Breakthroughs
I love the relationships that seem to begin with a fortuitous meeting. That’s what meeting Wendy Lippard was. I had posted a request in my local neighborhood listserve for an accountant. Maureen Nolan, whom I had not met before, responded that didn’t know an accountant but that she had looked at my Forgiveness Walks website and suggested that I meet Wendy. I called her and within the first fifteen minutes of our conversation we knew we had work to do together!
Wendy became my first long-term client, meeting with me almost weekly at Big Trees Nature Preserve for over a year as we took turns coaching each other while walking through the preserve. It was a mutually perfect fit. One week, I said, “This would be even more perfect if you were paying me a hundred dollars after each session.” Oh, of course I understood that we were coaching each other, but there was something about the money that would make it real! Wendy said, “Well, let’s do that!” Starting the next week, we handed each other a fresh one hundred dollar bill. I would put mine in my new business account, proof that my service was valuable.
I can also thank Wendy for nudging me into The Landmark Forum, which opened my eyes to new language for personal growth and transformation and put me in the company of scores of people striving to get the most out of life.
Arjomand Rahimzadeh, the leader of my first 10-week seminar at Landmark Worldwide, was particularly influential in my willingness to stretch my limits. That seminar was called, Breakthroughs, and my biggest lesson in it was how “Being Unreasonable” could open doors to possibilities I had often dreamed of but never achieved. I had scheduled my second walk of the Benton MacKaye Trail during the same month as the first month of the Breakthroughs Seminar. With Arjomand’s stern guidance, I let go of my reasons that I would have to miss those classes and my reasons that I could not do both at the same time. At first, I was sarcastic and flippant, saying, “Oh sure. I’ll just have someone pick me up off the trail each week and drive me to Atlanta for this class. Right.” And, my tiny new voice of “un-reasonableness” said, “Yes. Why not?” Then, like a spark, it dawned on me that there’s a business that stakes its success on picking its customers up – Enterprise Car Rental. “We’ll pick you up.”
A few calls, with me being “unreasonable”, informed me that indeed there were two places along the Benton MacKaye Trail where Enterprise would pick me up! I could rent a car, drive to Atlanta in time for the seminar, do a resupply, then drive back for my next week of hiking! I only missed ONE of the ten sessions! In addition, I was unreasonable about having clients participating in a coaching program while I walked. I invented my first “Walk With Me” program and had 5 participants. It was such a powerful experience for me, and I can thank Arjomand for seeing possibilities I had no idea could even be possible!
Let me just mention one other person I met in my Landmark Worldwide circle. That’s Ilona Dolinska-Reiser. She was recommended to me by Wendy Lippard as a good resource for transforming money issues. We also took advantage of each other’s expertise. She became a Forgiveness Walks client for a season and I took her Money class. But, what I want to thank Ilona for with all of my heart is for referring Mary Campbell to me.
I said I would just mention one person, but gratitude for Mary flows torrentially from that pebble that Ilona dropped. Mary ended up working with me for an entire year to train for her walk in Scotland. During that year, my confidence that Forgiveness Walks is a really great idea, expanded with every successful training walk that Mary completed. And now, SHE’S a successful hiker herself, with a book to document her own transformation. Gratitude for Mary swells my heart and lights my way!
Three cheers for ALL of those who have encouraged me to BE UNREASONABLE!
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Do you want to be UN-reason-able in your own life? Consider registering for The Landmark Forum, the signature course of Landmark Worldwide, a premier training and personal development company. Anything you can imagine is possible through your participation in The Landmark Forum.
What do you want for your life? Really?!!