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Kori Gouge

Transformational Alchemist | Writer

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inspiration

How stories, surrender, and self-acceptance lead you to success

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Stories have the power to move us, inspire us, and capture us. When you shift your focus to one of curiosity and surrender, you can start to change your story.

 

Let me share a story about one of my favorite musicians to show you how he did it.

 

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite bands, LCD Soundsystem, perform in concert. Their music is raw and refined, their lyrics are real, their love of music is contagious.

 

What I love about LCD Soundsystem is the band’s frontman, James Murphy. His band has had tremendous success, which is a career that he never expected to have.  He’s described himself as a complete failure until his late-20’s.  By the end of the 90s, he had failed first as a singer and then as a drummer, eventually giving up bands to work as a sound engineer at concerts and build his own studio in New York (quoted from this interview). But that was just the beginning really. 

 

Failure meant do something different. He committed to making music better and consistently challenging himself.

 

He is real and honest. He hasn’t let fame get to his head. In one of my favorite interviews with him, he shares the value of self-acceptance and failure. He also talks about moving from analysis to action.

 

I’ve selected some of my favorite quotes from the interview to share with you:

 

“I know a lot of people who are really talented and interesting but they don’t know failure and I think it makes me different. I wasn’t trying to stick with it until it worked. I’d already accepted it wasn’t going to work.”

I love this quote because it was in the place of surrender where he was open to doing something different. It was after that, that things started working in a way he could not have imagined.

 

“Why am I not just doing these things I want to do? Why am I sitting around moaning about how things aren’t the way I want them to be when I should just f*ing do it?

David Holmes was a real role model in a way. He just does things. He’s got balls. I was like, ‘I’ll practice with my band for six months before we’ll play a show and you don’t even play an instrument and you’re making your third album! I’m an idiot.

And that was a real epiphany – putting my money where my mouth was. It seems simple but it was revelatory.”

This quote epitomizes the power of action over analysis. Step out of the comfort zone, step toward your dreams, stop whining and do your best to make it happen.

 

“I realized that all we had to do to be cool was to do what we wanted.” He expresses the freedom that comes from not worrying what anyone else thinks and not trying to please others. This, to me, demonstrates that when you are authentically yourself, you are naturally attractive.

 

Knowing more about James’ struggles and his dedication to not only improving music but also improving himself makes me respect him and his music even more.

 

I was completely energized by the music, the band, and the crowd. I danced like no one was watching. I lit up inside and it showed.

 

All of this reinforced to me the realization that you are not in this alone. The majority of people who have achieved a high level of success have had their share of failures. From those failures, they were invited to explore a new way of being, doing,  and seeing.

 

It also helped me recognize more and more the power of surrender. In that place you open yourself up to new opportunities and possibilities as you release your attachment to the way it “should” be. You start to trust it is all working out in a way that is beyond what you could have imagined. That is where you will experience a new kind of freedom. The freedom to be truly you, to follow what lights you up, and to trust the path ahead of you is taking you exactly where you need to go.

 

What lights you up? What can you do to tap into that more consistently?

Who do you admire? What is it about them that inspires you? What can you do to put that inspiration into action?

 

I’d love to hear your answers to these questions. Allow yourself to step into moments of honest self-reflection – that is where the good stuff lies.

 

Cheering you on,

 

Kori

Coming Alive Doesn’t Have to Mean Coming Undone

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Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

― Howard Thurman

We are officially into November and quickly approaching 2017. Sometimes this final stretch can incite a sense of urgency in us and we start to push ourselves even harder. Or perhaps I’m just speaking for me.

It was 9pm on Halloween night. I was sitting alone in my house, eating a dark chocolate covered peanut butter cup and some chocolate covered pretzels. I was starting to feel the burn. The burn of building a business on my own, putting my heart and soul into it, praying for a sign that I’m on the right track and coaching myself to act and feel as if anyway.

Building a business is not for the faint of heart. It can feel like an emotional roller coaster. This is what I am working on trying to even out. I want to maintain the drive, the curiosity for how to do it differently and better, and the passion in both the highs and lows. When there are lows, I want to see them as opportunities for refinement and readjustment. With the highs, I want to be better at celebrating them, no matter how small. Above all, I want to remind myself why I chose this road to begin with. This work is important. I strongly believe in what I’m doing. I want to help more people discover and rediscover their own genius and brilliance and joy.

I also need to make sure I’m taking care of myself in the process, which, in addition to exercise and mindset work, includes time to rest and eat dark chocolate.

Many of us operate from a place of doubt and uncertainty, mainly about ourselves and our gifts. When we spend time in this place, many of our actions and decisions are based on fear. We lose or give our power away. We forget that we were born with endless possibilities and a wild imagination. We forget how incredibly powerful we are.

I imagine a world where every person is tuned into their unique talents, skills, strengths, and interests. A world where people are alive and are working how they best work. Where people are surrounded by a community of support that is encouraging them on their journey. Where people value themselves and their time and so they take good care of their physical and mental health, their intellectual and spiritual world, and invest in their relationship with themselves. This is not a pipe dream. This is a very real reality. This is what I am called to do and what I helping others do, so that they can then help others as well. Living and working on my terms and assisting others live and work on their terms can start to make this reality the new norm.

How do I do this? I work with my clients to remove the barriers that are keeping them stuck so that they can get clear on what they really want. We work on the mindset needed to shift from where they are to where they want to be. We create a plan of inspired actions based on well-informed decisions and from that place, move them closer to the life they desire. Embedded in all of this is expert support and high-level accountability to ensure they are equipped with the tools, the skills, the mindset, the practices, and the community to keep them on their chosen path.

I believe, as Howard Thurman so eloquently stated, that the world needs people who have come alive. That is our work here – to find what makes us come alive and do more of that each day. And in between, seeking solace in the slow spells and support for our journey onward.

What can you do today to come alive?  The world will thank you.

 

Sending you love and light,

 

Kori

 

P.S. If you’re ready for high-level support, check out my new program: The Breakthrough Sessions! Then sign up for your free clarity call to discuss what working together looks like.