A Brief Backstory About My Cows and How They Dared Me to Take Flight

By Maria Rivera

I have to admit, I have a pretty amazing story to share with you. More stories about me and my cows will unfold as this blog grows and my practices are shared. But here’s a piece of my backstory…

I Was Once a Tiny Vaquero (aka “Heifer-Herder”)

WHEN I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD, my job was to care for my family’s seven cows. We were really poor—in fact, we lived in the same house as our cows. They slept on the first floor, right below my bedroom.

Each night, I fell asleep to the muffled snorts and snuffles of them right below the wooden planks that separated us. And each night, I dreamed that they could fly.

 It was a beautiful, joyful dream…

But as I grew up, the dream disappeared as my life took many twists and turns. Some led to great successes within the high-energy, hustle-and-bustle of American corporate finance. But others led me to epic failures and the darkest of emotions—like despair, grief, shame, guilt, anger, betrayal, and abandonment.

When I Needed Them Most, Those Cows Returned to My Dreams

THEN, DURING ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING PERIODS IN MY LIFE, my dream of the flying cows came back! Sometimes I would dream it three times a night. I thought I was losing my mind.

So, I went to a therapist, worried that something was seriously wrong. She pointed out that, in my dream, the cows were flying—but I was still stuck on the ground.

I realized, then, that the cows were DARING ME to soar with them.

They were telling me that, to be in a state of lightness, I had to free myself from all the stuff that kept me stuck in the muck.

THAT EPIPHANY CHANGED MY LIFE. I went on a quest to figure out how to get unstuck from toxic relationships, unfulfilling jobs, my own negative thinking…All the things that were weighing me down…so I could fly, too.

And though that journey, I developed seven practices that, when I made them part of my daily life, triggered a wave of positive change.

I Call it the Fly-High Method

Within one year, I “unfriended” people who sucked the life out of me, quit a job that paid the bills (but didn’t feed my heart and soul), and liberated myself from the negative rants in my head.

I EMPOWERED MYSELF TO OWN MY STORY—even the really ugly parts. Then, I sold my house and moved across the country to fully embrace this new chapter in my life.

Today, when I share these seven practices with others, they also experience truly empowering, life-changing results:

• One was able to turn grief from the death of her daughter into fuel to help other families with their pain.
• Another was able to break free from a destructive relationship
• And still another woman was able to overcome those overwhelming feelings of not being “good enough.”

Their successes were enough to convince me that it’s time I share this method with you, too—so you can Fly High! in life.

I left a successful career as an executive in corporate America to dedicate my life to helping others get unstuck, regain hope, and seek new possibilities.

Are You Ready to Fly High?

Get started by joining our community, @TheFlyHighMethod, on your favorite social media platforms—and continue to drop by our website for fresh new resources, trainings, and tons of inspiration.

Because you deserve to soar free!