Week 2: Presence, Impact, and Letting the Learning Land (December 14–20)

This past week felt different. Not because it was easy, but because it carried a sense of meaning. There were fewer challenges than the week before, and many moments that reminded me why reflection — and presence — matter.

Challenges

The biggest challenge this week was missing my daughter, who was in Pakistan visiting her dad. I miss her whenever she's away, but this week it felt especially intense because I was working with a group of girls aged 13 to 16. Every day, I found myself drawing on anecdotes and lessons from Eshelle's life — and feeling her absence more deeply.

Another challenge was keeping a group of young girls engaged, not just in one session but consistently over four days. I usually work with adult learners, so this required a different kind of energy, adaptability, and presence.

Highlights

#GameMingle by Epiphany & DMCC Gaming Centre: we hosted an energizing event on Monday, December 15, and the discussions that unfolded were rich, interactive, and thoughtful. Several people came up afterwards to share how much they learned from the conversation — including a highly experienced speaker who mentioned how the exchange expanded her thinking. What made the event especially meaningful was offering the keynote stage to a female speaker, fully aligned with Epiphany's commitment to creating opportunities for women.

I had my second coaching practice call with a fellow course participant, and both of us walked away feeling energized. He shared that something I had said in our first session had stayed with him and supported his work with a client. That moment reminded me how even small, attentive interventions can create meaningful ripple effects.

I connected with another wonderful coach and trainer, and we found immediate resonance — always a gift. My Emotional Intelligence program for girls aged 13–16 landed strongly. Several participants shared that they felt able to speak about things they hadn't spoken about before, and that they were beginning to understand their emotions — and their ability to stand up for themselves — more clearly.

We completed Module 2 with Sandown Business School. Saturday's learning session felt both grounding and invigorating. A webinar later reinforced an important reminder for me: striving for perfection can sometimes get in the way of being in true service to one's client.

One of the most meaningful moments this week was meeting Dr Yvonne Sum, CSP — a certified Meta-Coach and Outthinker, leadership speaker, author, and mentor. She generously offered to mentor me as I continue developing my coaching practice, and left me with two questions I am still sitting with: What successes have you not yet celebrated from your journey with Epiphany? What lessons from Epiphany have you yet to fully apply to your coaching practice?

These felt less like prompts and more like invitations — to acknowledge growth and consciously integrate lived experience into how I now serve.

Reflection

What shifted for me this week was not just how I showed up, but where my attention went. Across the trainings, the panel preparation, and my coaching practice session, I noticed myself moving away from trying to manage outcomes and towards holding space — for learning, for conversation, and for uncertainty. Instead of asking, Did this land the way I intended? I found myself asking, What is actually happening here, and what's being asked of me in this moment?

This became especially clear while handling the panel questions. I wasn't focused on making them clever or impressive. I kept returning to the audience — their curiosity, their context, and their interest. So when someone in the audience wanted to ask a question (or two), I did not become a gatekeeper and tell them to hold their questions till the end, but went with the flow to enable everyone to think differently. That shift changed the quality of the questions and, ultimately, the conversation they prompted.

Meeting Yvonne and sitting with the questions she left me with added another layer to this reflection. Rather than pushing me forward, they asked me to look back — at successes I hadn't paused to acknowledge, and lessons I may already know but haven't fully integrated. That felt like an invitation to slow the rush to "what's next" and recognize what's already here.

"Gratitude is not a way to soften difficulty, but a way to notice what is already supporting us."

From a coaching lens, gratitude sits naturally alongside this. Not as a way to soften difficulty, but as a way to notice what is already supporting us — experience, relationships, learning, and moments of alignment. That noticing doesn't remove the load, but it does change how we carry it.

Invitation

If you feel called, take a moment to reflect on your own week: What challenged you? What supported or energised you? What are you grateful for?

You're welcome to share — publicly or privately. Reflection itself is the practice.