I heard that loud and clear for the first time twenty years ago, shortly after I moved to Mexico City and found myself on my first conscious spiritual journey. The voice was unequivocal: “Eres un puente” / “You are a bridge.”
It was a clear voice because it came from a place of knowing. I already knew it to be true through my actions and the choices I was drawn to make. At 28 years of age, I could not articulate that the actions that came so naturally to me were embedded in my mission. That my ability to read people to understand their needs and quickly facilitate an introduction, a connection, or even a spot-on recommendation of a book or a place was a special gift that would define the rest of my life.
It was that image of a bridge, a connector between two places, two souls, two thoughts, two roads, two emotions, two cultures, two paths that lead to other bridges towards infinite possibilities. The bridge symbolizes connection. I could affirm “Soy un puente” / “I am a bridge.”
“It is in the moments when I am being called to reconnect that my mission strengthens.”
That affirmation still grounds and informs my voice. It has manifested in sublimely concrete ways since I first owned it. As a publicist to Latin celebrities, connecting them to media and opportunities. As a producer connecting audiences to stories and cultural trends. As a spiritual seeker connecting divine insights and guidance into manifested action. As an entrepreneur connecting the Latina community with each other and within ourselves to tap into our power, being unapologetically who we are – the seeds of our ancestors. And as a mother experiencing the ultimate connection being the bridge into life.
Sustaining the vision of the bridge has taken more than seeing and affirming it. The connection is there for me to own, and it’s my responsibility to ensure I continue to reconnect to the source of the power that fuels my mission.
It is in the moments when I am being called to reconnect that my mission strengthens. It is when I receive the opportunity to level up.
You see, reconnecting isn’t putting together broken and previously connected pieces. It’s not a failure. Reconnecting is an opportunity to envision a new path. It’s that moment your maps app has a momentary freakout and starts swaying from east to west and north to south. You’re just there staring at it, needing it to figure out and let you know if the turn is to the left or the right. You trust the new route it gives you because it must have saved you from unexpected traffic or road closure. It reconnected you to a path that has the potential to provide more ease in your journey.
About the Author
Ana Flores
A community builder and soul-centered entrepreneur, Ana Flores is living her passion as the founder of #WeAllGrow Latina, a 100% Latina-owned and operated community-driven media and events ecosystem founded in 2010 with a mission of connecting and fueling the entrepreneurial spirit of Latinas.
Born in Houston, Texas, raised in El Salvador, Ana is now settled in Los Angeles, where she lives with her daughter and lives every day by the now infamous phrase she coined 13 years ago: “When one grows, we all grow.
