Fierce Heart™ Visionary. Consultant. Speaker.
Lover of Beauty & All Things Creative
I arrived on earth with a sixth sense and desire for connection. Sensitive, observant, curious, full of questions & wonder with the world. Intensely present, artistic, and smart. A tiny mystic who internalized everything. Including messages of my difference.
Until I owned my own vision, and dreams.
~ Why Fierce Heart™
We’re the sum of our stories.
My earliest memory is in the stairwell of my Grandma’s home. It’s dark. I can see the kitchen across the dark hallway below me thru the railings. The window at the foot of the stairs a blurred blaze of light. I’m alone.
My father and I are at Epcot, eating his favorite, Mexican food. The room’s dimly lighted, a turquoise hue with yellow light off the walls above a volcano. I’m 42. My mother sent me away, he says. My sister’s birth was difficult, and my mother felt I was ‘too much.’ He came for me after 8 weeks (a lifetime to a tiny girl) because he didn’t know when she would, he said.
Too loud, too smart, too creative, too curious, not enough: “You can hear Heloise over all the other kids; You oughta be a lawyer; No, you can’t go to Disney as an artist, you’ll be normal; You ask too many questions; Heloise isn’t easy, doesn’t wake up happy, with a smile like her sister does.”
I was 18 mos. old the first time my mother sent me away. It didn’t matter I eventually understood why. I’d accepted the messages & story, and decided I had to do things myself, because help wasn’t something to ask for.
I played small. 60% of who I am my entire life. I changed myself to what others wanted. Flinched when I heard I was different, weird, intense.
At 17, I left home. At 19, I grabbed the dream of marriage to the man I loved. And the story of that marriage included a dark secret I hid for decades. Because tho I hold a no shame, no judgement zone for others, I was done with labels & judgement.
In that marriage, I accepted the rejection my husband beat into me with his fists for 8 years. Until I realized my life wouldn’t change unless I changed myself for myself, not anyone else. And took the steps both inside me and my circumstances to leave.
I’m sharing it now because I finally realized this experience of mine prepared me to create the greatest legacy!
I’m sitting in a classroom, in University for the fifth time to get my bachelor’s degree. Two young women are talking about dating, and one says, “Date Rape. It’s just a chance you take on campus.” Blood rushed my head. My ears buzzed. My heart beat so fast I was blinded. I knew violence to the body. Knew how they’d flinch when blindsided. Knew how they’d breathe free when it didn’t happen. Perhaps even hide it inside themselves, too.
A firey passion ignited in me. My goal, a Women’s Center on that huge university campus by the time I graduated 18 mos. later. A place women could gather, tell their stories, find allies & support, and be safe. Something everyone said impossible.
I used my Voice as a fierce advocate to connect with students, faculty, administration. I discovered I knew how to listen so people felt heard, and how to speak to where we connect. I researched, and wrote the proposal for The Women’s Center.
It opened on the eve of my graduation. And has served hundreds of thousands of people. In 2018 alone, not counting all who stepped in or called, 57,ooo people engaged with The Women’s Center. (read my full story here)
Why I do what I do:
I’m walking the hilly streets of Asheville in the NC mountains on a gorgeous fall day years later. The air’s not hot or chill. Perfect. The historic buildings I love look magical in the afternoon sunlight. My life is good, even one of ease compared to so many others. And I realize something’s terribly wrong. Because I feel empty inside. There’s little spark in my life. In my head I hear, “I’ve lost my Voice, again.”
Rattled, I turned to what engaged me in the past. I took a graduate documentary class at the University. Went to galleries and places I once found exciting & stimulating. Had lunch with friends.
The dullness persisted. By angels or luck (a magical story of its own), I did something I’d never considered….I joined a prompted writing circle.
Writing was my journey back to my Voice and myself. I wrote, took courses, read books, worked with other writers, attended conferences, workshops, and retreats, studied the industry, and became an expert. I fell in love with stories. My interest in culture & psychology was rejuvenated. I wrote a novel, got a lit agent in 3 weeks. And the big takeaway in writing that novel is I rewrote my story. Transformed my life without even realizing it.
