Connecting, Valuing Differences

Breathe, Feel the Cracks, and Let the Heart Open

Today as I read the news and the sad storyline out of Paris France, I just find myself wrestling with how stuck we are in a world of right and wrong.

It seems so easy to just say terrorism is just wrong. But I just can’t help but think those people deciding to bomb or fire into a crowd, somehow think they are right.

So much about the world these days is based in right or wrong. What does it really mean to take right action or wrong action? The underlying assumption is that there is a right or wrong action.

Well, I am here to say ‘right’ action is sometimes just all ‘wrong.’ Right-wrong is just getting old and way past its time. The idea of – do the right thing – is just a bit too narrow and a mental construct.

Yes, our minds are one of our greatest assets. You won’t hear me suggesting that we shouldn’t use our minds. However, I don’t think our minds are of much value without the wisdom of our most inspiring asset – our heart.15845528_m

Yes, I am speaking of that somewhat fragile, pumping organ sitting just left of center in our chest and much more spoken of in metaphor than in words or facts.

We are in awe of someone’s mental abilities, terrified by another’s mental illness, and doubtful of, or overly confident in, our own intellectual capabilities.

But we are moved and inspired by the human heart’s capacity.

Art, music, poetry and inspiration are the outpouring of the heart – not to be measured but to be tapped – an unlimited expression of spirit.

When we go for ‘right’ action – our breath restricts and we narrow and focus in on what is ‘right’

When we go for inspired action our breath deepens and there is a bridge. As a result, the mind is inspired by the heart.

What becomes possible isn’t a linear, right-wrong answer or solution. When breath bridges the distance from our minds to our hearts there is an opening into infinite possibilities.

We can’t explain, define it, or measure it – but we know, feel, and recognize it. We live and revel in those moments.

However, the courage it takes to live an inspired life is not easy. There is not a book or a ‘right’ way to get there. There is no there. Just breath, just a pumping heart, and a story that isn’t set, but flexes with the input of another, and notices and responses to the amazing world and all the diversity and possibility.

Today I reminded, I do not know what is right. I do not know what is wrong. I just know my heart has been cracked. I could focus and use my mind to figure out what action to take, or I can just breathe and feel the cracks, fears, and uncertainty. Let my heart inspire my actions, my stories, and my next steps.

Hearts will continue to be cracked, even broken, and with breath old stories will be inspired and possibly shifted and changed. Morphing into genius and new possibilities – inspired by the fragility and vastness of the heart!

Listen, breathe, and allow your stories to be inspired by your cracked and open heart. Only then will you, and we, find an inspired life and action worth taking – not for the outcome, but for the connection and untapped creative potential that can come when the mind and heart work together!

Today hearts are broken on all sides of old stories. Let the breath in, feel the cracks, keep your heart open, and soak your stories before taking your action.

Business, Life Experiences

Tools for a Highly Reactive Person – Access to Now

CrisMarie introduced me to a book, The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) by Dr. Elaine Aron. Though I am not generally fond of labels, as I listened and learned, a great deal of the information fit CrisMarie and my experience of her.  I, on the other hand, do not think that I am a highly sensitive person.

No, I think I am more of a highly reactive person. Is there a book for that? There probably is.

Over the years, I have worked very hard to take responsibility for my reactivity. Early on I was determined to rid myself of it. I don’t want to say that effort was pointless, but it was somewhat heartless. Yes, I taught myself some self-management techniques, but I was making myself wrong more than helping myself. That approach isn’t sustainable over time.

There are so many books out there about how to be different, how to change and become better: more authentic, more productive, more alive, happier, healthier – better! Some of those books have great ideas. However, I do tire of hearing about how I need to change to become someone other than I am.

To tell you the truth, I am not so sure change is really possible.

For me, over time I have developed some self-compassion and discovered that my reactivity developed for a good reason and did serve me early in my life, and it even has some valuable information for me. In other words, my reactivity was not really my biggest problem.

No – it seems the biggest issue for me, and frankly, I think for most of us trying to live and thrive as humans, is finding acceptance and compassion for ourselves, whether highly sensitive, highly reactive, or any other label out there.

I have shifted the amount of time I spend stuck in high reactivity or making myself wrong through self-hate. Though let me be clear, I am still someone who can catapult myself into a spin of “compare and despair,” or flare when I interpret someone is acting without regard to their impact on others. However, I am much quicker to notice, to pause, and to acknowledge what is happening.

