Coffee and Contemplation with Susan Dunlop

The first guest after my six-month break from recording is Erica Curry.

Erica has been a licensed therapist and mental agility coach to athletes in California since 2017. Holding a degree in Psychology, and a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, Erica found her way to that career via athletics.

As a Division One springboard diver, Erica saw how much she and her teammates struggled with different mental health-related symptoms that went unnoticed due to the stigmatisation of mental health and the grind/push-through culture of athletics.

Erica has spent the last six years helping athletes foster their own well-being and find their way after retirement.

Our conversation includes Erica's pivot from gymnastics to springboard diver at 14. We discussed what she witnessed or experienced herself and the struggles with mental health-related symptoms of athletes at her level. Statistics, tips and strategies for children, teenagers and parents to consider regarding sports are mixed into our 40-minute episode.

This is a memory-lane video of myself and the people I travelled with across Kerala, India, in 2017. It's a video with some archived episode links I'll set out below within the episode description.

I am interested in Ayurveda, and as I exited my company, an opportunity appeared to go on a one-month Journey to the Roots of Ayurveda. I hadn't travelled alone to a country like India before then. I chose to sign up and see what I would learn there. Whilst I wasn't studying Ayurveda, I soon found that the 35 people I met on arrival in Kochi were. All my fellow travellers were students, practitioners and doctors in Ayurveda from Kerala Ayurveda Academy in the USA.

Ayurveda is said to have origins over 5000 years old, and I found it intriguing to learn and tour with these most beautiful souls. We learned of the 1000+ herbs and plants and their uses and benefits; ran a community clinic at a nursing home and orphanage; travelled on a houseboat; visited Heavenly and Tea Country, finishing our journey at Ayurvedagram wellness centre in Bangalore before flying to our respective homes.

Since returning to Australia, some of us have stayed connected, and the four women below have been guests on this podcast:

JEANNINE RASHIDI - Doctor of Ayurveda and best-selling Author of Abundance Beyond Trauma, California, USA

A brief interlude between guests, today I'm sharing a snapshot of the work I deliver as a 3 Vital Questions certified trainer and coach throughout Australasia and the Asia Pacific.

I first came across Dr Stephen Karpman's drama triangle model in 2005. I understood it, and at the time, I was busy with my growing company and put it aside to look into more later. Then I came across the empowering alternative triangle to the drama triangle, TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic), a model developed by David Emerald, best selling author of The Power of TED* and the 3 Vital Questions: transforming workplace drama. Between 2018 and now I have immersed myself in this work, firstly for myself, and my own relationships, and in the work I deliver to my clients as a course facilitator and coach.

It is work that can be adopted by individuals, families, leaders of any size organisation and their teams. I'm working with one Hong Kong group that has embraced TED*, from the school's principal to the janitor. Fifty people doing this work together in the safe environment I establish for them from the outset. It's deeply personal development and changes the way they show up and relate at work and in their personal lives. What a ripple effect that will have on their entire school community! It's simple to understand, it's not easy, and it will consciously take practice.

The dreaded drama triangle roles are what we human beings default to in times of stress. They are roles we may have needed to adopt from an early age in response to life and the way other people chose to operate. This work is about consciously choosing to shift to an empowering creator mindset.

Contact me if you'd like to explore The Empowerment Dynamic and understand how the Dreaded Drama Triangle plays out in your personal and work life. It's enlightening, not dark, and it's empowering - structured so you have a framework to refer back to. There are all kinds of depths you can go with it. Personal coaching is one, you as a leader learning this for yourself first, perhaps. Purchasing The Power of TED* book or listening to it on audio is a perfect place to begin. Whatever way you go, you will be a person who can model change at all kinds of levels, for this generation and generations to come.

Today’s guest is Vicky Spencer, the founder and facilitator of Inspirational Ageing group on Facebook. Vicky is a qualified naturopath, herbalist and personal trainer with over 28 years experience. A health educational specialist and author of Ageless Vitality.

Vicky is on a mission to change the narrative around ageing.

Her objective is to give confidence to women, during the perimenopause to postmenopause transition. Encouraging women to embrace responsibility and take control of their health. Vicky specialises in healthy ageing, with an emphasis on movement, herbal medicine, nutrition, emerging work and meditation.

Today's conversation is about choices, the first of which is how Vicky came to choose naturopathy and herbalism; the people she was blessed to work with and be mentored by; and where she has taken her experience to now educate audiences both in her private Facebook group, Inspirational Ageing, and through public talks and webinars.

Vicky is a model of making healthy informed choices and taking lessons learned along her life journey to support others. Vicky and I talk about the choices she empowers women to make: from navigating the perimenopause to postmenopause transition to taking care of themselves by knowing themselves better.

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I am Susan Dunlop, a professional coach and 3 Vital Questions facilitator living in Noosa Australia.

Today's guest is one of the most enthusiastic, energised, ever-creating, innovative and kind people I've had the pleasure to get to know in Covid times. I met Merilee Smith from Pittsburgh PA, in 2021 through our work as professional coaches and 3 Vital Questions facilitators with the Center for the Empowerment Dynamic in the United States.

