Love, laughter and leadership

Not been as active writing up the blog recently due to being more active with the "living" side of life. Yes I know that you can always make time to write and not just reply to emails; however my time has been taken up with organising a dinner party... haven't had one of those for a long time; organising Forever Christmas evenings... well that is at least an annual event, and organising next year's calendar of events... Which is why this blog's title is "Love, laughter and leadership" and is staying with the theme of Well Connected Life's December's newsletter. The intention is that all the events I organise next year will involve Love... with a capital L! Laughter and leadership!

I wrote a poem many years ago wishing a friend an "L" of a Life... I am sending that same heartfelt wish to you as a download (click here) reflecting what I believe everyone would like their life to be...

Let's not just live a little... let's live a lot! Notice how that one letter, the letter "L" can make such a difference to a Life!

 with lots of love, Eileen
P.S. If you don't already subscribe to our monthly Well Connected Life newsletter... why not click here and enter your email address in the 'Register for our Newsletter' box to become more "well connected"?

Living It Leadership!

Having enjoyed my restorative quiet time, I am now enjoying the anticipatory feeling that comes when embarking on a new adventure. No I am not returning to Italy just yet, I am getting ready to present a totally new workshop from the Living It Leadership stable called a "Stellar Class".

The theme is about Making an Impact in your life and making an impact on others, with your life. So that got me to thinking, who has made an impact on my life and of course the answer is everyone! As we all have an effect on each other - whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, we are all connected and as I change, so you change and as you change, so do I. Powerful stuff eh!

Waiyin Hatton and myself are working together now through delivering the Living It Leadership presentations. However at some level we have always been working together. We both acknowledge the kinship that we felt on first meeting many years ago and when that meeting developed into a friendship then it followed that our like-minds wanted, even needed to work together.

Consciousness has a way of making itself felt. The subtle feeling of being comfortable or uncomfortable where you are. The unexpected joy felt when seeing a solution to a problem. The clarity of thought that arrives after a walk along the sea shore. The immense sense of being loved and cared for when a stranger helps you with your shopping! Ok, perhaps that last one doesn't appear regularly in your life, so why not be consciousness's messenger and help someone else with theirs!

What is important to me now is that I am enjoying "Living It"... whether as a tutor, presenter, shopper or messenger... the message is the same.
 "Be authentic... Live your truth... Recognise how your life is impacting on everyone else's life and accept the responsibility to be truly "Stellar"! Click here for link to Marianne Williamson's quote.

"Living It" quietly!

What with organising Living It Yoga and Living It Leadership, there seems to be a whole lot of "Living It" going on.  So this month has been about taking "time out" as the sporting fraternity say. I would probably prefer the wording of putting "time in", as in making time for reflection. This dovetails nicely with the recent Living It Yoga workshop on Saturday the 2nd November that focused on meditation and mindfullness. They sound the same and they are related, however there are differences. More important than the differences is that they both are effective life enhancers.

 As the past month has been one of leisure for me I have been reading, writing and taking time to ponder. I have even been on a wander or two...

Sometimes it is worth taking time out to reboot the batteries or even just check that the road ahead is the path you want to take. Perhaps it is time to take a detour or even stop by the roadside and watch everyone else taking life in the fast lane. There has been a certain level of hectic in my life over the past few months, so this month has been all about refreshing the spirit and connecting to my life on a soul level.

It is what Marianne Williamson talks about when she says "the spirtual path - is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path, most people just don't know it". Living It quietly has been like chicken soup for my soul... I can heartedly recommend it.

The spiritual path - is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it.
Marianne Williamson
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/journey.html#50989tmqQ1e6C1Gd.99

Adventures over for now ... e basta!

It is nearly a whole month since I last wrote up the blog. Been busy, busy doing and not having the time or the inclination to write about it!

As is pretty obvious, I love adventure. I enjoy the excitement of new places and new projects and am able to embrace change fairly easily. Well I now confess to you all that I have had enough adventure to last me a wee while... I am wanting to experience more of the quiet life. Yes, I hear you saying, "How long will that last?"

Alla scuola!

Just back from attending language school on Elba and I had a wonderful time. I was even upgraded by Hertz to an Alpha Romeo rental car. Totally unnecessary I can assure you to have that level of luxury car on Elba, especially on the ferry! The people at ABC Elba language school (click here) are wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed being with them again. Loved being re-aquainted with Cristina, Manuela and Debora and meeting a new teacher Alba, on the left of the photo, and Martina on the right, my fellow student who was a Swiss lady from Monaco!




And of course enjoying my own private swimming pool. It was too cold for everyone else! not beside the pool just in it and yes I did swim... 10 lengths every day!