More recently, having just completed a program called Access to Now, with Sherrie Toews from Effortless Momentum, I have put into practice some simple, practical, and elegant tools, that help me re-balance when I hit a bump in my fast paced world.

Many of the situations I am in as a leader, coach, and facilitator demand that I shift out of my reactivity or self-hate quickly and get back in the moment. Once I am out of the immediate demand of the situation I can decide to go back and review something that happened and may even allow some more in-depth emotional processing, but I like that with the Access To Now tools I have a choice rather than just getting stuck.

Bottom-line, this human experience isn’t about becoming someone different. It’s about discovering ways to embrace, accept, and value who you truly are! When that happens choice becomes possible! With choice there is freedom!

Thanks, Sherrie!

If you are interested in learning more about Access to Now, Sherrie is starting her next program October 26, 2015. I highly recommend it, but more importantly, I recommend accepting yourself!

Life Experiences

Pioneering Living It!

Living It online! Yes!!
Our first session on Skype!

We launched the first Living It! September 11th, with a weekend in person at The Haven, with online sessions to follow! It’s been a year or more in the making. The initial plan, to launch a nine-month blended onsite and online Living Alive Phase I, did not make it out of the gates. However, we listened and tweaked the plans and came up with Living It!, a much shorter format, designed to give people a taste of a blended program.

I have to admit I expected a different collection of folks than the ones who arrived in the circle on the evening of the 11th. I was anticipating people who were adept and comfortable online or on computer. Not the case. In our opening circle it was clear some were newbies to the land of the internet and others spoke right up about their lack of confidence in the online part of the program.

Wow! Right at the outset we were confronted with a few challenges and some resistance to a core portion of the program!

However, living it was not called loving it – and I guess for a good reason!

We could have been discouraged or bagged the design. But no – instead we decided to make the most of just what was happening.

Truth is, I appreciated the honesty and I guess I’d be the first to admit living it for me has always had some significant elements of resistance, fear and reactivity!

So, instead of waiting for the online dates to start we built the online learning into our weekend!

What we discovered was the creativity that comes from diving into conflict, resistance and the potential of people choosing in, instead of opting out!

I loved how our computer literate members stepped up and partnered with those who were uncertain or new to Skype. Frankly, the lessons offered were way more patient and relational than I would provided if I had tried to get everyone up to speed myself.

I also loved that the people resistant or new, jumped in, even with fear and doubts. I found each courageous and developing computer chops much faster than I ever did!

One of our evening groups was done via Skype and the evening was filled with laughter, failure and a coming together (literally –six folks cuddled very closely together so they could be seen by others on the Skype screen, with Toby and I running between other rooms trying to invite, accept and add everyone to the party!). Yes, it was quite rich!

We also took full advantage of the circle and our time together in person to revisit and refresh some of the core models and bring them to life with breath and energy! I loved the commitment and willingness that folks had in stepping forward and sharing, listening and relating!

We weren’t certain how Living It! was going to go. It wasn’t, and isn’t, a set format. However, I am thrilled to be a part of the pioneer program and enjoying all those folks along for the ride!

If nothing else we all know now that indeed you can be personal, relate, laugh and learn online AND in person!

Indeed we are Living It! Thanks guys for making it happen and making it real!

Life Experiences

Completion!

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Susie’s Unfinished Stuff

When I was young I would spend my summers at camp, which had a wonderful arts and crafts program.  Almost every day I would spend time working on a summer craft project.  I loved the feeling of  working with wood.  I started spoons, forks, a lamp, a duck, a fish, board games – I had such high hopes.  Alas, I believe almost all of my projects ended up in a box of in-completes, like the misfit toys.  I’d start with gusto, but at some point the wood would crack, something would look more promising to start, or I’d simply tire of the struggle and give up.

My memory is that box in corner stayed throughout my many years at camp and was labeled – Susie’s Unfinished Projects!

It’s possible I have dramatized and over-personalized that box of unfinished projects, but I do know that I was one of the primary contributors.

Over the years the memory of that unfinished crafts box, and my success in filling it, has indeed haunted me.  See, I am just not that great at finishing.  I am all about the excitement and possibility of starting and the joy of learning, but I can be a bit weak on crossing the finish line.

So today I am celebrating a completion!  A solid start to finish effort on my part!

