Catherine Gray Coaching

A few of my March reads.
What’s been on your reading list?

What are you getting curious about this week?
How are you going to remember to stay curious, even when things are feeling pressured?
Give yourself some time to actually think that through and come up with an answer you hadn’t thought of before.

Such a joy to spend 6.5 hours listening to the wisdom and insight that Paris Goodyear-Brown brings to any setting she shows up in.

She made an online, day- long training seem like the easiest thing in the world and kept us all engaged and almost transfixed on what she might say next.

Hugely recommend if you are working with anyone in a trauma informed way…
and if you haven’t yet considered how to make your work more trauma informed, my challenge to you today is to think about how much past trauma may be effecting you, your colleagues, your clients, in fact anyone you come into contact with because it is much more common than you think and we can do lots of things to be more aware, more supportive and partner more in people’s healing journey (with their permission).

How good are you at asking questions?

January reading so far...

I can thoroughly recommend all 3 of these books but I now need a lot of time to process and plan what I’m doing with all that came from reading them!

I’d love to know what you’ve been reading or what’s on your list for the rest of the year.
40+ books is the norm for my annual book consumption and I love it.

What are you investing your time in and are you happy with the ratios?

A highlight from yesterday…
I saw some wonderful friends, took 4 kids to a football match and sorted out some Christmassy things but what made me smile the most was finding some bread being given away near a bus stop 😆 I thought it was going to make the rest of the day better for hungry and cold kids but it actually turned into something that made me lots of new friends as people questioned why I was carrying a loaf of bread around on the tube and at the stadium and then laughed at how weird it was. It really is the little things that can brighten up your day. What are you noticing today that might bring you a bit of joy in amongst everything else?

Happy Christmas Eve Eve.
What are you going to get curious about today?
Maybe it’s about being more intentional about how you rest.
Maybe it’s being more consciously aware of how you are reacting to things or maintaining some healthy boundaries.
Maybe it’s about how you approach today so that you can enter into Christmas being more present.
Whatever it is, don’t do it on autopilot.

My default approach to life…
Everything can be a pilot episode.
Does something feel too big, too overwhelming or maybe too insignificant to move forwards with? Why not treat it like an experiment and see how it feels to be more detached from the outcome. There’s a chance that doing nothing is more risky than trying something. So what is it that you could experiment with at some point?

What are you walking into the week holding onto?
What are you walking into the week letting go of?

When you are a foster carer, your social worker can turn up unannounced anytime to check how you all are, whether the house is safe and whether you are doing all the things you said you would do. Historically, this has always happened on the day that the house is at its messiest, we have the most work stuff on and look the most frazzled. However, the day we never mind them surprising us is the day they come over with chocolates to say thank you. Yesterday was that day 🙌🏼 Who do you need to say thank you to this weekend? It really makes a lot of difference.

This is your reminder to check in on all your ‘shoulds.’

It’s not to late to change a few things about how the rest of December is looking.
You don’t have to go to all the things you were planning to.
Kids don’t need to be taken to loads of events and experiences.
You don’t even have to have a roast dinner on Thursday.

Why not choose to honour your commitments and connections with people without burning yourself out or creating too many expectations? (Photo is of my knitted nativity that took me 3 years to make 😆)