What do you want?

Is it scary to think about what you really want? Are you afraid that you will seem foolish or unrealistic? Unfortunately, we are socialized to think that being mature in years or career means being rational and not reaching too far… and that doesn’t serve us. In fact, it stops us from thinking bigger before …

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Happy Women’s Day!

This International Women’s Day I dedicate my post to my first role model: my late mother Esther. She taught me a lot. She talked to me about women forced into marriage by unwanted pregnancy and those who had to quit their jobs when they got married or had a child. She praised nurses and doctors …

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Forgiveness and Resilience

Anyone who has Zoomed with me will see that I like having plants around. To me they are the easiest way to make a room feel alive and create beauty. I am not good with plants, though. I neglect them badly. Sometimes my peace lilies wilt completely. Their forlorn leaves dragging on the table are …

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Why write?

If you really want to do something, write it down. I encourage clients to write their goals to share with me and to send updates between sessions. When they don’t want or choose to do it they may be afraid to define their goals. Or they aren’t sure of their direction. Or there is conflict …

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Who inspires you?

A friend recently told me that watching the big shifts in my career path over the years had inspired her. It was a very kind and flattering thing to say. And it got me thinking of all the people who inspire and show me what it is to have: These people make me optimistic for …

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You don’t need to be a mess…

….to work with a coach! Who can use a coach? Well – anyone, really. Since I launched my coaching practice I found that a lot of people think that you have to be in crisis, transition, life disruption, or really messed up to need a coach. Absolutely – working with a coach can be very …

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Good Choices

One way to make a decision is to look at “Pros and Cons”. One of the risks of looking at the “Cons” is that they can become larger, obscure our vision of possibilities and make us fearful. What if you flip the script and only look at the “Pros”?   We can’t make perfect choices. …

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August Pause

This will be brief as I will be taking a short break. Taking time to enjoy the reliable pleasures of swimming outdoors, sun on bare skin, coffee on a patio and visiting with friends and family. I will also be on a trip with the amazing cycling advocacy organization Ontario By Bike. This year we …

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Lessons from the lobster

Did you know that the only way a lobster can grow is to break out of its shell and grow a new one? That is a very cool fact I did not know before. This was mentioned in the excellent CBC interview with Martinus Evans who, as a very large man, cracked open medical, social …

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Feel the fear…

This is a gem of a book. Susan Jeffers was the original “queen of self-help” and this updated edition of her first classic still has a lot to offer. Her writing resonates with me because I have experienced what she describes and have seen it in coaching. Fear shows up in different ways: anxiety, avoidance, …

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