July 06, 2011
With a little help from my friends.
I hope you all had a wonderful, celebratory weekend filled with friends, family and fireworks (To my fellow Texans, I trust you created other visual delights despite the ban due to the extreme drought)! I kicked off July in the best way possible – introducing my friend Robin Grille, author of Parenting for A Peaceful World, to the Austin community. It felt so wonderful to share Robin, his wit, wisdom and important work with everyone who attended. Thank you for showing up…and showing up!
For those of you who came to the workshops, you heard me share the simple and powerful story of how this weekend came about. It started five years ago when I first received his book. After flipping through it for a little while I was moved to express my appreciation for his brilliant work so I did a little research, found his email address and dashed off a note of gratitude. No agenda, just an email to say “good stuff!” and “yay!” An hour later Robin phoned me from Australia to say thanks for the thanks and to find out a little more about what was brewing in the Austin community. From that spark came a professional camaraderie that deepened into a friendship. And with his inspiration a community based on the beautiful principals of Peaceful Parenting has blossomed in Austin, TX.
I hold this story dearly and remain amazed at how many wonderful connections in my life begin from an email.
Through digital “word-of-mouth,” news of my visit to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara has allowed for my (re)connecting with amazing, passionate women who have offered support, to spread the word and even host events.
In an earlier post I mentioned holding a day-long workshop in Santa Monica on Sunday, August 14th. The enthusiasm and boundless generosity of L.A. psychotherapist, Dr. Jessica Zucker has made the planning a pleasure and delight. By brilliant example, Dr. Zucker has even ushered me into the world of Twitter! Her tweets are a great source of information about women’s reproductive health and mother/daughter relationships, and have included my visit, too. You can follow her here, and me, here!
The L.A. childbirth education community has also shown their support via the beautiful and gracious Ana Paula Markel. Founder of BINI Birth. Ana Paula has offered to host a professional development workshop at BINI on August 15th entitled Becoming a Calm, Cool and Connected Birth Professional. Details about this class (and possible DONA CEUs!) to come.
During my week in California, I will also get to spend a few days in Santa Barbara to visit with colleagues and friends, both old and new! On the 17th of August, Talina Hermann of mommysbestfriends.com will welcome the community into her stunning Montecito home (that’s a photo of it, up there!) for YOU. ME. WE: Becoming a Calm, Cool and Connected Family Workshop. This is a reprise of the L.A. workshop. It’s a great opportunity to receive support, tools and information and to BE in community with parents as curious as you. If you are interested in hearing more about how you can become a calm, cool and connected parent, check out this video I created. To dive right in and sign up, hop over here. And if you want to hear even more, check out this audio interview I recorded with Dr. Jessica Zucker.
Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends. Don’t we all? I am so looking forward to solidifying my established relationships, and creating some new ones, too. SoCal, do join me while I’m out there and let’s see what we can create together.
Until next time. Much love! Always love.
Carrie
PS. Your support and kind words bolster me more than you know. You also let me know your appreciation by forwarding my offerings to friends you think might be interested. You can “like” this post, Tweet it or share via Facebook. If you aren’t signed up for my newsletter, I invite you to do so. And let me know if there are other ways we can stay in touch that I am not considering.