We were lucky to catch up with BethAnne Kapansky Wright recently and have shared our conversation below.

BethAnne, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

There have been so many risks, along the way, in growing my business and creative vision. One of the biggest ones was closing my brick-and-mortar private psychological practice in Anchorage Alaska to move to the island of Kauai in 2017. I knew I wanted to expand into endeavors beyond clinical work and build my voice as an author and speaker, but I had no idea what that would look like and felt like I was taking a leap of faith into an unknown space.

I also had a lot of apprehension about finding ways to begin to integrate my spiritual and creative work with my psychological work. I was scared of not being taken seriously, and I often struggled to define myself and figure out how to go about growing my vision.

As I ventured forth and began to forge a new path and source out writing, speaking, and teaching opportunities, there were a lot of ups and downs and lessons learned along the way. I tried all sorts of things from online workshops, to in-person classes, to writing and publishing for various places online to trying to find podcasts and shows where I could be a guest. Some of it felt like throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. I kept waiting for a breakthrough moment, and I experienced a lot of frustration and self-doubt when I didn’t see the growth I was seeking.

What I didn’t realize at the time, is that even though I never had one singular breakthrough moment, all these small steps began to add up. I learned what worked and what didn’t. I learned discernment and what offerings and collaborations felt authentic and right for my vision. I learned that nobody was going to give me permission to integrate my psychololgical, creative and spiritual work – this is something I had to permission myself and create the path. And I learned that sometimes you have to return to the core of your creative vision again and keep reworking, refining, and realigning it.

These days I’m running a telehealth practice, producing a weekly podcast focused on psychology and spirituality, and offering a free monthly newsletter with a spiritual emphasis. I write wellbeing and spiritual development articles for my website and am currently working on my next book. Nothing has come easy, since making this leap into a bigger vision for my work, but I never would have experienced the growth I’ve had if I hadn’t risked following the dreams in my heart, and I continue to stay open and curious as to how things will continue to unfold.

BethAnne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My roots lay in Clinical Psychology and I recently realized I’ve been in the field for over 20 years, and run a private practice for 16 of those years. Currently, I work with clients online in both Alaska and Hawaii and my areas of specialty include grief, life transitions, relationship issues, highly sensitive people, personal development, trauma and resilience, spirituality, creativity, and self-compassion.

Along the way, I also began to develop other interests and felt a desire to expand my creative and spiritual gifts as well. My writing journey began years ago with a personal blog, which gradually expanded into publishing articles and finally books. In addition to several books of poetry, I published a trilogy that shares my experiences of losing my brother in 2016, how my grief became a catalyst to move to the island of Kauai, and the spiritual development and personal transformation that happened as a result of that choice.

Last, I began to feel called to offer spiritual services as well. I offer individual online intuitive guidance sessions, created a monthly newsletter called Akashic Magic, which focuses on monthly messages from the Akashic Records and I utilize my podcast, Your Heart Magic, to dialogue about topics related to spirituality and wellness.

What I’m most proud of in all of my work is that it offers a unique point of view that integrates psychological wisdom with spiritual perspective, all wrapped in a creative twist. It took me a long time to realize that my “brand” or platform isn’t defined by just one thing but is a collection of offerings that combine all my gifts and talents and bring the recipient back to the same core message — Listen to your heart. Trust your process. Be your authentic self. And shine your unique light in all the ways you feel called.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I called the year 2021 “The Great Pivot,” because it was a time in my life that called for the hard lesson of adaptability and creative reinvention. The backstory is that at the end of 2019, after a lot of struggle trying to find carve out a path where I could utilize my speaking and teaching skills, I finally chose to create the path, and I got tired of waiting around for an invitation to come speak and created my own. I rented an auditorium in Anchorage, Alaska, talked to a couple of friends who were fellow female business owners and put together an event weekend which included a book signing, inspirational talk, and a women’s full moon circle.

The weekend went better than I could have imagined and I returned to Kauai with a huge sense of optimism and blueprint for how I was going to go about sharing my books, words, and gifts. That was February of 2020, and we all know what happened in March of 2020. The world shut down and everything I was putting together was scrapped. I tried to pivot and take my offerings online, but I eventually found that everyone was zoomed out and in the great sea of online offerings and voices, I could not gain traction.

This whole time I’d always maintained a small telehealth practice, but I hadn’t chosen to expand or take new clients since leaving Alaska. It was in the fall of 2021 that I decided to go back into full-time practice. It was a hard decision at the time for many reasons. I had to get out of the way of myself and the attachment I had to how I thought my path would look. I felt like I was taking a step backward and giving up on my dreams, and yet I eventually found that nothing could be further from the truth.

Pivoting back into a full-time practice helped ground my vision. It’s not only given me a newfound sense of stability and security, but I’ve been able to grow my platform from this space and freed me up to create for the sake of creative freedom and following what feels right for my heart, without worrying about how an offering will perform or produce. That freedom right there – to create with a sense of purity, intention, and joy – it’s a gift, and I’m grateful.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Just because things don’t look the way you think they would, doesn’t mean you’re not on the path or that things aren’t working out beautifully.

As I mentioned in my previous response, I’ve had to learn to get out of the way of myself and my attachment to how I think things should look in my work over and over again. That’s a lot of unlearning and unbecoming. It can be a struggle to work with the tensions of energies between what we are hoping to create and execute and what is actually happening in reality. It’s hard to know when we need to stand our ground and stick with the plan just a little bit longer and when we need to cede to life and rework the plan.

For me, I keep learning to unlearn my expectations of how the path will look and simply embrace and work with what is showing up. I often return to the core of my work vision: to create a mosaic of offerings that combine my psychological, spiritual, and creative endeavors to help others learn how to listen to their heart wisdom. I also return to the core of my purpose and vision: to be a bright light and hold space for the light, and in so doing, awaken the light in others.

Both of these statements help compass me to the greater vision of my work and also help remind me that unlearning my attachments to what I expected would happen, so I can learn to work more intelligently with what is happening is probably one of the most essential ingredients for learning to cultivate inner peace and wellbeing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bethannekw.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.bethannekw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drbethannekw
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOn7N_XF-4q8SmIxNPPcrbA
• Other: Podcast: https://www.yourheartmagic.com/ Books: https://www.bethannekw.com/books Monthly Newsletter: https://www.bethannekw.com/akashic

Image Credits
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