The most overlooked benefit of volunteering at RPA – awakening your unique talent.

English: Concert Strings (05.05.08.06). This 2005 watercolor and ink wash was painted by James Pollock on stage as part of a unique collaboration event between the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and seven South Dakota Plein Air Artists. Copyright 2005 James Pollock. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you are a practitioner like myself, wanting to share your gifts to help others – it may not take long before you realize, that a full practice may take more than the skills of doing a session. There are the skills of networking, collaboration, digital and social media skills to remain connected and in touch with your clients. Fear of technology, anything online, lack of resources or just the sheer overwhelm may have stopped you from acquiring skills that would serve you and your practice. If you arrived to a new career path in healing work from a corporate background or at least a large organization, you may have taken ongoing learning and skills development for granted.   Learning may have taken place not only in formal training programs but also at the water cooler – spontaneous instances of sharing and learning from each other.

To keep up to date as a solo entrepreneur, you need to replace the type of learning opportunities that spontaneously occurred in a  work place environment with some other collaborative group.

While, a paid class can give you very specific results, I have found that what I have learned to date and continue to learn as a volunteer at RPA is invaluable.   It’s the learning between the spaces that has sparked my creativity, and keeps me in constant state of “I wonder” and “What if?” and developing new things. In 2005, we started our first teleseminar at RPA. My volunteer job was to co-host the event – something I had NEVER done over the phone. At the time, to be asked at the 11th hour to try to get it recorded using some new service I had never heard of pushed me to my growing edge. I can’t tell you how nervous I was. Maybe I’d get it wrong, maybe the quality wouldn’t be worth it. Maybe I would break my computer trying! However, I was motivated to contribute something worthwhile to our members at RPA and I was supported in an environment of encouragement and trust.

What that one experience did for me was to awaken my unique talent and gift to figure out how to use online programs to enrich my own. The constant exploration of that gift over the years for me has led to the development of many new services that reaches new client groups. I still experience a slight disconnect when others refer to me as a tech guru as I keep thinking of myself as a ‘newbie’. One thing that helps me to own what I have learned is to turn around and teach it to someone else and it gives me no greater pleasure than to share it with RPA volunteers.

At RPA – I give a great deal to colleagues who also want to collaborate for the benefit of this community. In the giving I am constantly awakening to another new talent within myself. It is an amazing exchange of energy that I warmly invite you to explore for yourself as a volunteer in some capacity here at RPA.

Here are a few ways to help.  Read them over and before you commit yourself,  email someone for more information and request a conversation:  

Join Joie Jacobsen, Gladys Murphy, Don Giberson, and Josephine Rovari at the Memberhip committee. They are looking for new ways to connect with members in 2013/2014 and develop a volunteer training program for members. Contact Joie at joiejm@yahoo.com

• Help plan the annual February online conference. It’s a collaborative effort of several board members ( lots and lots of fun here!) Contact Joie Jacobsen at joiejm@yahoo.com
• Help write and edit our Hall of Fame pages, or improve other website information and functions. Carolyn Winter at pastpresident@RPAMembers.org
• Assist Carolyn Winter at the Community Repatterning function at RPAmembers.org where we have the possibility of repatterning our group for professional goals on an ongoing basis. Help is needed with regular reminders, organizing regular events and doing follow up acknowledgments. Contact Carolyn Winter pastpresident@RPAMembers.org
• Join the remarkable Repatterning Journal team of Sally Herr and Nancy Martin, who brought our journal into an online blog format. Learn how to blog, and help us train other RPA members to do the same while generating stories and articles from members that expand the public awareness of the benefits of Resonance Repatterning. sallyy@maine.rr.com
•  Join the Summit Committee 2013 Contact  the committee summit@rpamembers.org
•  Discover your unique talent as a leader and join the RPA board. It is a two year commitment that comes with the support of leaders that came before you, in a coherent, environment of collaboration, growth and learning together. Help shape a vision for our future with your leadership participation. Contact President Karen Kent windsorholistichealth@gmail.com

What would you like to see the RPA do next? What would you like to contribute? What unique talents within you are waiting to emerge?

 Access your most valuable membership benefit and volunteer – today!

With light and love

Carolyn Winter

Past and nearly past past prez at RPA