What I know for sure….our experience & stories may shape who we are, and it’s how open to see where they lead and what we do with them that matters.
For over thirty years, I’ve worked with heart-centered people as a mindset strategist so they experience immediate breakthroughs. Their intentions transformed into powerful outcomes and inspired action.
I know about Fierce Heart.
Read more here.
Where We Connect
I’m a visionary, dream keeper, shift agent, consultant, novelist, poet, essayist. Always an artist, my passion these days focuses on the language of life in stories.
We are the sum of our stories. What I know for sure is they’re the heart of our Superpower.
So, reading and writing’s like living a good life for me. We settle into the world, get to know folks, ride through their ups and downs, share their angst and triumphs… and feel touched in ways so something shifts inside us.
It’s how I travel the world. As a lifelong learner, immersed in the culture and rhythm of place. It’s how I approach my work, whether as corporate advertising account manager, micro-brewery owner building a business, activist establishing the ‘impossible’, or helping folks meet their dreams. Creating and connection at the core.
I’m multi-passionate, and see the world that way. A quick thinker, and slow reader & writer. I’m a mother, wife, good friend, grandmother, educator, advocate, connector, mystic and dreamer. I claim recovering perfectionist, optimistic realist, and deep connections with the heart, nature, and the Universe. Perfect days and beauty in any form make me happy. Highly intuitive, I confess awe, wonder, and curiosity are in my DNA.
Ask me about myself I’ll tell you I prefer tea to coffee, walking to running, sunrises to sunsets, quiet to lively, exploring to shopping, light filled rooms to cozy caves. A huge dose of solitude sustains me, as does driving through uninhabited landscapes,. You’ll think me extrovert when we meet, tho.
My love for the Appalachians lives in my forthcoming novel Flight. My soul-connection with the high desert of Northern NM lives in my second novel, in progress.
Read what matters to me most here.
And my many lifetimes here: LinkedIn.
Morning Glory © Heloise Jones
Read My Works
The Writer’s Block Myth – A Guide to Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom‘
#1 Bestselling Book described as the best book about what being a writer is.
“Kenya 2018 – The Mara” The Wayfarer, Vol.8 Issue.1 – Homebound Publications
Inspired by my stay of several days in the middle of a Maasai Nature Preserve.
“The Altar of Birds” The Wayfarer, Vol.3 Issue.2 – Homebound Publications
2014 Pushcart Prize nominee poem
“Know Yourself Better than You Know Anyone Else” a contributing essay in Patti Digh’s What I Wish for You: Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life
“A Writer’s Life” guest blog on Marginalia with Nancy Peacock
“The Honey Hour,” short story, The Ekphrastic Review, May 1, 2018
If you like to listen, you’ll enjoy my fun & informative audio guide, taken from the #1 bestselling book: The Writer’s Block Myth, and narrated by me: The Creative Life for People Living in the Real World
Awards & Recognitions
- Summer Literary Seminars Prose & Poetry Contest 2018 – Finalist
- Pushcart Prize nomination 2014: The Wayfarer, Vol.3, Issue 2 – Homebound Publications
- Ruminate Magazine Poetry Contest 2014 – Semi-Finalist
- Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize 2012 – finalist
- Panhellenic Outstanding Women’s Award (NC State University)
Author Stuff. Life on Earth. Things I Love.
Page Lambert – all things literary, building a creative relationship with the natural world
– In Search of Kinship is beautifully written.
Elizabeth Gilbert’s thoughts on writing
– Her novel The Signature of All Things, quite wonderful.
Jane Friedman – writing & publishing in the digital age
– Her book Publishing 101, a concise overview
Alan Rinzler – everything publishing from a long-time pro
Starlight Illuminates World’s Oldest Trees – trees and celestials, linked in magical ways
– A whole stunning book: Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time
Vagabond Teahouse Pours Camaraderie – oh gosh, makes me feel good.
– Curious about the world, browse The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge
Richard Louv – how nature heals us humans
– Seminal works: Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle