Day 193: Lois Hobart

April 11, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“I was listening to somebody on television the other day saying you come up to a crossroads and there are four ways you can go – you can go ahead, you can go to the left, you can go to the right, you can go backwards.  And he said ‘Oh wait, there is a fifth choice – you can choose to stay right where you are.’  And so, not doing anything is also a choice of choosing not to choose.  And then my only backup to that is whatever you choose, you own the consequences and the results.  So if you choose to go nowhere, five years from now where do you think you’re going to be?”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Lois, for agreeing to part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Lois Hobart: Absolutely.  My name is Lois Hobart.  I am Chicago’s Dream Coach, and I am in Chicago, Illinois.

Toni: And thank you so very much for being here.  Lois, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?

Lois: For a long time, I certainly wasn’t sure that I inspired anybody.  However, by living in my own truth and walking my own walk these days, I hopefully feel that I inspire everyone just by being who I am and living on purpose and being someone of integrity.  So as I move through my life and achieve all of my dreams, I think that inspiration just exudes out of me, exudes out of all people who are happy, and people kind of catch it and want to know “Tell me more.”

Toni: So it’s really almost a contagious inspiration.

Lois: I’d like to think so.  I mean, certainly there are those who have said “Gee, I know that you studied this or did that or had this experience in your career; tell me more about that,” and we’ll sit down and speak specifically.  But as far as people especially who are just in a slump, and they’ll see somebody like me who … I’ve had my slumping times, and you just get up and go.  And when you have this focus and drive behind you and know where you’re going to go, that is contagious.

Toni: How do you think by having that drive and that attitude about yourself that you’re setting as an example for others?  How do you think that helps them to explore their own potential?

Lois: I would totally hope that they’d say “Well my gosh, if she can do it, I can do it.”  I am not a shrinking violet.  I used to be.  I mean, I talk to people and I say “Oh, I was such a beige girl in my youth.”  I was just quiet and good and shy, and it changed because I didn’t want to be that anymore, and I had to … I was willing to do the big work for myself, and found some ways that I now can express to others through my Dream Coaching that makes it easier for everybody to tap into that inner juice.

Toni: And by doing so, what happens?  What happens if I tap into that, and what happens to my process of trying to reach my potential?  Can you give us an example?

Lois: I would say that it truly is a process, and sometimes it feels like you’re not getting anywhere, but it’s chiseling away at it bit by bit or looking at that 800-pound gorilla and realizing the only way to eat it is one bite at a time, so little bites, little baby steps, and you turn around somewhere on the journey and you go “Oh my gosh, look how far I’ve come!”

So it really is very transitional, and it’s not any big “Today I’m going to wake up and I’ll be a size 6.”  That’s not going to happen.  You know, there’s no magic to it, but it’s a plan that’s workable, and it’s got the best of everything in it because it’s all you, and you bring the best of your self-worth.

Toni: Lois, when you think of yourself and what you need to be inspired, what comes to mind?  What inspires you?

Lois: I find that I can get inspired everywhere.  If I keep my heart open and I keep my mind open, I think that every single thing and every single person offers something inspiring for me to observe or … I don’t want to say “take” as in remove it from them, but to enrich me, whether it’s something in nature or in other people or in architecture or art.  I think inspiration is everywhere.  I mean, I can even look at the dust on my windowsills and say “Okay, I’m inspired to clean now!”

Toni: Yeah, there you go!

Lois: I think it’s how you choose to look at it, and it’s, again, just turning that little knob in your head and saying “Okay, I’m going to see what’s great in everything.”

Toni: You mentioned earlier that it’s a process, the work that you do, and that you chose to go through that process and do that heavy lifting yourself.

Lois: Right.

Toni: A lot of people that listen to the Get Inspired! Project interviews are either in that process themselves of looking for their purpose or they’re working it now.  Have you … you’ve already stated that you haven’t always been this way, so what happened?  Was there an “ah-ha” moment for you?  Was it an evolution that you came to this?  Because there’s a lot of people that are in that transition right now, and they don’t know what their purpose is.  So how did it happen for you?

Lois: Well I would say that there is an actual process called “The Purpose Hunt” that’s part of the Dream Coaching process where I learned through a gentleman called Tim Kelley, who all he does is purpose work.  He is phenomenal, and he has taught all of the certified Dream Coaches how to do this on a much smaller scale than what he can do in depth, but what I can do with folks, and I’ve done the process myself a couple of times is … it’s a talking project.

It involves guided meditations, it involves getting in touch with your trusted source within you, whether that’s a higher power or someone from your past who’s gone, you know, and you can achieve communication with them through prayer or meditation or dreams, and just listening or finding out what were those times in life where you were recognized for something fabulous that you did.  And it could be you won a foot race when you were in third grade and how that felt.  It’s not what you did but how you felt, and build on that so you can find ways to continue that kind of very positive feeling for yourself.

So for someone who doesn’t know what their purpose is, and I’d have to say that most people don’t, so it’s really easy to say most people are walking around saying “Well, this is what I’m supposed to do; this is my job.”  And I would say “Can you tell me that again and sound a little more happy about it?”

“Well no, this is what I do.”

“Well, how would it feel if we unearthed what it is you were meant to do?  Why are you here?”

