experience of awakening:

“It begins subtly, like a child's soft pull at your sleeve seeking attention. Ignored, these pulls escalate to nudges - a health concern, a relationship drama, an indistinct unease. Disregarded further, Life starts shoving us around with failures and rejections until, eventually, a forceful shove topples us, forcing us to surrender. How intense it gets really depends on how “strong” or “disconnected” we are”.

3. What gets in the way of Reinvention?

Cultural norms and expectations

Today's culture often equates strength with insensitivity, mistaking our inherent sensitivity for weakness. We're taught to build resilience, to "toughen up" so we can withstand life's challenges.

The adage "what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger" is a common refrain meant to embolden us. Yet, this toughness develops scars and callouses which dull our senses, severing the trust in our intuition and our sense of unity with the world.

Rather than harnessing our strength to venture into new territories, we use that strength to endure pain and suffering, to conform and comply, even when our cells and our souls are screaming for us to go a different way. We endure the anguish of unrealized dreams, toxic work environments, lackluster careers, and harmful relationships, mistakenly accepting these as life's realities.

Fears & Resistance

When we don’t feel supported by life or life lacks deeper meaning, our trust falters, manifesting as formidable resistance from an agonizing incongruence that the mind alone cannot reconcile. The human need for safety and certainty clashes with the soul's wisdom to embrace uncertainty and trust life's current is leading us to a more aligned and enlivened place.

Lynette shared her recent experience of resistance: 

“As I was going through this most recent reinvention, I was in so much resistance. I went from loving and liking myself to hating myself. I felt really unsafe and didn’t understand my head or my brain anymore. I was stuck and this resistance was stopping me from moving.  So for me, I think it's ourselves really, that gets in the way. There's nobody else getting in the way because actually, if you speak to the people that love you, they will mostly encourage you. Telling you things will be okay. 'You're going to get it. You're strong enough. You're brave enough. You can do it'.

It's not anyone else getting in the way. It really is yourself. I believe my ego had to get bashed and bruised a little bit. And actually maybe this reinvention was,  to make me more humble, to make me more graceful. I feel like it has grounded me more”.

Opinions & Pressure from other People:

It isn't easy to make lasting change, especially if those changes go against what people in your life believe is normal or what they like about you. They may not want you to change or be worried about whether your making a big mistake or not.

Lilia shared a story from a recent client of hers:

"She was diagnosed with leukemia. And she categorically refused traditional western medical treatment, wanting to try a gentler, more natural approach. Obviously her family were concerned, they couldn't understand her perspective and she came up against a lot of pressure. I watched how it affected everybody, who wanted her to do what they thought was best. She sadly died. Now I'm not talking about what was the right or wrong decision, but she'd made a decision, and everybody tried to change her mind. And I thought, God, I wonder what it would have been like if she'd gone into a healing oasis, where everybody believed in her and acknowledged her determination?

I've got very strong faith and I believe I'm being guided. Whether I am or not, doesn't matter. I believe that I am, but that doesn't mean to say it's always going to be easy. 

So if you've got other people piling in to actually reinforce your negative thinking, you might want to look for a community of like minded people, who are willing to think big and support you. Let's let go of the status quo of going it alone because it is, it's much harder to heal and resolve issues in isolation. Human beings heal faster and better when part of a supportive, uplifting community.

I love what Zach Bush says: "Instead of being pushed by the pain of the past, be pulled by the vision of the future".

Ego & The Identities that do not serve us

Soul level reinvention invites you to look at the identities, labels and masks that make up who you are and question if they still fit or if, in fact you've outgrown them. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to get rid of all the labels, but you may want to adjust or upgrade them. The clearer your awareness of these labels, helps you to understand yourself better instead of limiting yourself.

It takes a great deal of courage to start to question the identity that we have invested time and energy, building and buying into, both consciously and unconsciously over the years. This process offers an opportunity to learn about what true surrender really is. Not giving up or letting everything go, but learning how to trust your intuition, to trust what you're working through and trust that what you're going through is also often part of bigger cycles and stories that are at play not only for you, but family, culturally and for humanity as a whole.

