By almost losing her voice in a freak accident, Wendy Spinks found her destined ‘voice’ and is now the Co founder & Creative Director at Zeropoint Studios. Today Wendy’s expression comes not only from the sound emanating from her voice box or from her training in fashion but also through animations and a huge drive to keep responding to life’s call to ‘dance’. Read on to find out more about her wonderfully searching mind:
About my Life Mission | After being successful as a young entrepreneur and fashion designer, having started my own label at 21, a near death experience altered the course of my life. In a freak accident in 1999 while living and working in couture houses in London, I lost my voice when I damaged my voice box, fractured my neck and broke both wrists in a fall. Through this experience I learnt a great deal, perhaps the most pertinent was that I had a voice, and that it extended far beyond a voice in clothing styles and fashion.
The ability to express yourself is a powerful gift; the ability to express your truth is true empowerment. This is a journey I believe in, and believe to be part of my purpose and my service; the unlocking of my true voice, finding its form of expression and inspiring others to the same. One of my main drives or missions is to seek out, disrupt and uncover truth. For me life is a series of events gifting us an opportunity to break and unlearn patterns and past paradigms. Growing up in a church going family in small conservative suburb in Pretoria at the tip of Africa, the feelings of disconnection and disillusionment were a constant theme and a source of frustration for the unanswered questions I had. For me there is always a new truth to uncover in every moment and for many years my thirst for answers was insatiable.
A Key Talent | I often say I have no one in particular, easy to define great talent, like singing, despite my unrequited love of Broadway. I am a “creative catalyst ideas person” and spot trends and tap into shifts early, perhaps from my fashion background or just a predisposed tendency. I also have the ability to see a holistic bigger picture at once and how the smaller details feed into or affect the entire wheel. I tend to see the micro and macro at once and am able to connect and join the dots. Spotting opportunity in places where often time’s people perceive challenge only. I am of the belief that in every challenge lies my greatest opportunity; it is just a matter of time before it is revealed. But perhaps my greatest gift lies in a trait many consider or label as “stubborn”. Always ready to flip a script, I prefer to say I am a determined woman who never gives up on a dream. Perhaps I have my childhood pony to thank most for my lessons in resilience, she threw me off in what felt like a daily routine, not a fan of routine, I found my grit literally in the mud she landed me in.
It is in moments when I am externally challenged to be “practical or realistic” when I connect most deeply with my potential that lies beneath. It is a bit like a red flag to my inner bull.
The Magic in me may originate from | what may be perceived as a shadow self merely seeking validation from others, or a “unhealthy” desire to belong, flipped into an embracing of all the disowned parts of myself to do something bigger than myself, for the benefit of the collective, by reconnecting to the collective and the greater I AM presence in us all. Perhaps the magic originates in me merely from my connecting to universal “magic “.
I Am Driven By | I am naturally driven, but only as long as I engage in activities I feel deeply passionate about or that connect me to my why and purpose. I have had experiences of lethargy and even depression in my past, but I learned this was linked to a disconnection from my purpose or life path. I am driven by my relentless pursuit of connecting to my highest truth and potential and inspiring others to theirs.
How I Use My Mind | I often spend time connecting things, it is now second nature, this being a mind technique I learned while doing human behavior & potential courses, through through Dr Demartini in the past years. I guess my brain is now trained to quickly look for ways to equilibrate both sides and connect to my greater vision. Before this, my mind was purely occupied with self-talk, a busy mind that dragged me further in a downward spiral. Now I seek out anything thing to quiet my self-sabotaging inward speak, even if it at times all I succeed in, is mere distraction while looking for the other side of a perception or belief. There are many “sales” techniques we use on our own minds, but I also now know that the real secret lies in the connection to “no mind “.
I Am Inspired By | I used to spend a lot of time researching the connected universe and found my greatest inspiration lay in human potential the quantum nature of the universe and her principles. A greater understanding inspired me endlessly. Lately I have found that people themselves, the characters, the events at play in the daily unfolding, the weaving, unraveling, timing of synchronistic events or situations inspire me most. It is as if life is a symphony of dance, we really are instruments, composers and dancers alike, and the magic lies in the connecting fully with just one note at a time. I am inspired by the invitation to the dance.
The Difference Between Good And Great | I think maybe this lies in our willingness to fail. As a complete perfectionist in search of only great or perfect, judged by an exacting standard set by my own inner critic, life insisted I learn to fail. And fail I did, countless times, while I searched for something to give my life meaning. I began asking bigger questions but still good was never good enough, and at the bottom of it all was my coming to terms with my own core belief that I was not good enough. When I give myself permission to be myself and let go of expectation, in most circumstances the result is that I am pretty great, and really, who else matters? This is my movie after all.
I know that was not your question, and yes, I still hope to be great, and maybe one day when I have no attachment to this good and great concept what so ever, I will be.
And then, I may tell you it was the grit that made it great!
Dealing With Doubt | I have found battling self-doubt to have been a constant, over the years it has taken plenty of introspection, honesty and in the end acceptance that failure could never begin to define my essence, nor could the perception of success. When I need no label am I not free? When I am free, I am no longer in fear and I trust my own inbuilt guidance system called my intuition.
Experientially I have learned that past unconscious patterns need only repeat themselves if I choose to ignore the gifts failure wraps herself around. Cycles and patterns continue until I consciously choose something new.
The Best Advice I’ve Received | If you want to change your life, change the quality of your questions.
Which was good and leads me to the best advice I ever received, which naturally took the form of a question. My Jung lecturer once turned to me almost randomly in a lecture he was giving, and said, “Wendy, you have such a good hand, it truly is a great, winning hand. When will you play it? When will you stop looking at everyone else’s hand thinking theirs is better?”
Another mentor offers this advice daily, in my attempt to live note for note… “What ever arises, love that.”
Twitter handle: @wendyspinks
# WendySpinks #ZeropointStudios #BeWhyInspired
Website www.zeropointstudios.co
Wendy Spinks | Social entrepreneur, content creator and producer in animation