At the start of the year I was wrestling with my father’s dying process and all the unfinished business I had with some of the pieces and history of my life.

Over the years, I have done a lot of work in reclaiming my life and have shifted from focusing on the past drama, to now becoming a healthy, thriving person, charting my own destiny.

Still I knew things were resurfacing from the past, during the last few months of my father’s life and  I wanted to see if I was ready to integrate these pieces and feel complete.

I decided to embark on a coaching/counseling project with a highly recommended therapist in my area.

I’ve got to say, I had some fears of explicitly revisiting the past.  I did wonder if I was opening some crazy can of worms that I might wish I had left unfinished.  But I also wanted to discover if I had the resources to stir up the past and in the process resolve some of the reactivity I knew was a big part of my current charm. Okay. I call it charm, but I know some of you reading might have other words for my reactivity!

Well today I sat with my therapist after eight months of consistent work on a series of events from my life that have haunted me, and as we talked, I realized I was complete.  We talked about my intentions in starting the project and I realized I had done what I came to do.

I also had just come home from leading a Come Alive at The Haven in which I had stayed in touch with my joy, curiosity, and love of the work and the people in the room.  I hadn’t gotten impatient, reactive, nor found myself hooked in an old story.  Was everything perfect – of course not – but life isn’t about perfect.

In addition, in the process of my eight month reclaiming project,  I delivered our TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It!,  which was an on-stage opportunity to uncover my past and share it without crumbling.

Earlier today I also finished and published I written piece I am most proud of: How Surfacing Conflict Saved My Life.  For me it was a powerful experience of telling my story and not getting stuck or caught in how it would be received.

So today I walked out of my therapist’s office feeling complete.

As I drove home I remembered that incomplete crafts box and all those unfinished projects.  I thought about other in-completes in my life, like my book or relationships that no longer serve me. Things that I have started, but have not been clean, clear, or successful in crossing the finish line.

Today, I felt differently.

I am grateful for the journey and for my therapist’s reflection to me that my work with her is complete.

Wow!

So today I am celebrating!  It’s like taking a few of those incomplete projects out of the art box, finishing them, and placing placing them on the mantel, recognizing indeed they are done and are works of art – as is my life!

Uncategorized

Living It! – Join Us Sunday!

onlineslide-words-jumpingAll of you who follow my blog know that I have tremendous love and commitment to The Haven and the core programs there.  Indeed, I turned my life around there, and still after thirty years continue to learn, grow, and get my beliefs and stories challenged and expanded by leading and taking programs at The Haven.

However, as much as I love The Haven, it’s really not the place, the faculty, or all you folks who come to Haven that have been the reason my life is transformed.  Sure, I love being there with you all, but the bottom-line is that it wasn’t five days of a Come Alive or various month long programs that made me different.

No.  It’s an on-going, never-ending commitment to Living It – that makes the difference.

Learning is great.  Places that support and create a wonderful environment for exploring and discovering are awesome.  The Haven is certainly that place, but if you can’t take those lessons home or back to work, it’s just a wow! experience.  Nothing wrong with wow! But for me, the test is how I live what I learn everyday!

I often hear someone say in a program – “I can’t be like this back in the real world!!”  I challenge that idea because really Haven is the “real world.”  Still, I do understand that it is easier to try something new when you are outside of normal or familiar.  I would agree – The Haven and Gabriola are that for me.

I think the real work does come when you get home.  As I have often shared – fighting cancer was a hell of a lot easier than living beyond it!  There was a charge, a fight, and an easy choice when I was dealing with cancer.  When the fight stopped, it was harder to keep making choices for my own aliveness.  There’s a risk and an edge to that type of living.  Still, I do think it is what living is all about!

So if you took a Come Alive or a Phase and you have struggled to Live It  back in your ‘real world.’  Join Toby and myself to talk about that challenge.

Sunday – August 23 at 1PM PT on a webinar.  Register Now! You can also take the challenge of joining us for the new Living It Program starting Sept 10th.

Whatever you decide I would love to hear from you. How do you Live it, meaning how to you take what you learn and apply to yourself, your life, your relationships or your work? Tell me.

 

 

 

Business, Valuing Differences, Vulnerability, Women

This May Cost Me $15,000, but I’m Still Saying It

24227270_mIn this piece, I plan to be forceful, maybe even abrasive. According to one Fast Company Article, the act of me being forceful could cost me in the range of $15,000, simply because I am a woman.

