Hollie's LifeStory

I have just opened the first Christmas card to arrive in my mailbox this year. As I was reading the family’s card, recapping their year, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How would their lives be different if they approached living with their values first in mind?” And so I asked myself the same question, and I noticed a smile come across my face. In that moment, holding their card in my hand, I realized that this year I honoured my truth, my values and beliefs more than I ever have my entire life (except perhaps when I was six and finding rocks was very important to me).

I smiled because my heart was happy. These days, I have complete trust that my life is unfolding exactly as it should, because I have opened up to the potential that has always existed within me and I have chosen to live by my values. I have learned to allow my Light to shine.

But things were not always this way. It was ten short months ago when the book LifeManual danced into my life. It was January 31 st, to be exact. My wonderful friend (and now sister-in-law) told me about this new and fantastic book she had been given. She told me how it made such sense, how she felt free and that she now knew exactly what to do. She spoke about the book with such enthusiasm and energy that it was impossible for me not to want to feel the same passion she was expressing. The conversation lasted only a few minutes but within that time I knew I had to connect with this person, this whoever it was that wrote the book. She told me his name was Peter Thomas. It sounded like a nice enough name, but it meant nothing to me. I had no idea who Peter Thomas was or the magnificent business empire he had created. But I knew instantly that I needed to talk with him. I hadn’t even set eyes on the book and it was already influencing me.

As fast as I could hang up the phone, I was writing an email to this Peter person, whoever he was. My instinct was so strong that if I even attempted to deny this calling I figured I might implode. It was so very out of character for me, but I just had to do it. Now let’s just be clear on who I was ten months ago.

I was a pretty girl. I was smart and for the most part, quiet. I was 27 years old. I owned an interior & etheric design company that ran smoothly and easily, as it had since I founded it in 1998. And for the past 3 years of my life I had also lent my marketing skills to building a company that only half of my heart believed in. I yearned to somehow impact the world in a positive way, but didn’t have the guts to step out there and make it happen. I had a wonderful, supportive man in my life and I was engaged to be married and we already owned a home.

To the outside world looking in, my life seemed pretty rosy. After all, I had accomplished so much more than so many young women my age. But in my heart, I knew I was not living my full potential. I knew I had so much more to offer the world than I was currently giving. I felt like I was growing as a person but not at the catapulting level I believed I was capable of. To put it into strange and spiritual words, I felt as though I was not allowing my inner light to shine.

As I began to write that email to Peter, I felt my light beginning to shine. I felt as though it was a perfectly serendipitous moment designed just for me. I poured my heart out in that email, expressing my gratitude for the work Peter was doing, despite the fact that I had never laid eyes on the book yet. It felt like I was being catapulted already and it felt perfect. I clicked Send.

I ordered the book online and then I continued to surf the LifePilot.org website. Eventually I found Peter’s biography and began to read. My eyeballs popped out of my head with each new sentence that I read and soon enough I felt my hand raise up to smack myself on the forehead. This Peter Thomas character, as it turns out, was quite the high-profile man. He had accomplished amazing things and had shaped the world of business as we know it today – and I had just written a silly little email message to him! ‘What a fool you are!’ I thought to myself. My mind started to spin and questions and doubts came faster and faster, ‘What kind of a goof writes an email full of ‘I know this is meant to be’ to a big important, fancy business man?’ I imagined him reading the email and laughing at what some silly little girl had written to him, and then promptly hitting the Delete button – but before doing so, he would add my name to his Junk email list. My poor little ego was wounded already. Yet somehow, it still felt right in my heart. And so I waited for a reply.

The next morning I learned two things. First, the heart never lies. And second, Peter Thomas is very quick to respond to email! Through his email response, he helped me to see that it is safe to be me and to express my honest feelings, and act on what is valuable to me. In that moment when I opened his email, I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief and joy that I laughed out loud. Without even knowing it, I had just acted on what I was to learn were my values. How amazing that the message of the LifeManual book was already playing out in my life!

And so it was that on that morning of February 2nd at 7:26 AM that I decided to catapult myself forward by following my heart and my values. A few days later when I finally had the LifeManual book in my hands, this was exactly what Peter was asking us all to do.

LifeManual changed my life without a doubt. It made so much sense as I read it and did the activities – it was like I was remembering something about myself that had long been forgotten. My inner light was beginning to shine and I felt alive. I began telling everyone I knew and loved about this amazing book and I am certain that they began to see a transformation happening in me.

While it may sound ridiculous, I am almost positive that I now have completely different DNA than I did one year ago. I have rewritten my life path, or, rather, I have corrected my life path to allow me to live my full potential.

This year has been a stellar one for me on so many levels, and I have Peter and LifeManual to thank for kick-starting it – and the year isn’t even over yet!

I realized my personal values of Pure Love, 6 Senses, Creativity, True Beauty and Grace. And not only did I realize my values, but I began to arrange my life around them, instead of allowing my life to dictate my direction. For the first time ever, I went on a trip, just for me, purely to experience what it would be like to fully immerse myself in my values. I took time to see the beauty in all things. I allowed my heart to open and let Love inside in an even greater capacity. I started to nurture my creativity with writing and I listen to my intuition as my first guide now. I came to know that both Madonna and Winston Churchill sit on my personal board of virtual directors. I married one of the most magnificent and supportive human beings I have even encountered.

I set goals this year that would have been completely inconceivable to me ten short months ago. And not only that, but I have experienced the pleasure of crossing them off my list while singing out loud a resounding, “Done!”

With LifeManual as a starting point, I have found the power within me to catapult myself into the life I always knew I was meant to live. It was the first domino in a series of epic lessons that have reshaped my world. My heart is filled with purpose and Pure Love; and my inner Light is definitely shining!

Love & Gratitude, and big sparkly smiles,

Hollie Olivia Whitehead
Founder, Studio Director
Livvy Design Studio
Vancouver , BC
www.Livvy.com