Mary Poppins, Disney and making magic happen, TED* (The Empowerment Dynamic) and the 3 Vital Questions all feature in this episode 60 of the Coffee and Contemplation with Susan podcast.

You will find plenty of magic, wisdom, and food for thought shared by Merilee, a woman who chooses to deliver her gifts to the world in a real and raw way. Enjoy!

Today’s guest is a return visitor, Nikki Creber, from the Sunshine Coast. When Nikki first came on the show for Episode 24 in October 2020, we focused on her personal experience with Parkinson’s Disease and how she took ownership of that and turned all she learned about the disease into doing something good, not just for herself, but for others as well.

Teri Giannetti, a lifelong educator, coach and facilitator, joins me in this episode from her home in Detroit. 

We discuss Teri's Italian heritage, from her mother's courage in the face of the Gestapo in WWII as a young girl. Her mother had a dream to find the streets paved with gold, so not long after WWII, she left her village in Italy where somebody told her to take a wheel of cheese to their family in New Jersey. Teri shared her life began all because of a wheel of cheese!

Interesting, insightful and inspiring, Teri's capacity for sharing amusing stories isn't missed in this episode. Enjoy!

Where did Teri's passion for educating children stem from?

When Teri entered kindergarten they didn't know what to do with her because she couldn't speak English, and they didn't have English as a second language at that time. Teri, by the time she was eight, knew she had been placed in the too-hard basket and from somewhere inside of her she found the strength and determination to change her own circumstances and trajectory!

Moving forward in time, Teri, as a school principal, gave a talk to an entire school body. It was the first time Teri gave a talk about being in what was so inappropriately called the 'retarded room' in her elementary school days. 

Teri told the kids the reason she became a principal and a teacher was because she wanted to treat kids the way she thinks kids should be treated and never make them feel stupid. She had a realisation too, that she also didn't want anybody to be a student in her school where they felt lost. 

Teri's vision was that she would stand up for all kids and she was really going to stand up for the kids that need some help with their strength and courage, so that when they leave her school, she will have helped them, and modelled to the teachers, what they should be doing with kids. 

Now, as co-founder of Synchronicity Consulting Partnership, Teri and her business partner and friend, Judy, both have a passion to reach kids, and adults too. Together they create and deliver engaging content supporting their clients to understand their anxiety and much more.

Today’s guest is Cal Stephens, who lives close by to me at Sunrise Beach, in Noosa, Queensland.

Cal and I found ourselves on a road trip to the Gold Coast a month back. A mutual friend invited us to join the audience of a new TV show. I offered to drive. I picked up our friend Nikki, and then talked and navigated our way to find Cal at a bus stop in southern Brisbane. Cal hopped into my back seat, started talking and the conversation flowed all the way to the Gold Coast and all the way back again. To say it was an inspiring, energising and thought-provoking kind of day would be an understatement! I just had to keep remembering to keep my eyes on the road!

At the beginning of Covid times, Cal left behind her career as a financial advisor and established a business that is quite unique in its model and in the service it delivers. The service Cal began with was teaching young people financial literacy through cooking. It's since evolved, in a very short space of time, to bring Edna's Life Skills to a growing clientele, and doing so only through word-of-mouth referrals. Cal's services are delivered most often under the NDIS program. 

Edna's Life Skills now incorporate financial literacy, domestic management, domestic science and social skills development. Edna's Life Skills is a business that is about setting up young people for independence with the side-effect of growing their confidence 100-fold. It’s about caring, and skills development and it touches the lives of more than just the young people that Cal and her team of life skill coaches and mentors serve.

Who is Edna? Edna was Cal's mum. Today we’re going to talk about Edna, Cal, where the business idea came about, the hurdles and where to from here.

Enjoy!

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Today's guest is Sharon Ilstrup of Seattle in Washington. Sharon and I have found ourselves to be kindred spirits in all manners of ways since we met in October 2021. A creator in every essence, in work and life, Sharon is a peer 3 Vital Questions certified trainer, and a leadership and career coach. 

In our very first intro session of the 3 Vital Questions training last year I recall thinking, did I just hear Sharon say she coaches the techs for Microsoft? Then I wondered, did she say Microsoft because her bookcase behind her is so artfully colourfully displayed, I envisaged, maybe she said Google, but no, we did clarify where and since moved our personal peer zoom conversations onto more exciting things like retro campers called Daisy, hiking trips, camping under the stars on islands and our shared passion for creativity in art.

By way of today's theme, our conversation is around vision, a journey that's more about shifting with the curves of life, rather than the kind of zigzags that other women have shared on the show. Where Sharon has come to today, how she sees we may personally make a change in the world, and a vision for where she's taking her 3VQ work.

The podcast being about women sharing their stories and lessons learnt from life, has led to 3 episodes in a row being friends and peers of mine who took those lessons learnt and turned them into books! 

