Coaching

That’s How the Light Gets In

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 12 Conversations

 

“And I listen and I think. Time doesn’t seem to pass here; it just is.” – Bilbo Baggins

Rivendell retreat centre sign, Bowen Island, BC

Silence called to me from a special place. A place, that like its name, conjures up images of forest and faeries.

Like Bilbo, it is at Rivendell I find myself most able to think, to hear the thoughts and ideas bubbling up as though from a wellspring deep inside.

The sacred space, the silence, allow me to turn off the busyness of my life. My heart expands and I breathe deeply.

New thoughts emerge effortlessly as old thoughts play themselves out. It is easy to be at Rivendell; it offers itself up, a gift to unwrap slowly. An opportunity to treasure each moment, each thought that arises.

  • What is it that I am truly offering?
  • What is authentically, gloriously mine?

These are the questions I hear as I walk the labyrinth.

centre of the Rivendell labyrinth, Bowen Island, BC

I remember a line from a Leonard Cohen song,

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

Continue reading →

When Spirit Calls Do You Answer?

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 9 Conversations

spirit dancer sculpture, Santa Fe

“What is your spirit calling for?”

My spirit has been calling for silence.

Two weeks from now I’ll be at a silent retreat; four days of silence, rest and nourishment at all levels.

The silence has been calling for months, but I have not been listening.

I’ve ignored it, been busy, rescheduled it twice and dismissed the need.

I have been unwilling to honour the call.

Until now.

“Silence is sometimes the best answer.” – Dalai Lama

I have surrendered, given myself over, and booked off four full days (96 hours) of blissful, sometimes confronting silence.

The Spirit Dancer? Is satisfied.

And you?

  • What has your spirit been calling for?
  • How will you honour that call?

How 2 Small Words Will Snap You Out of a Funk

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 9 Conversations

Two small words that have the power to create reality.

It can be a reality that feels good, full of possibility. Or the opposite, a full on funk that has you on the couch with the remote in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.

But wait!

What if you could…

  • write that book
  • skydive
  • learn a new language
  • start a business
  • have the body, career, mate, life you’ve been dreaming of?

I’m guessing those goals, or similar ones, can easily trigger your lizard brain and I can already hear the “yeah buts” that want to keep you in the funk!

What if you…

  • aren’t creative enough
  • are too afraid
  • aren’t good with languages
  • don’t have the funding…or the courage
  • aren’t willing to do what it takes?

Familiar? I know, and not in a good way.

Continue reading →

What Will You Do With Your One Precious Life?

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 21 Conversations

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver

You’ve probably read that quote before; maybe it even inspired you…for a moment. Did it actually change anything in your life though? Did it spur you to action or have you commit fully to a dream?

I didn’t think so. Me neither.

And yet? I love that quote, which is actually the last line of this poem.

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Maybe I’m quirky, but it’s the second last line that inspires me, “Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?”

The idea that my life is precious appeals to me, but it’s the reminder that everything dies “and too soon” that inspires me to action.

Consider that you don’t often do what it takes to honour that one wild and precious life. You don’t, and it’s time to tell the truth about that.

You talk about it. A lot.

You make promises and New Year’s resolutions, you join programs and support groups, spend money and waste time.

Now, until I’m on the other side and can share my perspective from the afterlife, I’m pretty sure this life? Is all you’ve got. Right here. Right now. This is it.

It’s not a practice life either.

This. Is. It.

But when you think of your life, doesn’t it seem infinite, like you have all the time in the world?

Except, you don’t.

Continue reading →

Dear Georgia (or why I came to Santa Fe)

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 8 Conversations

 

Before I discovered coaching, photography was my passion and before that, painting.

One of the painters that inspired me (not only with her art but also in how she lived her life) was Georgia O’Keefe. Today as I wandered the streets of Santa Fe I couldn’t help but think of her and the land that captured her heart.

sunflowers in Santa Fe

“I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.” – Georgia O’Keefe

adobe buildings in Santa Fe

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keefe

sculptures Santa Fe

“To create one’s own world in any of the arts takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keefe

Santa Fe has long been on my list of places to visit and it feels wonderful to finally be here. I am soaking up the sun, the colours and of course, the spirit.

