Each time I hear someone saying “we can t get women speakers” I’d like to know how they asked, or what they actually asked for. Obviously if they started with “it’s really hard to find good woman speakers. Would you like to speak at… ” They’re likely to get a no… Who would want to commit to an event organiser presuming you will give a poor performance? Ah the magical power – not magical at all but deeply rooted in linguistics – of the language we used in our sentence. My new Motto? Pause, question your question 😁, and question irl. 🙏🤗
Author: Florence Dambricourt
An author, a speaker, a catalyst of change, you will often find me a camera and a notebook at hand, my eyes curious for diversity, novelty and surprising elements. One thing you may have trouble not to hear about when meeting with me is... self-leadership and how this competency is a must for each one of us in today's world, especially in business.
Making a difference for the better
Going back to writing from more than 10 years ago – ah the joy of the coach reflecting log 😅 – this sentence sticks out like a pole with no flag. It’s here, the intention, the strong direction, the strong momentum. Yeap this is what I want to do “make a difference for the better” at two levels actually, the protection of the earth, and the joy of people enjoying a better life. Of course the “how” this is happening, is what makes all the difference between wishful thinking and actions. And yes… I am miles away from where I thought I could be, my compass is spot on and still working, the landscape I had to navigate quite different than expected, the travelling slower. And the sticking pole poking me on regular basis 😁 like a nagging reminder “are we there yet, are we there yet?”. Just like in a trail when the end is not coming fast enough, no other solutions than simply… Putting one feet on the ground after the other one, one step at a time 😜🤗.
Ah ce bip… Bip….
Et voilà le téléphone est raccroché avec cette mauvaise impression de n’avoir rien pu faire. Quelques mots. Mais ces mots ça ne fait pas le travail à faire, ça ne remplit pas les jours de rires et de conversations. Ce sont juste des mots éphémères qui s’accrochent à un bout de fil, raccomodent comme ils peuvent cette déchirure de la distance. A chaque point le cœur bat un peu plus lourd. A chaque point l’émotion se fait plus pesante. A chaque point un mal être de ne pas être là bas à porter ces douleurs avec eux. Un mal être inevitable, celui de vivre.
Reflecting instant
I keep saying… To be ahead of your time, take a moment to slow down, leave your tech tools aside and enjoy the JOMO, yeap the Joy Of Missing Out. It is so easy to just rush and do and act and rush. Mixing out the reward of completing a task and the stress to be overwhelmed or completely in the wrong direction. Reading step back, that small book on moments of reflection, was a joy. Reviewing all these tips on how we can reflect, and removing some of the bias on how it has to be done.. Great news, no unique fit, but plenty of different ones, like these small posts… They are ways of reflecting, they are these few minutes when the movie is paused, me and my many personalities we stepped out of the scene and take a moment to talk to producers, cameramen, sound engineers checking a bit where that scenarios may be taking us, or simply celebrating with a vanilla coffee or a virgin mojito (yeap reducing alcohol intake amount, summer is coming 😅, all the stories already written 😁. Happy reflecting instant !
1, 2, 3…
I yawn —I know, I know, it’s not rhyming, what do you think? way too late know to make it work… to climb a tree… 4, 5, 6…
I yawn again… Is there a message here? Of course not. Why do we always look for message, I challenge you – say the drunken man- to see events only as facts and not messages, still I won’t stay awake by eating chips, we all know that’s a quick fix while my yawning is much more into night politics. 7, 8, 9…
The tree was pine, the chips with wine and the politics in full decline. 10, 11, 12…
Damn… with that number for sure it’s empty in the shelves! Bye bye the Elves.
Taking back my pen
A bit more of 2 months of silence, and before that nearly 6 months of silence… I knew I had to do something, find the thief who had robbed me my pen(s)… indeed pens, a blue, a black, a green, a transparent, a Dark Vader one, a red -bright red of course like eyes who have just cried. Why are people afraid of tears? The beauty of the expression of the emotions, the beauty to know one can feel an emotion, the beauty to know that emotion exists. Okay, okay, I hear you. The weight of sadness. And maybe this is the freedom, seeing behind the weight of sadness the joy of know how difficult it is to miss someone, and with that knowing the joy of spending time with that person. And no, this is not a love story. This is just a human story. So many ways to miss someone, so many ways to like and love someone. I am glad we are having this conversation reader; loneliness had stolen my pen, the blue one; overwork has stolen another one, the rainbow one; anger had borrowed the red ones, but… passion took it back, passion for what I am doing, helping people to change their perspectives, unboxing their mind with self-leadership, and this new idea of mind, implementing this state of the “curious mind” every single day #pausequestionthinkdifferent. Let’s pause then and question, what do you want to talk about next reader?
Lost souls
There are so many ways to lose a soul… Facing utmost boredom. Going to a supermarket on a Saturday afternoon. Falling in love – at least I’ve heard. Loneliness. Crowdiness. Listening for the third time to the same explanation you could not understand the first time… And the question of course is not how to lose it, rather how to keep it, your soul glued to your own body, hopefully. No, glue does not work, just got messy. A leash is the best I could do. One of these long extendable leashes which can let my soul hikes in the meanders of my thoughts with its puppy eyes, sniffing at every bits of desperation and hope.
Slow is the word
Yes. Slow. Walk slowly along the path and appreciate each of its steps. Look at it curiously, eyes open to its beauty and its potential. Take the time to try, to experiment and to reflect on what you’re doing. Kind of like looking at the sunset or sunrise at the horizons every day. At your horizons, the ones you want to reach some day. Slow and strong.
On the edge of surprises …
Keeping our heart open to the possibilities, living just there on the edge of surprises? Surprises of what could come next? Surprises of a possible pain and behind it the joy to have learned something new, to have dance one step up? Open is not the world, rather huge, wide, immense, a heart so full of space, the world could collapse here an now, in its center. Oh, keeping our heart taking space, visible just there on the edge of surprises. A heart with a voice. Proud to finally speak, truly speak, even when no one listen, just there on the edge of surprises…
Confidence and ignorance?
This is the best, honoring happily a true confidence in my ignorance, and with my ignorance. The more I know, the more I realize I do not know, and the more I have to learn. This is something completely amazing I got from coaching supervision, this delight in learning more and more. This pleasure in knowing that I will always be able to find people who know more than me, people who can inspire me and keep me on my toes. Ah! Simply enjoying a true confidence in my ignorance!
Building Clarity 