Maëlis Mittig
Stepping Stone 11 Guide
"My name is Maëlis and I currently live in Baltimore. I was born and raised in France which is where I truly feel a connection to my spirit. I am on a mission to empower the people around me, most notably kids, through education and entrepreneurship. I am here to encourage what the French call, Joie de Vivre, the joy of living."
When I was invited to host this steppingstone, I felt a sense of excitement and curiosity. “Hearing the Call” — I love this one. The truth is that I hear calls quite often. They usually manifest as a quickening from within me, nudging me to take action on something that has the potential to fill me with meaning and purpose.
The first time I heard the call I was sitting at a table full of professional women in NYC. At the time I was informing them that I was leaving my job for an unknown path. All my “moms” immediately jumped in with questions: "Are you in grad school? Do you have money saved up? Wait, where’s your resume?" And then from across the table, a woman named Donna looked at me with the most piercing certainty and said, “Follow your heart”. I lit up. That was it—the call to attune to what it was that my heart was calling me to... It was on that day that I surrendered to what was to come and here I am, 6 years later, saying yes to hosting this steppingstone with the hope that, if you’re reading this, you are here because you, too, are seeking something… listening for something...
"I was responding to a call, arising from somewhere deep within me, to seek drastic change in myself."
Since that day in New York, I’ve heard other calls, all coaxing me, in different ways, to move beyond my comfort zone by saying YES to LIFE!
For me, it’s not like a clear message that I receive each day and “zap!” I hear the call. Instead, it’s been more about deep listening and surrendering. For example, when I set off on a one-week retreat to The Hoffman Institute a while back, I was responding to a call, arising from somewhere deep within me, to seek drastic change in myself. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I listened and I surrendered to the outcome.
While at Hoffman, I had opportunities to tap into this steppingstone with exercises similar to Exploration 2: Trusting Nature where we are called to go on a “vision quest” by leaving behind our normal ways of thinking and behaving and, instead, trusting in nature to guide us. For example, one day, I got an urge to get up from my seat in the dining area and to walk up into the hills. At the time, I was processing a lot of intense emotions and I felt called to be alone. While wandering on my own, I let my fingers run through tall grasses while following a family of turkeys. Eventually, I arrived at the edge of a beautiful garden where I paused to take in the sun setting over the mountains. Then, seemingly, from out of nowhere, a hummingbird appeared and proceeded to pollinate a flower right beside me.
The fact that Hummingbird has been my spirit animal for over seven years made this moment quite special. Indeed, for me, Hummingbird aligns with my highest frequency and symbolizes my highest self. What’s more, whenever I encounter Hummingbird, I am reminded of her medicine—namely: joy, fluidity, and infinite possibility—and I know that I am exactly where I am meant to be.
