Go to the limits of your longing. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. No feeling is final.
– Rainer Maria Rilke
Once in a while, you come across stories that have the potential to stay with you forever. A journey of sheer strength, but not without vulnerability–the essential human experience. A journey of resilience and determination to stand up every time you stumble and come back stronger and better.
If I were to describe this webinar in one word, it would be ‘inspirational.’ We had the pleasure of listening to Avril Quadros, an Associate Certified Coach, and her Hero’s Journey. A best-selling author, mindfulness coach, healer, and musician, Avril’s strides present a story of the indomitable human spirit. In conversation with Coacharya Founder Ram S. Ramanathan, MCC, Avril spoke about her journey, how she stumbled upon the coaching world and found her own healing path and spirituality.
You Are Your Own Light
An overriding thing present during the webinar was the smile on Avril’s face. Even as she talked about the challenges and hardships that came her way, the smile never left her face. And I thought, how many things do I complain about in a day? How many times do I just accept and move on? The answer was hard to digest but an important reminder to have in place. I was eager to know how exactly she does it.
In response to Ram’s question about what helped her in being energetic and resilient, Avril opened up about always being on her own and supporting herself through her career in show business and onwards. Talking about suffering from a reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine and bouncing back, she said, “But through all that, I found joy for life, because I realized I don’t know when is my last day. There is no need to complain. What matters is how you interact with people and how much joy you’re bringing them. What value do they see when they connect with you?”
Fork in the Road
So, what happens when your dreams don’t pan out the way you wanted them to? More often than not, the reality is different from how one pictures it. Avril talked about how prevalent the casting couch is in show business and how she made a choice to leave Mumbai and come back to make her own music. As Avril talked, I realized that life is indeed what you make of it. All that really matters, despite what life throws at you, is your perspective and the way you choose to look at it.
“There was something inside me that said, this is not for me. I can’t exchange my body for fame,” Avril said as she elaborated on deciding to learn about spirituality. The turning point for Avril came when, after becoming a certified chronic healer, she went to a person’s house for a chronic healing session and saw the ‘Buddha of Compassion’ (tanka) on her wall. “When I saw that, it was like something was calling me and I felt an immediate comfort inside myself.” Despite the tough situation she was in, her father having been diagnosed with cancer, and the uncertainty around her career, this provided her solace.
Divinely Derailed
The people we meet, the experiences we have, the places we explore, the stories we come across, do they happen by chance? I don’t think so. As Avril aptly said, it’s all orchestrated by the Universe. Expounding on her belief of being ‘divinely derailed,’ Avril said that the show business did not work for her because she had to tread the healing path.
“It came full circle when I met His Holiness and he said to me that we have so many singers, artists, musicians, and painters, but we need more healers and more people of service for other people.” After that, there was no looking back for her and that’s when Avril ended her stint in show business and became an energy therapist.
My Takeaway
In life, pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. What counts is your response to pain. We can harp on the things that have not worked out well for us, and sit and complain all day about the unfairness of it all but it hardly ever solves anything. There will be times when you’ll fall hard, but even in that fall, you’ll learn something. The choice is yours– do I keep lying down or do I stand up? I would encourage you to watch this webinar to listen to a moving and powerful story of courage and perseverance and know more about who Avril Quadros is. Please do share your thoughts with us on CoachNook or in the comments below.
