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The Coaching Tools Company.com has finally launched!!
I''m really excited to announce (after months and months of preparation and work!) the launch of my new venture catering to fellow coaches and therapists:
The Coaching Tools Company.com - Professional Coaching Tools to Boost your Business and add Pizzazz to your Coaching Practice!
If you are a coach or therapist and are interested in a free sample coaching tool, click here >>
Hiking with a Donkey!
Well, that's a new one for me! So, it's a glorious Saturday afternoon in February and we headed off in Sacha and Dave's pick-up truck towing a donkey (in a horsebox...).
We hiked up to Reginald Hill (the best views on Salt Spring Island) and then back along the coastline. We had tea, chocolate brownies and cookies at the top of the hill while Pancho (the donkey) got some feed and Dexter (the dog) got whatever everyone else left!
I couldn't believe how well-behaved Dexter was with a donkey companion. Pancho carried our backpacks and food - was hilarious and amazingly agile, scooting up and down some pretty steep/sheer rocky outcrops.
Spent the evening recovering with some home-made wine in the hot-tub. THIS is the life!
Flying Visits - Ferry Trauma!
Well, I got invited to a previous client's baby shower in Vancouver! I credit these two amazing women with (nearly 4 years ago now) giving me the boost I needed to believe in myself as a lifecoach! And I was supposed to suprise the mom-to-be!
So, I really wanted to go to the baby shower and celebrate with them. It was on a Sunday, so I consulted the ferry timetables - and although it would be a long day - I realised I could get the 7.30am and return on the 9.35pm - to get home around midnight. Hurrah! And because the ferries are quite pricey (would have been about $150 for a daytrip!) I decided to try being a foot passenger - a new experience!
WELL, WHY I though the ferry was 7.30am I have no idea! We arrived at about 7.12am only to discover the ferry was at 7.15am and was about to leave. Damn damn damn. There wasn't another ferry until 3pm - too late for me! I was SCREWED and pretty mad at myself!
Duncan (hubbie) calls this my "Timetable Dyslexia". Even after double or even triple-checking I can still get the wrong day mix up am/pm and basically make a complete mess of travel plans.
Well, as it turned out, I noticed the ferry wasn't moving and was about to head back into the terminal to PLEAD to be let on when I noticed the lady behind the counter urgently motioning me in! I raced in breathless, to discover they were waiting for one of the crew members and I could go aboard!
WHAT A RELIEF! The nice lady suggested I buy a lottery ticket as it appeared to be my lucky day... I sped down the ramp, gave the attendant my credit card receipt (instead of the boarding pass) and headed to the lounge to eat my (very Salt Spring) healthy homemade Bircher muesli and a cup of tea.
Boy did I feel great - and very stupid - all at the same time!
I was later told by some regular ferry-goers that it's often the Captain that's late - although there aren't exactly any traffic problems on Salt Spring. That might explain why the ferry was waiting...
AND, true to form, living in a small community - I recognized one of the ferry staff - a lovely lady from the women's writing group I belong to! So she came and found me for a quick chat later on.
Taking the ferry early in the morning means you get to watch the amazing sunrise as you cruise through the various islands to Vancouver. Beautiful. For once, the ferry being late was a good thing! Thank-you BC Ferries.
I (CONTINUE TO) LOVE ISLAND LIFE!
Seedy Saturday!
Well, Duncan and I (and many others!) volunteered at this fabulous event.
What is Seedy Saturday? An annual event held at The Farmer's Institute and is:
We know a few people on the island now, so it was fun to bump into and catch up with them AND meet new friends. I've included a couple of photos below and there are more in the Seedy Saturday photo album! The photos below are David Miller - this year's Seedy Saturday organizer and the Seed Exchange table.
Some More Frost Flower Photos!
Meet my new friend.
I was lucky enough to grow up with all my grandparents and to not only clearly remember 3 of my great-grandparents, but I also had a really good relationship with "Great-Granny" until I was 18. She had been born in 1898 - while Queen Victoria was still alive!
I now sadly have just one grandparent left and she is in England so I thought the "Friendly Visitor" program would be a great way to brighten up someone's life.
So, I visit "Auntie" for an hour or so, once a week - sometimes also stopping in at other times for a flying visit. Dexter often visits with me and is very popular!
This photo is at her recent 92nd Birthday Party wearing her favourite top and new birthday scarf knitted and gifted by another friendly visitor!
And one thing she has in common with many of us? She is also a chocaholic!
Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory: A Novel
OK I haven't recently read this - it was a few years ago, but it is a landmark book from a very interesting author. (*****)
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief
This is a great example of storytelling. A different (if overplayed at times) angle means Death is narrating the story of Liesel a spunky girl who lives in Germany in the Second World War. I didn't always like the style of prose/writing and it took me a while to get into it, BUT, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and interactions, the way such a difficult time is narrated, the 'human-ness' of it all. Sadness, a childhood interrupted - and yet not. Ultimately thought-provoking and uplifting. (****)
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief
For info: This is the import cover design which I MUCH prefer!
Day 283 - February 18th 2009
So, I had a wonderful time at the baby shower! I got to surprise the mom to be, meet lots of new people, experience a different culture, be amazed by the number of women with perfect eyebrows, eat wonderful yummy Indian food and delicious spiced tea, catch up with clients turned friends AND experience what it's like to be put on a pedestal...
Whenever I was introduced it was "This is Emma who I've told you so much about...", or a friend or cousin would come over and would be pointing interestedly behind me (supposedly without me seeing) "So, this is the 'famous' Emma - your lifecoach???"
So, as Rav drove me to the ferry I had been busy lecturing her (and no that isn't what lifecoaching is about!) about how she needs to charge more for her services - she runs an event organizing business with the mom-to-be. I had been busy pointing out that she doesn't value what she does enough, that not everyone has the organizational skills and creativity that they have, and that they were under-selling themselves...
Anyhow, we were early (I had checked the timetable this time) so she mentioned that she noticed I had been uncomfortable when she introduced me to people. I confessed I had been. That I felt like they had put me on a pedestal - crediting me with far more than I had actually done as their life-coach. And the problem with pedestals is that it's easy to fall off and get broken. I valued their friendship and was afraid things might change when they found out I was human after all... You see I believe the changes and growth my clients achieve is all their own doing. All I do is give them some one-on-one attention, help them look inside and see who they really are, what they want from life and take action to make it happen.
Well. Right back at me! As our chat progressed, Rav pointed out that perhaps I didn't value what I had done enough! That not everyone has the skills to listen and help people grow, to share new perspectives without telling people how to be, to truly encourage and support and allow people to unfold their own way of being in the world.
But isn't it a bit silly to want to inspire people, and then when people tell me I've done just that, to say "Who me? No. Don't be silly!"
So, that's my project. To become comfortable with being in the spotlight occasionally. To accept a compliment and believe it. To truly believe that I can be an inspiration to others. Because I'm not done with inspiring people just yet! I have PLANS!
To wrap up - I believe WE ALL have the CAPACITY TO INSPIRE OTHERS. Through what we say, do or perhaps simply just by being ourselves. And if I have to get used to it - so can you!
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