Day 89: Sherry Buffington
”Back in the 80s when Richard Bach wrote the book Illusions, he asserted that as long as we’re alive we still have a mission to fulfill and potential to realize, and I agree with that. I suspect I’ll be exploring my potential until the day I die, and I hope we all will. In my opinion, we’re either growing or declining, and I choose to grow. And I hope most other people do too.”
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Toni Reece: Sherry, thank you so much for agreeing to be part of the interviews, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Sherry Buffington: Yes, I certainly can. I’m Dr. Sherry Buffington. I am the proprietor of the company NaviCore International, Incorporated and also the creator and co-developer of the assessment tool for analysis, the CORE Multidimensional Awareness Profile. I am the author of several books, Who’s Got the Compass? I Think I’m Lost! and the other that’s out on the market right now is The Law of Abundance.
Toni: Well thank you so much. When you think of the word inspiration, Sherry, who do you inspire and how do you think you do that?
Sherry: Well, I set out on a purposeful journey back in 1976 to inspire people to live a more joyful and positive life, and so I’ve been working at that purposefully for a while. That occurred as the result of, back during the Bicentennial year, again, 1976, reading the Henry David Thoreau quote that stated “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” At the time I read that, I knew it was true for me and for just about everybody else I knew, and that just wasn’t all right with me. So I began a lifelong quest that literally has been lifelong.
Over the years I’ve had the great fortune to have many people let me know that I’ve inspired them — my children, my husband, my mother, my friends, my clients — and I’m so grateful to have had that opportunity. And they inspire me, too, so it feels like a mutual admiration society.
Toni: How do you go about that? How do you inspire them?
Sherry: Well, I began where I believe potential lives, and that’s right at the core of an individual’s being. My firm belief and many years of working with people have validated for me over and over again is that we all came into the world perfectly equipped to fully live the life we dream of living. Nature gives us just what we need to accomplish what we long to accomplish if we’re being true to ourselves.
So that’s where I begin. I think many of us get lost along the way. I know I did. I stayed lost for the first 32 years of my life trying to please other people or trying to meet the expectations of the world. And if we can just get back to that core place, then from there comes happiness, comes joy, comes satisfaction; when we can just get back to that original place.
That’s where I typically begin is helping people discover that core piece, that central part of themselves, their true authentic self, and get back to it.
Toni: When you’re working with people or you’re doing this — I would imagine in any type of a relationship you can do this with — how you do think that then helps to explore the potential in others?
Sherry: Our passion lives at the core of our being. Our passion lives within our authenticity. And when we are functioning from an authentic place with passion, then we can move forward. Passion gives us so much self-motivation and so much; it is inspiration.
Toni: Our passion is our inspiration?
Sherry: Oh, absolutely. We are inspired by, we are driven by, we focus. It is passion that allows us to go the extra mile that allows us to work 10 hours straight and not realize we worked 10 hours, to do what we do and accomplish a great many things without effort.
Toni: You know, I just had a thought as I’m listening to you, Sherry. When you’re working with someone, sometimes do you think people are confused with working towards their passion or working out of desperation?
Sherry: Oh, absolutely. In fact, many people confuse passion with interest, even. Interest and passion are two different things. I’m interested in a lot of things that I don’t have any passion for.
So yes, many times we do things out of duty, and we assume that because we’re doing it out of duty — and that is the conditioned part — that we’re doing something we’re passionate about. Maybe we’re passionate about taking care of our children, for example, and that is a passion, but that is not passionate work; that is a passion of cause.
Toni: I see. How do you get them to differentiate between the two? The duty part I think would be easier, but if it’s passion or interest, is that part of what you do is to unravel the difference there for people?
Sherry: Yes. I’ll give you an example. I have an interest in photography and, as a hobby, I enjoy going out and doing it. Many years ago, I tried to do that as a profession and much of the interest disappeared because I had turned it into my work. Many times people look at things they’re interested in and say “Well, I have a passion for that.” Well, only to a certain degree. A life passion is much bigger than an interest. It’s much more … it drives us further and deeper and broader than an interest.
Toni: So someone that’s working on their interest, thinking all along that that’s what they’re passionate about, working with you they may find out that that’s really not where the passion lies. And when they go in the direction of where their passion lies, things and doors may open up a little wider for them.
Sherry: Doors do open up a little wider. And the other valuable part of that is that they become more focused. We’re interested in lots of things. Most of us have wide interests, so if we confuse the two and we start chasing interests, now we have multiple things that are getting our attention, and we’re not focused. And when we’re not focused, we don’t get very far.
Toni: When you are looking for inspiration for yourself, Sherry, what do you need to be inspired?
Sherry: I’m inspired by a lot of things, but I’m always inspired by the pure joy I see in children. I just love little children before they ever get to the place of being conditioned, because they’re so true to themselves and they’re so authentic. And that innocence and that honesty is just so beautiful to me.
