I’ve just finished a yoga class where I experienced really strong feelings of anger. And it was brilliant!

When I was a little girl I was super connected to my anger. I could feel it freely and easily - and often did.

As I grew older I lost my connection with it.

I wasn’t sure how to express it when I felt it (because good girls don’t get angry), and eventually I wasn’t even sure how to recognise it.

It got jumbled up in my body with other emotions.

Until recently.

Until I felt A L L the yoga rage in a hot Hatha class with the fabulous Vinna Barber.

This label has been with me for the last 5 years.

It dates from when I did the brilliant Co-Active Training Institute Fundamentals coaching course, from an exercise a couple of days in.

In small groups each person had some time in the spotlight, and everyone took it in turns to acknowledge them.

To name the qualities they saw that shone out into the world.

To share the qualities they wanted to see more of, that could come to the surface and be more visible.

It was incredibly powerful to be seen in this way.

This label came from the last part - an archetype to sum up the noticings. An alter ego to play with for the rest of the day.

There’s a magical moment when we go from knowing something rationally to really *knowing* it.

When the mists clear and the penny drops.

When we know exactly what’s right and what to do next.

It’s especially magical when we’ve been sitting with something for a while. A big decision. A life choice. A crossroads. When something that has been stuck unlocks.

So how do you get to that point?

In 2011, when I was in the messy liminal space between roles, I wrote my criteria for what I wanted from the next stage of my working life.

I went back through my CV and thought about when I’d been happiest and at my best.

I thought about what I’d learned from realising I wanted and needed to change paths.

I gathered the threads from the journey I’d been on with my first ever coach - the wondrous Nicola Jones.

These 5 questions acted as my career compass - a set of filters that helped me land happily in the world of consultancy for the next 7 years.

Over a decade later it’s one of my favourite coaching tools.

The first date my husband and I went on was to see Pulp Fiction at the cinema. He quickly realised I’m not good with the scary bits!

I spent most of the film with my face pressed into his shoulder and my fingers in my ears (miraculously we’re still together nearly 30 years later).

I’m still not great with anticipatory fear on screen. I close my eyes. I block my ears. I find it really hard to watch.

And it can affect life off screen too. Fear of what might be - the unknown - can often slow me down and keep me stuck.

And yet…