Really? You have got to be kidding!

Yesterday morning I read two different Fast Company articles that created a burst of rage in me! One was about my reduced pay for being forceful. The other was even more bothersome. Studies show that the word abrasive only shows up in women’s performance reviews – not men’s. Men may get a mention of impatience but followed by –but aren’t we all?

Fast Company, are you just trying to piss me off? It’s working.

Yes, I admit women and men’s inequality has been a longstanding issue. I remember running smack dab into it when I was eleven. Myself and Laura, the other best player on our little league team, both got tossed off the team because we were girls.

Really? We were the best players. You have got to be kidding.

At that young age, I don’t think I had a clue how to be forceful. Instead, I gave in, tossed my glove in the closet and moved on to tennis. Once I switched sports, I was playing one of the boys, and was told, “You need to tone it down, and should really think of letting him win.”

Really?!

This time I paid no attention. I went ahead and won. Yes, it did ruin my chances of getting high school dates, but that wasn’t what I was really after anyway.

So those types of comments have been around a long time. Frankly, it just makes me angry!

Was that how I was suppose to start learning to be nice and polite?
Or learn that I should not be forceful?

Really?!!

Why is there such a double standard? I have no doubt that there are men out there angry that they have been told, not to cry, or be so sensitive. I feel for you. Though, I also know that women in business get that same feedback frequently. Still, it may even have cost you guys $15, 000 in pay as well. So I will show some empathy.

What would it take to get over all of the crazy assumptions, stories, and stereotypes we use over and over? Pretending, or trying to pretend, that we don’t have these stereotypes is not working.

Well, I do believe one thing: It will take a little forcefulness to change.

Am I being abrasive? You probably think I am.
Am I being angry? Yes, because I am angry.
I think you should be as well.

I would love to rage loud enough for people to hear. We cannot keep stereotyping and classifying genders, races, and cultures and pretend we are a country of equality.

Truthfully, though, we will. Pretending we won’t, isn’t a viable solution.  We are ALL prejudice in some way.  Our only path through it is to own up to it and talk about it.

It takes courage to own up to my storytelling and share it. It takes vulnerability and curiosity to deal with our differences together.

Right now, I am angry at men.  Of course, it isn’t all men, and it isn’t great that I bundle them all together.  But I do in moments like this.

So I am owning up to my story, and don’t want to stay here, I want to get curious.

  • Why doesn’t the word abrasive show up on a man’s performance review?
  • Why shouldn’t women leaders be forceful?

Tell me. Really.

Susan Clarke is a Speaker, Consultant, and Coach at thrive! inc. Clients refer to Susan, and her partner CrisMarie, as “The Team Doctors” because they focus on the health of the team in order to get the team to smart business results. They just released their TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It! Don’t Defuse It! Contact Susan at [email protected].

Life Experiences, Uncategorized

Come Alive – Self-Responsible Relational Living & Leading!

In May, CrisMarie and I had the chance to do a TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! right here  Whitefish.

It was a bucket list experience for me.  Yes, doing a TEDx talk was one piece of that, but being able to be on the stage with my life and work partner, CrisMarie, and sharing my own transformational experience from my first Come Alive at the Haven was the bucket list part.

When I arrived at the the Haven in 1984, I was dying.  When I left, I was awake and alive!  Of course, the journey really wasn’t a five day transformation. Yes, the tumors were gone, but that didn’t mean I had a clue how to keep living it!! What I did know was that something else was possible, and I wanted more of that!

I had an experience that woke me up to the possibility of living beyond my limiting story and circumstances.  In other words, I  was embracing the possibility of self-responsible relational living!  Now, that was, and is, a practice, and frankly, a spiritual one well worth pursuing!

That concept of embracing self responsibility was not easy.  I still have a quick twitch tendency to blame – either myself, others, God, or the universe.  That blame is an easy escape route from being connected to the world around me.  When I am unwilling to respond, I stay trapped in my reaction, or in a right/wrong place, and as a result, my world is isolated and quite small.

For me, the key was curiosity!  Getting out of that right/wrong trap is still a practice I have to embrace daily, however, now, it’s exciting and very enlivening!

The relational part took even longer to fully embrace and is big reason I was so thrilled to do our TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! together.  When you watch it you will see how relational it is. We start out personally. We make mistakes, sing a song, and a flub the very last line. It is funny and poignant. At least, we hope that is your experience in watching it.

