In the month before I shut up shop for the summer, here is my round-up for July as a coach, writer and human being.
The maybe, not-so-secret life of a squirrel
I have shared before that part of my daily morning routine is to spend time in the garden before I start work. Something I started doing during the Pandemic.
Increasingly, I am noticing the wildlife that visits or perhaps lives in our space – namely, the squirrels. I have never been a massive fan of them, but the more I observe, the more I learn to appreciate these beguiling and intelligent creatures.
So, in no particular order, here is what I have learnt about the squirrels that frequent our garden:
They enjoy our apples; I often spot at least one nibbling away on an apple while perched on the roof of our garage. They are, though, messy eaters, as chunks of apple fall away as they munch. It somehow never occurred to me that squirrels are such lovers of apples – and they seem to prefer our cookers to the eaters and picking them off the trees rather than off the ground.
They make sounds, a kind of chittering, which so far I have only heard once or twice.
I’m hugely impressed by their athleticism as they leap from tree to tree, especially from the tree next door to our Eucalyptus. I enjoy watching as they scamper effortlessly along the branches, going about their business. It seems they don’t trust scuttling about on the ground.
Their cleverness in working out how to best access the food in the bird feeder next door. I often spot one hanging upside down, happily helping itself to the nuts and seeds meant for the birds.
I am not sure if they are that bothered by my presence – they can clearly see me, but perhaps have decided I am relatively harmless 😉.
I have no clever coaching analogy to offer with this other than to ask – what do you notice and learn when you take the time to be still?
How often do you get the chance to hear yourself think?
In recent years, I have been facilitating peer coaching /action-learning-like sessions, and I continue to marvel at how people respond to hearing themselves think when given the space and time to do so. I marvel at how solutions to the problems and challenges they face are largely already within them, but with challenging and supportive questioning from the group, very often answers or potential answers start to emerge.
As trust and respect grow within the groups, I have learnt that less of me results in far more for the participants. There are times when the most helpful thing I can do is get out of the way. Though of course there are times when the exact opposite is true 😉.
My role is primarily to start them off within a safe and supportive environment, and I’m always thrilled when participants commit to continuing long after I have gone.
But I always like to finish with two requests for each participant:
Summarise the key things you heard yourself saying in response to the questions we asked.
What action will you commit to taking to move things forward?
So, what do you think? Is this something you have experienced and would advocate? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Time to release
Set some things free, let some things go.
Hence, my choice of picture today is a yellow, smiley-faced balloon floating against a clear blue sky.
Last year, my word was ‘unapologetic’ as I declared myself to be unapologetically sixty – to be clear and intentional about celebrating the fact that I am now in my sixties. Then, we had an unexpected illness in the family at the start of the year, and we had to adjust to a new reality. Now, halfway through 2025, things have settled down, and our family member is doing far better than might have been hoped for at the start of 2024.
This year, I have been quietly working on how to release, finding ways to let things go without always dwelling too deeply on them. I am learning that, at times, it is more helpful to metabolise rather than analyse. Thank you, @Martha Cuffy, for helping me to understand this.
I am recognising old patterns of behaviour, thoughts and beliefs that it might be time to let go, to release and set free. Things that have been locked within me for far too long.
To continue reading, check out my latest post on Pittabread.
Until next time
