Richard Brooke's Vision Workshop - Amazing to Say the Least!

I recently attended a Vision’s Workshop by Richard Brooke. This is what his website has to say about him. Through Richard's coaching, writings and seminars thousands of leaders have discovered new distinctions in listening, leadership, courage, relationships, team spirit and big-time fun. He is the author of Mailbox Money, Mach II With Your Hair On Fire and co-author of The New Entrepreneurs: Business Visionaries for the 21st Century.

He had the attendees do exercises that showed us how we see ourselves today, what shaped our thinking and why we may have made the choices we have throughout our adult lives. Then we moved onto where we want our lives to be, the person we want to become; in other words the vision of our lives even though we are not there yet. The exercise of writing down where we see ourselves in the future, the sights and sounds of those moments, the conversations taking place; simply the visualization of our life to be. It’s very powerful stuff.

If you’ve read other material I have written you will know that I am a huge proponent of affirmations and taking your affirmations and turning them into your vision statement. Then I encourage you to read it and visualize it at least twice daily. I highly recommend recording your vision statement on a tape recorder or downloading to your iPhone or iPod so it’s easily accessible. You’ll then be able to listen to it while you are on a plane sitting back relaxing, while getting ready for work in the morning, while walking at the park, running on the treadmill at the gym, lying in bed in the morning and at night or driving to work. The possibilities are endless.

If you do this, I promise you your life will change. If you learn to make these statements in the present tense as though they have occurred and you are already living it, your mind will begin believing it and the universe will start opening doors / opportunities that will just amaze you. But you must be ready to see them and take action. It’s a lot of fun to begin seeing your vision come together.

Mach II With Your Hair On Fire is a great book also available on audiobook that will help you understand the power of visions.

Champagne and Chicken

We women cooked up food and ideas, as women all over the globe do.  The Pink Ladders' staff, Angela the founder and Lorelei the editor, decided to test the recipe from Carla Snow,  the Pink Ladders August Woman of Focus this year.  The Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken recipe was doubled to accommodate the family Halloween Party held outside in this year's temperate climate in Nashville.  Carla's recipe specifically involved the drinking of champagne with the chicken.  Sparkling Gruet Brut from New Mexico is her recommendation.   This combination was intriguing and enticing.  The night before we soaked the chicken in the buttermilk concoction for two hours then coated the chicken with the flour mixture.

After hours of frying the chicken, and many candy corn forages, the chicken was tasted.  Yummy! And again with champagne eaten cold the next day.

We talked and worked  in between food preparation on our laptops on the dining room table.  We were dancing to the Pink Ladders music playlist and laughing at our ourselves.

We are women like all others who have experienced life's up's and down's, challenges and celebrations both personal and professional. We are also women who reach out for each other when our worlds are collapsing and when our lives need celebrating. This is what women do.  We plan, we work, we talk, we dance, we cook, we comfort.  We make life.

Raise a glass of champagne and a piece of chicken to the women of the world and the women in your world.