We recently connected with Daelyn Larché-Sigman and have shared our conversation below.
Daelyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
Wow, so many stories I can tell! When my 16 year old son had stage 4 cancer, he wanted to meet the Dalai Lama (so did I, but that’s another story!). As it happened, he was coming to Washington D..C. that July for the Kalachakra, so I sent a letter to the organizer with great hopes that he would actually read it. Next thing I knew, I received a phone call from the the man in charge and he invited us to come to D.C. for a possible opportunity to meet His Holiness. We were beyond excited! The question was, “How would we get there?” We had a fabulous organization and pilot who offered to fly us, but the morning we were supposed to leave, there was a hurricane brewing out east, and his jet wasn’t going to be able to make through the storm. We were devastated! Because we had quite a following on Facebook, all kinds of people were trying to help us. Everybody wanted to make my son’s dream come true.
In the end, one of our neighbors donated all of their air miles to purchase tickets for our family so we could all go to Washington D.C. We were able to meet the President of Tibet AND the Dalai Lama! It truly was a trip of a life-time! We are still incredibly grateful!
Daelyn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I love to do all things in a way that honors my desire to help move people forward. I do that by using my strengths in a variety of ways including helping people heal trauma and grief by partnering with my beautiful healing horses, facilitating a process to help people discover their strengths and show them how amazing really they are, and by working with clients in my Creative HeART Studio to utilize a reflective painting process.
My life took a huge turn on April 9, 2010 when my 14 year old son was diagnosed with stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. Oh, the stories I have to tell! What I learned from being Austin’s mom was how strong I was, and how strong HE was. Watching my son go through so much pain, sickness, 30 rounds of intense chemo, 33 rounds of radiation, and several emergency surgeries was excruciating. Somehow, Austin managed to keep a fairly positive attitude, except when he couldn’t. I spent a lot of time in denial believing that he would eventually be okay. On March 12, 2013 I held him as he took his last breath and I was broken.
Life went on for those around me and I felt broken beyond repair. I didn’t know how to move on. Thankfully, I had an incredible support system including my husband, my mom, my mother-in-law, and some great friends who checked on me frequently. With my family’s help, I threw myself into raising money for our non-profit to help teens with cancer. I fought the violent tidal waves of emotion, went back to teaching, and eventually left again. I found out that helping other people helped me. I learned that in giving, I received, but I didn’t know who I was or how I fit in anymore.
After 4 years of trying to heal and still feeling like I was always going to be the mom who lost her child and nothing else, a friend introduced me to someone who did some fabulous “healing stuff with horses,” and she thought it would be great for me to experience. She created a Go Fund Me page and within a few days we had enough money to get three sessions with the horses. I was thrilled with the idea of spending time with horses even though I didn’t understand what I was getting myself into. It didn’t matter. I was going to be with HORSES!
The first session literally changed the course of my life! After a deeply painful and reflective grief piece with the horse and coach supporting me every step of the way, I noticed that I felt lighter and wasn’t holding on to so much intense grief. I was able to leave it in the sand and not carry it with me anymore. When my session was almost over, the horse began to cha-cha in place next to me! I’m not kidding! The horse was literally dancing next to me because I was able to let go of so much pain! Sometimes the only way around is through, right?
The next two coaching sessions centered around the possibility and belief in myself that I could get the training I needed to begin my own business as an Equine Gestalt Coach. I did, and Joyful Spirit Coaching was born! Huge thanks to Melisa Pearce, creator and founder of Touched by a Horse and the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method. Eventually I went on to take the next two-year certification and became a Master Gestaltist and graduated from that program last year.
As a “recovering” elementary school teacher, who is in my fifth year as a business owner , I have a passion for learning and sharing what I have learned with others. I have learned many healing and self-awareness modalities including Equine Gestalt Coaching, Gestalt Coaching (Master level), Certified Creatively Fit Coaching, Reiki (master level), Healing Touch (level 3), 200 hr therapeutic yoga, the Enneagram, Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and currently I am enrolled in a certification program to become an Angel Numerologist and a Certified Eddie Villa Gallup Strengths Coach.
I have many passions and hobbies that I incorporate into my work with people. There are huge benefits to crafting, and those are integral in how I help people to figure out who they are and move through the hard stuff and into their happy place. This is the reason I created my Creative HeART Studio. There are people who ask if there is ANYTHING I can’t do, and that cracks me up because, of course there is a lot I can’t and don’t do! I’ve learned to take it as a compliment.
According to the Clifton Strengths Assessment positivity is my number one strength. I have contagious enthusiasm and help people see the brighter side of life. I do this through helping others see what their strengths are what is amazing about who they are! I offer coaching and workshops to help people gain insight about who they are, what they value, and then we create their vision together. Sometimes I help them find self-belief, conquer limiting beliefs, and heal something in their background before they are able to create and believe in their future.
