Kategoriarkiv: #English

The world’s ugliest girl? No way!

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Have you ever watched Lizzie Velasquez speak? I have, thanks to the magic of YouTube. Stumbled across her a few months ago, and was touched. She’s been called the world’s ugliest girl, but in my view she’s just the opposite, she’s one of the most beautiful human beings alive today.

Recently, her TEDxAustinWomen have been doing the rounds in my social media sphere, and I just had to watch her again. If you have 12 minutes to spare, I promise you’ll agree with me, that those are perhaps the best spent 12 minutes of your day:

My takeaway message from this magnificent lady is that strength and beauty comes in so many different shapes. Lizzies physical frailty makes her strength and beauty so much more vibrant in my view.

What’s your takeaway message?

My heart goes boom boom boom

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There is a great Swedish singer by the name of Miss Li, and in one of her love songs, she sings just that: And my heart goes boom, boom, boom…

That is what my heart did just now, go boom boom boom, but for other reasons than feelings of love though. I am heading for the US to participate in Michael Neill’s SuperCoach Academy, with more than 50 other participants, from all over the world. I really look forward to the experience, and I am in the midst of finishing of my To Do-list prior to departure in a days time.

That’s when it struck me. I haven’t gotten my ESTA = Electronic System for Travel Authorization. Swedes don’t need a visa for the US, but the travel authorization is mandatory.

AND I HADN’T GOTTEN IT!

Yikes. THAT’S when my heart starting pounding in my chest. Boom, boom, boom.
Read on the applications page to please apply 72 hours before departure. Since I had exactly 26 hours until departure, that sure didn’t make my heart go any less boom I tell you! Anyway, I quickly got my passport, started to fill in the application, page after page, came to the payments section, paid…. and finally my heart could start to slow down.

AUTHORIZATION APPROVED

It wasn’t flashing red on my screen, but that’s how I saw it, let me tell you:My approved ESTA application

Phew! The adrenalin rush is waning, and I will merrily go about my day, getting ready for the big adventure, and hoping I haven’t forgotten too much else…

Know the feeling?

Welcome 2014!

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A new year is upon us, and it’s just begun. The previous year I dedicated to school development. That took me along a path I never in my wildest imagination could have pictured. A journey that isn’t over, but will continue. And for that I am happy, since it’s one of the most developing things I’ve ever experienced, I must say!

And now, here comes 2014. Tabula rasa. Apart from what’s already jotted down in my calendar of course, barring unforeseen matters. For instance I will head across the Atlantic in less than two weeks time, for the first of a total of four meet ups with SuperCoach Academy 2014, and I can only begin to grasp what a revolutionary journey that will be. Hence I know already that the coming year will be characterized by transformation. What a voyage of discovery I face! And that’s why this is so fitting, what dearest Kit wrote to me the other day, tantalizing me:20131231-125826.jpg

That is what 2014 – to an even higher extent than 2013 – will be about, integrating myself in me. That doesn’t mean I need to change for the better, or to become something which I am not. Rather the opposite, as I see it as a continuation of the process I am currently undergoing, peeling of external layers, stopping my true self from shining through. This will lead to me being more and more myself, 100% Helena (thanks Charlotte for that!) daring to show up as the genuine me in more and more situations. Integrating myself!

What tantalizes you for the year of 2014?

Bye bye 2013!

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What a year 2013 has been for me. I am so grateful for all that has happened, but more than anything I am thrilled about my part in making it all happen. Because it hasn’t ‘just happened’, it has been created in the tension that occur where being and doing meet up!

I am zooming out, looking at the year as a whole, and these thirteen instances show up. All of them have been very significant in some way during the past year:

  • Skolvision
    Just before Christmas 2012 Sanna Nova Emilia asked if I wanted to be one of thirteen school visionaries – how could I resist that? During the spring we are hosting three conferences together with other driving spirits from the Swedish school system and I can’t wait!
  • #Blogg100 challenge
    I started to blog daily thanks to this challenge, which to me is the best form of self-coaching and as such is absolutely invaluable!
  • #skolvåren aka school spring
    #skolvåren was born on Twitter at 10 pm in Friday the 15th of February in 2013 – and my life hasn’t been the same since! What a treat to be a part of this phenomenon, and thinking back I have to say that it’s been life changing.
  • Coach Rasmus
    I hired Rasmus Carlsson as my coach with the purpose of building a coach practice, which I am in the midst of. Thanks to Rasmus I have also had the pleasure of experiencing:
  • Master Mind-group
    Rasmus invited me to a master mind-group, and without a doubt this has contributed enormously to my growth as a human being this year.
  • Make a great day
    One of the things I will carry with me forever from this year is the saying Make a great day, which was introduced to me by my friend Inga-Lill.
    Try to exchange a passive word (have) for an active one (make) and experience the difference that can make!
  • SuperCoach Academy 2014
     Rasmus also introduced me to SuperCoach Academy, taking place during 2014, but already in full swing in the virtual world. It’s already affected me and my understanding of the world in a very basic way. Who knows where it will end?
  • Global summit for Transformational Presence Leaders and Coaches
    In March me and another 50 TPLCs gathered in Holland with Alan Seale and David Robinson – since then I am riding my wave of energy AND can put words to the experience!
  • Mentor Max
    In Holland I met my soon-to-be American mentor Max, whose monthly Skype talks give my thoughts something to strain against and also provides me with strength to keep on asking Why.
  • Gotland
    I tackled Almedalen together with loads of school springers and right afterwards I took a week of much-needed vacation on the island of Gotland, along with my family who joined me there.
  • India
    India played a huge part of my professional life, during the first 3-4 years as my own employer, and now, the rest of the family have also experienced this fascinating and unique country. We spent just over a week in Kerala, in the south of India.
  • Clever girl
    During the fall it became more and more clear to me that I am a great coach for Clever girls (a pattern that boys can also attach themselves to) who have come to the realization that it’s a pattern what doesn’t fully serve them.
  • Mjölby
    #skolvåren back-office gathered for 24 hours in Mjölby in December, which was unique, as all previous physical meetings have taken place during #afk:s with school spring, which means focus is on that. But during these hours we could focus on meeting each other – and what a meeting it turned out to be!

