top of page

Meet Fleur Chambers

1.

Can you share a little about yourself and your purpose in life?

Sure thing. I’m a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, meditation teacher, app creator, philanthropist and student of life. Nature brings me comfort and peace. Moments of awe and wonder make me feel alive — both small and part of the mystery that is life on planet earth.

I talk about purpose in my book. I share the idea that purpose isn’t the type of thing that we can fit neatly onto a Post-It Note and put on our computer screen to remind ourselves of what to do. I also talk about how it’s not something we need to strive towards.

In my mind and heart, purpose is presence, the desire (and the ability) to open to it all, the joys and the challenges, with a clear head, relaxed body and an open heart. Purpose is about falling in love with this precious life. It includes seeing the everyday miracles contained within our children’s laughter, dappled light dance across green grass, or falling autumn leaves. For me, I’m purposeful not to get too busy so that I miss these small miracles.

For me recently, purpose as presence has included noticing when the energies of love or fear are holding me. I’ve been more intentional about noticing when I am caught in the energy of fear and taking gentle steps to move into love. Because in the end, it’s all about love.


2. Did you always plan to write a book?

It’s funny, in my 20’s I knew that I really wanted to write a book at some stage in my life. I was studying anthropology at the time. I was really interested in sorcery and witchcraft and I imagined traveling to remote places, immersing myself in these cultures and writing about them — an anthropological take on the Lonely Planet!

And then I got consumed with study, work and starting a family and the idea totally moved out of my awareness. That was, until one ordinary night last October when I lay in my son’s bed as he fell asleep and just like a shooting star, the idea for this book came to me. Whilst it only took 6 months from idea to published book, it’s been a lifetime in the making. The stories, experiences and learnings I share span my entire life.

Life works in mysterious ways. Whilst my book Ten Pathways isn’t about sorcery and witchcraft, it does draw upon spiritual traditions and encourages the reader to expand their beliefs and perspectives. Given that I wrote the book during the pandemic characterized by lockdowns, I also didn’t get to travel to far away cultures to research my ideas. Set within a five km radius from my house, Ten Pathways is a powerful reminder that when we live from the heart, life can be extraordinary and we don’t need to travel far to see things in new and liberating ways.


3.What are your hopes for your book?

Whilst this book shares stories from my own life, the book isn’t actually about me — it’s about the reader. The stories I share are intentional, it’s my hope that people reading them will smile and see themselves, maybe even with kinder eyes.

I imagine people sitting with a cup of tea, or under a tree, or tucked up in bed, feeling less alone and more compassionate towards themselves and their lives.

I also hope that the beautiful illustrations warm people’s hearts, and fill them with a sense of awe and wonder. We need more illustrated adult books!


4.What are your biggest achievements to date?

My three gorgeous boys! Every now and then I pause and think about how incredible my body is, to have created these humans. I think how amazing my heart is also, to love these boys unconditionally. Growing and raising my three boys is by far my greatest achievement and joy.

Professionally, I’m proud of this book. I’ve come a long way from the woman I was when I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia - riddled with fear, exhausted and resistant. I’m proud of the way I’ve learnt to accept the challenges life offers us and to use these as opportunities to grow and transform. I’m also proud of myself for being able to synthesize my greatest learnings into a book that will help others. It also feels like a wonderful achievement to have gotten the tone of the book just right, substantial, light and hopeful. A book of pain that feels light hearted, this is an achievement!

I’m also proud of my meditation app, The Happy Habit. People tell me all the time how it helps them live a more purposeful life and be more kind towards themselves. This warms my heart. Also, technology isn’t a natural strength of mine, nor is attention to detail, so creating an app really required me to work out of my comfort zone.


5.What advice do you have for others who want to write and publish a book?

I was lucky in that Karen said ‘yes’ to my book after reading one draft chapter. Knowing that I had a publisher from the outset was very motivating for me. I’m sure it is one of the reasons I got Ten Pathways written so quickly. So if you can, try and get a publisher before you have finished your book.

I also engaged an editor from the outset which was incredibly helpful. Having someone edit your first few chapters highlights your strengths and weaknesses and means you can weave this feedback into the next chapters rather than waiting until the very end to get feedback. I really noticed that each of my chapters got tighter and I became more confident in my writing style and the tone of the book.


6.What is next for you?

Ah ha, the old ‘what’s next question!’. After years of being caught in this cycle of forward momentum, I’m taking some time to pause and celebrate Ten Pathways before moving on. I’m looking forward to hearing from readers, to seeing it in bookstores and to taking a moment to celebrate Ten Pathways.


7. Where can our readers find you?

They can also find me on The Happy Habit app which you can download for free from the apple store or google play.

Join Fleur and Karen for an in-conversation about all things Ten Pathways.



Comments

bottom of page