September 2016 - Reap your harvest

In this Issue: 
Reflections: Reap your harvest
Guest article: "Meeting with Mary"
Events and offers: reminder that Early Bird offers end on 31 August
Inspirational links

Reflections: Reap your harvest

Here in Cornwall, this is the time of harvest. In the fields around my home, the combine harvesters are working, bringing in the crops to store for winter animal feed, or to send off for use elsewhere. In the hedgerows, there are blackberries, hips and haws. Seeds of all descriptions. Here in my garden, we have an abundance of produce: tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes (some becoming marrows before we have time to eat them), runner beans, apples ripening on the trees.



Reviewing my year, I am looking at what is ripening from all the seeds I have sown, the delicate green shoots tended, in some cases sacrificed by 'thinning out' - letting go of some ideas to focus on other, stronger, ones. Planning the Autumn Magic Carpet Ride Workshops here in Cornwall - the theme this autumn is 'Reap your harvest'. As I reflected, I wrote about how, throughout the year, we have each been planting seeds of ideas and projects, nurturing them into fruition.... and then, and then usually rushing on to the next thing. Without pausing - pausing to review, maybe simply to admire, the results, the 'fruits of our labours.' More about the workshop is to be found below.

Writing in my journal, exploring how I want to re-write some parts of website to become even more authentically me, I started thinking about 'reaping the harvest of my years'. I see an image of a woman winnowing: shaking the sieve so the grain falls safely into a large bowl and the chaff blows away in the wind. (I have just started a Pinterest board 'Harvesting my years' to give life to this image, and to collect others that feel relevant.

Then going back to the idea of rewriting my story, I found myself getting lost, my thoughts ran around inside my head, something like this: "Let go of my story." "What is left?" "You are not your story." "Rewrite the script."

and yet......
and yet..... the past was the present once, circle back, see it again, see it from another perspective, see afresh.

Here I wrote a list of many of my experiences, looking at them, winnowing them, or panning for the gold in them - another metaphor suggested by a friend and fellow coach.

What are the nuggets, what are the golden grains I want to harvest? And which are the ones to share with you when you read my writing - here, or on my website as a new visitor?

Which are the ones that will call to your heart and suggest you connect with me? Connect for a conversation, a coaching programme, a card reading, a workshop, or as a friend - whatever that connection prompts. And that connection may be nothing other than reading my words wherever you have found them.

Some of my golden grains - so far (I am still winnowing) -  are:
- that quiet people matter, have value
- re-living past experiences takes me nowhere
- re-viewing past experiences can be a valuable source of insights, stepping stones to avoid stepping in the murky, sticky mud of re-living again, and pass over to the future.

I wrote these questions for myself, and maybe for you:
"What is behind, beneath, deeper? What is above, beyond, higher? What, who, can you be when you dare to expand in all directions?"

(If you choose to do so, you could use this process, and those questions for your own reflections.)

From all this is evolving a new coaching offer, some fresh ways of presenting what I do, and a new 'my story' website page that goes deeper into who I really am - well, that is to say, who I am today, and how I see that. Tomorrow I - and you - may be, will be, different again. That, that is the joy of daring to blossom.

Guest article: "Meeting with Mary"

Last month I wrote about meeting up with friends made on-line, one of whom was Rosemary from Australia. She has written the piece below to recount her side of the story.  

Contributed by Rosemary, who describes herself as "in tune follower from down-under & sometime magic carpet flyer..":

"Some four or five years ago, a net savvy constant researching friend forwarded me an e-copy of “Dare to Blossom”, Mary’s newly born newsletter.  Not only did the title catch me; I wanted to blossom.  As a person who had struggled with living and with depression over half a lifetime I managed at times to go with the flow and find ways to blossom with joy and achievement, only at times.  What I loved about Mary’s musings was the fact that frequently she was writing about the very thing I was grappling with i.e. Change. (in fact in midst of writing this I was also sorting some papers and came across Mary’s Dare to Blossom August 2011 when she wrote on Authentic Voices; so helpful to reread!) So I began to respond to Mary, thanking her for her writings, for illuminating my own thoughts, or adding my own to hers, for raising difficult subjects and of course complimenting for her beautiful photographs.