Sarah Bell from Texas, USA, is a peer 3 Vital Questions certified trainer, and I reached out to her on referral from another trainer who told me Sarah was a leader in coaching nurses. I reached out in my researching around my vision for where I’m taking my coaching and training here in Australia.

Sarah has been an ICF certified coach working with nurse managers, nurse leaders and other health care professionals, in the United States, who are seeking leadership growth and development, for some 20 years. Sarah’s 30 years experience as a Registered Nurse began in the United Kingdom continued in the United States, and Sarah said (on the back inside cover of her book) that she struggled with the idea that Healthcare is a business. She observed and personally experienced the pressure nurse leaders face to achieve both clinical and business goals. Those 30 and 20 years clearly have run alongside each other, not one after the other!

This week is International Nurses' & Midwives' Week and perfect timing to discuss Sarah's book: The Successful Nurse Leader - the ultimate guide to transition from Nurse to Manager to Leader, it's purpose, what led to Sarah putting pen to paper; and how it fits in nicely with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) theme for 2022: 

Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health. Focusing on the need to protect, support and invest in the nursing profession to strengthen health systems around the world!

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As discussed with Sarah in the episode here are some contact details about the book:

Today’s guest is Donna Zajonc MCC and Author of "Who Do You Want to Be On the Way to What You Want? Coaching with The Empowerment Dynamic

Donna is Co-Founder and Director of Coaching for the Center for The Empowerment Dynamic in the USA.

Donna is currently riding the early waves of her long awaited book launch, getting her beautifully crafted words out to the world of coaches, like myself.

Donna's partner David Emerald had an epiphany one day that led to him creating TED*, the antidote to the Dreaded Drama Triangle and writing two bestselling books: The Power of TED* and The 3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama. Back when David told Donna about his epiphany, Donna embodying all the roles of TED*, The Empowerment Dynamic, enthusiastically supported David to get TED* and later the 3 Vital Questions, out to the world.

I met Donna in studying and becoming certified as a trainer in the 3 Vital Questions and TED*  last year. Donna is passionate about her ministry to deliver and expand the work of the Center for The Empowerment Dynamic to the world, individuals, communities, workplaces, for the greater good. This year Donna added the icing to the Center for the Empowerment Dynamic cake, in the form of her book. 

It’s a book that is written as a gift to each of us and most definitely we coaches and trainers in TED*, and then the ripple effect of that, becomes a gift we can keep on giving!

How magic a formula is that!

In this episode Donna shares gems of wisdom, capturable quotes,  the foundations of the work and how her book came to being launched amidst a global pandemic. 

Today I’m speaking with Rachel Lee in Austin Texas. 

Our topic, even if we didn't state it as such was "What Does Right Look Like in Terms of Online Communication and Connection?" 

Rachel commented that "people are thirsting to be heard not just seen."

In our 40 minute chat we cover: 

• The important role of self belief in personal branding.
• How to show up online in business or as a recruitment candidate post-Covid. 
• Leaving Facebook and what are the alternative online spaces to connect or market your business. 
• LinkedIn as a place to share as thought leaders and to be of service; and 
• Where to from here with social audio, for authentic human conversation and connection.

Rachel is a woman of many roles, an expert in her field, successful business woman, wife, stepmother, daughter, sister and friend. Her favourite mantra is "I surrender to the divine".

Rachel has led branding, social media strategy, content development, blogging, influencer communities, podcasts, experiential, paid media and more for the Microsoft Partner Network. Taking a leap of faith in her own version of the great resignation, Rachel now leads the branding and marketing strategy for StandOut Authority, a company she co-owns with husband, Joshua B Lee, “the dopamine dealer of Linkedin!” StandOut Authority helps you and your company find and build your voice, and create influence so you can change the world. 

Funnily enough, the 3 Vital Questions that I deliver training in is about Where are You Putting Your Focus? That is the 1st Vital Question. So here I am again tying loose ends together in terms of all the lessons I've come across through business and my own personal and professional development, where the 3VQ meet this little story about shifting your focus to what is important to your prospective clients. What isn't important is Your Boat! Don't sell the boat. 

A short, easy and memorable lesson for times when you get all caught up in contemplating what to sell your customers next!

If this resonates with you, or if you'd like any other topics covered in future mini-series within the Coffee and Contemplation with Susan Dunlop podcast show, I'd love to hear. Please contact me via my website, sign up to my eCommunication newsletter, or send me a quick email to let me know what you'd like more of here. 

Strategic planning for established businesses, using thought-provoking content and inputs from teams to make a strategic plan alive and felt and owned by your team. Do that onsite or offsite, via a strategic retreat. Strategic retreats in Noosa would have to be one of the best locations, for a combined leadership team strategy sessions, opening up communication channels, education, plus rest and play. 

The other end of the business planning scale is one I take entrepreneurs through that incorporates the Whole Entrepreneur because you cannot just think business when you're the one going to make your vision become reality at the end of the day. Incorporated into the Extended 1-Page Business Plan that I've developed are your personal commitments that honour your health, your relationships and your personal vision. Business supports you, you don't support the business, otherwise you've bought yourself a job!

