3 Musings: Stay Curious, Keep Learning, Find Mentors

Celebrate Yourself!

Hey, I wrote this whole blog and then twigged that I'm massively repeating myself 😱

You see, several months ago I wrote about the very same topic (in a slightly different way) but hey, it's what's on my mind today so no apologies - guess I needed to share it again...

HBD 2 ME 

So it’s my birthday week and this year I’m really looking forward to celebrating myself.

Some years I just don’t feel like turning the focus on me but this year I’ve been thinking, “yeah, I’m doing some okay things with my life" so why not talk about them?

My birthday always brings attention to the sands of time trickling through the hour glass (any Days of Our Lives fans out there?) Now that I’m inching closer to the big 6 0 that sand's starting to feel like a big ole whoosh instead of a steady trickle.

photo by Kenny Eliason

What I love about my b’day is that it gives me a hard reminder to contemplate what I’m really enjoying about my life.

What do I want to keep doing (or jettison) cause you know like everyone says, life's short, the sand's a flowing, and time’s a wasting…

I present to you my 3 BIRTHDAY MUSINGS 

I think I'm doing okay with these things and so will most def keep them as part of my life in the year(s) to come.

1. Stay Curious
2. Keep Learning
3. Find Mentors

1. STAY CURIOUS 

The older I get the more curious I become about a wider range of topics.

I’m interested in so many things right now I feel like Dug the dog from the movie UP - Squirrel? I get pulled to one thing and then ooh, ooh that other thing over there looks interesting too!  

As an example here’s a short list of the books that are on my to-read or I’m-in-the-middle-of-reading pile:

Movement Integration, Earth Users Guide to Permaculture, The Gift, This is Your Mind on Plants, Pain, We Should All Be Millionaires, Freedom To Move, Linchpin, Women & Success, and Simple Exercises to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve.

See what I mean?

This was shared in my previous blog but here it is again: A study has linked maintaining our curiosity as we age to protection against cognitive and physical decline so I’m going to keep to my Dug like ways.

photo by Geran de Klerk

2. KEEP LEARNING

There is always more to learn (& if we're curious about something we'll better retain what we learn - bam!)

In my Pilates teaching:

Sometimes what I learn validates what I already intuitively know but gives me the language to articulate it differently. Things are clarified for me so I know I’m on the right track guiding my clients.

Sometimes what I learn tweaks my thinking just a bit, maybe just enough or ever so slightly, to make me reorganise how or why I teach something a certain way.

Yes, I’ve been a Pilates teacher for over 20 years but have been teaching movement since I was 15 years old (do the math - it’s a long freaking time!)

So yes, by now I’ve probably looked at and assessed many thousands of bodies.

So yes, I like to think I know what I’m talking about when I teach but whoo boy there’s still some juicy stuff to explore.

Learning doesn’t necessarily have to come at me from a Pilates point of view.

Since there are tons of people out there besides me who know that our bodies are designed to move, that we don’t move enough, and that movement heals, it’s been fun to explore worlds outside of Pilates.

For the past eight months I’ve been doing some Animal Flow and love it. (this is another thing I mentioned in my previous blog post)

Animal Flow is ground based exercise that works on strength and flexibility and it makes me feel like I’m re-exploring the floor based work of my dance career, my love of yoga, with maybe a bit of Capoeira thrown in - it’s tons of fun, is super challenging, and has made me think about how much better we move when we’re strong AND flexible - just like Pilates.

Pilates teachers, like many professionals are encouraged to complete continuing education every year (and to keep my NCPT, I’m required to complete 16 hours every two years) so I’ve done a fair few workshops both irl and online.

You can imagine that over 20 years I’ve done a heap of them; there are some workshops I still reference when I teach but believe me there were many that unfortunately weren’t so flash hot. (you know - either there’s that one participant who sucks up all the teacher’s attention or the teacher's so disorganised that you feel like they’re wasting your precious time)

When I’ve found a good CEC workshop it’s usually been rewarding, inspiring, and useful and as I said, it's the gift that keeps on giving many years down the track. This leads me to point number 3 of my b’day musings…

3. FIND MENTORS

Mentors are good for you (even if your mentors don't know you exist)

I have a few mentors for different facets of my life but only one that I know (as in know in the flesh) and that’s cause she’s my friend.

This amazing woman is responsible for me becoming a Pilates teacher when she showed me the possibilities way back in the 90’s. Every time I do a class with her or have a chat (which is not often enough) I marvel at her gift of synthesising Pilates and how she has the ability to firmly put the responsibility of exploring the method and figuring things out right back on me. Genius!

Two of my mentors are coaches in the online world and I engage with them in a group membership model. This totally works for me, they have no idea who I am and since I’m a bit of an introvert, I can be a lurker in the groups and on the coaching calls and still gain great value from their teachings.

My last mentor is in the Pilates world and she’s a teacher that I follow online and access her amazing workshops. (Obviously she’s not my friend but I think she’d sure be fun to hang out with). 

She makes me think!

She does not waste my time!

Genius!

 

One of my clients today said the benefit she’s received from the Pandemic is the chance to explore her body with teachers all over the world. She and I meet virtually from opposite sides of the globe and I totally agree with her sentiment, it’s the Covid silver lining for me too.

photo by Aakanksha Panwar

Well there you go, my indulgent, it's all about me, repetitive thoughts 😬 but now I’m off to make some birthday plans which don’t involve any of these 3 musings.

On my special day I’m going to take the dog to the beach and then have a gelato (or two!)

photo by Carlos Gilbert

photo by Marcus Loke  

Be Well,

xBec 

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post    

 cover and social photo by Myriam Zilles