How to Live Your Dream
Lifestyle expert and renaissance woman Phyllis Bowie recently blessed the BlackFemaleProject community with her “Living your Dream Life” workshop, a finely-crafted self-care experience, guided by art and music, in which Phyllis arms her audience with tactics for tapping into their desires for their own lives and for self-preservation in the midst of busy contemporary lives. Phyllis believes deeply in the non-negotiable importance of prioritizing one’s self; in the absence of this, she says, it becomes nearly impossible to keep other areas of life in order. Her most powerful evidence of this is her own life; she’s observed that if she does not take the time to invest in herself, she starts to drop other commitments, whereas when she takes the proactive measures toward self-sustaining, her commitment to her work and supporting others feels far more sustainable as well.
The tone of “Living Your Dream Life” was a refreshing departure from the typical workshop or seminar. Participants were instructed to wear comfortable lounge-style clothing, sat on the floor barefoot, and spent much of the time relaxing as Phyllis took them on a spiritual journey. Eliminating the formalities and unstated rules of more traditional environments allows the exchange to feel more like a coffee table chat than a classroom exchange, says Phyllis. Participants’ accounts of the workshop back up this theory and speak to the transformative power of the space. “[“Living Your Dream Life”] aided in the work of tapping into my deeper feelings around my experiences,” said participant April Fenall. “I'd forgotten how truth-revealing the question can be when asked; how did it make you feel?” Another participant, Che Abram, described the experience as “A true check to deprogram from societal norms and scripts. Empowering!”
BlackFemaleProject is grateful to have had Phyllis share her powerful gifts with our community. In the words of Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence; it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Learn more about Phyllis’s work and how you can get on the path toward living your dream life at her website, Living With Phyllis.
Blog Contributor Dana Fitchett interviewed Phyllis Bowie in California where they both reside and contribute to the vibrant creative atmosphere.