Newsletter Archive: October 2009

 

Text Box: October 2009 Welcome to the Dare to Blossom newsletter If this has been forwarded to you by someone else, you can sign up for your own copy every month here. If you do not wish to receive future editions, please email me to unsubscribe. Everyone who is on the mailing list will be entered into a draw twice a year (at the end of June and the end of December) with a chance to win a prize of six free life coaching sessions. In this issue: Reflections: Stretching Recommended book News Reflections: Stretching I almost feel as if the theme this time should be ‘even more changes’! I have written in the past about needing to find some paid employment to cover my outgoings and enable me to continue doing the coaching work I love, helping people move forward in their lives with confidence and joy. Little did I think that I would find a perfect role, and one that is already stretching me well beyond my own comfort zone and involving me in new learning and new experiences as well as using my existing skills. I recently joined a brand new team of people at YTKO who will be delivering the Outset Cornwall Programme for the next three years and hopefully continuing on after that time. Have a look here if you are in Cornwall and interested, and if you are in another area they also run the Enterprising Women network that has a free newsletter. I will be working as a life coach, trainer and business advisor, running workshops and seeing people one-to-one – and it is all free to the people who are eligible to come on the programme. So far it has been interesting and challenging, especially being in at the beginning of something so new. Although I was recruited for my existing skills and experience, I feel I am already being stretched in all sorts of directions. At times this feels good, at others somewhat uncomfortable. Having just rejoined my yoga class after the summer break I could liken it to the stretching and expanding that happens during the class. At the beginning of term I am a bit stiff and inflexible, but very soon I find I am able to get back into doing the postures as well as I could previously. A little later, I will be learning new ones and achieving more balance, poise and stretch in the ones we practice regularly. Soon I find I can do more that I could before. We have an excellent teacher who challenges and guides each of us to achieve a little more than we thought we could each time. She also reminds us frequently to listen to our bodies and stop when it is right for us, not when anyone else does. Not only does the regular class help me relax and exercise, it also reminds of rules I would be well served to follow in all areas of my life. For you: Where are you feeling stiff or inflexible at the moment? Would some stretching be good? (real or metaphorical) Is there an area in your life where you are over-stretching yourself? Do you need some guidance from an expert teacher? Recommended book: Embracing Uncertainty by Susan Jeffers I have been reading this book by the author of the classic title Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, and it will also become a well-loved and much used book I am sure. I have not yet finished reading it through, and have already learnt some new practices that are helping me day to day. For example, one is changing ‘I hope…’ to ‘I wonder…’. I have found this a powerful exercise. Susan explains: “Hoping can lead to a state of unhappiness if those very hopes are dashed. It can create a fear of uncertainty, even if those hopes are eventually realised. It can blind us to valuable opportunities for growth. Wondering, on the other hand, doesn’t result in unhappiness as there are no hopes to be shattered. And with the magic of wondering, fear of the uncertain is replaced by curiosity.” (p.19, Embracing Uncertainty, Susan Jeffers, Hodder & Stoughton, (UK edition), 2003) There are lots of other thought-provoking passages and exercises in the book, and her style of writing is friendly and entertaining. News Workshops and writing: I have decided to suspend running Dare to Blossom workshops for a few months while I settle into my new role. I will of course still be working with my existing one-to-one telephone coaching clients and would be able to take on one or two more, so do contact me if you wish to investigate if this service is for you. (Full details on my website). After this new period of my own ‘daring to blossom’ in new areas and tackling new challenges I feel the new workshops that I develop next will be even more full of life and energy. I also have ideas for my next book simmering away in the background, or maybe I should say germinating. At the moment the themes seem to include loss and connection and blossoming – I wonder what ideas will appear next? Need2Know book commission: I was delighted to be able to submit the completed draft manuscript for my first commissioned (rather than self-published) book recently (and slightly ahead of time too!). If you have read previous newsletters you will know that this is Cervical Cancer: The Essential Guide, and Need2Know say the target date for publication is March 2010. Thank you for reading, do email me with any questions, comments or suggestions, or feedback on particular items. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think may be interested. Mary Text Box:   Text Box:  



 

 

 

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Newsletter Archive

October 2009

 

 

 
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