How 2 Small Words Can Change Your Life
Transcriber: Petra Molnárová
Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
Bill and Robyn Brawley: Hey, everybody!
BB: We’re so excited and honoured
to spend this time with you,
and we’re going to share stories
of our past that shaped who we are today.
Right, which is pretty cool.
I’m Bill.
RB: And I’m Robyn,
and we’ve been married 22 years.
BB: Woo-hoo!
RB: Yeah. (Laughter)
BB: Pretty neat.
So, let’s go back and show you
a story that shaped who we are.
BB: Make sense?
RB: Yeah, great.
BB: I grew up on a lake,
no neighbours, my family was incredible,
and they were really into sports,
but I had a love for music.
Right? So I was kind of like
‘woo’ - the little kid.
What’s he doing playing the piano?
So, one day, my mom took me
for a walk when I was like eight,
in the forest, and said, ’Bill, sit down.
Now, here’s the thing, you’re going to do
what you want to do in this life
and no one’s going to tell you;
we believe in you, so go for it!′
And I’ve carried that ‘yes and…’
with me for the rest of my life.
It’s been pretty amazing.
By the way, my family -
a lot of them are into education
as principals and teachers,
and they’ve given to kids,
so I had that in me too,
so I’ve given to millions of kids
all over the world by using music
and pulling them together,
which has been awesome.
RB: Wow. Great story, Bill.
You know, the same for me
is when I was four back in Australia,
my cousin invited me to her ballet class.
She stopped going.
I stayed for the rest of my life.
I got into classical ballet
companies, dance companies,
and own my own dance company.
And I got to really live my life
just by this simple action like Bill,
of being able to say ‘yes and…’.
‘Yes and…’ is ‘Yes’ is the affirmative
and ‘and’ being the action.
And I think both of us took action
in going forward in our lives.
And we really were very excited
to be able to share with you
how you can say ‘yes and…’ to your life.
These two small, powerful words,
saying ‘yes’ to yourself
and taking action translates
to looking at the possibilities
instead of the problems
and being solution-oriented.
We’re going to break it down
into three areas that we believe
make up the ‘yes and…’.
The first one is being aware.
Bill, do you want to tell
the story about that?
BB: Sure!
Let’s take you back
when I was 18 years old,
and I got the opportunity to tour
the nation with Columbia Artists
in the top theatres, right?
And it was a two-hour performance -
singing, dancing, acting.
And because I was new,
I did the least in the show,
and I was scared to death
with all these incredibly
knowledgeable, talented artists.
And in it, what happened was -
it ran for three months,
and I just sat at the rehearsal, took it
all in and took pictures in my brain
and learned every note
that everybody sang, every step,
and all the blocking and everything.
And so what happened was, on the tour,
any time someone was injured or was sick,
or couldn’t be there for some reason,
I would raise my hand,
step in and do that part.
Well, I got to do almost every solo
in the two-hour show
in the matter of those three months.
Now, the next September,
the company came together
to do the show one more time,
kind of go again,
and the director
couldn’t be there that day,
and the producer goes, ’Oh my gosh,
what am I going to do?
Does anybody have any idea?′
And I raised my hand and I said,
’Hey, I know the show.
I know what everybody does.
I know all the notes and all the steps.′
He said, ‘OK, go for it.’
So I blocked this two-hour
show on the spot.
Then, the producer took me for a walk
outside behind the building.
He said, ‘Do you
want to continue doing that?’
I said ‘Sure!’, and he says,
‘Your four years are covered
in college. Good luck, buddy.’
Amazing, and that tells you -
told me right then at 18 years old,
it’s really important to be aware.
RB: Around the same time
of my life, at 18,
I was in The Australian Ballet
company as a young member,
and we got the opportunity
to work with one of the most famous
Russian choreographers
and dancers of the time,
Rudolf Nureyev.
And he mounted this amazing
production of Don Quixote.
Well, being a young dancer,
I was only in the corps de ballet.
So I stayed in every rehearsal,
watched, looked, listened,
learnt everything that I could.
And there was about a week before
we opened at the Sydney Opera House -
there was an opportunity to start
the ballet with a whole acting scene,
and at that time, it hadn’t been cast.
And Rudolf Nureyev asked
the whole company and said,
‘Does anybody want to try this?
Does anybody want to go for this?’
And I put my hand up
and said, ‘Yes, I do,’
and I went for it,
and I worked with some of
the senior dancers
in that opening scene.
And I can tell you that it was that moment
of recognising, of being aware
of what the whole scene was,
about the whole ballet,
and just taking it, trusting myself
to be able to say, ‘Yes, I can do this.’