Contact me for a quote for business coaching packages or strategic retreats or team training opportunities anywhere in Australia or New Zealand.

Whether it's your Ultimate Vision or What's Your Why, both are one in the same in terms of an important exercise to undertake by business owners to sustain you beyond the physical and emotional energy required to get a business started. 

Your Ultimate Vision, an 8 step exercise I complete with my coaching clients, becomes an integral document to go back to time and again and remind yourself that that is what you said you were going to make happen, what's important to you, who you need to become to deliver on that mission and more.

What is your Ultimate Vision? If you aren't 100% certain I'd be happy to guide you through the steps to get to the root of what it is with you.

"When did I become invisible?" 

"What is my role now that the kids are gone?"

"Where did my sparkle go?"

"Who can I confide in, who will understand?"

How many women in midlife pose questions or repeat self-sabotaging self-talk, like "I'm too old, too tired, too unfit, too fat..."? 

I chose the topic of the Top 10 Transitions a Midlife Woman would experience, or might experience, when completing a research project as part of my life coaching course back in 2017. I think, in hindsight, because I was a midlife woman at the time, and I wanted to understand the bigger picture for me, and for the women who come to coaching. 

I coach people choosing to lead in life and business, and that can be across any age of life. Therefore, it's not been uncommon to be coaching a woman in the age bracket of 45-55, the time of a woman's life that she might pass through menopause, whilst simultaneously experiencing other life events. 

Needless to say, when putting all the issues and dreams on the table to co-create together during coaching, an awareness that some of these transitions may be at play at the same time, whilst a client is trying to launch a business, or a new fashion line online, is worth taking pause over.

If this topic is of interest to you, please don't hesitate to let me know via email or use the contact form on my website. Maybe you'd like to have more podcast episodes cover this in greater detail, including (a) going into greater depth on, say, one area like managing the relationship with boomerang kids; or inviting guests (a) who wish to share their experience of living it or surviving this period of life - you are welcome to come chat as well; or (c) experts who can provide tips on any particular area you'd like to understand further. 

I learnt this new version of the 8 areas of life only this year and changed the way I measured my progress forwards, and dialled up the quality of what it is I'm truly focused on for my own life. You may have heard of the Wheel of Life that coaches use as a tool to measure life satisfaction with clients, most often in their first session. It lets coaches see what areas are needing the first attention etc. This is a new take on it and if you like things to be more about passion, vision and true desires, listen and see what you'd score yourself for each of the 8 areas. If you'd like to do this as an exercise with me to debrief on once you run through it, please don't hesitate to book a 50-minute intro discovery session for that very purpose. No obligation, just head to my website home page and click the Book a Discovery Call button, choose a time that is available, and I'll see you via Zoom.

These 3 Mandates of Leadership got me through some of the toughest days in business when massive change was occurring throughout our industry. I also use them for myself personally, in communicating within business and personally. Strangely, excitingly, I'm now connecting the dots between having taken the 3 Mandates of Leadership to be my leadership mantra back in 2011 and having found my space in the world now delivering a reasonably similar focused training in the form of the 3 Vital Questions by creator, David Emerald. Powerful work combined with powerful worlds help you make powerful impact on the world, and for all those you care about. 

If you'd like to be kept abreast of other lessons that I'm sharing, please head to my website and subscribe to my eCommunity newsletter or to find out more about my coaching for people who choose to lead in their professional and personal lives. 

The 3 Vital Questions course is for anyone who wants less drama and more fulfilling and effective work relationships, which includes CEOs and other senior leaders, department heads, HR leaders, leadership and organisational development professionals, team leaders and teams. Really it is for anyone who is ready to transform working together, and developing relationships that are resourceful, resilient and innovative. 

This course is life-changing and will positively impact your most important relationships - be it with yourself, those you love, those you work with or those you serve. 

Introducing a mini-series of 7 short lessons to contemplate over a coffee, or beverage of choice. 

This podcast is about women sharing what makes them who they are today. 

These 7 lessons are me drawing on what I've learnt over the past few decades of life that helped me through hard times, have helped me stay true to my path and my vision, not feel as 'nutty' as I sometimes was in the transition of midlife. In recording these, I may not have said it, but I can see how all of the topics are ME doing what I love and caring about how I deliver an authentic, caring service to individuals, as that is what we all are. 

This mini-series ranges from 3 to 7 minute recordings. Episodes 46 to 52 will touch on:

Episode 46: The 3 Vital Questions and the C Dimension of Business - transforming drama into empowerment.

Episode 47: The 3 Mandates of Leadership (downloadable blue or deep pink posters will be available via the upcoming eCommunity newsletter via my website if you'd like to plaster these around your office, to help you like they did me time and time again.

Episode 48: 8 Forms of Wealth

Episode 49: The 10 Top Transitions Women Experience in Midlife.

Episode 50: The importance of establishing an Ultimate Vision for your business.

