Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Vasterling. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Amy, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
The idea of finding our purpose is on a lot of people’s minds these days. It’s been on my mind for several decades. For those who feel they found it? It was most often hard won and may still not be expressing most fully who they truly indeed are.
Let me explain why.
Decades ago I felt humans were missing something, something big. I wondered why all people didn’t thrive in our world and why it felt like those who did were pushing “the truth” acting unnaturally something I’d later term “posturing in The Model.” Truth be told I did this too but did that serve them because I knew it wasn’t serving me. It wasn’t helping us understand something needed and instead kept us maintaining the status quo.
I came to see logically we cannot heal our problems the way we created them. I also could see most if not all of us were instructed since birth and at each turn to override who we are and how we operate, leaving us consistently paving over our expression and as a result, second-guessing ourselves in place of doing what’s natural and be ourselves. All of this leads us away from our power or what is natural to us leaving us controlling everything in our path. I’ve had many clients say they are stuck without much real understanding of how to come out of this unseen and therefore inevitable pattern.
I see the problem is in what I came to term The Model or the control we assert based on hiding or suppressing what is true about ourselves and posturing for a shred of false acceptance to assert our place in the hierarchy.
Therefore, from my work, I see if we move free of control which challenges what we know and more truthfully have been told to think. Then at the same time release from our shadow by tending to the parts within that represent (in this era) emotional suppression (which impacts our past and current actions). In making this change we are highly likely to see everything we were doing before has very little to do with who we are or our purpose. But what do we do about it? My work says we stop posturing in The Model and move to what is truer for us until we reach the truest expression of our lives.
It’s likely people looking for their purpose feel “stuck”. I say stuck is the precipice of the breakdown of “who you are not.” A necessary passage to come back to who you are.
When we are free of The Model and the parts are restored within we move into natural equality. We know who we are and share instead of posture. This returns us to something I call our Personal Knowing or the action we take based on what is true about ourselves free of all forms of control. This is the way by which we truly clinch our purpose.
All of that is how I found my purpose.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have a forthcoming book that highlights stories to help understand more about The Model and what can be personally done to stop its influence in your life. I am a public speaker, teacher, writer, and intuitive, and much of what I share has been learned through observation, by working with clients, watching my friends, and my own life’s patterns. Consequently, over several decades I could make sense of our world’s current state and our future which is what informed my book.
As a small example, I travel nearly 100% of the time and have for a few years. While in foreign countries people sometimes ask me why the people who run for president in the USA are so old or so extreme. Here’s what I say. “I am from a young country, however, that country is maturing, and it’s ugly to watch.” Then I say, “Do you remember being 13 and being clumsy, awkward and I lean in and whisper and smelly?” They always nod. Then I say, “These politicians are exposing our hatred, a necessary step in healing and maturing as a nation. So that’s why.” They often think for a minute and then tell me it is the same in their country as well. Nobody is immune to The Model while everybody is also ready for change that creates a life well-lived for all humans. It is by natural consequence that we rewrite our paths but it is also in having the audacity to take the big leap to be you.
My work primarily serves the Highly Sensitive Person. I see the HSP as the greatest change-maker because they can see more clearly what isn’t working and address it thoroughly. These people separated from their Personal Knowing suffer more in the configuration society currently has set. From my work I could see and therefore started saying “What’s good for the HSP is good for all people, however, what is good for all people is not good for the HSP.
What’s been in the way for the HSP and all people is The Model.
If you’re a curious person like me pop on over to my website to learn more about how I define terms surrounding The Model and opt-in if my book interests you and I’ll keep you informed about its launch date.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three qualities natural to me that most impacted my journey are wisdom, audacity, and perspective.
In my work, we are early in the journey to reclaim our power and establish natural equality. I was an adept listener and observer at a young age. It troubled me when people were mistreated, shamed, or suppressed. I am a curious person who wants to know. I was shy when I was young because let’s face it I was scared. However, in quiet settings, I could see the wisdom before the adults could in a situation and I’d say it. I’d be told many times in my youth I was “wise.” This has a lot to do with being an observer to learn. For me finding the power in wisdom came through challenging almost everything I learned which is how I came upon the entire body of work I share today.
Secondly, there was a point at which I could see I was onto something and never backed down while having to face all of my fears of which I had plenty. I was not born into a “safe-for-me” life yet everybody “told” me it indeed was. The difference is I didn’t define safety in a status quo way (control and posturing for what’s convenient to the other). I think many people, especially females can relate yet have a hard time claiming this for a whole host of reasons, mostly because up until now it’s felt impossible to break away from the status quo and sadly much of that includes things in years to come we’ll define as abuses that now we shrug off and accept as “just life” which is a statement indicative of the status quo.
The third quality that served my work is perspective which in this case I’d attribute to my intuitive ability or ability in tracking and making correlations through complex patterns and challenging them to see the truth. I’ve always thought differently and felt different like many HSPs.
In my own life, it took great courage to find my way outside and free of The Model. It was hard won and still in some small ways a work in progress.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
All of my work comes from observing repetitive patterns and watching them play out over 22 years. The result of my work found while writing my forthcoming book KNOW is we cease posturing through control to assert or maintain our place in the hierarchy. Once free of this we operate through natural equality, naturally.
The most basic way to illustrate it is when we are clear in our sense of what is and what is not for us we can act on it. We might walk into a party and sense a certain area of the room feels right to us. We join this area and find many kindred spirits. In this, we can sense if we need to know somebody more deeply beyond this moment or not and have no resistance to sharing this fact. We know it is true because we are not hungry to know them but it clicks and both feel the same way without knowing why. The reason is we expand each other. In the future, we might move in and out of relationships more fluidly than we do now until we find our true people and curiously without much to any emotion.
Many HSPs are particularly looking for their people because they grew up with those who are not like them purposely so they could see and identify the contrast between what is to what can be. We all know if you can see it you can change it.
This ability applies to knowing when to take big risks in life so you live life. It might include leaving management that does not expand you, or a partner. Reassessing friendships and more. All of this is a natural process in this time to finding out who you are free of The Model and finding the people and places that help your unique expression sing. My growth has been in making all of the life changes needed to live outside of The Model and expand into my expression relating to others through natural equality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amyvasterling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyvasterling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amyintuitivepathfinder
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvasterling/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AmyCernyVasterling
Image Credits
Erin Latterel Burk – still headshot (1)
R. Callejas – speaking shots (4)
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.