Not sure whats happening with the weather – March 26th and 19 degrees C, or about 66 degrees F if you prefer. Either way, sun cream needed as its very unexpected. The ladybirds probably thought so too, coming out in swarms. It reminded me when I was a child that once a year a tree stump in a favourite park in Urmston (Manchester, UK), was covered in hundreds of yellow and black striped caterpillars. It always enthralled me and that’s exactly what these ladybirds have done too.
David Miskimin
The Coaching Parent Book Polish Edition
As you will see, the book cover is our newly translated version of The Coaching Parent. It has been carefully converted and published by Academica in Warszawa, what I as an Englishman know as Warsaw. Doesn’t it look great? The interesting part is that I was approached in Oxford UK, late last year about the willingness for us to allow a translated version, while I was delivering a corporate coaching programme for Noble Manhattan Coaching! Were we keen – you bet!
David Miskimin
Spring has truly sprung!
This must be one of the best springtime experiences we have had in England for many many years. Extensive sunshine and the blossom on the trees, has been the fullest I can recall. And what a joy it was to take our four grandchildren to Ness Botanic Gardens on the Wirral (North West England). They had an amazing time frolicking in the blossom, and it was just as much fun for us watching!
David Miskimin
I was listening to a fascinating conversation on the radio. The DJ asked his nine-year-old caller, who was about to depart for school – “what are you looking forward to about school today?”. The response was immediate and effusive. “My two front teeth came out yesterday and nobody knows – I can’t wait to get to school and show everybody!”. I thought ‘how wonderful’, and not a moments concern from the caller either.
It also reminded me about the importance of looking forward rather than backwards. We can’t change the past, yet we can eagerly anticipate the future, especially if we believe we can influence it by what we do in the present.
In The Coaching Parent book we refer to how easy it is to integrate this thinking into coaching. One of the great things with coaching is to create an atmosphere of future expectation. It’s done with the simple statement:
“What are you most looking forward to about tomorrow.”
It presupposes a number of things:
• That you are looking forward to something.
• That you are looking forward to more than one thing.
• That the future will indeed be positive.
And even though you may not have thought of something, the statement forces you to comment on the fact that there will be something you can look forward to. So – a very powerful question.
How about asking your family the same question…?
David Miskimin
Tags: anticipation, future, looking forward
Have you ever wondered what might happen to your children if you removed their electronic gadgets. Read this, you will probably not be amazed – http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110118/ap_on_hi_te/us_fea_parenting_teens_unplugged%3B_ylt%3DAg3GD3IE44a5kz3uQLt5cA.s0NUE%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTFpcDU2ZjU3BHBvcwMzNgRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDd2hhdGhhcHBlbnN3
Tags: creating reality, freedom, Imagination
How do you construct your reality? If you read the ‘papers’ every day, and watch a lot of ‘news’ programmes, you will probably be suicidal! Like most people, you most likely take what you watch, hear and read with a pinch of salt.
I saw a TV programme the other night about a young single mum who gave her young son an Argos catalogue before Xmas. Guess what? He ‘chose’ a list of toys and she went into debt to buy them. She had to declare the equivalent of bankruptcy after being unable to pay the £600 bill.
So who created her son’s reality? And her’s?
Forget the material stuff for a moment. What would happen if you dispensed with Newtonian cause-and-effect physics? This 400 year old theory underpins media reality, as does the model of a our bodies as machines.
Suppose we could influence ‘reality’ to a level unimaginable? Just like da Vinci, Galileo, Newton [in his day], Tesla, Einstein and contemporary innovators.
Just exactly what is fixed for ever? Almost nothing. So your reality is co-created with God, the universe, source, or consciousness or whatever you choose to call it.
And what kind of reality do you want? And for your children…
Jack Stewart
Tags: creating reality, freedom, Imagination, responsiblity
At what age do you consider it appropriate for your girls to be bombarded with sexual imagery? What kind of role models do they have today? Who or what might inspire them?
If you watch television, you will not fail to have noticed that today’s women are obsessed with how they look, how often they can flick their hair, how high the heels are on their shoes and if they can master about six poses and pouts modelled by Posh Spice and Cheryl Cole.
Indeed do not these two represent the highest pinnacle of acheivement?
And if you get fed up with Cheryl Cole’s face on every vertical urban space, there’s always Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Beyonce.
The time is ripe for mothers everywhere to become real role models for daughters. Compassion, kindness, inner strength, resilience, serving others, honesty, down-to-earth, intelligence, grace, patience, humility, love…
Or self-obsession, avarice, greed, falseness and talentless irrelevance?
These may be the rantings of a grumpy old man. But who would you like your girls to emulate…?
Whilst no-one should underestimate the corrupting and corrosive power of the media in all its forms, mothers are the unsung heroes of the next generation. Please use your influence wisely.
Jack Stewart
Tags: creating reality, responsiblity, sanity
In England, we have an ambivalent relationship with snow.
We love to see it and it’s fascinating when you’re looking out of the window. As soon as it starts to disrupt our lives and our regular routines, the pushback starts!
I wonder if this has something to do with our preoccupation with the weather in this country? To be fair, it does change frequently. It’s also very pocketed. Several parts of the country being completely cut off, others having bright sunshine. And yet, for many of us it brings out our inner child. Don’t you remember snowballing, making slides in the school playground and constructing the ‘best snowman ever’ and sledging?
While I myself have hard several client meetings cancelled and in some cases suffered lost revenue, let’s not lose the wonder completely.
Why not bring out those creative and adaptive parts of you and just for a moment, allow yourself to turn the disruption into some fun!
David Miskimin
Tags: adaptability, flexibility, fun, inner child, snow
Are you stressed? And what kind of stress are we talking about? Your kids might find it stressful to be deprived of their mobile phones for an hour.
No, we are talking about deep, lifetime acquired physiological stress. The kind most people are unaware of until they go down with illness, have a serious accident or ‘lose the plot.’
That’s the bad news. The good news is you can let it go. In our first book we gave you a whole range of tools and techniques to do so. When The Coaching Parent Companion comes out, you will find a few more.
Do you have beliefs that limit you? You have [harmful, even traumatic] memories from childhood [and even futher back] that remain in your cells. They need to go.
Before you get your hands on The Coaching Parent Companion, check this out www.successorstress.com. You might find some respite.
Jack Stewart.
Tags: Imagination
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