Jennifer shared a personal anecdote of how ego gets in the way of reinvention:

"So a couple of years ago I realised I was tired of playing small. I was getting a little bored with things and really just wanted to live my purpose, which I know is a big part of being of service to the world. And so, I said to myself (and the universe) that if there are aspects of my personality, or other things that I am clinging to, which are getting in the way, then I am willing to surrender that for my greater good and for what I am here to do.

Man, when you make a declaration like this, you really better be ready to look at your shit. All the little things that you do, the little habits, personality quirks and aspects of you which seem harmless. But when you look at them with this kind of lens, you can see how they might actually be causing some problems, or even creating some trauma there and that you probably want to address that. So for me, I had to become much less attached to the way I saw myself or who I thought I was.

And there will likely come a point when that ego part of you says "No, don't get rid of that" because its afraid you're going to lose some people, experiences or something else you’re attached to. But what I’ve found is when you begin to strip away the stuff that is untrue, then what is true gets to shine through.

So you shine up and you show up more authentically, more aligned, more honest and more sincere. Then everything you do in your life will be based in that energy, as opposed to the bullshit that you're just trying to maintain, because part of you thinks that you have to do that".

4. What helps Reinvention? Courage & Community

Jennifer shared her profound perspective on the difference between courage and bravery:

“Any time we're going through change or we're challenging things like this, it requires courage and courage is not bravery. Courage means you face your fears, it is a courageous act to ask these questions and to look at this stuff.

When you engage courage, you face your fears. When you face your fears, you're no longer afraid and when you're no longer afraid, then you become brave. Brave means you're fearless and you don't get bravery until you're courageous.

So to anyone doing this work, be proud of yourself and recognize that it requires courage to do this and take heart in that. Be proud of that and know there is a rhyme and a reason for it, even if it feels hard or rocky or difficult or painful, or that your suffering in the process. The result of this work will be resolution which allows you to show up more aligned with who you are as a soul. Then you are able to serve the world, just by being you, instead of by what you do. Being of service to the world is not about what you do, its about who you are and the purpose of this process is to allow the trueness of you to shine through and be integrated and amplified by your ego.

Of course fears are going to come up and that's okay, make it easier on yourself by finding some people to do it with you. Get support, find your friends who are on a similar journey and please don’t do it alone. Don't isolate yourself or think there is something something wrong with you because there are heavy things that you're working through, because any courageous human being is doing the same thing. So find some people and do it together”.

5. Supportive Tools & Strategies

Creative outlets:

Lynette advocated for leaning into creativity, whatever that may be from writing poetry to painting. She shared her favourite tool that's supported her in difficult times throughout her life, a book called The Artists by Way by Julia Cameron, which incorporates a daily practice of writing morning pages and other creative exercises.

"If anyone is going through a tricky time, get creative. We're all creative, no matter what your art teacher said to you, your mum or dad have said to you, you are creation, we do create and you can create. I remember a friend of mine who is an artist and had been going through an extremely painful time in his life. He said ‘I actually don't want this feeling to go right now. Because I'm producing the best work I've ever created’.

And so anytime I’m in that dark moment, I always think of his words and I think, right, what can I create in this? Because actually what I'm going to create has so much power to it, like when I started writing poetry recently, people could actually feel them when they read them because they were so fucking raw and real. I produced great poems and I'm not someone that's ever written poems”.

Daily Practices that alter Brain & Body Chemistry:

Jennifer recommended keeping it simple and fresh with Personal Daily Practices that change your brain & body chemistry:

"Start with breathe, move, meditate, and keep it simple. Breathe could just be simple sitting observing your breath mindfully, or it could be box breathing or Wim Hof. Movement could be a walk, a cycle or a marathon. Meditate could be just some time in silence. It could be scanning through your body. It could be a guided meditation. And actually if you can stack them together and get them to go together, it's even more powerful, but, but I think it's really about you figuring out what works for you. And if you've had the same practice for a while, consider switching it up. Find a practice that you can do as much as possible, say four times a week, daily ideally. When you get into that habitual practice, what that does is it programs your own mind and energy to be in that space of clarity, healing and grounding to support you on this journey.