Episode 51: 2 Kinds of Business Planning - one for the 'whole entrepreneur' and the other one-page strategic plan for established businesses.

Episode 52: A short lesson I loved that stuck "Don't Sell The Boat". 

This episode does touch on the topic of childhood sexual abuse in terms of it is what the guest experienced, and has written her memoir about to help others heal from trauma too. 

Jeannine Rashidi was guest no. 4 of the podcast almost 2 years ago to the day. Jeannine and I met in Kerala, India in 2017, on a mutual journey to the roots of Ayurveda. The universe put us in a very distant place together and we've remained friends and supporters of each other's growth ever since.

From the time of our first recording in March 2020, Jeannine has continued her studies as an Ayurvedic doctor with Kerala Ayurveda Academy in the USA, has written and self-published her best-selling memoir, Abundance Beyond Trauma, and more. 

Part of formulating the structure of her memoir, was a 3am aHA moment that led to Jeannine naming her trauma healing process, EDHIR™. 

We dig around in all the feelings, emotions and the vulnerability that Jeannine experienced in taking her story through to the day of launch, and beyond. Importantly, what is most important to Jeannine now beyond the memoir having been written. A key focus for Jeannine is to keep working on the relationship she has with herself.

If you'd like to contact Jeannine you will find her on social media and LinkedIn under Goodbye Tension or her name. Her book is available on Amazon and on Audible. 

As I enter 2022 one month later than planned, welcoming you to the podcast for 2022 and sharing thoughts on what happens when we ignore the messages that are in front of us.

Feather messages are a gentle reminder or a nudge or a push in a particular direction. 

If we don't listen to the feather, then we get the brick.

Brick messages are not so gentle reminders. They could be health-related, business restructures, changes to management. If we're still not paying attention to the brick, that's when we get the truck.

Truck messages are a massive shift in life as we know it. An example of a truck might be loss - loss of your job completely, loss of a relationship or loved ones. All of a sudden, we're forced to make massive changes to our life.

Sharing what a brick message, in the form of covid January 2022, has taught me and where I took that lesson, that has served me greatly towards my vision for 2022, because I stopped before I ran forward into 2022.

Note: episode 21 also spoke on an example of feather, brick, truck, if the idea of it interests you.

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Hello and welcome, I'm Susan Dunlop, professional coach and 3 Vital Questions certified trainer, in Noosa, Queensland.  I support my clients transform their vision into results through strategy and actions, or baby steps, as we call them. Also, a passion-focus of the work I do is helping people break the chains of the drama triangle, within all their relationships, towards a far more empowered, passion-fuelled way of being, via The Empowerment Dynamic.

Contact me if you would like to learn more about coaching and facilitation. I work with people who choose to lead in life and business and their teams.

I want to share with you a 1st preview of what I've been working towards this past year.

Back in 2005, when I was 40, I came across the Drama Triangle and its 3 roles of victim, persecutor and rescuer, developed by Steven Karpman. That was 16 years ago. I immediately understood it, could see how the roles of the drama triangle played out in life, in families, society and in business. 

Busy as I was, I put it on the shelf, not sure what to do with that new knowledge; and then through serendipity, and one International Coaching Federation webinar in 2018, I was introduced to the positive antidote to the (dreaded) drama triangle!  The webinar delivered by co-founders of the Bainbridge Leadership Center in the USA: Donna Zajonc, master coach, and husband, David Emerald, author of the best selling book "The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) and more recently, the 3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama. 

I'd read both of the books a year or so ago. Then, earlier this year I completed the Transform Drama to Design Your Dreams coach training with Donna, and have now become certified as a trainer, to deliver workshops and facilitate the eCourse in the 3 Vital Questions: Applying the Power of TED* (The Empowerment Dynamic) to Work and Life. 

I'm just coming down off 'night school' having attended live via Zoom, to practice delivery of the training with fellow trainers in the States, Canada and the UK, over the past 3 weeks, setting my alarm to be at my desk at midnight til 7.30 am and loving every minute of it!

The workshop I will be delivering is a comprehensive, yet personalised, 2-day format; and the latter a 8-module facilitated eCourse that I will be delivering to leaders in business, in our community and those choosing to be leaders, not followers, in all areas of their life. Perfect for anyone who wants less drama and more fulfilling and effective work relationships, including CEOs, other senior leaders, department heads, HR leaders, leadership and organisation development professionals and team leaders. 

Really, it's for anyone who is ready to transform working together, and developing relationships that are resourceful, resilient and innovative.

It's work that will equip any human being, business and their teams to be happier and more productive. In the workplace, or in setting personal desired outcomes, this work is about moving forward and making a positive impact on those you relate to, or serve and it will create a ripple effect throughout our communities. Perfectly suited for any business, continuing to transition to new ways of operating, as we move through the drama of covid-19 disruption!

This podcast is about people sharing stories. I feel the shift for me, in acknowledging the drama triangle at play; the anxiety it causes; the draining focus on problems; to a much more vibrant way of approaching life, with outcomes that are passion-fuelled and easy to operate within, has been life-changing. This shift has helped me enormously in my way of doing business, coaching and in my most important relationships. 