I actually took my book group through this process two weeks ago.  They were shocked.  I broke them into twos and sat them around my living room, and some people were like “I don’t want to do … I don’t want to work with her.”  And I thought, well, you know, I think the people that you most bristle over are the ones you absolutely must work with.  I didn’t tell them that.  And they were … each duo was given a set of questions to work through, and you ask me and then I ask you.  And at the end of the evening, both parties in each dyad had really come to a new awakening of each as individuals and of themselves, and it was pretty amazing.

One woman said “I really know I was put on this planet to be a mother.”  That was beautiful, and I would say it’s my next door neighbor, and I’d watched her for 22 years, and she’s done a fabulous job, but she really felt that in her gut that even for all of her education and the career she’s had, this is why she was put here.

Mine … my purpose is to serve and to serve with energy, light, and spirit.  And I was a little shocked and awed that all those great adjectives came along with it when I unearthed it and I thought “Nope, I’m going to step into it and be that energy and be that light and be a spirited person.”  And, you know, I’m kind of a large Nordic person with white hair that just grows there, so I’m kind of hard to ignore.  It was like, so bring it along with you, you know?

Toni: Well I think that’s the point.  The point that you make as far as you were surprised at the words that were associated with when you did the work what you were meant to do.  But then I think the critical point there is to step into it.  And so people may take it as far as the realization, but it’s walking into it that seems to be where the hardest work is, is to actually walk through the resistance and walk in it.

Lois: Absolutely.  But it’s a choice.

Toni: It sure is.

Lois: You know, this is a time of change.  I mean it’s been politically around us for several years already but, you know, this is the time for change – and change is hard.  Change is hard, but it can also be really exciting.  And I think staying where you are is harder, especially if you’re not happy so, you know, just stick your toe in the water, see what’s there.  People change, and they don’t often die from it.

You know, I was listening to somebody on television the other day saying you come up to a crossroads and there are four ways you can go – you can go ahead, you can go to the left, you can go to the right, you can go backwards.  And he said “Oh wait, there is a fifth choice – you can choose to stay right where you are.”

And so, not doing anything is also a choice of choosing not to choose.  And then my only backup to that is whatever you choose, you own the consequences and the results.  So if you choose to go nowhere, five years from now where do you think you’re going to be?

Toni: Right, absolutely.  And on those days, Lois, that you may wake up and go “Oh, you know, I could use a little inspiration myself”, do you find yourself reaching for the same tools or methods consistently more than others?

Lois: Gee, it’s hard to say.  I vacillate.  Sometimes I’ll go for a walk.  The same tools … my favorite place of inspiration for me is the swimming pool.  I love to swim.  I solve all the problems of the world when my face is in the water.  It’s a wonderful meditative time.

I find my inspiration comes when I can block out all of the chatter – turn off the radio, turn off the TV, take off the iPod, and just let life be there.  Quiet times, outdoors.  I find inspiration by watching children.  I live in Chicago, so it’s easy for me to walk to a park or to the schoolyard and watch kids just being children.  Often I will journal.  I find myself doing that at my computer, though, which ends up not always being the most free-flowing thing because it’s still in a beige box, which bothers … I need to paint my computer.

But yes, I do try to find all kinds of different ways to inspire me.  Sometimes it’s gardening or even cleaning the house.

Toni: And the final question of the project, Lois, is what do you do to explore your own potential?

Lois: I am blessed to live a very busy and active life, and I have my fingers in a lot of different pies in Chicago, so to get inspired or to explore my own potential, excuse me, I need to get quiet.  Sometimes just sitting in a rocker in my living room alone.  I love it when my husband goes out to do errands, because then I know I can do that.  Or to sit in my garden in the evening.  Swimming helps me explore my own potential, and I’m a big theater lover, so I love to go to the theater and just sit in the dark and see what happens and get ideas from there.

I also, because I’ve done the Dream Program myself, I know what my dreams are and I’m working it.  So right now, my big dream is that by 2011, I plan to be doing Dream Coaching on cruise ships, because I love to be on the water.

Toni: So that is your dream for next year is to get out there and do that for others while everybody is on the water?

Lois: Right, and that’s exploring my potential.  I mean, because I’ve sort of laid out this path of what I want to accomplish, and I need to revisit after I’m on that cruise ship “Okay, now what?”  But I think that creating that plan and then working toward it your potential keeps opening.  Every once in a while I go “Oh my gosh, look what I’m doing!  Look what I’m doing.”

Toni: And how cool is it that you do that for yourself on a consistent basis so that you can guide people and help them do that for themselves, and that’s pretty cool how that comes full circle.

Lois: Well, thanks.  Yes, it is, but you know what?  I have to say, Toni, if I didn’t do it that way I would be out of integrity, and that’s just not acceptable to me anymore.

Toni: Fantastic, fantastic.  Well Lois, thank you so very much for being part of the Project today.  We really appreciate it, and I know that people will have the opportunity to read or see a website at the bottom of our interview, and we really appreciate you today.  Thank you so much.

Lois: Oh, my pleasure.  My company is called Reflective Beings, and I look forward to having people listen to this.  Thank you.

Toni: Thank you.  Take care, Lois.

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For more information about Lois Hobart:  www.reflectivebeings.com

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