We all found our previous sessions with Edite invigorating and thought-provoking.
We covered various topics such as gender equality, trust, vulnerability, similarities, fears and future goals and learnt a lot from them. I find the best aspect of Edite’s sessions is how she always manages to incorporate fun into the exercises.
We began with a brief catch up, which involved bringing out our curious side, by asking Edite various questions about her personal and business life. Edite enforced the fact that being curious is a good thing unlike what we thought as we grew up being that curiosity kills the cat! Being curious shows that you have the want and love to learn which is a positive strength. After finding out what Edite had encountered and overcame since our last meeting it was time to find out about my fellow friends.
There were various different cards laid out on the table and we were each given the opportunity to choose a card that we thought described what presently represented our lives.
It was now time for us to personalise an agenda for the day, jam-packed with items we enquired about and were interested in learning. After a vote we decided that our agenda was to consist of three mains areas including our goals, what makes us unique and who inspires us.
We believed that through Edite’s experience and knowledge that we would be able to gain a lot from learning about these topics. We were even able to help Edite out when we shared our famous porridge recipes with her after she revealed to us that a bowl of porridge was the ideal way to start her day!
We were each given a plate that we were instructed to decorate however we pleased with our name.
After everybody had studied the list they had been given comments such as ‘it makes a lot of sense’ and ‘I’m confused and unsure’ or ‘I’m surprised’ were expressed. In my opinion these comments were stated as they looked at their future from someone else’s perspective and were thinking about which path of life they would enjoy and was their sense in the suggestions from other people.
We finished out our session by breaking into pairs to write three postcards, two to another pair and one to Edite. These postcards contained what we wished for their future and expressed our opinions on positive factors we had discovered about them in the sessions. I thought this was a lovely way to end the session as it gave everybody a boost of self-confidence as we departed on our separate ways until we met again.
Throughout the sessions there was music playing which made me feel relaxed and allowed me to express my opinions in a more confident way. Overall it was another proactive, magnificent and mind opening session with our good friend Edite!"
Kate Tarpey