Anyway why have I had enough adventure for the mo? It seems that I have been on a merry-go-round for the past year. Mega travels both at home and abroad and of course not forgetting the exciting skydive.

The bay at Porto Azzurro

My sense of adventure was severly affected by the Italian transport system. It started with the idea of accompanying my husband, Andy from Elba to Pisa on Friday the 20th September. Andy had joined me for the first week on Elba mainly to see what all the fuss was about... as I just love the island, especially Porto Azzurro where I stay. I don't think it was to keep me out of trouble but you never know. It was my birthday during the week and a great time was had by us both... delighted to report that he fell under the island's spell too.

Now to the Friday...

We had decided not to take the car off the island but to use Italian public transport instead. We needed to get to Pisa, stay the night in a hotel which was already booked, and Andy would fly home and I would return to Elba on the Sat using public transport again. Easier said than done as ferries, trains and buses all failed to connect.
Began my return journey from the hotel in Pisa at 9 am Saturday morning and one taxi ride, three train journeys, and a cancelled train, a Moby ferry trip and a bus later, I arrived back at my villetta on Elba at 7.30pm, somewhat exhausted with the phrase "never again" running in my head...

However we did stay at a 5 star hotel in Pisa. Andy is still not sure how he managed to book that... mega brownie points for him.

View of the leaning tower from the hotel!

So having experienced first hand the frustrations of the Italian public transport, I now know that our catch phrase "Life's a journey - enjoy" needs to be reinforced... over and over again whenever one needs to use the very adventurous Italian transport system.

I also love the statement "life is a journey not a destination", so perhaps it won't be too long before I pick up my adventurous lifestyle once more. Going to Sicily for New Year so that will be a bit of an adventure I think. Montelbano here we come!

Serendipity

Serendipity strikes again...
I am so grateful for universal timing as I was taken into the grip of the most amazing serendipitous occasion. I say grip, however it is more like the flow...

On Sunday of last week, the 1st of September... as the week spread out before me, I decided that on Monday afternoon I would collect the "big cheque" from Branding Boutique (the excellent business that supplies me with everything marketing) and then I'd organise a photo shoot sometime later in the week. Ann Cromack of Ikat Photography takes my photos and has been donating her time and expertise to photographing the Canine Partner Charity campaign! Thank you so much Ann and the team at Branding Boutique. You never cease to amaze me with your expertise!

Andy Cook, Zoe Maclean and Remus, and myself... all beaming!

Having raised over £1720.00 from the skydive campaign, we wanted to get something special organised to show off the presentation, and it came on Tuesday the 3rd September in the surprise package of Andy Cook, the CEO of Canine Partners UK. He was cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats and just happened to be passing through Largs on Tuesday! He was part of a peleton of 100 cyclists... not all of them were cycling for charity but many were raising funds for various deserving causes. However all descended on our famous Largs landmark. No, not the Pencil monument commemorating the defeat of the Vikings, but the world famous cafe, Nardinis!

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together... especially when you didn't even know that there was a plan!

Memories of the Skydive

To view the full skydive video click here!

Two photos prior to the Skydive and I am smiling in both. Amazing how happy you can feel when you have no knowledge of what is about to happen. Well I suppose I had an inkling... however it is nothing like the real thing. You know... the reality of  falling from a plane at a great height!  

The following is a picture story of the event as it unfolded. A record of my thoughts and feelings wonderfully etched on my face for all to see.

Each participant gets "bussed" out to the runway and the sun is shining and all is well with the world. Once out on the runway, we wait for the plane to arrive and I am anticipating all that the scrambling into the small plane will entail. I have had a practise run so I know that my knees are up to the various positions and although I am aware of my heart beat, it isn't pounding excessively.  Strange to say I am eager to be up and oft. Or is that glad to be getting it over with... how does one know how to explain one's feelings in words. 

Excited just doesn't do justice to the moment! The plane arrives and in we go... hand in hand! 

I am full of confidence in my instructor. I am smiling and grateful that so far my knees are up to the scrambling and cramped seated position on the tiny plane. Steve, my instructor is reassuring and keeps the banter going and my mind fully focussed on the delights of the views and the joy of the flight. He has done this jump literally thousands of times and with many people from the whole age spectrum.

I can't stop smiling! why? to be honest I don't know why. I think nerves have a lot to do with it although there is a lot of banter going on. Chik, the photographer and Steve are past masters at putting you at ease and this is after all a once in a lifetime experience for me. I remind myself  over and over again that I am doing this to raise funds for the Canine Partners charity as otherwise I would not be risking life and limb just for the thrill.

