On Friday 15th of November I attended the Beautiful You Inspiration Day in Melbourne held at the very cool Creative Cubes space.
I’ve attended a couple of Inspiration Days before (you can read about them here and here), but this one was extra special because I was invited to be a speaker on the panel for the day, which was a real honour.
It was also special to meet new life coach trainees who are excited by what they are doing, to witness the graduates of the latest course and for me it was extra special to get to meet in person and share the day with several of my clients who are becoming life coaches themselves.
I was incredibly nervous about speaking so I didn’t know how I was going to enjoy the day, but I got a lot out of the day and listening to the other speakers. I also wrote several paces of notes (I’m a reflective learner), so this is what I have used to put this blog post together for you.
Here are my reflections and takeaways from the Inspiration Day, with all photos taken by the incredible Fi Mims Photography who (as always) captures days like this so well.
Mariam Issa is a speaker, author, storyteller, and community builder on a mission to inspire one million women globally to achieve their fullest potential. Mariam used her personal story to share about trust and how we can cultivate it in our own lives. Mariam reminded us of the power of storytelling, but also reminded us that we are so much more than our story.
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My biggest takeaways from Mariam were:
∞ Trust where you are going. Trust that you are called to the place you are. Mariam shared the analogy of being like a bird, trusting the branch to hold you and trusting that if the branch breaks trusting that you can fly away.
∞ When you are aware of your feelings you can create your experience. There is so much power when you enter the present moment.
∞ Be called to and focus on the process and creating with joy, when we work from that place we are rewarded. Mariam shared the analogy of being like a bee which focuses on being in creation (pollenating) and as a result gets a beautiful byproduct (honey).
∞ A reminder when going through a tough time: There is always a better day to come.
∞ Our work is to find out inner resilience and to remind each other of this.
∞ There is true power when you hold space for someone (or your clients) non-judgmentally and really listening to them. And to see the light in others when they walk into your space and to really feel it.
“To allow ourselves to be called to our greatest work, we must surrender” — Mariam Issa
Tima Elhajj is a coach/mentor, international speaker, host of her own podcast and is a powerful example of someone living their purpose. Tima spoke about Growth Mindset and how this has supported her to go from running two businesses (in fashion and finance) to now be doing work that feels like it is her purpose (running a media company).
My biggest takeaways from Tima were:
∞ This powerful question: What is the call to action from my soul?
∞ Growth mindset is a mindset where we believe that we are capable of change and growth. We can choose to either have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Growth Mindset is something that can help us to reframe our life, learn, grow and create a new existence for ourselves.
∞ You don’t need to look for your purpose, it is not something you have lost and therefore can find. Don’t ignore the clues that will lead you to your purpose. Follow your small curiosities, focus on what comes easily to you. You can live your purpose through doing what’s meaningful to you.
∞ We live in a time where we can create anything we want. Everyone’s potential is limitless. The only thing that limits us is ourselves.
∞ Don’t feel guilty for chasing your dreams. If you go all in on your self and mission, no one will be able to stop you.
∞ Always come back to your purpose or your why. Ask yourself: Why does this mean so much to me?
“What is the call to action from my soul?” — Tima Elhajj
Next it was time for the gratitude panel on the power of gratitude with Clare from Top Five Movement and myself. Clare is someone who I have admired for a long time, so it was very special to be on the panel and share the experience with her. Clare and I both truly believe in the power of gratitude and for us it has become more than just a practice or a thing we do, it’s the way we live our lives.
What we shared on the panel:
∞ Gratitude is a simple practice, but it is very powerful. For me it’s the thing that keeps me anchored to what is important in my life.
∞ Clare shared that according to research by Havard happiness is a skill and one of the fastest ways to cultivate that happiness is through gratitude, so it’s a powerful thing to do. We have to keep in mind that because gratitude is simple and easy to do, it’s also easy not to do.
∞ When wanting to get others around you to be grateful remember that you can’t force them into it, always make it an invitation and first and foremost lead by example yourself. One of my favourite questions to invite others to practice gratitude is asking: What was the best part of your day?
∞ If you’re going through a challenging time it’s okay to not be grateful. Gratitude is powerful, but self-kindess is always really important when navigating gratitude during hard times.
∞ If you’ve gotten off track with your gratitude practice and you want to make it a regular habit, ask yourself how you can create anchor points in your day or a way to remind yourself to be grateful.
Our tips on how to support your clients to practice gratitude:
∞ Encourage your clients to write a top five list each day. You can hear how writing a top five list has been powerful for Clare in the TedX talk she did here.
∞ Pause and soak up the positive emotions and feelings we have (and to encourage your clients to do this as well).
∞ Ask your clients powerful questions to support them to tap into the power of gratitude themselves and really experience how it can shift their perspective. Two of my favourite questions to help my clients do this include: “What do you appreciate having learnt about yourself through this experience?” or “What are you grateful to be taking away from doing that?”
∞ Add gratitude practices into your business and processes for your client’s to experience (I’m going to be sharing more about how I do this in the future).
The founder of Beautiful You — Julie Parker — ended the day powerfully as always with a moving message. She reminded all of us in the room that we were there because at some point we were called to it and that if we’ve been called we have to honour that calling by taking action.
Julie reminded us to stop waiting for whatever our version of ‘perfect’ looks like before we start living our calling and to start right now, because that’s what it actually means to live out a calling.
The highlight of the day for me was getting to meet and share the day with some of my clients (pictured below) who I’m supporting with their own coaching journey this year. Some of them are currently undertaking their life coach training and Marie-Ann (pictured on the right) officially graduated as a life coach on the day, which was really special to witness.
Thank you to Team Beautiful (pictured below) for an incredible day, for having me speak on the panel and everything that you all do.
If you’re interested in training to become a coach yourself with Beautiful You I’ve written a huge 3000+ words on my experience, including why I chose this course what I got out of my training (including the stuff I wasn’t expecting), what I’ve done since graduating and more! Plus I’m also sharing a special offer for future life coach trainees who are wanting to team up for their coaching journey. You can read a review of my experience training with Beautiful You here.
With Gratitude
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