From Ping-Ponging to Purpose: How the Mosaic Found Me

Have you ever felt like you’re on the edge of discovering something profound about who you are and why you’re here, yet can’t quite grasp it? I know that feeling all too well. 

My journey from corporate marketing burnout to creating the Mosaic Framework was anything but straightforward. But through all the twists and turns, I found a way to turn the disparate pieces of my life into a cohesive and meaningful path. And I believe you can too.

👉 Here’s how I turned my vague sense of calling into a practical yet profound framework that helps others find their purpose.

So if you’ve ever felt lost or unsure about your path, read on! 

Finally Discovering "My Thing" (Over Chicken Parmesan)

When people ask me how I created the Mosaic Framework (you can read all about it here), I often tell a magical story about how it came to me in a flash of insight while eating Chicken Parmesan with my boo before departing for South Africa to lead a safari retreat. I was so fired up that I threw out my original retreat plans and taught the Mosaic for the first time to raves from the participants. Magical, eh? 

While that’s true, it’s not the whole story.

You see, the Mosaic was years of drip, drip, dripping of bits and pieces for years until it all came together that fateful afternoon. It started with this vague feeling of being called to… something. 

This something — I even named it “The Thing” — was always right at the edge of my consciousness. I could feel the vague contours but I could never fully know it.

Maddening. 🤬

I’d look enviously at others who seemed to know exactly why they were here while I was ping-ponging around from one corporate marketing job to the next until I couldn’t do corporate anymore. I needed to make a bigger change, the corporate marketing door had slammed shut — it hurt my soul too much.  

I was burned out and unsure of what to do next. The only other thing that remotely sounded good was helping people, but even that felt meh in the fog of burnout. I considered becoming a therapist but didn't want to go back to school and that path didn’t feel quite right even though it seemed like the logical next step. 

I’d hired a life coach to help me through a toxic work situation, and it dawned on me that I wanted to do what she did. I took a leap and signed up for a weekend life coach training seminar. I started my coaching practice and through a series of synchronistic events, became CEO of the life coaching company where I'd trained, overseeing thousands of students and leading a vibrant community.

Despite my success, I still felt The Thing calling me. There was a mysterious missing ingredient in my life, but when I thought too hard about it, I'd beat myself up for being ungrateful.

I Wasn’t the Only One Ping-Ponging Through Life

Because I was surrounded by seekers like myself, I saw many others going through this ping-ponging too. They would find what they thought was their thing, say life coaching or a healing modality, and I'd see their eyes light up as they thought, “This is it! This is The Thing!” 

Then, I would witness their heartbreak as they weren’t able to build a business, be a coach, or “put themselves out there” in the way they thought they were supposed to. 

When I looked at those struggling coaches and healers, the answer was obvious to me: Coaching was part of their thing, but they needed to keep going. 

They thought coaching was the destination, but it was only a step along their journey.

They weren’t failures, they weren’t “too scared” or “too in their heads” to succeed. They just hadn’t yet found their Thing. 

If only I had the same clear vision for myself! 

Your Mosaic is Forged from the Ashes of Your Failures

Gentle reader, I would be remiss if I led you to believe that the Mosaic came to me easily on the heels of all that seeming success. Oh no. Life Mosaics are made from the ashes of failure as much or more than the confetti of success. 

I don’t like change, I’m a Taurus after all. Things need to go big-time sideways for me to make a significant life move. That amazing job running the coaching company? It got dark and dysfunctional. I left the job, the money, and the community. Everything I’d attached my identity and worth to was gone. I was shattered. 

With nothing to go back to, I had to move forward. Another door slammed shut. 

I was having an existential crisis. I didn’t know what my Thing was and couldn’t figure it out, so I did the only thing I could do: I gave up. 

I figured that being clear about one’s purpose was the province of others who received some universal blessing unavailable to me. (Now I know that if we know our purpose one nanosecond before we’re ready, we’ll greet it with a hearty HELL NO. 🙅‍♀️)

By letting go of knowing what my Thing was I’d unwittingly surrendered control of my path.

This shifted my attention from trying to grab onto whatever I thought my Thing might be on any given day to living in the present.

When I turned my attention to the present, I became an accidental student of my life. I started noticing what was capturing my attention without trying to grab it and make it The Thing too quickly.

I could always tell something was noteworthy because it came with a little energetic ping that felt like a little shot of Oooh, or Whoa, or What!?! 😍😃🤯

As I started following these pings, I felt less urgency about my purpose because I had plenty of fascinating avenues to explore right now. 