To me, it was definitely real and relational.  It is that relational piece which  has made the lessons of Haven spiritual and sustaining.

Today, CrisMarie and I at thrive! inc., work with leaders and teams.  I am thrilled to be taking self-responsible relational living to self-responsible relational leadership!

I love that the roots of who we are in the world are grounded in that transformational experience I had years ago in a Come Alive. I also love that in many ways the concept is simple. Live and lead with vulnerability and curiosity – embrace our differences and use conflict to change/connect the world!

For me that is what Come Alive offers –  a wake up call to action.  A chance to change my world through surfacing conflict and using it as an energy source for transformation, creativity and innovation.

That is also the essence of becoming a self-responsible relational leader!

If you are stuck or frustrated in your life, I suggest taking a Come Alive!  Try on self-responsible relational living! Come join us for our Come Alive starting August 30, 2015.  (Next dates March 6-11, 2016)

And it if you are a leader, frustrated by your team’s results, give thrive! inc. a call and consider embracing self-responsible relational leadership!

Want to see the TEDx Talk Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It!  Watch it, share and spread it! We think it is an idea worth spreading!

Dog, Life Experiences

Wrestling with, I mean Raising Rosie

Rosie has been with us for five months now.  She’s 7 months old, meaning she as spent more of her life with us than with anyone else. We are her pack, and she is our family.

It is easy to say I love her.  She is so cute.  She is smart.  She is Sooooo PLAYFUL.

What’s not to love?

Well, let’s just say, we, meaning Rosie and me, have our moments.

My arms, bruised and scratched, bare proof of her desire to find a four-legged playmate and settling on me instead.

For all you alpha dog disciplinarians out there, don’t assume I am just too soft.  While there is some truth to that, I started reading Caesar on day one.  I signed up for a variety of trainings, including personal leadership and dog obedience ones. Lately, I have had a clear intention to not encourage wrestling with Rosie.

Rosie has a slightly different opinion.

My latest strategy is taking a water bottle with me when we go out in the yard to exercise/play.  It seems to be the best plan so far.  Either I am more confident, or Rosie is simply clear that anyone with a water bottle is an alpha!  It could be because Carol from Lucky Dog Day Camp, is an awesome alpha pack leader who carries a water bottle and isn’t afraid to use it!

I am encouraged with Rosie’s new found respect for me.  It’s not too hard to stay positive with a puppy like Rosie.  There’s more joy and laughter than “ouch!”

Since beginning to write this post while out on the deck with Rosie, I have gotten up twice to ensure that that “quiet, contented silence” is Rosie resting or playing quietly with her own toys rather than getting into mischief.

Score: Tied = Mischief 1, Quiet Contented Silence 1

She has visited me with a tennis ball to try to encourage me to play.  She has also dropped an old toy at my feet, that Sooke must have hidden, when the tennis ball was not effective!

I love having her around.  Even though some things like those non-working garden lamps have all been ripped up, chewed up, and spread around the yard, and the plastic deck chairs include some new bite marks, having Rosie around, as our dog, is worth it.

Mostly, I see potential in both of us, to get through puppy-hood and develop a great long-lasting relationship!

Sooke would be proud. 053(1)

 

Life Experiences

The Power & Strength in Delivering at TEDx WF!

everythingawesome
Live on the TEDx Whitefish Stage!

We just participated in our first TEDx talk, right here in Whitefish!  It was an amazing experience.  In many ways a perfect topic for addressing the importance of integrating power and strength.

As a speaker it’s my job to make my great idea work within the time frame of eighteen minutes. Taking an idea and making it crisp, and clear in 18 minutes is tough enough.  Add to that the complexity of there being two of us, sharing this big idea, and I think you can see the challenge.

Our big idea: Conflict is an Energy Source for Innovation, Creativity and Transformation.

Use it! Don’t Diffuse it!

Be Vulnerable and Curious to Transform Conflict into Creativity in an Instant.

The two concepts: vulnerability and curiosity settle on the strength side of the Power and Strength Continuum.  If you are unfamiliar with Haven’s Power and Strength models, here’s a link for a summary (go to p 13).  Very short answer:

  • Power is all about dominating and controlling the external environment
  • Strength is about coming more from within

Both power and strength are choices we have for handling anxiety and our innate sense of helpless.  We usually have a favorite or a familiar choice.  Our work, as we become adults and more fully embrace our lives, is to value both and move between power and strength with flexibility as appropriate.