That really changed my life
and the trajectory of my life
as I went forward,
so that definitely is one of
the key components of success
and part of the ‘yes and…’.
BB: All right, the next step
is to trust yourself, right?
RB: Yeah, trusting yourself,
trusting the truth inside,
and believing you’ve got it.
BB: As you can tell, we love stories.
So, you know, it started as I told you,
when I was 18 and I did this
and for the next 20 years,
toured all over the world,
never was home.
Busy, busy, busy, busy.
You know what I mean?
But it was amazing, right?
But then I finally realised
that no, there’s something missing,
and I realised I needed to stop.
And what it was - there wasn’t one
person in my life that was special,
that I would become a team with,
that would change my life.
And I finally stopped and said,
’It’s going to happen really soon.
I can feel it. I’m going to slow down.′
And all of a sudden, I went to a program
that I just love, a dance festival.
And I thought, I’m going to see this
very soon; it’s going to happen.
And I walked into the dance festival,
and I walked into this room,
and there she was, a lady in all white,
a vision - it almost felt
like a light was behind her.
And I thought, there it is.
And now my life’s going to change,
and I finally found
what I’ve been looking for.
Ta-da!
(Laughter)
BB: I knew.
RB: Well, you know, it’s amazing
because at that time, I was in Australia
with my own dance company,
40 years of age,
and I had gone through some
pretty painful time in those last years.
I had gone through a really bad divorce.
So there’s a lot of things happening
that I felt like, wow, what is happening?
(Laughter)
And I always know
that I have to trust myself
and trust my own truth.
And I had some opportunities
to come to the United States,
and when I did,
it was the right thing.
I met Bill,
and, you know,
I had to leave behind my family,
my company, my life, all my friends,
and yet, I know that as hard as that was,
I knew I had to trust myself,
and I did,
and I went forward.
And it’s been the greatest decision,
the best decision ever.
And so, we really,
truly believe that, you know,
when you’re at that moment
when you have to make a decision,
because this is the real -
you have to say ‘yes’ to yourself,
and you have to take the action.
And that is when you say,
’Yes, I believe in myself.
I trust myself.′
BB: Yeah, there’s friends there,
there’s people, family
that you can talk to,
but the bottom line is deep in your soul,
and you’re the one that knows
what’s best for your life,
and you need to follow that.
RB: Yeah. It’s great.
BB: OK, now the third and final step
is going forward, right?
That is so important,
and it’s a great thing to learn.
We’ve tried that in our life,
you know, through all these years.
Don’t go in the past,
things that were trouble -
don’t let them run you,
go forward, and use your heart
and soul, and go do what you really love
and want to do on this Earth,
you know what I mean?
We think back in my past,
the last 10 years,
my mentor passed on the organisation
to me, which was amazing,
but it was a lot of work,
but it was amazing,
and I learned so much.
And in the midst of it,
I got cancer.
And that was pretty intense, you know?
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be
on this Earth, but I was a fighter,
and I don’t think you’re given
more than you can handle.
You can make things work,
and I just believed and went forward,
and I’m here and ready to live this life
for some more time, you know?
RB: And last year, the global pandemic.
Look at that.
You know? Everything changed for us.
Our jobs stopped.
We moved across the country.
And you know what both of us said?
We can’t stop.
We have to go forward.
And we started our own company,
and we’re going forward,
bringing our hearts,
our souls, as Bill said,
and going forward,
not looking back at the setbacks,
but the set ups
for us to go forward
and be great and succeed,
and we believe that for you.
So, you know, go forward
with all your dreams, too.
BB: True, a beautiful story.
You know, I love telling stories,
and a beautiful story that my founder
had just a very few days
left to be on this Earth,
and so I went over to his home,
just to be there with him.
And when I walked up,
he was asleep in a chair,
and right when I walked up,
he opened his eyes and grabbed my hand
and wanted me to come in close.
And then he just looked at me, beautifully
with his heart and soul, and said,
‘The world needs you.’
And then he pulled back,
and then he closed his eyes,
and that’s the last time
that I heard him speak or got to see him.
And so I just really want to carry
that on the rest of my life.
That and what it is, is I realised
he’s really talking about you -
all of us.
He’s talking about we all should go do
what we’re on this Earth to do,
and we’re needed right now.
You know, you’ll do such great things,
just believe in yourself.
And as we said, ‘yes and…’.
Go and do it!
RB: Yes, we believe
in you, and go forward;
we can’t wait to hear
your great success stories.
And I hope we inspired you,
and we want to hear
all your great stories,
so go for it.
RB: We believe in you.
BB: Yes.
BB and RB: Thank you, bye!