Have you ever experienced a sound or smell that transports you to a different time and place in your life? Well, that moment happened to me today.
I have horses with colds at the moment. I don’t know how, but one of them got a cold and now they all have it. It feels a little bit like when your child brings home those disgusting germs from school or daycare and then spreads to everyone.
So I am mixing up my horse feeds with every supplement that could possibly make them better at dinner time. No one is really enjoying the “fancy and expensive stuff” in their food and not eating it.
Ahh. But I have a solution molasses! Horses love it and it disguises all the yucky stuff.
Well, this is when I was immediately transported to a different time and place in my life. I opened the tin of molasses and the smell made my grandmother appear right with me, to a time and a place when I was a very young girl bringing back to life such fond memories.
I am about 6 years old standing in her small country kitchen. She was telling me I needed to have a teaspoon of molasses because it was good for me. My grandmother used to swear by it. Everyone, man and beast would be given molasses regardless of whether they needed it or not.
The smell made me smile and reminds me of a time place and moment that was special to me.
My grandmother passed away earlier this year and this smell reminded me of the power of those small moments that make life so memorable.
I wonder if this has happened to you? Remember your loved ones will remember those small mundane moments just as much as big grand gestures. It’s reminded me to create a memory worth remembering.
In just one session developing the confidence to lead…
I was lucky enough to catch up with a group of leaders who did my “emotional intelligence workshop” with horses and asked for feedback. Their reflections where more powerful than I could have imagined. Most importantly they reflecting on developing their confidence to lead effectively. These are their own personal insights and what they learnt.
These were their reflections more than a month after they did just one session.
I realised that I am always jumping in and being first. This didn’t allow me any additional time to observation to learn. In trying to understand how to get it right and be the best at it that I didn’t try and be as present. My focus was on getting it right. I have been practising patience and not rushing everything.
It was understanding the vulnerability of a close connection and being present with myself. I learnt how to be more self-aware of being present in the room.
left feeling focused and happy, with purpose and lowered the anxiety and the feeling has lasted
This made me think about how to influence the other decision makers so they get what’s going on.
Thoroughly enjoyed the session. I had so much energy for days after the session it was so inspiring.
Powerful and relatable, giving you the know how to deal with other people and your team
My confidence improved as a leader, I have done lots of thinking about the session afterwards and still got more days later because it influences how you lead.
Love it so much there were practical tips on what to do. I could use straight away. Being present and how you are feeling in the moment. Made me understand how to relate your behaviours to moods.
Highly recommend it. It gave me confidence – about being present and shifting my emotions. I was able to apply the experience immediately and improved confidence
It’s a bio-feedback mechanism with a horse about your self-efficacy. My learning from the session was I understood how to be up with intensity but with clear direction and focus.
I started with a fear of failure and feeling competitive. My ego meant I didn’t want to be the person who couldn’t do it. It was a new and different experience, I don’t have anything to do with horses so was intimidated and scared. I felt vulnerable and way outside my comfort zone. The connection I got was sorefreshing and a great way to build a shared experience. It was a completely new context to make the unconscious thoughts into a competence.
It was feeling like a pressurised situation where you go to a feeling of threat and try to make it about me. But then learning how to make it not about me and about being in control. The experience connected a lot of dots and good personal values. Its things we should be working on every day and when you have mastered it in one situation doesn’t mean you have it secure.
It is an effective coaching and leadership tool. It improved my relationship with my daughter. I become more self-aware of my behaviour towards her. I have been making a conscious effect and our relationship has changed.
Insights and Changes in Emotional Intelligence
My insights where that everyone got something different out of the session and it all related back to improving their emotional intelligence. The really interesting part was they could translate and put into action immediately. It was about understanding that everyone has something different that they see and feel. But it all relates back to the 5 key elements; Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social skills.