Please, if you have any questions or are curious about this work, for yourself, your team or your family, I'm here for you so just reach out via email, phone or through my website and we can talk.

Julia Carter, a woman I met 15 years ago, when I purchased an artwork from one of her first exhibitions here in Noosa.

Today's conversation with Julia is about where did her creativity stem from, and the incredible journey she's travelled since. Julia took off internationally, for 10 years showcasing her art in exhibitions in Paris, London, Hong Kong, New York and even a medieval castle in Ferrara Italy. Julia's art is magical, to me anyway, in every painting there are so many messages, symbols, sometimes little creatures and a fairly liberal sprinkling of glitter and shimmer.

We covered questions that touch on Julia's fondest memories, her pinch-me moments and the accident that led to Julia finding this creative path she's fully embraced.

In terms of decades of life for this podcast show, Julia is a woman in her 50s, and therefore we touch on how far she's evolved and what's important to her now. I was so happy to see Julia choose to respond to one question other guests have skirted around: what would make life feel ridiculously fun? That encapsulates Julia's current vision for where to next. There's more, I'll leave you to listen in peace.

This is the first episode I have recorded the episode as a video! The video version is over on my YouTube channel: Susan Dunlop Coaching. That is, if you're more a visual kind of person than auditory.

I'm Susan Dunlop, personal life coach and professional trainer, also choosing to live in paradise, Noosa, Queensland. The Coffee and Contemplation with Susan podcast is my passion project, bringing women together through shared stories. The guests I've had on to date are women from every decade of life - the youngest being 19 and the most senior being 91. Women from Australia and abroad. In coaching I listen to people's stories daily and in sharing, the side effect is often an increase in self-confidence, an understanding of the gifts we all have, and what we value most. The podcast and the work I do, for people I care about, are therefore a perfect match!

Jaya McIntyre, is a girl born of the '70s in Melbourne and raised on the Sunshine Coast in a Brady Bunch kind of loving and chaotic family. Jaya's childhood was about experiencing festivals and environmental events with her 'hippy' environmentalist parents, fun days in the sun, that led to her love of photography, people-gazing and music. 

Now the woman at the helm of her own Empire Art Photography in Mooloolaba, Jaya shares what brings her the most joy from her creative work as a professional photographer. Also, we discuss her belief that most people have a story to tell and how Jaya has constantly improved on her craft, in order to also bring joy to her clients. She has now done that by depicting their stories in photography for more than 20 years.

Jaya shares her experience of the shock to find she had breast cancer in her 30s, just as her plans for setting out in business alone were coming together. Also, how having experienced what she did, has added extra layers of resilience and a greater sense of awareness of what she does and does not want in her life now. 

One of her loveliest lessons taken, to me, was Jaya's deeper understanding and compassion for another woman, any woman, just like her, who one day might need to go to the shops in her PJs and uggies. 

In the title I mentioned Jaya is an inspiring, creative and calming presence. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with this gentle, thoughtful and caring woman today. 

I promised to share Jaya's business details here. 

Today’s guest I heard about, long before I met her. As a business owner myself here in Noosa for some 20 years, I have always liked hearing news of business successes and applauded businesses focused on providing friendly, safe, respectful, individualised care. That mattered to me back in my days of owning RNS Nursing, and now in coaching. 

Kate Davidson, award-winning business woman and owner of the EFM Health Club franchise in Noosaville, takes it absolutely seriously too, in a way that quality service incorporates a magic mix of fun, variety, great music, a good chat, the celebration of consistent effort and achievements of her members.  

This episode touches on Kate's life lessons learnt. From acknowledging the reality of crippling social anxiety as a child and the repercussions of that in the form of being the target of bullying; to her decision that she alone had to take the steps to seek help, in her desire to live life on her own terms as a woman. 

Kate has consistently stepped up, hurdled over and skipped through health, life and business challenges. Navigating her way through life and business and becoming the woman she is today, Kate shares how she often has to remind herself how far she has come and how:

"old me would be so proud of me. In fact, old me would probably not believe that this version of me was for real."

We talk on where Kate's life originated; her dreams of what or whom she wanted to be when she grew up; health and life hurdles that she's faced and how she's overcome those; her passion project; what (OK, who) is the most important thing (person) to her in the world now; and what would be the most valuable advice Kate could give 7-year old her, that she wished she'd have received from her own mum when she was 7. Plus Kate's favourite sing-out-loud song revealed!

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As for me, I am a professionally trained coach and NLP practitioner, certified in hypnosis and therapeutic arts coaching; a member of the International Coaching Federation and American Board of Hypnotherapy.  

I coach my clients in all areas of life and business. 

I offer 1-hour introductory coaching sessions where we talk about what it is you truly desire in your personal life or for your business, and how coaching can help you with making that your reality. If you aren't certain what it is you truly desire, that's just another kind of starting point to put a pin through on your life map and then work forwards from there.