I also see that in elderly people that have gained the wisdom over the years to let go of all the games that people play and get back to being authentic. They just quit playing the games, and they say “You know what? I’m going to be who I am.” And I think that’s beautiful.
I’m also inspired by nature, and I think maybe for the same reason. Nature is pure and perfect and free of pretense. It just is what it is.
Toni: Are there tools or resources that you might reach for when you know that it’s time … “Okay, it’s my time. I’m looking for a little inspiration here. I need to fill that bucket up.” What do you tend to reach for?
Sherry: I have a very large library of books by some really great authors. I’m an avid reader, so I tend to turn to inspirational books more than anything when I’m wanting to fill my own bucket, or I go and play with one of my grandchildren; they always lighten my mood.
Toni: It does, doesn’t it? Now, when you are looking and you’re going through your own moments of inspiration or you’re feeling inspired, then what do you do to explore your own potential?
Sherry: You know, I’ve been exploring my potential for 35 years. Like I said, I started back in my early 20s looking and not finding and realizing how lost we are when we aren’t living up to our full potential. We’re not very happy when we’re not living up to our potential. And I still am. I find that I have a long ways to go.
Back in the 80s when Richard Bach wrote the book Illusions, he asserted that as long as we’re alive we still have a mission to fulfill and potential to realize, and I agree with that. I suspect I’ll be exploring my potential until the day I die, and I hope we all will. In my opinion, we’re either growing or declining, and I choose to grow. And I hope most other people do too.
As far as what I do, it’s mostly just looking at what I’m capable of, looking historically, looking backwards and saying “What have I done? In what areas of my life have I really accomplished something? Where does my passion lie? What does all the things I’ve pursued over the years, what do they have in common?”
Within that commonality is so much potential. And I don’t believe most people even begin to realize how much potential they have until they start looking historically and start saying “Okay, when I have accomplished something really grand?” And we all have; we forget that we do. Sometimes they seem really small to us.
In fact, I often run into people who have such wonderful gifts. I have a son that’s an outstanding artist, and he doesn’t see that as an accomplishment because he has so much potential around it. Sometimes we look at our greatest potential and we discount it because it’s so easy to do.
Toni: Did you go through a moment where you were searching and working on your own potential where you said “You know what, this was what I was interested in, but that wasn’t my passion.” Did you have that breakthrough moment yourself that allowed you to come into your own potential to know the direction to go?
Sherry: Yes. Again, photography was one of those areas that I was interested in. I went through a period of time about 12 years that I was just trying things. “Okay, this seems interesting, I’ll try that. Okay, this self-help guru says that this is the path to go, so I’ll try that.” I was trying many things, running down many paths, because there was an interest in those paths but no passion really.
And I had to go down quite a few dead ends and end up going “Oops, this isn’t it”, to back up and then start looking at “Okay, what do all those have in common?” It really brought me back to that realization is that my passion is bigger than any particular job or any particular profession. My passion is really moving people to a higher level, moving them away from desperation and toward joyous celebration. I just think life should be lived as a celebration, not as moving away from something we’re trying to avoid.
Toni: When you are sharing all of this with us and the people who are going to read this and hear what you’ve said, you’ve given a great lesson today just in this short interview on really understanding what is the difference between interest and passion and what you went through in order to get there — and then also what you need for inspiration and how you explore your own potential. And I’m wondering if there is a direct correlation between what you’ve been through to what you do now?
Can you see that direct connection between your own history and what you’re trying to do with others and the tools and techniques and how you do that? Can you see that pretty clearly?
Sherry: Yes, and I think that’s true for most people. Because I spent so many years of my life lost and running down the wrong paths and searching for myself, who I was supposed to be when I grew up, even at 32 I’m trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.
I think for many of us our passion evolves from our experiences. I’ve seen that with lots of people that I’ve worked with that, until we experience something, until we know from a heart and soul place with passion that there’s a need there and that we can help to fulfill that need, I think we all to some degree or another have a passion for making a difference in people’s lives.
That passion often evolves partially from our natural authentic place, the way we choose to approach that change. Helping people to improve their lives comes from our authentic self. But that bigger piece is the human piece of wanting to make a difference, wanting life to be better for ourselves and for other people. And sometimes we have to experience — and most often, I believe — we have to experience that need or that pain in order to … and move through it in order to know that other people can do the same thing.
Toni: Sherry, you have given us many gifts of insight today on this interview and for that we are incredibly grateful. And I know that we will post at the bottom of your interview how people can get a hold of you. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me and for others who are going to read and listen to this interview. It’s been amazing, and thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge today.
Sherry: Thank you so much, Toni, it was my pleasure and my privilege to talk with you.
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For more information about Sherry Buffington: www.coremap.com
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