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Roots and Wings
for Mums Abroad
October 2012
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Coaching Skills for Mums
22rd October, 6.30-8.30pm
Leymen
Cost: CHF60
Back for the fourth time this year, by popular request! This is the workshop that helps you learn some basic coaching skills and processes and when to use them with your children. As your children grow, you'll notice that the "Tell" style no longer works all the time - and it is so exhausting to keep up. A coaching approach builds confidence and increases independence in your older children - and ultimately can make your life easier too! To register, please email kirstin@alivetochange.com or call 0033 389 07 37 02 for more information.
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23rd October, 9.30-11.30
Leymen
Cost: CHF60
"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other, wings". But what happens when we feel ourselves uprooted, or that our own wings have been clipped?
This is a new workshop which I've created specially for Mums Abroad - whether you've just arrived, whether you've been here a long time, or somewhere in between. It explores the challenges we face and the choices we make in our quests to create roots for our children and to enable them to grow the confidence to spread their wings. We look to our own roots and wings too.
This is a two hour workshop which uses group and individual exercises in a confidential and positive environment, to help you feel supported by and connected to others in a similar position.
To register, please email kirstin@alivetochange.com or call 0033 389 07 37 02 for more information.
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Creating A New Vision
For Your Life
8th November, 9.30-11.30
Leymen
Cost: CHF60
Where are you headed? We need a sense of vision in our lives to feel motivated and productive. Raise your head above the parapet for a couple of hours, and envision your future. Reconnect with abandoned dreams, rediscover what you really want in life, and home in on what is really important to you. Leave ready to move forward in the direction you want. Warning - you may want to take the tram, you could be too excited to drive home!
This 2 hour workshop gives you the space to explore your future in a stimulating environment, with others who also want to feel energised and re-motivated.
To register, please email kirstin@alivetochange.com or call 0033 389 07 37 02 for more information.
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Recently I've mostly been:
Reading
Queen Bees and Wannabes - Rosalind Wiseman. "Helping your daughter survive cliques, gossip, boyfriends and other realities of adolescence". A salutary reminder for us Mums about the role modelling we do too. Also provoked some uncomfortable memories from my own teenage years. Some useful tips! Stop Talking Start Doing - Shaa Wasmund with Richard Newton Short, simple, and practical (so I like it) What's Stopping You?Robert Kelsey Longer and a bit more detailed. But an interesting take on this topic. Listening to
The Great Parenting Show - on line Lots of interviews available with people who work with parents or children. Loads of food for thought as a parent and as a coach. Enjoyed Shelly Lefkoe's interview about the beliefs our children form (and how we can help them form helpful beliefs). Using EFT to deal with School Anxiety
Jenny had a few back to school morning moments which were escalating, so we had an EFT session with Eva Zimmermann in Binningen which has totally transformed this difficult situation. Jenny is back to her confident, happy self - perhaps even more so. And it helped me cope too! Emotional Freedom Technique is a great approach - try it on anything, they say - and Eva is an excellent practitioner. Happy to put you in touch with her if you're interested.
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Dear all
So the leaves are signalling the start of their kaleidescopic seasonal dance - and from hereonin we can expect a continually changing autumnal tapestry weaving itself across our horizons.
This intricate interweaving of rich colours seems a little random and disconnected at first, like the early signs of change in our own lives - we don't notice initially what is happening. Yet the more that changes, the more obvious it becomes, and the less we can avoid realising that our environment is changing - and so are we.
Often when we look back on periods of transition and change, we can see more clearly how things evolved, how the different threads came together and how a pattern emerged - somehow much more bold than it feels when you're wrapped up in threads, and trying to unravel them.
My September has felt a little like looking through a kaleidescope too - each twist has revealed new, interesting colours and dimensions to my day. I'm in a new phase now, with more time and energy to focus on creating my own patterns - and, just like the trees, I'm discovering that making way for the new means letting go of the old. Tough for a hoarder like me - I'm used to gathering and holding onto things like squirrels onto nuts!
What I've noticed particular about this Autumn is how I'm now starting to harvest the seeds I've been sowing over the past few years. My work at Alive to Change is coming together in a way I couldn't have imagined six years ago when I first started - yet when I look back, I can see all the connections and how they developed into ideas, projects, and, ultimately, interesting work which is having an impact.
Whether you are gathering in, changing the colours in your life, or letting go right now, Autumn reminds us that so many things in life are transitory. As Mums Abroad, we know this more than most. And this is where my work lies - helping you through your transitions and helping you to change.
