I’ve Come Full Circle After Publishing My Third Book

On August 8, 2022, at the peak of the Lion’s Gate Portal and one day before my nation, Singapore’s National Day, I self-published my third book —?My Blue Lotus and Me: A gentle dance with my Higher Self, on Amazon Kindle.?A few days later, I created my first book series on Amazon with all three books and named it the?Practicing Gentleness series.

It’s fascinating to self-reflect and realize that I’ve come full circle, both in my solopreneur and parenting journeys, since I wrote and published my first book in November 2019.

Here are my full-circle journeys.

Starting as a parent and solopreneur

My husband and I were content with raising a family of two boys. Being pregnant with my third son in 2017 caught me by surprise. I knew then that I needed to be gentle with myself to thrive as a mother, or I could easily fall into depression.

After I gave birth to my third son in Nov 2017, I followed my intuition and signed on for a one-year online business mastermind program with my authentic business mentor,?George Kao.?Being in George’s program motivated me to keep refining my business core message through sharing posts on practicing gentleness. I would hold my calm baby while recording videos about my healing philosophy. It was the perfect combination for a healing experience. Soon, as my baby got much more active, I had to face the very intimidating near future of needing to deal with three rambunctious boys!

My parenting and solopreneur journeys led me to write and self-publish my first book — Empower Your Life with Gentleness: A Simple Guide to Feeling Safe and Free to Be You. Even the process of writing and self-publishing my book was already clearly outlined for me through my mentor George’s online course.

The journey

In business

When the pandemic came in early 2020, the idea of being gentle with yourself became much more popular.?I got inspired to interview writers, healers, coaches, and creatives worldwide on the theme of practicing gentleness. I became bolder in sharing my core message on gentleness and started calling myself a Gentleness Ambassador.

As I connected with more writers on Medium, I created a new?publication called Gentleness Ambassadors?and invited fellow writers to share their stories of gentleness.

I offer Human Design chart readings to show my clients how they can be sensitive to external environments, such as people, physical places, and events.?My Human Design publication?is filled with actual Human Design case studies and interviews with fellow sensitive solopreneurs doing their sacred work.

Looking back, I was busy building a community of friends and experts who intentionally practice gentleness. I sought people who would amplify and mirror gentle vibes back to me.

In June 2022, George taught us his updated course — The Blog to Book Strategy. The author in me got fired up again through this course, but I swung between two options: write a new edition of my first book or write a third book about my dance journey.

In self-care

Launching this first book into the world set off profound shifts within me. In my first book, I shared the idea of how we need to keep processing our thoughts and feelings intuitively, such as through dancing, singing, and writing. Following my book’s advice, I started writing on Medium and ventured into a once-familiar world of dance, an old passion I stopped pursuing after I became a mother.

As the world seemed crazier, I sought solace through dancing and writing. I met even more friends and mentors who helped me immerse more deeply into my creative pursuits.

My first book’s title — Empower Your Life With Gentleness, became a self-fulfilling prophecy for me. I truly felt more empowered by seeking inspiration and connection through Gentleness!

In parenting

It was tiring being a mom who wanted to practice gentle parenting but always swung between permissive and authoritative parenting.

For a long time, I saw my three kids as the primary source of harshness in my life, but I felt guilty for even having this thought. As I devoted more time and energy to my business and later on to my passions in dance and writing, I disconnected more from my kids.

It was the biggest irony since I wrote this first book as a reminder to be gentler with my kids, too.

How I wrote my second and third books

2020 was a chaotic and stressful year for me due to the pandemic. I fell in love with writing poetry on Medium to comfort and reassure myself. Soon, there were enough poems to fill a short book titled — From the Womb of Gentleness. I approached my friend Yuanhui Chen, who illustrated the book cover for my first book, to illustrate my second book. She loved the essence of the poems so much that she added more whimsical illustrations to accompany most of the poems in the book.

As I dove into dancing more in 2021, my next dream was to publish my next book to share my dance journey. But this journey is so multi-layered and profound to me that I couldn’t bring myself to get the words out as quickly as before.

The Universe answered my prayers.

My third book idea came to me instead in mid-June 2022. This time, Yuanhui created a few potent artworks depicting the story of a little girl going on a magical adventure with a magical blue lotus flower.?She invited me to pen my story using her blue lotus drawings. I soon published my third book — My Blue Lotus and Me: A gentle dance with my Higher Self, in early August 2022.?It’s a miracle that my third book invited me to co-create it!

Coming Full Circle

This is the story of how I wrote and published three books.

In parenting

I’m coming full circle because I’m finally applying what I’ve learned in my Gentleness journey to my kids. I feel much more able and willing to hold a gentle, compassionate space for them.

Once I acknowledged how I saw my kids as my primary harshness and continued exploring it with some curiosity, my perspective shifted. My kids are adorable and mischievous. I simply needed to find ways to enjoy my time with them. That can easily be changed.

No appropriate parenting resources were available to me when I first became a mom. But this time, I’ve found two parenting coaches from my authentic business mastermind group —?Sofie Hon and?Colleen Adrian. They practice gentle parenting and can deeply empathize with my parenting challenges as a Highly Sensitive Person and Empath. After taking proper care of myself, it also felt much easier to seek help from them.

After deep reflection, guidance, inspiration from various resources, and experimentation, I no longer see my kids as a source of Harshness. I feel so much love for them, and it’s easier for me to be gentler with my kids when they act out.

In business

After publishing these three books and focusing mainly on giving Human Design chart readings, I am returning to offering energy healing sessions again.

Collectively, it feels like we can all benefit from having someone holding a safe space for us to unwind from our experiences and emerge with more focused intentions in our lives. The modality I’m trained in — The Wonder Method — is my favorite healing modality that embodies gentleness. I’d like to continue practicing this beautiful modality and hold a healing energetic space for sensitive solopreneurs.

I will be offering gentle movement sessions, too. Movement/Dance has helped me so much as an HSP and Empath. I’d love to offer quick tips to help my clients feel more alive in their bodies.

To add to this victory, my business mentor, George, wrote a beautiful reflection about Gentleness and tagged me to thank me for the inspiration! This means so much to me, George. Thank you for all that you do.

Closing thoughts

As a stay-home parent and online solopreneur, dismissing or forgetting our achievements is easy. It is vital to keep sharing what matters most to us, so we can keep walking our talk and refining our message.

I find it potent to physicalize my highest thoughts and beliefs by writing and publishing a book about it. Using my book to accelerate my personal growth, parenting, and business journeys is even more powerful. I am most grateful that publicly sharing my message helped me attract many amazing friends, colleagues, and mentors.

I hope you will keep expressing yourself authentically and?let your message be your guiding North Star.

This article was originally published on Medium on 29 August 2022.