Showcase: Change Your Shoes, Live Your Greatest Life by Kathy Andersen

 

This inspirational book is about changing your shoes-literally and figuratively-to embark upon a journey to your greatest life.Kathy Andersen left Australia to take a "break" that turned into a journey of more than ten years. Changing her corporate high heels to hiking boots started Kathy on a journey where she would experience the power we each have to be our greatest self, and to live our greatest life.Each chapter of Kathy?'s journey provides insights and guided reflections to give the reader tools to chart their own journey of discovery. Kathy reveals a journey that we can each take to live our greatest life, and enables each reader to embark upon their own journey as they turn each page.Among other things, Kathy?'s journey enabled her to step into the darkness of a childhood filled with abuse and isolation, and to step out knowing we are each so much greater than the worst that happens to us. She discovers the gifts and treasures waiting for each of us in each moment, and that with them, we can rise above any obstacles and soar to our greatest heights."Kathy?'s profoundly insightful journey will take the reader on his or her own journey toward the genuine freedom to be all we can be-in our life, and in the world. This book is a rare inspiration."Ronald A. Heifetz.Founder, Center for Public Leadership.Harvard Kennedy School.

Kathy Andersen left Australia to take a "break" that turned into a journey of more than ten years. Changing her corporate high heels to hiking boots started Kathy on a journey where she would experience the power we each have to be our greatest self, and to live our greatest life.

Among other things, Kathy's journey enabled her to step into the darkness of a childhood filled with abuse and isolation, and to step out knowing we are each so much greater than the worst that happens to us. She discovers the gifts and treasures waiting for each of us in each moment, and that with them, we can rise above any obstacles and soar to our greatest heights.

From traveling through some of the richest and poorest countries in the world, from remote villages, to shimmering cities, to wide open spaces, to ancient ruins, to sitting under the Bodhi Tree in India where the Buddha gave his first teaching, and even to the hallways of Harvard University, Kathy discovers worlds within, around, and beyond that take us on a journey to our greatest self. We each simply need to pause, change our shoes, and step onto greater paths.

In Change Your Shoes, Live Your Greatest Life, each chapter of Kathy's journey provides insights and guided reflections to give the reader tools to chart their own journey of discovery and to make positive decisions for a purposeful life. Kathy reveals a journey that we can each take to live our greatest life, and enables each reader to embark upon their own journey as they turn each page.

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Helping people be all they can be inspires my writing. As I was trying to work through my challenges of surviving a childhood filled with sexual abuse, reading was a private and "safe" space in which I could gain insights that were helpful. Now, I write to empower and inspire others.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

A. Having a voice that helps people be all they can be. Writing is like a meditation for me—a space where I can receive insights and messages and share those with others. 

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

A. Getting people's attention amidst the busyness of people's lives. Our busyness keeps us from the messages we need each day, and breaking through people's busyness requires constant creativity. It is not just about writing a book, it is about sharing content in the many forms where people can easily receive it and connect to it e.g through Facebook, Twitter, workshops, etc. 

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

A. Being an author is only a part of my life—it is one part that enables me to help others. I believe we each can do many things in our lives, and not just be defined by any one thing. I am also a business person, entrepreneur, speaker, philanthropist, and have many projects on which I am constantly working. I believe our challenge is to remain aware of what we are passionate about, and all we want to do in our lives and in the world, and create the time and space to do those things. In that way, we can play many roles, and live our most fulfilled and happy lives.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. Change Your Shoes, Live Your Greatest Life! Really, I names my book based on what I would title my life ... create the change you want, leap into it, and live it!

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. GrandPa Bunny Bunny. This is a Golden Book from my childhood. Its message is that you can create anything you want in your life, fill your life with color and magic, and that somewhere someone is always looking over you.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I, like Dorothy, wanted to escape from the life I was living, and I needed to learn that all I needed was right within me and around me. I simply needed to choose and to start the journey and follow my yellow brick road. I am still on that journey, and am reminded every day that we each have everything we need within us. We simply need to pause to see it, and then choose to embrace it and leap forward onto the yellow brick road that awaits each of us every day.

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. My book is about my journey after I "changed my shoes." Yet, along the way, I "meet" many "characters" from the past—from Michelangelo, to Julius Caesar, to Egyptian pharaohs, to Greek gods, to Jesus, Buddha, and more. On my journey, I discovered that we each have within us, a piece of those who have gone before us. That wisdom and insight is waiting for each of us to see it, draw upon it, and allow that infinite wisdom and creativity to inspire and guide our greatest passions and purpose.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. Around the World in Eighty Days, By Jules Verne.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A.  I love every season but I do love summer in Miami most, when I love to swim in the ocean at sunrise!

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. My book cover was inspired by my desire to uplift people when they saw it. My story is about reaching and rising above challenge, and filling your being and your life with wonderful, colorful things that make you keep reaching higher. That is what I wanted the image of my cover to represent.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. I would use the term "funny" in the context of something "curious" and "striking," which is how much we are all so similar, facing similar challenges, many opportunities before us in each moment, and all aspiring to be all we can be. When we "pause" and give ourselves the gift of our own time and attention, when we allow ourselves to play and have fun with our life, then we can create so much happiness for ourselves and for others. That has been the greatest sense of "fun" along my journey, and we each have the choice to create that fun in our lives every day.