Preparing and delivering a TEDx Talk is a great way to test that integration process.

Getting our idea clear and concise in many ways involved a healthy use of power. (To be completely honest, we were a touch unhealthy at times. We are a couple!)  The message needed to be tight and not one that implied uncertainty.  We went through many stages of writing, rewriting, delivering, and redelivering, getting feedback, and incorporating that feedback. (Okay crying and screaming as well!)

We practiced our timing.  We practiced in our outfits. We practiced with our slides.  We did the talk super fast and then very conversationally.

This was all about taking our deeply personal, passionate message and framing it into a Powerful package.

The day of the dress rehearsal we delivered a very tight TEDx Talk well within the time limit.

Our speaker coach had this to say, “You guys have great material, but you are talking at us about vulnerability and curiosity and you need to actually be vulnerable and curious!”

“OUCH!”

Yes, the feedback did sting a bit!  Yet, it was so right on!

We had done some great work to control and package the message.  I believe that was invaluable.  However, to step on the stage and deliver that message, we needed to come from within – the strength side – to connect and show that vulnerability!

So what did we do?  We went home and practiced some more.  Why?  Because I think we both knew that if we really, absolutely knew our lines, we could let them go and embody the lines on the stage.  Meaning, choosing power can and does support, strength.

On the stage live, we delivered.  We connected.  We made mistakes, and we recovered.  We were vulnerable and curious.

For me, it was a wonderful experience of integrating Power and Strength.

I can so easily get upset with CrisMarie when she wants me to script or overly practice a model or a speech.  It can seem so non-organic and impersonal.  Yet, I get it.  One way is not right or wrong – good or bad.

It’s all about the choice, and knowing when it’s best to power over (dominate that script) and when to trust my strength (take the stage and breathe some life into our message, and be real).

This is true on stage.  It’s true in business.  It’s true at home.

Don’t make the usual mistake of getting fixated on one side or the other – dance and integrate the best of both in your life.

Want to learn more about The Next Step: Integrating Power & Strength into your Daily Life?  Join Toby & I in Part II of our FREE Webinar series on May 13 at noon PT.

 

 

 

Life Experiences

Celebrating Success!

 A year ago when I started my journey in Equus Coaching, I found myself totally terrified about my decision to say, “yes”, to the nudge towards Koelle Simpson’s, Equus Coaching program.

Today I am traveling home after my year end review for certification.

I had a wonderful weekend.  I did some things I never thought I would feel comfortable doing.

Frankly, most of my angst and fear comes up catching horses and moving them between the pasture and the round pen.  Sure enough, I got lots of opportunity to work on that!  Yes, Scotty (whom some of my co-coaching folks will remember) had me circling for quite a while before I finely settled myself into the fact that no one else was coming to help me get him to and through that gate!  I had to take a deep breath and take the lead.  His follow pasture mates were no help as they simply persisted to hang out at the gate until I gave them a clear message to back it up!

I had a round pen session with a horse, Snowman, who simply wasn’t in the mood to demonstrate a walk, trot or gallop around the pen.  No, he pretty much just stood there. Yet, he gave me a wonderful chance to keep coming back to myself and my intention; stay present in myself and my own sense of ‘good enough’.

The coaching was the joyful part of the review.  Sure I can always get better AND I had one session that for me was magic, very fulfilling (not only that but we laughed a lot,  tears are not the only way to get profound and deep work done!).

Finally, yesterday as we each waited for our turn for feedback, I used the time to practice haltering horses for anyone wanting to practice in the round pen. I also, got a chance or two to dance with a horse and get some great coaching. (thanks Tj)

Did I get certified? No, I have work to do. Did I ‘pass’.  Yes!

I honestly wasn’t sure if I would continue if I didn’t come this time. Whenever I get back home from the incredible experiences at the ranch,  I seem to drown in my lack of self-confidence.  So I came, not to get certified but to get valuable feedback.  I did and I stayed open and curious about all the input that came my way!

The best feedback came from the horses.  They let me know I have come a long way and gave me lots of good input about ways to continue to grow and build my confidence!

This time returning home, I’d like to think I’ll do things differently.

However, for now, I simply want to celebrate my success.

I feel full and very grateful.  Thank you to all who took this journey with me! Especially the horses, who continue to sing and I continue to listen! 

 

with Susan Clarke