Who Am I?
I escaped my environments to the South of France with my Egyptian rescue dog Jonnie, helping women discover their strengths, superpowers and how they can best serve their lives and future. We clear the residual wreckage to make way for the joys and talents that have been forgotten, underused and unappreciated.
I like transparency. I grew up being lied to. I believe we all did.
I can be an open book. When I feel safe, I am an excellent read. Full of real-life adventures, sometimes thrilling, often shocking and always shared with a sprinkle of dark, dry humor and a message of experience, strength and hope.
Honesty is my #1 Values in Action Strength (viacharacter.org) no matter how many times I take the test. To be thorough, I shot for best of 5. The results were as follows: #1 – HONESTY, #2 is HOPE, #3 SPIRITUALITY, #4 LOVE OF LEARNING and #5 APPRECIATION OF BEAUTY & EXCELLENCE. Do you know what yours could be?
For too many years they stayed buried. Unknown, unappreciated and most definitely underutilized.
It was only when I sobered up and achieved some real emotional maturity that I began to get abundantly curious again about EVERYTHING. Our addictions and compulsions stunt our growth.
My skillset, character and personality are atypical. I look perfectly normal. Whatever that means in a world of wonderous weirdness. A neuroscientist wanted me to be a participant in a research paper when they saw my results. You see I am the proverbial ‘Jack of all trades.’
Master Shakespeare has been much misunderstood on this point. ‘A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.’ He asks us to engage our curiosity about everything, perceiving valuable processing skills in multiple areas. I thought my training would make me a good coach. Turns out it is my experience and this brain of mine that does!
A 25-year career in Workplace Consultancy kept me small for too long. It paid the bills though. Sober and with my sanity returned, I set to work securing a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology & Coaching Psychology. The artist became a scientist in 1 year!
While starting out as a Professional Coach, I accidentally became a Professional Chef instead, mentored by Raymond Blanc at the Emirates Stadium Diamond Club. The Universe really does have surprises in store for us, if only we can let the blinkers fall from our eyes for a moment. I try to be a good example of someone who applies, daily all my acquired knowledge and experience. Good, bad and ugly so it may be useful to others.
My debut novel is to be published soon and that was born from finding myself in the most psychologically unsafe relationship and environment I have ever been in. Threatening my sobriety, sanity and my life. Life does not stop coming but we can get ready for it.
Â
My story is a commentary on the dark side of positive psychology. Spanning nearly five decades, it tells the tale of three families all connected by the experience of the central character. Generational trauma, addiction, dark personality traits, domestic abuse and coercive and controlling characters cause chaos for and around her. Financial mismanagement, maniacal egos, sexual misconduct and repetitive patterns repeat over and over again. A programmed subconscious might be running the show as she struggles to maintain the work she has achieved so far, under untenable circumstances. These people, her programming and the lurking hidden beliefs that have caged her and forced her to escape so many times now threaten her sobriety, her sanity and her life.
She makes one last play for her freedom. Trusting it will be the last before her final leap into the unknown.
I hope you will enjoy the story.
My career was chiefly concerned with the delivery of high-performance corporate environments. Coming into sobriety and recovery from alcohol and my own workplace challenges, I found myself horrified by the lip service being paid to creation of psychologically safe spaces. I am fascinated by the cages created by our environments and relationships and the traps our mind sets for us, making escape seem impossible.
Requalifying with a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, I am primarily interested in the spiritual growth found in the journey through suffering to flourishing. Always knowing that if it is not practical, it is not spiritual.
Recovery showed me what a true psychologically safe space could look like and as the world continued to turn and people continued to behave in untreated ways, I realized that the responsibility to create our own psychologically safe space, lies within us all.
Today I help woman grow through their recovery. Applying principles from Positive Psychology theories of self-determination, 12 step programs and therapeutic modalities, to flourish without fear, no matter what life throws at them.
Here in the South of France, with my beloved Jonnie by my side, I have been astonished at the kindness and generosity I have found with complete strangers. A caravan dwelling hobo, now with a canine sidekick who arrived not being able to string a sentence together in French. You can imagine how I expected to be treated and have found the exact opposite to be true.
A strange and unexpected kind of freedom. I find so many blessings within the battles. I am living proof, as many of us are, that we can find meaning and purpose amidst suffering and pain. I wish it wasn’t so but that is the nature of being emotional beings. It is the blessing and the curse of being human.
Peace & Love
Elizabeth & Jonnie
Stay tuned for Part 2 – What I talk and write about that informs my Coaching and Writing.
Comments