You can book a time directly via my website or, if easier, please email me and we can line up a time to suit directly.

EASY LINKS TO REACH ME:

Episode 37's guest is Nuray Ozden, a woman in her 40s and 4-years new to the sunny Sunshine Coast in Queensland. 

Nuray knew she was going to be a health care professional when she was 3-4 years old, telling her aunty 'one day I will fix your voice'. Before leaving high school Nuray was clear about her career path to become a Speech Pathologist.

As a Speech Pathologist of some 25 years' experience, her private speech pathology practice focuses on the whole person. That came about naturally to Nuray, having chosen a non-pharmaceutical path to heal her own body from within, from fibromyalgia, whilst still at university in her early 20s. 

Nuray's name can be translated to "a new ray of light" which she portrays in every day life. Nuray shares how she picked herself and her heart back up, over a long 10-year journey of grief, having suffered devastating loss, as a young mum in her early 30s. Nuray saw, from within that dark space, the weak foundations of her marriage; and with courage and determination went about all that was required to leave what didn't serve her behind. With new-found excitement, Nuray took her 2 children, to find what was next for them, something new, something better, someplace different.

It was what Nuray referred to as "jumping off the cliff and landing with trust that it just had to work, and there was no doubt she would make it work."

A shift of thousands of miles from her established life and career in Melbourne. A 20-hour drive with just 3 suitcases, her 2 children and herself, packed up in her car, to find a new soft spot to land in sub-tropical Queensland. Here, Nuray has started over, bringing her speech pathology patients, her unique holistic approach. 

Nuray shared that "we all know when it's time for change and we know when something is completed. Really trust and follow your heart, because your heart will never lead you astray." 

Content: If this episode touching upon Nuray's stillbirth affects you, I have sourced details of the Pink Elephants and SANDS support organisations and their chatlines (see below).

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If you have any questions or would like to find out how to contact Nuray, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at susan@susandunlop.com.au and I can provide you with her details.

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As for me, I am a women's coach in life and business; business mentor and trainer of teen and young women in the skills of life that fall outside of the high school curriculum. I would be only too happy to offer you a discovery call, for a chat about what it is you truly desire in life, and how coaching, mentoring or training can help you with making that your reality. You can book a time directly via my website or, if easier, please email me and we can line up a time to suit directly.

EASY LINKS TO REACH ME:

I met Lucy Holland, senior social work clinician, psychologist, researcher, personal and professional coach at an International Coaching Federation #ICF members event recently. 

Lucy, now a Sunshine Coast local, is founder of Simplify Coaching & Consulting, a woman in her 30s, with a background of 15 years working in health and adolescent health. Lucy's specific expertise is in social work care and counselling of young people and families and in the context of chronic disease and palliative care.

Lucy talks today on what led her to become involved in adolescent health in the first place.

We centre our conversation around the most significant darkness-to-light piece that Lucy experienced in her life. Particularly, the learnings Lucy has taken from that major life hurdle, that "blew apart my world and really shattered my sense of self, worth, direction, home and life." Lucy shares the messiness and the blessings that were the reality of what she experienced and came out stronger from. Lucy shared that it wasn't easy, yet her life is just much more full and real now than it ever was before. 

We talk about working with young people, in relation to managing relationship breakups; the education system; and the false image social media platforms paint - devoid of reality and real connect, which leads to difficulty in drawing together an authentic, caring, loving tribe, when you need them most. 

Lucy shares what her mum's best words of advice were to her that she's brought forward into life today. 

Plenty more... I won't be a spoiler!

Thank you Lucy for sharing your story today.

Take care,

Susan

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Coffee and Contemplation with Susan is a podcast show of real women, doing extraordinary things.

A place where stories are shared, for the storyteller's benefit, as well as those listening in.

I'm Susan Dunlop, a professionally trained life and business coach, living and working in Noosa, Queensland.

Our heads are full of stories. I get to listen to stories everyday in my coaching and see the benefits of my clients' sharing their stories out loud, then exploring those more deeply.  Reflection is also an incredibly powerful tool that's not put to use so much in modern society. Reflection and the sharing of stories across generations cannot be underestimated.

Please contact me if you or another woman you know is a real everyday human-being doing extraordinary things and has a story to share.

Also, if you, or someone you know or love, is a real everyday someone with great plans to do extraordinary things, and could do with a thought- and belief-partner, by way of a professionally trained life or business coach, to help you get where you want to go!

Part 2 of 2 Parts: Mish Thurlow wrote her first book in the year of 2020 when everything was topsy-turvy in our world, and her support network back home in South Africa, seemed more distant than ever before.

Through the process of writing her book "Truth Seeker - finding your light" Mish explored her own inner truth, and on reflection, came upon a significant acknowledgement of her truest self that she hadn't expected. 

Mish gathered up her courage and spoke her truth, to those she loved most. The most freeing, albeit risky, choice she could make to be the truest version of herself. Expecting to be burnt in the process, or to be rejected, Mish is instead full of love and admiration for the incredible people who love her unconditionally.