I made a deal with myself to keep noticing what pinged for me no matter how weird or random it seemed: Tarot cards, new digital marketing strategies (turns out I couldn’t quit marketing), articles on climate change, social justice, art journals, rocks. (Yeah rocks. Still haven't figured that one out, I just like rocks. 🤷‍♀️) 

Instead of letting these pings flit by, I wrote them down on big pieces of paper in these funky mind maps filled with circles and curvy lines where I connected the pings that lent themselves to it.

I explored without attachment (kinda). I tried new things with an experimental mindset (mostly).

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised as the drip, drip, drip of pings became a deluge and started adding up in my brain in new and unanticipated ways.

I looked back over my life and could see how I'd been following my passions all along, I just didn't recognize them. 

I noticed I was drawn to communication, innovation, helping people, and making the world a better place. When I had weird, difficult, or even awful experiences, I knew in my bones they were part of my purpose because those doors that slammed behind me or kicked me in the pants were giving me clear messages about what not to do. 

Then something strange happened — I started relaxing and enjoying the ride without worrying about where it was all going.

Then — as I see happen all the time with my clients — something that was building slowly just outside of my awareness became clear: The Mosaic was born. 

Going from Struggling to Thriving with The Mosaic

I designed The Mosaic Framework to work with your multi-passionate nature and translate those seemingly disparate pieces of your life experience and interests into a clear shape that points the way ahead. ➡️

With the Mosaic, you depart from the conventional ways of navigating life (say goodbye to those SMART goals!) for a looser, freer, wilder way. Because your Thing will not be found in a LinkedIn posting.  

And those tough experiences and failures? They’re part of your Mosaic too. The tribulations and the times you tried so hard to be someone you’re not all have vital intel for you about who you truly are and what you're here to do. 

The Mosaic is the ultimate method for making lemonade out of those life lemons. 

Getting Excited About Life Again: The Mosaic in Action

Honestly, if the Mosaic only helped me navigate my life I’d be happy. But as I started teaching this life navigation method to others, it’s been an incredible gift to watch so many people getting excited about their lives. 

Paul began working with me and the Mosaic on the heels of leaving a nonprofit conservation organization he had founded and directed for 18 years. He was burned out, feeling numb and indifferent to the work he once had such passion for.

Here’s what he says about The Mosaic Way Learning Community, where I teach and coach folks using The Mosaic Framework: 

“Through the Mosaic process and Bridgette's encouraging, intuitive guidance and prompts, I was reminded that the answers to my questions about how to reconnect with my purpose lie within me, and began to see the beautiful threads of my life path in a new clarity, providing direction and shining a hope-filled light on the next phase of my journey.”

Rachel got more than she bargained for in the best possible way: 

“I have always had the urge to act, to make stuff happen, to force once I am even slightly clear on something. If things don’t show promise fairly soon (like within a week) I am ready to label it a failure and quit. 

Now I’m doing something very different: I’m not rushing into action and I’m not giving up. I am embracing this soul-remodeling time. I thought I was going to get some light and direction on what to do as far as work and such. Ha! I ended up getting light on my LIFE as a whole. I know my thread, my thing, what I want my life to be about - connecting with nature in deeper and deeper ways. This Mosaic stuff is gold!”

You Don’t Fit The Mosaic, The Mosaic Fits You

What I love the most about The Mosaic is that once you learn the key tools and principles, it’s easy to take a Mosaic Maker’s approach to life. Your Mosaic fits who you are, and while there are always handy tools and Mosaic Missions to get you thinking and exploring, you’ll make up your own Mosaic Way that works for you. 

Because the Mosaic works on both the practical and more soulful levels, you’ll be able to delve into the deeper parts of you while taking concrete steps forward. 

You’ll see how being confused and getting stuck are part of the journey. Life isn’t only about going merrily forward all the time, so there are plenty of Mosaic tools that will help you get unstuck, make time for yourself, set boundaries, and transmute your setbacks into Mosaic gold. 

Are you tired of feeling like you’re ping-ponging around, stuck and unsure of your purpose? 

Time to Find Your Thing — Join the Mosaic Way Learning Community

The Mosaic Framework will help you turn the disparate pieces of your life into a cohesive and meaningful path. Finally, you can get clear about who you are, what you’re here to do, and move confidently forward. 

The Mosaic Way Learning Community is where I teach the Mosaic Framework and provide personalized coaching for you and a group of fun fellow travelers.

Read about the Mosaic Way Learning Community here and register to be the first to know when doors open in just a few short weeks. 

Your Thing awaits.