Nature is a powerful teacher and I often draw on inspiration from my garden for myself and clients.
My own journey has shown that we might feel broken, but we are not.
There is a spirit within each of us that longs for connection and expression. It's not just in some of us, but in every one of us.
What I know for certain is that you are important. You have a unique space to fill in the world. Please don't spend another moment in self doubt or despair.
"Is this it?"
Many of my clients are asking the question, "is this it?"
I'm talking to you if you have hit a wall or are feeling derailed by life. I hear you, I've been there!
I spent the first half of my life a victim of abuse, abandonment, shame and disappointment.
I was supported out by amazing teachers, inspiring books, fabulous coaches and a series of transformational trainings and workshops.
Experience
Over the last 30 years I have helped thousands of incredible women like you break out of the cycle of powerlessness and claim their life back through:
- facilitating workshops for Insight Seminars, a global personal development organisation.
- coaching women on probation in a London Borough.
- teaching confidence, assertiveness and relationship workshops through the Worker's Educational Association.
- developing a personal development programme for users of a national mental health charity.
- supporting single parents and families going through separations.
- 1-1 and group coaching both in person and online.
MY FALL AND RISE
THE FALL AND THE WALL
The first half of my life I lived as a victim of circumstance. My father left home when I was 8 years old. As I look back at my childhood, through the happy memories, I realise I identified as an abandoned, bullied and overweight child.
In my 20s I was lost and out of control, with a skin full of alcohol, a bad case of bulimia and a violent husband. Being a single mum to two young daughters didn't offer any respite.
As I left that marriage, I realised that life in that form was not sustainable, but I could not see the way out. I felt trapped. I hit my wall!
THE AH HAH MOMENT!
Seeing me in my hopeless, sorry state, a dear friend took me along to my first personal development seminar, where I was astounded to discover that there was indeed more to life than "this"! I experienced a new way of looking at the world and myself within it, the power of integrity and my higher sense of self.
I started taking better care of myself and my relationships changed for the better. I experienced a connection to a deeper meaning of life, and I had a profound sense of being guided and supported. Some might describe it as a spiritual awakening. I started meditating and studying A Course In Miracles. I trained as an Interfaith Minister.
Many a time I was asked what the secret was for my fabulous relationship with my children. I was persuaded to put together a programme for families, facilitating communication, connection and fostering understanding. I built a good reputation as a workshop facilitator running courses for groups of maginalised women, women on probation, families who were in crisis and offering 1–1 sessions to those facing specific, personal challenges.
During this period I met a kind and gentle man who is now my husband.
TURN LEFT!
Then we sold up and moved to a farm in Wiltshire, where we worked with rare breed animals. That was a turn I hadn't expected but the animals turned out to be master teachers.
We had British White Cows. Cows teach the art of being. They like moon bathing and standing, chewing the cud and digesting the moment.
We had Gloucester Old Spot Pigs. Pigs are grounded beings who like to be connected to all things earthy. They are enthusiastic and express their deep satisfaction for life physically and vocally!
We had Ixworth Chickens. Chickens are creatures of the light. Their natural egg production cycle is tuned to daylight hours, so they lay significantly fewer eggs in the winter. The hens are fussy and there is no doubt that some masculine energy helps to keep harmony.
We had Norfolk Black Turkeys. Turkeys are creatures of joy! They love to run and flap and laugh, and when one starts to giggle, they all join in.
We had a small flock of rescue Geese. Geese are teachers of community. When our geese laid eggs and sat on the nest, the rest took turns to guard outside. When the young goslings hatched, there was a great commotion and coming together to teach them how to get in and out of the goose house, then to walk a little further each day. It takes a community to raise a gosling.
We hosted a small flock of Cotswold Sheep. Sheep are little factories. They are industrious and intent on turning every blade of grass into wool, bone and body. So intent are they on this task that they don't always notice danger or problems until it's too late.
We looked after a herd of horses. Horses are animals that teach the true meaning of service. They are deeply sensitive to what's going on inside the humans around them and, as such, can be great teachers. I sometimes brought groups of visitors to the horses who often opened powerful insights for us all.
The farmhouse kitchen table was a place where the many visitors to the farm would gather for tea and cake. That table has heard many stories and it became my coaching station for the duration of our farming life.
THE RISE
In 2018 we sold the farm and moved to be closer to our growing family back in Buckinghamshire.
Turning 60 felt significant, as if I had graduated from the University of Life. Not that I've stopped learning or any such thing, but somehow I experienced a shift in my understanding of life and all its unfoldings. In his book, Falling Upwards, Richard Rohr writes of a first and second half of life, the first being a state of relative innocence or naivety where we are driven by our egoic desires, the second being where we embrace what we have learned and lean into a more spiritually guided experience. I feel that I have entered the second half.
During the pandemic of 2020 I, like many people, found myself spending a lot of time in my garden and loving it. I also developed new skills, especially in the technical department on my computer. I engaged with a raft of courses, blogs and videos that fueled my commitment to personal and spiritual development. A course with William Whitecloud particularly spurred me on and connected me with Deborah Marie Isis with whom I took a leading role in supporting newcomers to her work through weekly online coaching sessions. I also stepped up to lead a group studying A Course In Miracles, which has stretched my spiritual muscle.
It's a winding path and I always seemed to end up in the garden, finding powerful insights from what was going on there. Nature is such a perfect teacher, as she comes in all her glory and gory without ego or attachment. All that unfolds does so with clarity of purpose and engagement with what IS. I started to offer online coaching from the garden to share this wisdom.
And so it is that Growing With Grace was born.
I look forward to welcoming you at the garden gate...
"For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”
Michelle Obama