Letting go of Limiting Beliefs and Trusting your Intuition:

Lilia’s life work has been all about teaching people to let go of everything that doesn’t serve you and she means letting go of that stuff from your mind, your body, your spirit, your soul and your cells and shared about The Sedona Method for finding clarity about whether to pursue an idea or not.

“If you've got an idea and you're maybe not feeling quite brave enough or you're trying to work out if it's the right idea for you, the Sedona method is great for that.

Say for example you wanted to go for a job, you can use the Sedona Method to let go and help you get this job.

You would start with visualising yourself getting the job. You would focus on the feelings that come when you imagine getting the job, and then you would let it go, which is quite a kind of common and normal manifestation technique.

Then what you do is you start to explore "What are the underlying wants and needs?" There's five of them including control, security, approval, separation, and oneness.

So then when you start to ask yourself, why do I want this job?

And then you might start to uncover things like:

"I want to prove to my parents that I'm worthy of that job" so that's about approval.

"I want to tell my workmates what to do" - that's about control.

"I need more money for sparkly, shiny things or for the mortgage" - that's about security.

Now there's nothing wrong with any of these things but what this method allows you to do is become aware of what's attached to this new job, and choose or ask to release on all of that and then see if I actually do want that job.

This is a powerful tool for helping you to see if you are being limited by the past, which most of us are, or for knowing the difference between intuition and limiting belief which is, when you release on it, the intuition gets louder and the limiting belief dissolves”.

Connecting to Resources and Support within you and outside of you:

Being able to connect to the feeling of being supported is an essential component for feeling safe and resolving past traumas. Emma shared her personal experience of body oriented work supporting her to heal and resolve old traumas and wounds.

"Learning to trust myself, other people, life and the universe has been a big part of my journey. I've been very fortunate to have access to many different therapeutic modalities including psychotherapy, EMDR, art and dance therapy which have all supported me immensely.

In the last 3 years, I felt drawn to less talking, more feeling work which led me to Somatic and Body-oriented modalities that included "parts work". Getting into contact and connection with the parts of me that got scattered when I went through these traumatic events and experiences allowed me to give them the attention, comfort, love and appreciation they never got. So instead of criticizing, judging or rejecting these parts, I could keep them company instead. I found this way of working incredibly effective and resolving long standing issues I had processed through purely cognitive therapeutic methods that focused on talking and thinking. These parts that felt like they were hindering me in my life and needed to be managed or kept hidden, then became powerful inner resources and helped me feel like a much more integrated and whole human being.

My current therapist introduced me to a very simple tool that's helped me to connect to the feeling of support. When I’m having that experience of being alone and in despair, I feel like I’m in a hole and I can’t see how to get out, convinced that everything is too much, I can just ‘ask for H.E.L.P’

Simply say:

‘Help! Ever Loving Presence. Help Me’

I found myself feeling the support of my mum. And reconnecting to the safety and support I always felt with her when I was very young and unaware of her disability and growing illness. I had forgotten what that felt like and am eternally grateful to have reconnected with that feeling inside of me. And so often, whatever the issue, disaster or problem is, somehow resolved. Every time I do it, I feel a quiet surrender within me, almost like I'm handing it over for my spiritual support team to handle for me”.

Lilia: Reframing your language

Lilia shared some of her favourite tools for working with the brain to support us with making changes in our life, starting with becoming aware of the way you speak to yourself, for that is key to creating change in your mind and in your body. For example:

Instead of saying, "Oh, I am so tired, I'm exhausted", we flip that into a question:

"What would it take for me....to have a lot more energy?”

“What would it take for me to jump out of bed?”

“How does it get easier than this? How does it get better than this? How do I get a lot more energy?"

The simple change from using "I cant: statements to "How can I?" is a gamechanger in our brain chemistry. When we say "I can't" the brain accepts that as fact but when we ask the brain "How can I?" the frontal lobe of the brain lights up. The brain actually interacts with the field to help us find the solution.