It made me think of the quote: 

"By coming out to ourselves, we free up the energy we spent keeping that part of ourselves hidden." - Patrick Califia, Author.

We talk on: 

• the meaning of Truth Seeker and Finding Your Light; 
• as an author, how she's going about getting her book out there; 
• Mish's sincerest wish for those who read it; and 
• given this is Coffee and Contemplation time, Mish throws in a fabulous metaphor about coffee and alignment. 

We end with:

• Mish's favourite quote; 
• her 3 Key Pieces of Day-to-Day Wisdom she lives by; and 
• as a music lover, her favourite sing-out--loud song and why.

Thank you so much Mish for coming back to chat today. 

Part 1 of 2 parts: Mish was introduced to me by our mutual friend, Rae (Episode 3). At the same time as I was inviting Mish onto the podcast show, I heard that her book "Truth Seeker' was being launched here on the Sunshine Coast. I was intrigued to find out more.

Today we speak on all manners of important life decisions and serendipitous moments that led to Mish turning all the rich ingredients of her life, so far, into a captivating guidebook for readers who seek to live life to its fullest and most vibrant capacity. 

We step back firstly to Mish's leap of faith 11 years ago. A gigantic leap of faith at the age of 18, leaving her close family circle and a small town in South Africa to find herself on campus at the University of Sydney. From 'fitting in' to 'finding the light'. Making a life that honoured her mind, body and soul, in that very bright, eclectic, alternative and busy end of the city. Mish is now living a joy-filled life on the Sunshine Coast as the truest version of herself. 

I'll let you listen to where we take the chat. This is Part 1 of 2 - being all the stepping stones that led to the launch of the book. 

Part 2 next week will be Mish sharing what change the actual writing of the book brought about in her own life, in which she went next level in finding her own truest self, during the process. We talk on where she's taking the book, and her wishes for people once they've read it; plus plenty of words of wisdom. 

I said I would share the contact details for Mish here if you'd like to make contact or purchase her book:

Jodie was referred to me for the podcast episode by her sister, Lisa Williams (Episode 11) as a woman doing purposeful, extraordinary things for her community. 

'The way the body functions or nature functions are all miracles, despite our ability to name the individual aspects. Just because we are now able to name them, they are no less awe-inspiring (or at least they shouldn’t be). The deeper I get into this, my ideas of healing and practice continue to evolve, and have lead me to the energy work and an appreciation for the quantum.' - Marti

Marti Davis MD of Denver Colorado and I continue with Part 2 of our 2 episode chat focused on what came next in Marti's search for understanding healing from a more complete incorporation of mind, body, and spirit.

If you're interested in getting in touch with Marti, I said somewhere along our 2-Part chat that I would share details of her practice, #IntentionalBalance here:

Marti Davis MD of Denver Colorado shared with me that her path into medicine, her studies to become an Emergency Doctor, and then what led to her departure from that profession, has been circuitous. Her words made me visualise one of those childhood dot-to-dots; which then led me to think about Steve Jobs’ words:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
~ Steve Jobs

Nikki Creber is my guest this week on Coffee & Contemplation with Susan. 

This Episode focuses on what Nikki called "my mission - my everything". In 2019 Nikki was awarded a Community Hero for her work. Nikki is a Parkinson's Advocate and Coach on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

What is Parkinson's Disease? It's a disease of the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord, and controls everything you do, including moving. It affects all systems - motoric, non-motoric and neurological too. A person with Parkinson's disease gradually loses the ability to totally control body movements.

Parkinson's Disease is the 2nd largest neurological disease suffered in Australia. 200,000 people currently live with Parkinson's. In 15 years, it is predicted to be double that number, and the cost of individual Health Department services across Australia will be exorbitant and prohibitive as the nature of the disease means that hospitalisation often means an upset to medication maintenance, and results in those living with Parkinson's will have a much longer hospital stay with much more expensive specialist medical interventions.

Nikki shares her own story about her experience of being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in her 40s. The initial darkness of that reality and subsequent light and epiphany that came to her in the form of an offer of a sabbatical. 

Nikki took back her power and began the path to reclaim the functioning of her body. 

Our contemplative chat includes demystifying the myth that Parkinson's is just an 'old people' disease; the signs and symptoms you might observe in either yourself or someone you know and love; and will Parkinson's actually kill you? What Nikki wanted to be when she grew up but her dad said 'no', the work she loved before her diagnosis with Parkinson's disease and her mission in life now; plus favourite pastimes that feel really good outside of work; and favourite quote and song.

Currently, Nikki's most important mission is continuing her campaign to gain effective on the ground/in the community clinical care for people living with Parkinson's as well as their carers. This is sorely missing in regional and rural areas across Queensland. Nikki wants to establish a pilot study in setting up 3 Specialist Parkinson's Community Nurse Practitioner positions with the SCHHS in order to establish an efficient, sustainable and transportable model. Queensland is the only State in Australia not to have such nurses.