Today I decided to walk the talk. I realize that “walking the talk” is an everyday goal but today I decided to really get in the ring and complete a task that had just been sitting around waiting for attention.
2011 was the year that I invested in ME! I enrolled in a Life Coach Training program through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching. There were three weekend modules in Chicago and I attend all three and successfully completed the final exam! The iPEC program was the perfect gift to myself. It has changed my perception of my self and others, catapulted me into an exciting new career and given me the opportunity to meet very special people who I never would have met if I had not ventured outside my comfort zone.
Today I hunkered down and completed and turned in all of the required paperwork that went along with the actual assignments I had already completed months ago. I will take my final oral exam after the first of the year.
In March I took a Corporate Training Certificate class and really enjoyed my fellow classmates and would love to have the opportunity to “hang out” with the instructor. Donna Steffe was a wonderful combination of acting skills, people management savvy and crazy energy. The field of corporate training is not so different from college teaching in some ways but will prove to a great skill for the workshops and retreats I am planning in the future.
In April I traveled to upstate New York for a weekend-long retreat with Marianne Williamson on the subject of her latest book, A Course in Weight Loss. This retreat was so intense spiritually that I don’t know that I can really remember names of anyone that was there. Wonderful women and a few men that all share the pain of an unhealthy body mass. Without exception, everyone there was extremely intelligent and introspective. The intensity of the time with Marianne is something I will never forget. It has imprinted on me a way of thinking that I will internalize and develop over the course of my life.
My intention this past year was to celebrate my 50th year of life by celebrating and honoring myself. I have set myself along a new path.
How will I celebrate and honor myself in 2012?