20131231-101042.jpgThanks to all the school visionaries, Rasmus, Charlotte, Inga-Lill and Wivan, super- & TPLC coaches, Alan, David, Max, Ann, Therese, Susanne, all of my old time and new found friends and especially my beloved family – you all enrich my life!

As I write this I realize how much more there is, big and small, that has contributed to the year of 2013. I truly live a rich life. A life full of mountains and valleys, highs and lows, and I learn from it all! I wouldn’t want to be without any part of that which we cal life. So from the bottom of my heart I’d like to thank you for enriching my life!

I hope you’ll accept my thanks?

My ego Fixation is Judging

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I am a One, according to the Enneagram theory, and I subscribe to daily EnneaThoughts for my type. They give me great joy, and once in a while a smack in the face. However, the smacks come much more seldom nowadays, than when I started to receive the EnneaThoughts. I’ve written a little bit about that before.

Read up on the EnneaThoughts I’ve received during the Christmas holiday, and came across this one:

20131229-132615.jpgI know for sure that Judging has been a huge part of my life for most of my life, but it is no longer as prevalent as it used to be. At least not how I perceive myself. But thinking about it makes me curious if this is how I come across these days? What do you say?

Leave my body alone!

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It’s not news. It’s not surprising. It’s not something I haven’t heard about and known about since forever. But still, here’s a great reminder that we are going in the wrong direction when it comes to body ideals, and what messages we are sending to our selves and our children:

Jean Kilbourne inspires me to question the way I perceive the world around me. And since I also believe I create the world and the culture I live in, together with everybody else, I will take care of what I help to create, each and every day.

What’s the message you take from this?

Forgotten promises

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My husband came walking up the stairs from the basement, with his IPad in hand, playing a tune. He sat down in the sofa, the song ended and he said ”I’ve heard something else by this artist before, I wonder if it’s this song?”, clicked on another tune on YouTube, and then this song started:

I’ve been listening to it now, over and over, and it touches my heart. Sami Yusuf have totally passed me by, but not anymore.

Tonight the world will sleep
But hunger will not wait
For promises we made
We share one soul
We share one land
We have one time to understand

We are one humankind
Brothers side by side
We’ll have no regret
We will not forget
We are one humankind
Sisters side by side
We’ll have no regret
We will not forget

That is so beautiful, and the song is just that, absolutely beautiful.

I believe in the power of music. I believe in the power of arts, and art can be many things. Would you like to share a piece of art with me, that has made a difference in your life?

Supercoach Academy 2014

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In May I signed up for Supercoach Academy 2014 with Michael Neill. It will be a transformative experience, of that I have no doubt. What I didn’t realize was that it started to be life-altering from day one. Just having signed up I immediately got access to a lot of resources and challenges, that have, already, made a profound impact in my life.

When I told one of my coach clients about this, I got this response:

Oh, that will be so great for me!

I am so grateful for the wisdom of my clients, because isn’t this the truth! When I as a coach challenge my insights, expand my awareness, and grow my understanding, of course it will benefit my clients!

Now, you don’t have to be my client, to sign up for SCA2014 or be/want to be a coach to experience what I am talking about. During the month of October Michael Neill released a daily clip on YouTube in his series ”A month of transformational coaching”. Here’s the first clip:

If this spiked your interest, check out the rest of the videos as well. And if you want to find out more about SCA2014 – just call on me and I’ll help you find your way. Perhaps you’ll even want to join me?

The Land of No

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There is a statement that Steve Chandler use a lot:20131113-154251.jpg

I’ve been trying this out for the past six months or so, and I can tell you – it has made a huge difference in my life, both privately and professionally.

Then I just read what Seth Godin wrote about what a No really means. And it just gave me even more proof that we need to really start to lean towards our own edge when it comes to No. Be bold. Make requests. Ask for outrageous things. Challenge your own beliefs as to what is a reasonable request – and go outrageous!

Go looking for the No’s, and you will be surprised by, at least, two things:

  1. The discomfort of making requests will shift as you stop dreading the No’s
  2. The number of Yes’es that will come your way

Yes lives in the land of No.
Can I dare you to go searching for some No’s?