What place is calling to you, and why?

 

The Letter Love Wrote

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 28 Conversations

Dear Beloved,

Dear Beloved,

Lately? I haven’t been very good at expressing my love for you. There’s been a lot of make wrong, and judging and assessing going on and it hasn’t been pretty.

I’ve been focused on work and getting things done, mostly noticing what you haven’t accomplished. I’ve thought and said things to you that I would never, ever say to another. I am so…sorry.

When I think of what you’ve been through the past year and a half, I almost swoon with pride. Really I do. I just don’t tell you enough.

I save that for others.

Continue reading →

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 13 Conversations

in·som·ni·a

noun: inability to obtain sufficient sleep, especially when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness

Lately? There’s been A LOT on my mind. I recently launched a new project and it’s all good. It’s just – a lot you know? And it’s keeping me up at night. From the running to-do list to the many what if’s, the thoughts play like an endless tape causing the undesired state of sleeplessness.

The usual remedies? Not. Working.

From sheer excitement (and probably an overdose of adrenalin), I’ve already been running on much less sleep than normal. But what exactly is normal when it comes to sleep?

Opinions vary, but there’s some consensus that the optimal amount in humans runs 7 – 8+ hours for adults. I’ve been averaging more like 4-6.

Hmm, should I be exhausted? Continue reading →

Everything is practice

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 17 Conversations

 

Sometimes I am blinded by the light.

My light.

Sometimes I go to a dark and scary neighbourhood.

In my head.

It’s bleak in there.

I do my best not to visit very often, but sometimes?

The pull is magnetic.

It’s a slippery slope once I’m there, but over the years I’ve discovered a few ways to pull myself out of the dark and off the slope.

 

How to Resist the Pull

1.  Unplug

I step away. From my laptop and phones. I turn off all the ringers, bells and whistles. Simple? Yes. Easy to do? Not so much.

But here’s the thing – it works every time.

“Every step you take is a step away from where you used to be.” – Brian Chargualaf

Continue reading →

How to Grow Yourself Up in 5 (not-so-easy) Lessons

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 44 Conversations

 

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – e.e. cummings

Almost 11 years ago I found myself sitting on a plane en route to Amsterdam, wondering “How did I get here?”  It was a surreal moment, and it all began with a question (by now, surely you know that I’m all about asking questions!).

I was at a weekend workshop (an amazing program called Wisdom Unlimited), confronted by life and my inability to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up! I was doing an exercise, beating around the bush, not quite answering when the person I was working with blurted out in frustration, “Sandi, what the hell do you want? Just say it!”

In that moment I responded without thinking, “I want to be a photographer and travel, and get paid for that.”

I said it quickly, mumbling under my breath, but I said the words out loud for the very first time. A new dream, spoken into existence.

Fast forward six months, and there I was on the plane heading to the Netherlands to apprentice with a professional photographer in his studio.

Continue reading →

We Are All Meant to Shine

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 29 Conversations

 

Ever notice how quickly you can shift from feeling inspired to feeling attached?

A sudden, intense drive to make things happen a particular way takes over and inspiration is nowhere to be found; gone like the breath you took 10 seconds ago.

You fixate on a goal and suffer when it’s taking longer than you wanted or expected.

Pretty funny if you can get back to the realization that you made it all up to begin with!

Maybe you. . .

  • Obsess about your progress until you give yourself a headache
  • Try forcing the outcome thereby pissing off everyone involved
  • Refuse to quit, even though everything in you is saying “let it go”
  • Exhibit a dog-with-a-bone-like determination. Grrrrr, get out of my way!

So what’s a results oriented, bottom-line human doing supposed to do when it’s not about the doing? Continue reading →