Melissa Cripps guiding others through transition with Blue Raven Inspirations.
After 32 years as a community leader in business and the arts, Flagstaff’s first female State Farm insurance agent retired from her business last fall and is reinventing herself, taking her lifelong quest to help people and solve problems into 2022 as a life coach to guide individuals through times of transition. Her consulting business is Blue Raven Inspirations: A Creative, Transformational Path to Abundance.
“Happiness doesn’t come from anything that we have or what we do,” she said. “You have to seek your own bliss, and I have the tools for this. Each one of us is all that we need.”
Cripps believes that stress is killing us and there is an urgent need to reconsider the way we’ve been operating. “We have to change this model of working ourselves to death, and I think the Millennials, in general, seem to have the right idea. If you are constantly in competition, you are stirring up the wrong hormones.”
She believes restored health, peace of mind and personal and professional success come from releasing control and allowing good things to happen. “It’s not about being married to the outcome.”
Cripps is a proponent of meditation, letting go of conventional expectations, cleaning out the clutter and making space for more of what we want in our lives, and being open to possibilities.
Her decision to retire came much earlier than she had planned. Originally, her retirement date was scheduled for April 2022, but she was open to any outcome. She allowed her mind to consider the possibilities during quiet times without fear, negative thoughts or judgement.
“I was meditating on unlimited abundance the morning of July 6, 2021,” she recalled. “I focused in on what I wanted more of: music and enough money to make my retirement worry-free. That afternoon, I received a phone call from an executive with State Farm. He said he wanted my agency and he wanted it sooner rather than later. He also said he would hire my employees for the duration of that original year [2022]. Then, he asked if I would be willing to sell my building to him!”
The State Farm executive was Brandon Redfern. He was leading 20 agents at the time, but he told Cripps he wanted to return to his role as an agent in a place like Flagstaff. “It wasn’t at all what I had pictured, but it was the best answer,” she said. “Brandon was sitting in South Carolina saying, ‘I need to be back where the people are,’ and I had this dream of retiring.”
With the aid of a Goodwill truck, a shredder and a dumpster, Cripps was retired by Oct. 31, six months earlier than her plans. Redfern is now the State Farm agent seated behind her former desk in Flagstaff.
“This is what it’s really all about,” said Cripps. “When you begin to wonder if you can do something, things start falling into place. It’s magic. Any kind of worry starts to fade away.”
The lightness of stepping into a new vision for herself and clearing out things that were “taking up energy” made her feel like she could float. “I feel like I weigh two pounds,” she said. “Space creates energy instead of taking it away. As a result of releasing things, other things are coming to me that I want in my life.”
Cripps believes she has been transitioning on to this new path for about two years. Looking back through her journals, she realizes the gradual awakening was being put in motion with her decision to hire workplace coaching for her employees and herself.
“Originally, I thought this process would help me grow my already large business and increase production. However, the meetings turned into guiding sessions for each one of us individually if we were open. We were given puzzle pieces, tools to help be more open, trusting, confident, knowledgeable, empathetic and intuitive. As I gained each piece, I could feel myself moving closer to something, although I was not sure what exactly.”
The path became clearer when the coach asked the group what others say about them individually. “My response was that I really didn’t know what people say, I hadn’t really paid much attention. She asked the others, ‘Don’t you see the light when Melissa walks into a room? She changes the energy.’ Then I knew. The answer was so very clear. I had a purpose, and that was to show the light.”
Her direction was also evolving as she and her sister, Pam, were caring for their parents at the end of their lives. Her dad’s health was failing from Alzheimer’s disease, and her mother, who had been his caregiver, was diagnosed with leukemia.
“Mom died first,” she said. “Dad died 12 days later. They had lived long lives and I adored them. I think I changed a lot during that time with the realization that life is short and wondering what I was going to do with my time here.”
Both she and Pam recognized the blessing of that time as well, which was time spent together. They were together again after Pam’s husband died. One morning, Pam told Melissa how much better she felt talking to her. “‘You should do this,’” Melissa recalls Pam saying to her. “‘You should help people with this, through a transition, like what you’re doing with me. You create magic.’”
As she considered the power of Pam’s words, Cripps reflected on how much she enjoyed working with people in her insurance business. “My greatest joy came from helping people through a difficult situation, finding the solution and having great conversations with them. I love the people part – hearing people’s stories and being with them through the process.”
The name, Blue Raven Inspirations, came to her on a walk when she was first developing her program of work. She felt the need to look up. “There were ravens just above me and in the trees! I kept hearing the ‘look up’ command and the blue sky overwhelmed me.”
Today, Cripps is overjoyed about her new endeavor. “I feel free and happy. I have found my bliss.”
Her mission is to embody, master and inspire an unlimited belief in abundance for clients in order to influence a more loving and compassionate world.
“It has to start with one person at a time. I just want to be part of it. I want to help people who are going through transitions.” FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
Hear more from Melissa Cripps on Zonie Living at StarWorldwideNetworks.com. Visit the Blue Raven Inspirations Facebook page, or contact her at blueraveninspriations@gmail.com or 928-380-1642.
