I’ve always been fascinated by who we are and why we are.
For many years I loved a personality test, a type assessment, a quiz - any way to help me find out who I was and what made me tick.
Most of them were useful in some way - helpful lenses that showed me where I fit in someone else’s framework - but even more useful has been building my own personal understanding, from the inside out.
Some of my favourite coaching sessions recently have been to identify peoples strengths - the particular contributions they naturally make, the qualities and skills they bring with them wherever they go.
It’s a fun process, using feedback they’ve received and responses to how they’ve shown up and what they’ve done. It’s a brilliant way of gathering the threads from real life experience.
What’s fascinating is that most of these people have only had the information to work with because they’re about to leave - either temporarily or permanently.
There’s a particular feeling when our energy is being used in the best kind of way.
We know that we’re playing to our natural strengths and having a positive impact on the people and the world around us. There’s an ease, a joy, a sense of being on purpose. At the end of the day we feel emptied out in a good way, full up of the knowing that we’ve shown up at our best.
Last week I spent a delightful couple of hours in a Garden to Vase flower arranging workshop with the brilliant Annie Jenkins.
We’d arranged it as a birthday treat for my mum, and 5 of us followed Annie around her garden - finding out all about the different plant varieties, how to cut them, and what to do with them.
We then sat, played, chatted and created in the sunshine. It was a complete treat, a wonderful shared experience, and a fun creative process.
Last week we spent a fascinating morning watching Portrait Artist of the Year being filmed.
It’s one of our favourite shows, and it was a complete pleasure to watch multiple creative processes in action - from the crew to the artists to the sketching around the edges.
One of the sitters (I promise no spoilers), shared their appreciation about the way that other people can see something in you that you haven’t seen in yourself.
Not necessarily anything that’s visible on the outside, more of a quality or an energy that shines out from the inside.
Something that leads them to trust that you’re the right person for the part, or offer you an opportunity, or encourage you to pursue something that truly matters to you.
When I was away recently I hit a low point.
I hadn’t slept well for a few nights and was fed up of being in unfamiliar territory. I was under the weather, longing for some time and space on my own, and feeling very sorry for myself!
I found myself wishing I was back at home so I could take care of myself.
And then I stopped to think. What would I actually do if I was at home right now? What would help me feel better?
Sometimes, when we’re not feeling quite right but nothing is obviously wrong, it can be hard to pinpoint why we feel the way we feel. Something is niggling, but we can’t figure out what it is.
It can mean we go down all kinds of rabbit holes searching for an answer or trying to find something - or someone - to blame.
And we often don’t find it!
I’m endlessly fascinated by what brings out the best in us.
How do we like to work? How do we set our lives up so we can win at being us? What gives us good energy - inside and out?
We’re all uniquely wired, so it makes sense to take some time to figure it out. It gives us an incredible foundation, and pays back brilliantly when put into practice.
