 I'm already fascinated to see what the future brings us. Due to the exponential rise in mental health issues, control issues (OCD, Self-Harm, etc), and life/work related stress, I predict an even greater surge in people looking for answers. In response, more people will look to become coaches and therapists too, and that's all good as long as the quality stays high and is provided by people who have faced the abyss and actually come out the other side... I started in Hypnotherapy before it became popular and I worked hard to become an advanced therapist. In time it became fashionable but when the wave passed it filtered out the serious amongst us and it's popularity as a career choice was a positive. I realised over time that my approach to therapy was commonly grounded in a form of Psychological Coaching (as a lot of my past experience had been in leadership and personal coaching/support). Now as Life Coaching becomes increasingly desirable we shall again be weighed and measured in the aftermath of popularity. This cycle rolls on, but where does the next step truly lie? What is the next level in finding and maintaining true happiness? Why are so many people still suffering in a western world where we have so much of everything and much more? There is a clue in the question.
It is to be found in the truest Freedom of all; that of the mind. Yet this greatest of freedoms also carries the greatest of responsibilities... To Be Continued... “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
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This was a piece I wrote a while ago, but as we still go to sea and sail, then it still applies. And as a life coach I like to find anecdotes that relate to life, and this one exemplifies slowing the pace of life down, and simplifying it at the same time...
When we go to sea with sail alone we feel close to nature and alive; when we use only the wind and our own resources, we feel a true sense of working in perfect harmony with what is natural. The sense of achievement is heightened, the skills sharpen exponentially, our train of thought is allowed to deepen, and we leave no footprint of our existence whatsoever. In short, we live that much closer to ourselves. And our understanding of life is enhanced by living closer to ourselves. Very little comes near to providing the solitude and the peace, the rawness of nature and the understanding we seek, than being on or near the ocean. But this sailing without smoke and novelties is not for everybody. Overnight passages can easily take over a week if the wind is not in our favour, routes are normally well offshore to avoid the dangers of lee shores, mooring is rarely in marinas and is a tough job that needs excellent planning and commitment, and sailing can often involve sleeping at interesting angles just to finish the day off. But for those that come to handle a boat under sail and sail alone, a level of competence and understanding with the sea is reached that will seldom be touched upon otherwise. Combine this principle with everything that we do and we realise that we only really need what is already within us; no more gadgets and toys, and no need to relentlessly keep taking. The person who says they are not afraid in a storm is either a liar or inhuman. I know my own boat very well... But you must never underestimate the power of Mother Nature – she will always throw up one last trick if you don’t have the most respect for her. You can never conquer her, but you can endure her."  I found a few scrawled notes in a drawer the other day and it took me back to a very interesting time. Often during life coaching or therapy I hear people mention how they would like to go back to an earlier period in their life but that is something that time seldom permits. And there is a reason for that. With memory being as plastic as it is, and all sorts of emotions playing around within your subconscious, “the past is seldom where you think you left it”. But should you be determined enough, you might just get your wish. All I can say, being one of those people, is be careful what you wish for...
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The final part of the log from my adventures with Black Wind, and although these sailing blogs are not what you might expect to find on a life coach and therapy website, they are all part of the learning curve that has brought me to where I am now... There is a movie in here somewhere. Somewhere between a classic film noir and a hang-over flick. Except this is real. It's a classic because I am in a hotel room in the ridiculous heat watching a fan spin so slowly it couldn't care less about the sweat running down my face. It's a hangover sequel as I am desperately trying to recall the events for several missing hours of my life two nights ago, and I am in the sort of hotel you couldn't dream up. Outside my door in the courtyard is a stuffed monkey sat behind the steering wheel of a model T Ford. With a whale bone strapped to the bonnet. Only in Mexico. And what the hell is that smell? Medication? Rum?  It hurts to move, and I very much wish I was writing a story, not an account right now. Collecting my thoughts and the laptop, I sit on the bed and try to think. None of it was connected: there was the FBI in Los Angeles. The drunken night in Vegas and the poker. I remember the guy here in Cortez screaming in terror that I was a pirate. The knife. The strip joint and hiding from the local Mexican drug dealers. The walking skeleton of Katrina; the beautiful and flirtatious but dead Mexican lady. But most of all I have the image of the Black Wind in my mind... and the state we found her in. Click to read more... I wondered where I would go next and I soon found out. As cheap as Mexico is, boats unfortunately seldom are; and our old girl needed a few new parts to keep her afloat. So I donned my professional captains hat and headed for... The Southern Aegean and the surrounding coasts. Bodrum in Turkey to begin with. My new contacts Paul and Feza had a new Jeanneau 50 DS which was to cruise the area for the summer, and I was going to run her for them to the Greek Islands and along the southern Turkish Coast. Click to read more...  Blind Date in Bodrum The continuing torment of a Life Coach / Therapist and his crew of the damned... Stopping at Bahia De Los Muertos (the bay of the dead), we took a hike. I had seen an incredible building on entrance to the bay, and I was determined to find it. Drunk and barefoot we wondered into the interior through the night. We lost Blair, found Blair, and at some point I simply lay down and gave up. I don't remember the morning. We did find a very interesting resort though...
When we got into the marina (Opequimar) we fueled and cleaned the boat from deck to bilge, ready for our new guests arriving. I found Frank (A retired lawyer from Texas) had been there close to a week already and so had bought a time share as he was obviously bored with the wait?! Soon after that came Rob (a teacher from New York) who joined us several days later, and finally an old friend of mine Catherine (a sailor from Scotland) came out as crew. We were back up to strength again with 7 of us onboard and the boat was clean although not quite ready to go as she needed maintenance.
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Back in time again - this time and for the following blogs I have reproduced the log of the Black Wind...
However, before all of this you must first pass a couple of islands called Jura and Scarba, and between them is a patch of water called the Corryvreckan. And this is some place to behold. For in this quiet patch of Scotland is placed the second largest whirlpool in the northern hemisphere. Get this wrong and you won't be telling the tale on your blog site later in life. Oh no. After navigating the Dorus Mor which is full of eddies and tide rips and often spins the boat in all different directions you sneak carefully up past the grey dogs (another such area) and hope that you don't get it wrong and end up in a current pulling you into this beast. If you have waited for a weather window and worked out your tides correctly, then you should be fine. If not... they say on a bad day you can hear the roar of the Corryvreckan ten miles away. Eventually though we passed Oban and headed back into the maze of lochs which make up the West Coast of Scotland, up Loch Linnhe and to our next destination: Fort William. We were nearly there and it was a perfect summers day (though sadly with little wind) and it could not have been more relaxing. So how do these things change so quickly and so completely.
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The owner had assured me that she would easily float on the tide and I could just sail away. Just like that. So, after the emergency repair to one of her timbers that held the two hulls together, and the use of four men and a lot of planks to lever her the 20 yards into the water where the spring tide actually came, she was ready. Ready to cross the river that is, to South Queensferry. And I was going. I desperately had to be sailing again, and nothing was going to stop me - even a boat that needed more ‘cosmetic repairs’ than was surely healthy. Everybody including my bank balance at the time had told me that this was not on the cards right now but the call of the sea is a wild one, and so I rang my long suffering friends and they agreed once more to come and work on a boat that they secretly thought would surely involve the coastguard at some point...
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'I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it.' What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?" The above quote is by Sterling Hayden - Actor, author, wanderer; an up and coming movie star who quit, bought a sail boat, and took his children off around the world. Long may those words continue to cause discomfort... |
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Change the way you feel and call James on 07710 154859
Success is not a matter of luck.
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