MOVING TO SCOTLAND

I am excited to announce that from April next year, I will be living at Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland, for 18 months. I will then be sharing my time between the 2 countries each year. The plan is to spend summer in both the UK and Australia.

will be working towards eventually offering live trainings in both countries each summer.

I am excited about the potential to learn from living in a spiritual community like Findhorn. I also look forward to sharing the knowledge and experience gained there, with the Aldinga Arts Ecovillage. I imagine that there will be ample opportunities to cross-pollinate between the two communities. I also look forward to more opportunities to connect with and collaborate with international trainers from the northern hemisphere.

VALENTINES DAY = RELATIONSHIP MAINTENANCE

It’s not all about gifts, chocolates & flowers. For me, Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to connect with myself, and check what’s working and not working for me in my relationship, and then to share it with my beloved. By using the tools of NVC, we can do this in a way that allows us to bring (sometimes scary) honesty to the table without causing offence, and to be clear with our requests about what we would enjoy more or less of. Sometimes we ask the following questions:-

“What would make your life more wonderful?”

“How can we meet more precious needs in our relationship?” Or “What are you celebrating & mourning about our relationship?”

This year we used an exercise from Liv Larsson’s book to help stimulate a deep and vulnerable conversation. We do something similar on our wedding anniversary, and it keeps us connected and supports meaningful conversations to happen.

60th BIRTHDAY CRUISE

In January my husband Michael and I travelled to Antarctica to celebrate my 60th Birthday. We went on a Viking Expedition cruise, it was our first cruise, and was a fabulous adventure. There is something for meWe had a team of scientists on board who gave lectures on wildlife, geology, and weather, we saw many hump back whales, seals, and penguins. On my birthday while having dinner, we saw 8 whales in total, splashing about right outside our restaurant window. For me, by far the most spectacular viewing was the frozen landscapes, the glaciers, mountains, and ice-bergs. It was delightful canoeing and taking zodiac rides around the ice floes and landing ashore to walk around and view the wildlife. Turning 60 has had quits an impact on my attitude to life, and has had me make some decisions regarding my living arrangements which I will speak about in the next Blog…..

After approximately 10 years, I have finally achieved certification with the Centre for Non Violent Communication in the USA! It was a long road for me because I travelled quite a lot during those 10 years, living in New Zealand, Newcastle, Jakarta, and Bali, so establishing myself as a trainer was a challenge, and also, I suffered with anxiety and was lacking in confidence with public speaking. I think that being a stay-at-home mum for many years, also contributed to a low self-esteem, and a difficulty seeing myself as having anything worthy to share. It changed for me after attending a Dynamic Facilitation workshop with Robin Clayfield at Crystal Waters in Queensland. That week long training helped me to realise that I could bring all of myself to my teaching, including my love of colour and play. I decided then to create learning experiences that were fun for me to deliver as well as fun for my students. I am very grateful for all of my colleagues and friends, students and clients who have supported my learning along the way. I am delighted to call myself a Certified Trainer, to join the community of certified trainers around the globe, and to share Marshall Rosenberg’s transformational work.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.