Blog
Leaning in
My friend and colleague, Sue Sharp, taught me a wonderful expression. She talked about leaning in...
Whose life am I living?
This is the somewhat profound question I arrived at during the third week of our recent (postponed...
WYSIWYG
Many of you will have heard of Tony Robbins. I came across this quote recently: "Whatever you hold...
A recipe for living
I live a very blended life. I imagine my life as a delicious meal with different elements, and all...
Off piste
Many moons ago I blogged about the path less travelled, having been sparked by the Robert Frost...
Trust in me
My husband and I have been talking recently about trust (in a good way). Specifically, about being...
The Mexican Fisherman
I'm part of a wonderful and resourcing women's group and we meet for two days twice a year. These...
Welcoming the new normal
Change impacts teams. They can thrive, survive or dive. Our work is to help teams who are in dive...
I’m just a ….
New for 2022....Meriel Swain Version 2.0 (or should that be a re-boot?). This enhanced and...
To Boldly Go
William Shatner has been to space….for real. When I first heard about this I was so impressed, I...
Take only memories, leave only footprints
At the end of our honeymoon in September, we visited an NT property in Yorkshire. There was a room...
Expansiveness
In my last couple of blogs I've written in general terms about our saboteurs and our sage. I'd...
The Sage
I promised to share with you The Sage perspective from the PQ programme I'm doing at the...
Meet the Saboteurs
I'm about two-thirds of the way through an online personal discovery programme about Personal...
Repeating Patterns
Some of you will have watched the excellent documentary hosted by Davina McCall during May about...
I want to break free
THE greatest showman, surely, was Freddie Mercury. Which reminds me, Bohemian Rhapsody the movie is currently free on Amazon Prime and I must take the opportunity to revisit it.
I digress.
We could have been anything
One of my favourite lockdown movies was Bugsy Malone. I hadn’t watched it since childhood and one Friday evening it popped into my consciousness. Dinner and a glass of plonk later, we sank into the sofa to reconnect with it.
Welcome to The Studio….or How to Prioritise Oneself
I became self-employed in April 2012. Since that time I’ve worked sometimes at home, sometimes on client sites, and sometimes at office locations where I’m an Associate. And at home, I’ve never created a proper workspace for me….until now.
The Grace of Distraction
On 22nd January it was the third anniversary of my Mum’s death. Both my parents died during the month of January, many years apart. And I had agreed this year on 22nd January to run an errand with another family member who needed a chauffeur. A good distraction….
Akiba
As I did in January 2020, I want share with you something I’ve read which tells a great story and I hope resonates with you as much as it does with me. It is the story of Akiba, taken from The Talmud:
What I want or What I have?
Here is always beneath There. Mark Nepo.
Did you read the instructions first?
We come with all these parts and no instructions how they go together. Mark Nepo.
Why do I feel stressed?
I’m very late to the party on this one. During those very hot evenings in early August, I flopped in front of the telly and began watching Series 1 of Line of Duty. We’d had a conversation about it and my eldest brother had said he’d just watched it and was blown away by it. So trusting his recommendation, I got stuck in. I wasn’t disappointed.
We set a date!
During lockdown we got engaged, and now we’ve set a date in September 2021. It’s all very exciting.
But setting the date has sent me into ‘goal mode’. And the thing I’ve really been struggling with is what size I want to be and what I want to wear.
Strive for goals or let it all unfold??
My coaching training taught me that the only way to work with clients was to begin by helping them establish well-formed outcomes, or goals. I had a fairly rigid process to follow in order to achieve that, which sometimes meant questioning the client quite fiercely about whether they were signed up to their goal in the first place.
Uncertain times
We are living in uncertain times. At the beginning of lockdown, we understood what was expected of us. There was certainty. As we move further into easedown, it is uncertainty that is taking hold. And for many of us that represents a challenge.
Destination is not a place
“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” Henry Miller.
Letting Go
I found this wonderful quote from Joseph Campbell, who worked in the field of myth and religion and gave us the The Hero with A Thousand Faces and the Hero’s Journey. He said “We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned so that we can have the life that is waiting for us.” This seems even more relevant than ever in our Covid-19 world.
Bringing your all
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” Anna Quindlen.
Killing Time
I want to talk to you about killing time. Aimless. No motivation. Avoidance behaviours (in my case, they include comfort eating and shopping). Another way of describing this state is LIMBO.