Behind the Curtain: It's Me!

Dear Friends:
Today it begins, yet another process of transition and evolution both personal and professional.
Here I am struck by inspiration:

That truly positive transitions can only happen when we are further integrating and refining our deepest selves.

Meaning:  The more of YOU you are, the more happy and full your life will be.

I've been gestating this for the past couple of weeks.  Last month I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary.  This marriage, a second for both of us, has required a lot of personal delving and negotiation.  But it has been extraordinary in so many ways, primarily because in this relationship I can live my truth, be fully and oddly myself.  It isn't always easy, but I am consistently surprised by how my expressions of honesty deepen our relationship.  Not because of him, but in his proximity, I've become the woman I was always meant to be.  In this relationship I've been challenged to authenticity. On the beach at sunrise taken by my daughter, February 2013. NYC Pedicab ride, October 2012...the Hurricane Honeymoon. This past month we found out that the home we've lived in for the last four years, the back yard where we were married, the front room where I've healed and written books, the plum tree and wild gardens where our children are comfortable and happy, is going up for sale.  We may be able to buy it.  We may not.  Either option bodes for change.

But by staying open, balancing the threads of what was with what may be in the present moment, understanding as I cannot help but do after my own transitory journey the past seven years, that the best place is the one where our biggest growth can occur, fills me with possibility.  Here my strength emerges, after a moment's grief.  Here I laugh and look to the future.

Owning and integrating authenticity means change, and change is life lived broad and wide.

With this in mind I have an announcement:  I am rebranding Vestal Transitions under my own name.

Lara Vesta, Inspiration +Transformation

What does this mean?

All Vestal programs continue, including the emerging Vestal University with creative education for life transformation:  Moon Divas Certification, Ceremonies for Communities and Self-Care and Transition Support courses are all set to launch in new incarnations come Solstice, June 20th, 2013.

This website will continue to exist as a primary Vestal home, though it will shapeshift some through the summer, in conjunction with the new laravesta.com--due out on the Solstice, too--a site focused on my art and writing.

This change means more for more:  More opportunities for connection and collaboration for more individuals everywhere.  The Guidebook remains free and is flying through the world now.  Continue to share it with all you love! And if you enjoyed this offering, please consider donating to my Each One Help One scholarship program (in the shop).  Any amount at any time is welcome. With this program I am able to offer workshops, classes and ceremonies to the many women in transition who are experiencing financial need.  

If you live in the Portland Metro area, this fall Vestal University will be hosting a live Moon Divas Guidebook Certification course, including Moon Divas Certification for Professionals.  Details and registration coming soon!

Plus, a few surprises, including a new book on its way.  Hurrah!

Vestal Transitions has had an incredible year.  I have learned so much, made many connections, collaborations, have experienced a distinct surge in supportive appreciation that has really humbled and moved me.

So why rebrand, when things are swimming along so well?

From a business standpoint, I need more people to find me.  After a year of mostly interior operations (building the business from my living room) I'm finally ready to promote this work in a large scale way.  Branding all of my endeavors under my own name helps people discover this work faster and easier. 

That's the business-y gist.

But it's also because I am a writer.  A mother.  A maker and artist and a celebrant, too.

Because I have never allowed myself to step fully into my power as creator.  And the question that I've been considering for months now is, Why?

Why don't I believe that I can make my living as a writer and artist?  Why have I been so shy about actively pushing the Guidebook out into the world?  I believe in this work wholeheartedly, have had incredible feedback, but I've yet to engage in some of the basic tools of promotion.  And why is that?

Because I'm a big chicken?

I'm naturally reticent, a pretty private person.  In my past life as a teacher I had little use for reaching into the broader world, was able to live without social media, without putting myself out in the open.  Large scale revelation has been one of my heaviest resistance barriers, my deepest fears.  The Vestal Transitions business name allowed me to hide still, to speak in a different voice, a larger and more impersonal voice.  Oz behind the curtain.

When really, it's all just me.  Writer, artist, teacher, celebrant, connection maven, resource weaver, story shaper.  No crack team, no staff, no paid bloggers, no Voice of Vestal.  Just me.

Integration, honesty, strength, facing my fears and releasing my work--imperfect and beautifully flawed--into the world as inspiration for others to do the same:  this is not possible while hiding even a little bit.  I need to use my true power.

In the hope you will do the same.

Because we are changing, the paradigm, the dynamic, the conversation.  And change is nothing without risk.  For every gift there is a cost.

I choose the risk of revelation.  Or revolution.  Join me. From Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith