I’ve just been helping post the mail-out of a catalogue for the Art Gallery in my village - go look at the website www.artsway.org.uk to be surprised at what can turn up in the middle of the New Forest. I do it voluntarily, and the only tangible thing I get back is a cup of tea, yet I get enormous pleasure from being involved in keeping such an endeavour up and running.
What is it about volunteering that can do that? I guess for me it fulfils that need to be generous with my time and skill (although working a franking machine doesn’t take much skill I sit on committees where my skill usage is more evident). I like having a part of my life that is not driven by the commercial need to put a value on activities through which I make my income.
I know the Royal Yachting Association has been looking at ‘volunteering’ for a few years now, given the socio-economic changes in club member’s life-styles allied to the ever-restricting legal requirements. They’ve got some great Good Practice stuff on their website www.rya.org.uk/WorkingWithUs/volunteers/ and a key part is recognition for what effort, and I guess that’s why I enjoy the odd hour I give ArtSway – I feel appreciated by being given that cup of tea and the friendly welcome.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Contacting me
If you want to contact me, send me an e-mail on cathy@cathyfoster.co.uk. Otherwise phone me on 07771 784441 or +44 7771 784441 if calling from outside the UK.
Fitness, weight loss and life
I’ve had cause to think really hard about my fitness grounding from my sports background in recent weeks. I’ve been working with a couple of people on weight loss and trimming body shape. Neither have the sports training I’ve had, so what parallels could I draw that would be of use to them?
Alongside this, I have been reflecting on my own personal reluctance to follow the exercise programmes given to me by physiotherapists over this winter to help me recover from a broken leg. The programmes have made perfect sense, I have wanted to get back to full fitness and mobility as quickly as possible, and yet………I do them for a few days and then something gets in the way, and then I realise I’ve given up.
I have so wished for someone to coach me through this - to keep me on track and motivated!
I’ve concluded that
1. There are some issues that I cannot coach myself on, and fitness is one of them. Sounds crazy when I’ve been ultra fit for lots of my life, but my metabolism has changed now I spend more time at the computer. In addition the body requires regular routines to settle into if improvement is to be continuous – and I like bucking routine!
2. My failure to do the programmes is NOT lack of will.
3. The issue is not so much fitness as fitting it in with life. Everyone always says ‘it’ll only take…..(5, 15, 30 minutes to do). But every day! That’s a lot of adjustment to make to my life.
So much of sports coaching in this arena is based on monitering and results and seems to be confrontational, ‘succeed or fail’, judgemental. Yet what I really want is someone on my side – to converse with me regularly, to help me talk out the frustrations, to help me find solutions to the myriad of things that get in the way, to help me from feeling overwhelmed by guilt.
Now I find that joining people for a while as a friend in their journey to a different body shape seems to work. I never thought I would be grateful to my broken leg for something, but as so often happens, every cloud has a silver lining.
Alongside this, I have been reflecting on my own personal reluctance to follow the exercise programmes given to me by physiotherapists over this winter to help me recover from a broken leg. The programmes have made perfect sense, I have wanted to get back to full fitness and mobility as quickly as possible, and yet………I do them for a few days and then something gets in the way, and then I realise I’ve given up.
I have so wished for someone to coach me through this - to keep me on track and motivated!
I’ve concluded that
1. There are some issues that I cannot coach myself on, and fitness is one of them. Sounds crazy when I’ve been ultra fit for lots of my life, but my metabolism has changed now I spend more time at the computer. In addition the body requires regular routines to settle into if improvement is to be continuous – and I like bucking routine!
2. My failure to do the programmes is NOT lack of will.
3. The issue is not so much fitness as fitting it in with life. Everyone always says ‘it’ll only take…..(5, 15, 30 minutes to do). But every day! That’s a lot of adjustment to make to my life.
So much of sports coaching in this arena is based on monitering and results and seems to be confrontational, ‘succeed or fail’, judgemental. Yet what I really want is someone on my side – to converse with me regularly, to help me talk out the frustrations, to help me find solutions to the myriad of things that get in the way, to help me from feeling overwhelmed by guilt.
Now I find that joining people for a while as a friend in their journey to a different body shape seems to work. I never thought I would be grateful to my broken leg for something, but as so often happens, every cloud has a silver lining.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Rapport by telephone
It never ceases to astonish me what can be done on the telephone in Life Coaching. I’ve been having conversations with several clients recently which have been full of imagery and movement, and I really feel like I am there with them, yet in fact I’m miles away with all the mysteries of transmitting voices via physics in between.
However I’m not at all sure I’m looking forward to the day of telephone calls which include visuals. Sometimes the anonymity of voice alone is a good thing. If/when vision comes, I’m going to invest in a mask that I can hide behind, since one of the good things about working from home is that you don’t have to dress up for work every day - just like Wilma Flintstone (for those who go back that far!) Dabba dabba dooooooo……!
However I’m not at all sure I’m looking forward to the day of telephone calls which include visuals. Sometimes the anonymity of voice alone is a good thing. If/when vision comes, I’m going to invest in a mask that I can hide behind, since one of the good things about working from home is that you don’t have to dress up for work every day - just like Wilma Flintstone (for those who go back that far!) Dabba dabba dooooooo……!
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