If you would have told me 15 years ago that this would be my life, I would have never believed you! Being my own boss isn’t easy, but I love it, and it provides me with the opportunity to make a difference, which is my number one value in life. I may have lost my sweet 17 year old son, but I am still a mom to two amazing kids, I have an incredible husband, two dogs and two horses. What more can a girl ask for?
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My number one value in life is to make a difference and my number two value is to live in and spread joy. I love to create things that bring me joy and I often share what I’m doing on my Facebook pages so maybe they bring joy to others, as well.
Honestly, I’m not great at taking special orders, because then I lose some of the joy and it becomes something I have to do instead of something I want to do. I usually go “all in” with my newest creative endeavors and want to gather ALL the things. I love everything colorful, so my current passions are crochet and painting. I am obsessed with all the pretty yarn and paint colors and I have A LOT of them!
When I learn something new, I often want to share it with others, so I usually end up creating a workshop to teach on zoom or in my studio. I really enjoy facilitating reflective painting workshops, which I learned in My Creatively Fit Coaching Certification program. I love that everyone can participate even if they have never painted before. If you can hold a paintbrush, you can create a painting! Each painting holds an intention and the energy you infuse into it. We may paint abundance, for example. Each person has a different idea about what abundance means, so they each end up painting a different symbol or picture. It’s a magical experience! Everyone is able to let their creative light shine!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
This is an interesting question. Honestly, I am a life-long learner and I LOVE trying new things. Sometimes it comes across as not being able to stick with something, or not being able to finish something. The truth IS that I do love to start things and play and experiment with new methods. I tell people I have crafting/art ADHD! I do grow bored with things after awhile and then my learner kicks in and begs to try something new. I get lured in by the next “sparkly object!” I feel like there is an incredible amount to learn about the world, and I don’t want to be confined to ONE method or job. I’m pretty hard on myself and sometimes quit doing something because I don’t feel I am very good at it. Through the Creatively Fit Coaching Certification course, I learned to embrace the PROCESS and not the product. This has been a huge lesson for me. I may not be the best painter, and I certainly don’t have great skills like my amazing artist husband, but I do really enjoy the process and have fun with the paint. I hope that people who don’t feel like they are creative will be inspired by all that I try. Comparison is definitely the thief of joy, so I have learned not to compare myself to others. It’s not fair to compare my beginner journey to someone else’s life long journey.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My number one value in life is to make a difference and my number two value is to live in and spread joy. I love to create things that bring me joy and I often share what I’m doing on my Facebook pages so maybe they bring joy to others, as well.
Honestly, I’m not great at taking special orders, because then I lose some of the joy and it becomes something I have to do instead of something I want to do. I usually go “all in” with my newest creative endeavors and want to gather ALL the things. I love everything colorful, so my current passions are crochet and painting. I am obsessed with all the pretty yarn and paint colors and I have A LOT of them!
When I learn something new, I often want to share it with others, so I usually end up creating a workshop to teach on zoom or in my studio. I really enjoy facilitating reflective painting workshops, which I learned in My Creatively Fit Coaching Certification program. I love that everyone can participate even if they have never painted before. If you can hold a paintbrush, you can create a painting! Each painting holds an intention and the energy you infuse into it. We may paint abundance, for example. Each person has a different idea about what abundance means, so they each end up painting a different symbol or picture. It’s a magical experience! Everyone is able to let their creative light shine!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
This is an interesting question. Honestly, I am a life-long learner and I LOVE trying new things. Sometimes it comes across as not being able to stick with something, or not being able to finish something. The truth IS that I do love to start things and play and experiment with new methods. I tell people I have crafting/art ADHD! I do grow bored with things after awhile and then my learner kicks in and begs to try something new. I get lured in by the next “sparkly object!” I feel like there is an incredible amount to learn about the world, and I don’t want to be confined to ONE method or job. I’m pretty hard on myself and sometimes quit doing something because I don’t feel I am very good at it. Through the Creatively Fit Coaching Certification course, I learned to embrace the PROCESS and not the product. This has been a huge lesson for me. I may not be the best painter, and I certainly don’t have great skills like my amazing artist husband, but I do really enjoy the process and have fun with the paint. I hope that people who don’t feel like they are creative will be inspired by all that I try. Comparison is definitely the thief of joy, so I have learned not to compare myself to others. It’s not fair to compare my beginner journey to someone else’s life long journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: joyfulspiritcoaching.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daelynmarie1/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyfulspiritcoaching/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daelyn-larche-sigman-a154a746/
Image Credits
Kim Beer Photography and Julie Marine Schwabauer Photography