There are so many things on my To Do List for today.  Writing a post was not one of them, but it just seems like the right thing to do.

Next week we’ll be at the Martha Beck Coaches Summit in San Diego with about 500 other coaches!  I went two years ago and it was an amazing experience.  I don’t even like large crowds of people and especially if I have any inkling that there’s some sort of ‘follow-the guru’ thing happening.  I admit last time I was suspicious.

However, though Martha has been the magnet for many of the folks attending, the magic is that it isn’t really about ‘following’ Martha.  Yes, each coach is grounded in the fundamentals that she teaches.  But, frankly, her style is to lovingly push you out of the nest so that you can find your own set of wings.

So, yes, Martha is present and offers her unique brand of science, wisdom and humor each day.  However, most of the day involves workshops and talks presented by Coaches around how they are living this work.  What sold me last time was both the grounded, solid and quirky nature of Martha and the unique mastery of those presenting who clearly have found their own voice and bodies of work.  It was inspiring!

So inspiring, that we decided to totally shift our own way of working.  We started thrive! inc. in 2002, with our own unique voice and way of working with leaders and teams.  Along the way we took a express highway that did help us develop and grow in the corporate world but may have dampened our own brand and voice.  It was fun riding in the express lane; however, the Summit and our own individual journeys becoming MB coaches (CrisMarie is a Master Coach as well) brought back a yearning to return to our own voice and message.

We have each done the work of many masters.  We have also each integrated and weaved our own unique spin on all we have learned.  Finding our voice over this past year hasn’t always been easy or particularly successful by our express lane measures.  However, it has been so worth it.

This time at the Summit we are presenting.  We decided to offer a workshop in our most “Woo-Woo” material.  I have to admit I wanted to do something that I was more comfortable and confident delivering.  Maybe that is why I am the Certified Coach and CrisMarie is the Master.  She insisted on putting in the Six Body Types as our offering. She was right. Let’s go for the “Woo!”

Building and creating this presentation and material for delivery as been rich.  I realize I often step away from exposing my own “Woo-Woo” nature.  Since I was very young I have had experiences that just didn’t seem to translate well in the mainstream.  I learned to keep that stuff to myself.  What has been the most profound learning from Martha Beck and the tribe is that “Woo” and science can and do mix.  In fact, being the odd duck is actually not just okay – but cool!

I admit, I’m nervous about the Summit.  Well, excited and nervous.  I am looking forward to being with like-minded friends and colleagues.  I am looking forward to learning and participating in the many wonderous offerings.  I am scared silly about stepping out and revealing to a larger audience my own voice and my way of finding resilience in this crazy, cracked world that really isn’t what it appears to be on the surface at all!