My first personal experience of being involved in any kind of real entertaining, took place in Aviemore. It was also my first professional gig playing in a trio fresh out of music college. People were slowly coming out of the restaurant passing us to leave....obviously our potential audience, I quickly realised! "I hope you're coming back later." I quipped. "You don't want to be missing the knobbly knees competition." Several people began asking what time it was being held. I realised my mouth had engaged before my brain!
Anyway, with a full bar, somehow or other, the knobbly knees contest took place with great success (talk about winging it!). The manager asked if we could change it to another night because Saturday was their check in day! I clearly recall saying we'd think of something else to provide some extra entertainment. The knobbly knees competition didn’t seem appropriate in the venue we were working in.
That experience was a huge lesson for me... realising the power of our words and how they can potentially transform people's lives.
40 years later, I can look back over my career so far and see how much my interacting has warmed me to my audience. I say that confidently because there was a period of around 3 months when I didn't speak to them AT ALL. I couldn't speak to them would be nearer the truth. The consequences of that were that I had made myself unavailable. Not one person approached the piano…..or of course it was just one massive coincidence!
I played the piano, sang and went to bed. Why, you might well ask? I was involved in a relationship which went disastrously wrong.
When I slowly (very!) began to get back to my normal self, I realised for the first time in my life what it’s like going through the day without any confidence....pretty grim!
What a fabulous feeling it was as I began to connect with my audience once more.
That period in my life became the catalyst for me to be drawn to public speaking. It revealed what I'm now able to call "my story."
Why do I want to bring this to the public stage? I want to share what I have learned in the hope that it will be able to help some people navigate their own lives a little easier. Maybe other people can relate to having very little confidence or courage. These qualities often go hand in hand and which I was blessed with in abundance. But I was only able to learn that after a period of having no confidence or courage at all.
My other big lesson was discovering my intuition and that however strange it felt, I must just pause and listen to it. What is it trying to tell me, to share? People talk about their gut feeling, having a hunch, a premonition. That’s our intuition. We ALL have it. It’s our 6th sense added to the other 5; hearing seeing, smell, taste and touch. I now use my intuition to guide me, to help me with my decision making. Some people believe intuition is our highest form of intelligence. Some who have known me for many years, ask if I fly around on a broom but that’s alright. I have my confidence and courage back and now know what my intuition is and what it feels like. I’ve learnt how it can help me and am now in a position to be able to share my story and my lessons. I can now finally be of service which brings me huge joy.
As an enormous, shiny P.S. when I travel, I ALWAYS have my piano to sing and play for any of my audiences. So if you ask, the answer is YES!