Why The Calm Gardener?

I had just started at boarding school, a shy 12 year old who was finding being away from home and family very difficult. I was in RE class (Religious Education), which was taught by our softly spoken, yet still formidable headmistress, Mrs M.

This particular class, Mrs M decided to ask the class to share something positive about themselves. Oh God! My mind was completely blank. I'd never had to do anything like that before. Fortunately, my desk was towards the back of the rows, which meant I could gather some inspiration as the first answers were given. 

"I'm good at sport", "I'm funny", "I'm good at maths" - oh s#!t. None of those were helpful to me, as I was very average at everything. For the life of me I couldn't think of anything positive to say about myself!

It was my turn. Silence. Nothing. The seconds ticked by..... 

Mrs M came to my rescue. She said that her impression of me was that I was a calm person. I had no idea that she even knew who I was, let alone noticed a quality that I possessed.

I had never thought of myself in that way, and it made me so happy that someone had.

I have learned over the years to find more positive aspects of me, but it has been a work in progress. Lots of reflection has been required followed by lots of re-wiring of old thought-pathways. And there have been moments where I absolutely have not been calm - and there are witnesses!

Funnily enough, during my life-coaching course, two separate attendees, during our one-on-one exercises, fed-back to me that they found me very calm and easy to talk to. 

It was actually during this course that I had my 'lightbulb' moment. As I read through a list of coaching examples that were shared, there was gardening coach! Who knew that was a thing? My mind went into overdrive when considering how wonderful this would be. I'd felt that the other ways of 'coaching' seemed too similar to my nursing days (sitting opposite someone in a room, writing notes etc). I started imagining... what if I could actually help someone who is just starting out with their gardening hobby? Maybe someone who never had a gardening role model to learn from? Imagine if we could chat together online, while in our gardens? 

The seed was sown.......

In love and calmness

Cat xx