There were other charity skydivers in our group. I had met Alicia the previous week and she was raising money for Help for Heroes. Kayleigh was raising money for a local Cancer charity. Another for the Roy Castle Lung Foundation and someone else was skydiving for  Diabetes UK. I was in good company both on and off the ground... and here is the ground we are flying over.


The view is stupendous. I can see the whole of the estuary and the river flowing through the fields. There are a few clouds in the sky but not many.  The wind is perfect ... everything is as it should be.
We have got the best of the day. Amazingly, I am still smiling, even the sun is smiling!

Ready?!

However as I get ready to go, as seen below, I am definitely not smiling now eh! You can tell what I am feeling by the look on my face. However I am sure you cannot read my thoughts as I realise that the door is opening, the sign that the die is cast ... Steve is still smiling though, you can tell that he loves his job. I am having to move from fear into feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Now I really don't think that Skydiving was what Susan Jeffers had in mind when she wrote the famous book! I remember reading it and as I recall it worked wonders for my public speaking events! At this moment I am having difficulty speaking at all...

Steady?

Go!

And keep going!

So here we are in flight and I find myself enjoying it! Who knew that the fear would go so quickly and that exhilaration would arrive with the acceleration!

The view was amazing, the feeling of flight phenomenal, however being under the canopy was the best part for me. There was general elation going on that I had made an excellent exit from the plane. Steve's words not mine. To be honest I can't really remember the exit too clearly.

Viewed from above...

Viewed from below...

Here I am safely landed and very, very grateful. My hands are acknowledging Namaste... the sanskrit word for "I salute the divine" and you can be sure at that moment in time I was most definitely living in gratitude for all that is holy!

I made a perfect landing as in standing upright! Brilliant is how I described the experience at the time. Now I would use the words borrowed from our friends from over the pond and say "Outstanding - Awesome". These adjectives describe both my experience and the people who made the Skydive possible...

Thank you soooo much Steve and Chik! How can I ever thank you enough for the safe journey through the sky... those memories etched forever in my mind and recorded on film to be revisited whenever I want to take flight!


Our strap line of "Life's a journey - Enjoy!" has never been more apt...

Leap of Faith

I don't think I shall forget Sunday the 11th August in a hurry. It was a 5am rise to get to the airbase early to put my name on the board to be first in the queue! Well they had put me at the coo's tail the previous week as I didn't even know that there was a board then. 7.30 am we arrived and found that the Three Muskateers from McDuff had arrived at 6.30 am and that another chappie, Colin, had arrived and 6.45 and the weather wasn't looking promising! So 5th in the queue then!

At least I had got the picnic right. New cool bag from Tescos... complete with champagne bottle and plastic champagne flutes... and a lot of scrumptious food!

It's all in the preparation and as you can see above, here I am ready and prepared for the flight. I loved the matching hat! It was around mid afternoon before this photo was taken as the clouds and rain rolled in and rolled out and sometimes even stayed. Each time they stayed, the flights were cancelled for 30 mins. Then when the wind picked up, they rolled the clouds away but the wind needed to be light so that we were safe when in midflight. It's a tricky business getting things just right. Call it the Goldilocks paradigm!
The Three Muskateers from McDuff, were called Kayleigh, Mark and Stephen and this was their third visit, as conditions weren't favourable for flight previously. I was delighted that they got to skydive as they had left McDuff at 4.30am each time. Now that's what I call commitment. Well done... it was great to share the day with you.

It had been Colin's (the 6.45 guy) fourth attempt due to the weather so I was very lucky at Sunday's go being just my second. There I am on the right in midflight. I know it could have been anyone however it wasn't... it was me! I loved being under the canopy. Didn't enjoy the stepping into the unknown quite so much and free fall at 120 miles an hour for a control freak like me was the most challenging.

So am I glad I did it? I am over the moon, well perhaps not that high, as 10,000 feet was high enough for me thanks. My thanks go to the team at the Paragon Centre at Errol who made the day happen. Especially to Steve who dealt with me and my fear professionally and kindly. Steve was my tandem partner... and a big thanks to Chic, the photographer who filmed my leap of faith and who promised to get my best side, although I am sure the grimaces of fear will be there on both sides...
Steve complimented me on my exit from the plane and as for the landing... 'twas only perfect, even to landing standing up! Who knew at 5am on the 11th of August that a happy landing was going to be the outcome of the day! Isn't that what a Leap of Faith is all about... trust the professionals' advice and do what you have to do.

A very big thank you to all the people who donated to the Canine Partners because I had decided to embrace a mega fear. I did it for you...
and I did it for you, Zoe and Remus. You do what you have to do every day!
Love and hugs to all............
p.s. the video will be coming to a computer screen near you... very, very soon!