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While raising me, my parents often said, “Don’t try that. You’ll get hurt.”

They said good things, too, but as you know, words are powerful and they can hold us back from living our full potential.

In some ways, their wagging fingers, shaking heads, rolling eyes, and negative words succeeded. I still won’t go whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, skiing, scuba diving, mountain climbing, and a whole host of other exciting activities.

The good news? I take other kinds of risks.

Despite a bucketful of fears, I found exhilarating paths that lead me to the zing of life. I’m not whitewater rafting yet, but my kind of risk still gives me butterflies, adrenaline rushes, shakiness, and incredible satisfaction.

What do I do?

I follow my innermost truth and the heart of my dreams.

I feel a mix of joy and fear when I lean into unexpected dreams and manifest them, and yet, no matter how afraid I become, I have faith that the new guidance is there for a higher reason. For years, I loved teaching music to little ones and created a music school with my own curriculum. It was a risk worth all the anxiety that kept me up at night. The school was successful, and I thought that would be that. I was happy. Why do anything else?

In the 19th year of my school’s existence, when I least expected it, original tunes with positive messages started to flow through me. New career alert! Composer. Nothing gave me more joy than seeing the reactions of the kids and parents when they sang my songs. One day out of the blue, a parent asked if my songs were recorded and if I offered performances. As soon as I heard her words, I knew it was another “wisdom whisper.” Even though it was sad, I decided to close my music school so I could focus on these new goals. I turned the corner, took a shaky leap of faith and recorded nine albums for kids and adults while performing across the country. I figured that would be that. A life filled with music. Why do anything else? Joy is joy.

Surprise! The universe had something different in mind. There was another wisdom whisper I resisted for years. I kept hearing that it was time to write a motivational self-help book. New risk: author. The experience was magic. I closed my eyes, said aloud whatever came from my heart and intuitive wisdom, and channeled all the content into my voice recorder. Did I ever think, “who are you to think you are an author?” Yes, I can get like that, but I still follow my heart—no matter what.

I do my best to get out of my own way.

After transcribing the content that came through me, my book Shift of Heart: Paths to Healing and Love was born, and shortly after its publishing, I formed a Facebook group with the same title. All my life, I dreamed of creating an “island of peace,” a world in which people cared about each other, stranger to stranger, friend to friend. I wanted to manifest a living breathing form of every core value in my book. Now, I am the intuitive life coach and facilitator of the “Shift of Heart” community and there are one thousand people and growing who belong.

Truth alert: I didn’t think anyone would join.

Since that first book, I took the risk to write three more books and one of them just won an international award. Have I been scared to fail everything that I have tried over the years? Yes! Am I a “trained” author, singer, composer, recording artist, performing artist, intuitive life coach and group facilitator? No! I have a degree in music education, but I not formally trained in any of my other interests. Besides, I am on the shy side. Yet I can also be a leader. Go figure. I push myself to spread my wings and become all I can be, and somehow, with the help of the mystical magic of life, I find a way to believe in myself.

It would give my heart joy to know you believe in yourself, too. Our innate gifts are always waiting to come out. We just need to trust and bet on ourselves.

When I have a creative idea, I run with it. Yes, it may lead me to a dead end—but what if it doesn’t? That’s where the risk-taking, intuition, trust, and leap of faith come in. That’s also where the butterflies, adrenaline rushes, shakiness, and hope come in.

What if manifesting my dream leads to amazing places and people?

When you believe in your dreams, don’t hesitate for a minute to take small action steps toward them. When you believe in yourself, the impossible becomes possible. Purpose and passion propel you into the juice of life itself. Follow your butterfly spirit and adventure into your unlimited creative inner resources. Manifesting your dream is your opportunity to positively transform yourself and the world.