female education

Coffee with a stranger

~ credo2014 ~ 2 Comments

So often people are quick to criticise younger people for not having any manners or being unsociable.

This morning I had the pleasure to encounter a lovely young lady in Costa Coffee near Farringdon Station. (If you are reading my blog you know who you are). Her manners were impeccable and we soon engaged in a very open and positive exchange.

I really hope this young lady is successful in pursuing her dreams she deserves to do well and if I were her Mother I would be extremely proud.

Often when we are younger employers exploit us or treat us unfairly because they can. What they do not realise is how damaging this can be to somebody starting out in life and needing their confidence building up not destroying.

Beautiful hair by the way!!

Benefits of being a mature student

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I initially enrolled on four counselling courses with the BSY Group as further self- development, to help me focus my research for my bereavement projects and enhance my people skills for clients. Distance learning can work really well for those of us with work and family commitments as you can fit it around schedules and also work to your own pace.

The positive comments from the great team of BSY tutors on my returned assignments really spurred me on to complete the next lesson and proceed to final exams. We are never too old to accept compliments and I was thrilled when my tutors nominated for an Adult Learning Award last year.

I guess my message would be one is never too old to learn and grow in terms of emotional intelligence and gain new qualifications – with the support and flexibility from the team at BSY the journey is easier than you think. The standard of lesson material is so much higher than many other courses so speaking as a Quality Consultant I would say the courses are really great value for money.

So if you have been putting off doing something for yourself then now may be the time to do it! Have a look at their website the choice of holistic courses is excellent.

Crazy or just a bit quirky?

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Today I was reminded by an old school chum that whilst he thought I was an intelligent girl he also thought I was a bit mad! Of course he is right on both accounts creative people have to be just a little bit crazy to be inventive. I prefer to say I am quirky.

There is of a course a very fine line between being insane and what others see as normal, but who are we to judge?

I am also aware that over the years my happy disposition, positive outlook and enthusiasm can be just a little bit annoying too!  But we all are what we are, but with a little change and consideration of others we can all rub along quite nicely. What a great shame it would be if we were all the same eh?

Some people bring out the best in us, some bring out the worst and others bring out the craziness. One of my very close friends and I have had some really funny times which would of course be construed by others (especially our children) as uncool and embarrassing or just plain mad.

So to said old school chum… to play on words… I am not wild…I’m furious. just kidding!

By the way the idea of comparing types of affair as ‘conventional or sexual’ is beyond belief by the way. An oven is conventional or fan assisted!! What’s cooking?

Putting one’s mind to something

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Just heard another lady at the hairdressers repeating my own mother’s words of encouragement…‘You can do anything in life if you put your mind to it!’

So many of us listen to the little voice that can easily talk us out of taking on a new challenge. My tip for the day is to ignore it and be an ‘I can do’ type of gal. The latter has held me in good stead over the years to always try new things and expand the personal and professional CV.

Be curious; Get out and meet people with a different point of view -nothing better than a good debate as long as you bear in mind it is just another’s opinion which may differ tremendously from yours. In our house growing up with a formidable independent woman for a mother us girls were always allowed our say and quite often we knew best! Sorry ‘brothers’ but it’s true!

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I am enjoying having a ‘song challenge’ with a friend who may be reading this today…by the way I am still winning.  I am reminded this weeks of lyrics from ‘The impossible dream’;

‘To run where the brave dare not go’...yes the supermarket on Friday afternoon!

Have a fab weekend fellow bloggers

 

 

Don’t worry…eat chocolate

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We all spend far too much time worrying about things and as my amazing mother used to say;  ‘Worrying about things won’t change them and it’s just time out of your life wasted.’ and of course as usual she was right! We knew these as Dorothy’s teachings now known as mindfulness and both are explored lovingly in my book ‘A Mother’s Love’.

One can be aware of something without the necessity of allowing it to become all consuming, but opt to moving on to the next thought process to dilute its importance.  Standing back, reflecting, accepting and thinking ‘In the scheme of things’ one could soon realise the concerned thought is in fact trivia and not worthy of the time and mind space or level of anxiety.

Half of our deep seated worries will never come to fruition and the other half ….do not actually exist! The following statistics may help prove this; 40% will never happen, 30% are related to the past which one cannot do anything about, 12% unfounded health concerns, 10% too petty to even worry about, 4% substantially beyond our control = 96% so one can see what we are left with …not much to worry about at all really so we must continue to keep our faith (whatever that may be), remain positive  and stop worrying.

However, in case of real emergencies I strongly recommend chocolate and yes it is good for your health. But all things in moderation eh?

What really counts…

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Some people spend their whole life searching for answers which may just be staring them in the face. Life is indeed what we make it and richness can be measured in so many ways. Today I remind myself how fortunate I am to have a great family and wonderful circle of friends who support me and when needed I do my best to support them too.

I have quite a few close friends and family members going through bereavement and one of the things I always try to remind the bereaved is to remember their loved one’s achievements in life and who they were. This is far preferable than focusing on the way they died, and, in the case of an unexpected death so many unanswered questions remain and often we feel a terrible sense of anger or injustice dependent on the circumstances.

Just after my own mother died a boyfriend gave me a poem ‘How do you live your dash’ author unknown.  This reminds us of just how important our lives are however short the dash is between the date we were born and the date we died we will have loved, been loved and touched the hearts of many and achieved so much.  One verse follows:-

‘For that dash represents all the time she spent alive on earth

And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth

For it matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash

What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash’

A few of my followers will resonate with and understand why this is the subject of today’s post. A few more lines from the same poem and a great mantra for the weekend…no life!

‘And be less quick to anger, show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.’

 

A Mother’s Love

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Last year whilst studying and researching for my various counselling qualifications, I finally made sense of various notes and memories about my amazing mother and wrote a book about a mother’s love. My aim was to have it published for this year’s Mother’s Day…alas that didn’t happen

It stagnated for a while with an agent who run out of time and budget for projects and now I am approaching publishers, so toes and fingers crossed.

I have just re-read some of it and reminded myself just how deep that love was and what a great mentor my own mother (my inspiration for this project) was.

We do take people for granted intentionally or not and as a follower of my blog confessed;  when we are young we struggle to maintain relationships with our parents but parents fully appreciate/realise being a teenager is difficult…so is being 57! ouch!

So to that sensitive male my message is simply this don’t have regrets just love!

 

Magical Mondays

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Another magical Monday lunch meeting with my life coach pal chewing the cud. It is essential to be with like-minded people that ‘just get you’. Having an opportunity to talk honestly about what’s wrong with society and looking for ways to improve a situation is pure magic.

Having the same ethics and spirituality make for great friendships and mutual mentoring in our joint and separate endeavors to make a difference with today’s teens.

You know who you are -I am so lucky to have such an amazing friend/professional colleague.

Anything is possible and one day we will have that foundation… for now we are learning as we go and being both saddened yet inspired by what we see.

Studying and hard work pays off..

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Good morning to fellow study buddies and anybody out there studying and working hard with distant learning and/or of course all students at university.

I have just qualified as an NLP Life Skills Coach and my six months plus of being a recluse and working hard has paid off.

Thanks to my friends and family for all their support during my term as a mature student. A huge thanks to my tutors at BSY for their support and positive encouragement.

To those preparing for exams pre-Xmas and early 2016 good luck and keep at it.

Keep healthy and positive you will get there…enjoy the journey!