Powerful Questions to Ponder from Jennifer:

The quality of the questions you ask yourself matters because, if you zoom out a bit and seek to see your life from a higher perspective, your entire life is simply answering the questions that you are asking on deeper unconscious levels. So whatever question you are asking on a deeper level, life is providing you opportunities to learn or to get an answer to it.

So if your asking questions like "how much worse could it get?" or "what's it going to take for me to actually decide to make a change?" then that is what life is responding to.

So it might be worth looking at your life and considering, what questions am I asking here? And what questions am I avoiding?

Am I asking for proof of things that I actually don't want to live through? Or am I seeking some expansion? Am I seeking something new, another possibility? Am I seeking something that's going to help me to evolve and grow in a more graceful, loving, and kind way?

You can evolve and grow through pain and suffering, but that doesn't have to be the way you learn and grow. You can start asking for it in some other ways, by asking different questions. So become more aware of the questions you are seeking answers for: “What am I asking right now? What's being answered here for me?” And can you ask different questions like:

Am I leaning in or am I leaning out?

Jennifer has found any time she catches herself leaning out, that's when she is creating difficulties and problems in her life by fighting against herself.

When making decisions or trying to figure out what's the next step, a great question to ask might be:

"Does this path have a heart?

Can be a profound way to look at things. It may be that you make better, clearer, more aligned decisions, when choosing the path that has a heart to it.

6. Summary:

Hopefully you are able to get an appreciation for how packed with value, this panel discussion evening was. I’ve tried  my best to summarise and edit the content into a digestible format, and if you made it all the way to the end, I'm acknowledging you for that as it’s quite a chunky piece. I hope you feel it was a worthwhile use of your time and were entertained by the personal stories and anecdotes as well as the practical advice, tools and resources. The feedback from attendees was extremely positive with many keen for more events like this. 

If you would like to know about future events, register your interest below.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Want to stay in touch and hear about the next speakers panel event? Register your interest here:

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7. About the Speakers:

Jennifer Main

Jennifer serves the world as a catalyst for change, having guided thousands of leaders, artists, healers, and entrepreneurs at the top of their fields, to expand into uncharted territory by integrating conscious practice, healing, and states of flow. She works within the realm where Alchemy meets Architecture, Form meets Flow, and Creativity meets Creation, inviting higher possibilities into the human domain.

Jennifer's mission is to guide individuals to recognise unique potential and calling, to embody personal Dharma, and to live an aligned and authentic existence through conscious group events, individual sessions, and mentorship.

Website: www.withjennifer.com

Social Media: @withjennifer44

Lilia Sinclair

Lilia is the founder of Heal Scotland movement and co-author of Scotland's Wild Medicine. She has been in the healing, motivation, inspiration world for 40 years plus and is getting the message out about our healing ability via the Internet platforms, events, festivals and retreats. "Our ability to reinvent is clear, but doing it with like minded others makes it fun. And it has to be fun".

Heal Scotland is Changing the trajectory of Scotland's health picture

Our collective health and well-being is not a pretty picture. From heartbreaking levels of mental health issues, to increasing auto-immune disorders, diabetes, obesity, and cancers...the list goes on! When we acknowledge that approximately 80% of dis-ease is thought to be the result of lifestyle choices, that means we have the power to change. Heal Scotland is a not-for-profit organisation with a big vision of repainting this picture, on a mission to help educate, inspire, and support people on their way to health & happiness.

https://www.healscotland.com/

https://www.facebook.com/healscotland/

Lynette Gray

Lynette is a Connector, Influencer & Creator.

From Lululemon Crew member, to meditation teacher, to life coach, to content creator and for the last 12 months using her vibrant, magnetic energy and passion hosting and presenting at her in-person panel speakers and networking events.

These events help the audience to discover deeper connection with yourself, others, and our world through impactful conversations about important topics that uplift and inspire community.

Check out here events and offerings via Instagram and Facebook: @lynettegray.co.uk