beyond.

So how does it feel to be sitting in bed after an utterly and completely inspiring night at TEDxFiDiWomen?

this is my "holy crap i'm inspired" face :)

So. Freaking. Amazing.

Every single speaker tonight (all women!), quite simply, knocked my socks off---my hand is literally cramped from taking such rigorous and furious notes. I don't know how I managed to remain so present and aware while writing so much, but man am I thankful for it. I've decided to take a day to digest many of the sentiments and to review my notes so that I can best convey their messages to you all, here. My hope is that you will get even a small piece of the inspiration I'm feeling. I walked away with a super rad energy (seriously, women rock) and it needs to be shared!! You're gonna love it, I promise :)

But for now, I want to share one mini (and probably the most meaningful for me) story of the evening....

I basically attended this event for 2 main reasons;

1. Because my big life change I've been hinting at the past few months (I swear I'll tell you soon!) will include me continuously exploring these types of events; it will be crucial to my "coaching" to always be a student myself.

2. I wanted to see Gabby Bernstein speak. 

I've read Gabby's books and listen to her meditations on a regular basis; to say she has influenced my current good-vibes nature is a huge understatement. I owe a lot to her positive teachings and am very grateful for all of the messages she pumps out to her audience and to the world in general. It's actually on her site herfuture.com that a piece I wrote for The Grateful Life was first featured on "Blogs We Dig"...and then 2 more pieces got selected afterwards! I'm a huge, huge fan of Gabby's. I am a Spirit Junkie (her incredibly endearing name for her fans) to the core.

So, I walked into TEDxFiDi and immediately saw her across the room. I decided to try and not be a complete groupie (my love of Penny Lane is urging me to call myself a "band aid") and I said to myself OK, here's the deal, you came here to see her speak...don't force meeting her. If it's meant to happen, it will happen. Deep breath. Just be thankful to be in the presence of all these awesome women! The Universe has got your back here. Please believe me when I say I literally thought these exact words in my mind...I can be such a dork when it comes to meeting folks I admire that I genuinely considered it may be for the best if I don't embarrass myself in front of her :)

Then I found an open chair in the audience, turned my phone on silent, took a deep breath and began reviewing the evening program. A few moments later as the first speaker was about to begin I looked to my right to see who had just sat down next to me....

...and just about fell off my seat when I saw Gabby's face.

"Hi, I'm Gabby!" she beamed.

"Hi, I'm Trish!...yes, oh goodness, I know exactly who you are and...(enter the tears)...I am so, so honored to meet you...", I fumbled to reply.

Yes folks, I teared up meeting one of my favorite role models. I couldn't even make through one whole sentence before the water works began. Are we really that surprised, though? Probably not. (hint: I'm a crier).

Gabby immediately threw her arms around me and said "Oh my gosh! I love you, you're so cute!"

Me (still teary and blushing): "You always picture these kinds of moments, where you get to meet someone you greatly admire and you hope that the perfect thing comes to you to say and I've gotta tell you...I've got nothing...besides thank you and these ridiculous tears!"

Gabby, still with her arm around me: "That's perfect! I love it! It's so genuine, it's great to meet you."

The first speaker then began her talk and so my moment with Gabby ended in us sharing a laugh over my dork status...tho I did manage to reintroduce myself during the first intermission without any tears. She was equally as kind then :)

I also got to briefly speak with Ms. Bernstein again at the end of the evening (where she very graciously agreed to read some of my writing if I emailed her...I mean really, how cool is that?) and I am excited to attend a lecture/book signing with her tomorrow at the Ferry Building (a fave author in a fave SF landmark? Sign me up!). She also introduced me to a couple of other Spirit Junkies living in SF and I'm stoked to explore the possibility of new friendships with them...their energies were totally synced with mine and while I don't wanna get ahead of myself, I think it'd be awesome to be kind of like Spirit Junkie cheerleaders for one another. I've said it before and I'll say it again; women operate on a different frequency than men. When we come together...wow, watch out. Sisterhoods are where it's at.

I am so, so grateful for this evening. Really. Just so humbled.

More to come!

Beyond,

Trish

me and Gabby.... Spirit Junkies!

two of my tweets made it up on the wall! pretty sweet :)