I've got several workshops coming up in October and November, check out the Left Hand Side for more information. I'd love to see you at one of these, just contact kirstin@alivetochange.com for more information. And if you'd like to explore coaching as an individual, exploratory sessions are free.
All the best to you and your families this Autumn,
Kirstin
www.alivetochange.com
Please if you know someone who might enjoy this, especially if they are new to Basel.
 I want to make more of my Alive to Change Facebook page - it's a work in progress. If you like reading this newsletter - please like me!!! I'll be sharing more and more on my Facebook page over the coming weeks and months.
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Relocation Experiences - Help!
What impact has relocation had on you?
 For my coaching thesis in 2006/7, I undertook a small study into the experience of relocation. It covered around 30 people, and revealed some interesting information which has helped me shape some of my coaching work. Over the past few years, I've seen the same experiences reported time and time again through my work with individuals and groups - so now I want to update this study with some more quantitative information - and, more importantly, to gather some helpful tips for people who are going through these experiences. I need your help! I'd like to really expand the scope of this study to cover more people. I've put a simple questionnaire on my website to gather input, and I'm gathering input over the next three months (ie to end 2012) through this. If you had a few minutes to complete this questionnaire, that would be brilliant - all input is treated totally confidentially. Please could you forward to your friends too - the more questionnaires I get back, the merrier!! Questionnaire about your experience of Relocation I'm also running workshops at Centrepoint over the next six months which address some of the findings of the original study - the first of these is "Getting to Grips with a New Language", on 23rd October 2012, 6.30pm at Centrepoint. Early in 2013, I'll be organising some follow up events to explore the findings of this study - and to help decide how to take this forward in a helpful way. Through my coaching work over the past 6 years, I've really shown how coaching can help pre and post-relocation. Read here for some success stories.
THANK YOU for your help on this.
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5 Reasons to be Cheerful - Autumn
Yes, the days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in and it's a bit back endish out there. Yes, the kids (and you) are getting colds. And Yes, conversation has turned to those end of year plans (am not mentioning the word yet, just wait until next Roots and Wings). But it's not all bad. 1. There's a delicious crunch just waiting for you in the woods. Don't you just love the feeling and the noise as you stamp on all those dead leaves? Just don't leave all the fun for the kids!
2. There's an even more delicious smell of pumpkin soup - if you don't make it yourself, go and find some. Add gruyère cheese on top - you automatically feel like the Queen of the Autumn. Or taste some roast chestnuts on a chilly evening for the same effect!
3. Speaking of Pumpkins, there's a huge selection of funny shapes and splendid colours to adorn your front step - or wherever else you fancy. Or shiny brown conkers - again, don't leave all the fun for the kids!
4. You can light up a heartwarming, crackling fire - and get everyone gathered around. (That reminds me, best order some wood). Just love seeing those houses with their wood storage all sorted - reminds me of that harvest song "all is safely gathered in".
5. It's all about comfort - getting out your comfy (cover up!) clothes, comfort food, an extra duvet. Time to get warm and cosy and catch up with yourself.
And if none of that works, this is the best time of year to wear Bright Orange = Instant Cheer! |
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Turn over a new leaf . . .
Two things to try . . . 1. Get up before your kids - and get in the right mood before they get up. Ready to head off any morning stress before it has the chance to infect the whole family! Difficulty rating - 4-8 depending on whether you're a night owl or a morning lark. 2. Check in with what you want or need. Whether you're a Mum or working in a support role, your needs can sometimes be overlooked in favour of everyone else's. Your family and/or coworkers are not mind-readers - so you first have to know what you want or need or prefer - and find a way of expressing this. Difficulty rating - 7-9.5/10 for the first time, thereafter easier the more you practise. |
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New!
Coaching Circles
13th Nov
27th Nov
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I would like to set up two coaching circles - one for Mums Abroad to explore themes of interest to us all (27th November 9-10.30am), and one for Mums who have attended the Coaching Skills for Mums workshop, and who want to continue to explore their progress and develop their skills in this area (13th November 9-10.30am).
I would facilitate these circles in a way which helps the group develop their connections, share experiences and ideas in a productive way, and, ultimately, to learn how to coach each other (with my support) through different situations.
After the first circle, which is free of charge as a "taster", the cost would be CHF20 per session, which covers refreshments and any materials provided.
Please email me on kirstin@alivetochange.com if you'd like to join in!
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