by Lesley Maria Wyatt
Lesley is a Heart-led Celebrant in Cornwall, UK
https://www.lesleymariawyatt.co.uk
As I sat at my sunlit desk in early Spring, opening my laptop to send out a raft of ‘Hello, my name is Lesley’ emails to funeral directors, I noticed a tiny Blue Tit returning to build its nest in the garden. It made me smile and then I recalled that last year the clutch of tiny chicks hadn’t been successful in taking flight, yet here it was instinctively revisiting to craft a safe space for its fledglings.
Spending only a small part of their year building nests, birds intuitively build to a design that is unique to their species.
As an independent celebrant I am uniquely designing and building my nest for my fledgling celebrant life.
Rooks begin their building process by collecting sticks and dropping them onto the branches they have chosen to nest in. To begin with, their twigs will often drop through the branches, but with time, they lodge in the tree and a rather unruly nest will begin to form.
In my tree of life, with its many branches, friends, family, colleagues, guides, acquaintances, and life experiences, I foresaw building my nest as relatively stress-free. Of course, like the Rooks, I quickly found out that it’s hard to drop a twig onto just the right branch and have it hold fast. However, with intention and time my very own distinctive nest is beginning to take shape.
If you watch a small bird approaching it’s chosen nest site you will notice it stop, cautiously checking if it’s being watched, likewise this rookie celebrant.
Am I good enough? How do I get my first ceremony? How do I get the best from the eagle-eyed social media? What will other celebrants think? These and many more unhelpful thoughts pecked my head.
Of course, I knew the retorts:
Yes, I am good enough. I’ve received exceptional training from Veronika and Paul at Heart-led Celebrant Training.
I’ve been a PA for 40 years for goodness’ sake, I can draft an email or have a phone conversation.
Quite literally half the world uses social media, so can I.
And remember Lesley, even some of the most experienced celebrants have been just as tentatively perched at the beginning of their celebrant lives.
However, it’s taken me quite a time to gain the belief that I can do it, that I am a good celebrant, that people will appreciate the style of ceremony I write and conduct and that they will like and recommend me.
I have now shared in five funeral ceremonies, with only one coming through a funeral director, the others have been families who know me. They have heard me talk about what I do, and more importantly about why I have chosen to be a celebrant. They have trusted me. These are my perfect clients.
This is my affirmation. It’s the first thing I see when I turn on my computer, and it’s beginning to work.
I am happily creating
opportunity and abundance
everywhere I go.
Attracting my perfect clients,
allowing the ceremonies I create to be uniquely shared.
The building materials I need are there to be gathered.
A whole flock of celebrants are willing to share their experiences in Heart-led CPD sessions. I’ve joined motivational workshops with trainers and celebrants from all over the world and met some lovely people here in Cornwall who are happy to chat and, knock me down with a feather, I’m enjoying Instagram! I’ve discovered a new delight in photographing nature, and I love seeing inspirational posts from other celebrants and people I’m now following……who knew?
Like the spirited Long-tailed tit who builds the most intricate of nests using moss, cobwebs, lichen, and feathers, I’m trusting my instincts that the nest I’m building is a secure and comfortable space for my particular celebrant life to take wing.