With a trip to the southern part of the UK planned for earlier this year I began to contemplate the possibility of meeting up with Mary thinking of the challenges of timing. I mooted the idea not long before I left Australia on 14 June 2016.   Much to my amazement we were able to connect quite simply and smoothly.  Fortunately Mary had started adding her picture to the newsletter so I had a real person to look for in a beautiful town called Padstow (often referred to as Padstein by locals due to the restaurants delis and stores bearing Rick Steins name) not far from Mary’s home village.

Much to my delight we met on Friday 15 July in Greens café high above the main part of town and with gorgeous expansive views over the harbor and across to huge sandy estuary to the hills beyond and the little town of Rock reachable by ferry across the river.  We took Marie Antoinette’s idea and “ate cake” as we tentatively reached out to each other. Mary then took me on a charming walk firstly above the harbor to the  common with its newly planted wildflowers and then around the narrow streets of Padstow telling me about goings on in the town such as the German TV series being made at the towns mansion, pointing out some of her favourite things and places.

Passing a very old cottage that was being renovated, I barged my way in dragging Mary with me to find a very friendly specialist builder happy to tell us of his extraordinarily detailed work.  As I love houses & architecture and history this was a real bonus.  In our walk and talk I discovered Mary has an extraordinary background herself and someday she may share with you the marvelous things she has done and the life she shares."



Thank you for this Rosemary, and for being such a constant supporter for me. I have included the only photo I have of the two of us in Padstow, (even though I have my eyes closed!) - it is a beautiful reminder of the time we spent together that day.

Events and offers: reminder that Early Bird offers end on 31 August

As regular readers will know, I have been offering you special rates on a 'Summer Special' coaching package, and Early Bird prices for my autumn workshops in Cornwall.

These end on 31st August, so you may like to pop over to the website to check in with your own feelings about these again and to see if one or the other is calling to you now, even if that did not happen earlier. I suggest this as I know I sometimes have the experience of needing to revisit something several times before making a decision.

Once you book the coaching package there is then no hurry to take up your four sessions, though having said that - why not get cracking with them while 'the iron is hot'? And, for the workshops - if you do not yet know if you will be free, and in Cornwall, on 10th September for Camelford, or 24th September for Hayle, but would like to be able to take advantage of the offer if you are - just contact me and we can discuss what will work for you.

And this applies to any of my offerings - if you feel a connection but can't see how it will work for you financially, please do book your free Skype or phone consultation anyway. There is absolutely no obligation to continue any further, and often a solution can be found that will work for both of us - and we will have enjoyed a delicious conversation in the process, whatever the outcome.

Here are the links again:
Summer Special Coaching Package
Autumn Magic Carpet Ride Workshops: Reap your harvest

For those of you who choose to avoid Facebook, and for ease of access for anyone, I have, I thought, edited the sidebar of this newsletter to include links to my Soundcloud and YouTube channels. However, for some reason I cannot see those links in the preview here - so we will all see if they appear once this is published. In case they do not, you will find them below.

People tell me it helps to hear my voice before taking that step of picking up the phone, or connecting on Skype for a conversation. A coaching client some years ago, on making the first contact by phone, literally sighed, relaxing, and said how she immediately knew when we spoke that she wanted to work with me, that it was right for her.

On Soundcloud there are currently two pieces, an introduction to life coaching, and a sample 'magic carpet ride' guided visualisation. These are both also accessible through the Welcome Page on my website. On YouTube I have one short video demonstrating how the Dare to Blossom Rediscovery Cards can be used during a life coaching session (there are some other pieces on Facebook too). I am very new to seeing myself on video so I am sure I will become more practised over time.

Finally, don't forget that you can host a tailored workshop for you and your friends in your own home by contacting me to discuss a Dare to Blossom at Home event. For practical reasons these have to be mostly in Cornwall or Devon - but I am always open to suggestions to visit other areas too.

Inspirational Links

I have so many friends writing amazing inspirational blogs that I have decided to feature one of them here each month:

Here is Sandi Davis from Luscious Life with a piece on "Thresholds". Sandi also has a beautiful offering at the moment: Oracle Alchemy

As always, please feel free to comment below.

If you would like to own a set of Dare to Blossom Rediscovery cards to explore their power for yourself please visit the dedicated page.

Thank you dear friends for visiting with me again this month and sharing my musings.