It is a lovely thought and something I believe can form the basis for a gentle, yet clear, accountability with ourselves to be who we want to be, not who others perceive or believe we should be. By working with choices, rather than have-to, should, and must, we can create strength, inspiration, and drive from a self-loving space, rather than a position where we forget to prioritise ourselves. Rather than only giving, we need to learn to take back in a healthy and boundarised way. We cannot exhale without first inhaling. In a conversation with Brené Brown, Joan Halifax, a Zen Buddhist teacher, says about choosing not to attend a function prior to a talk she is giving.

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“Tonight, we will exhale and teach. Now it’s time to inhale. There is the in-breath and there is the out-breath, and it’s easy to believe that we must exhale all the time, without ever inhaling. But the inhale is absolutely essential if you want to continue to exhale.”

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Remembering to take care of yourself in a wholesome way, is just as important as looking after your children, connecting with your partner, being available for your colleagues, and showing up for your friends and family. Without you making sure you are resourced, giving constantly to others means that there is probably extraordinarily little, if anything, left over at the end of the day for you. Learning to be grounded and present in the ebb and flow of the human energy exchange is uncomfortable at first. Over time it feels more natural, and you may even have that moment when you wonder how you ever got away with giving so much of yourself to others and taking so little time to restore and replenish yourself.

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Through this course, I hope to be able to support you in discovering and learning what it is you need to be okay, and hopefully thrive in your various roles. Bringing this programme together has taken me many years of learning, experience, missteps, and life's little surprises. By drawing on the various tools, learnings, teachings, and wisdom I have accumulated over the years, I have become more mindful of living the work, rather than just sharing it.

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Much of this work comes from the extraordinary social and behavioural scientists, social workers, psychologists, and neuroscientists whose teachings I have integrated into my life over the years. I am not a scientist or a researcher, and much of my learning is self-directed, rather than having been acquired in a formalised academic setting or double-blind research studies. I have not researched anything as this would require resources, training, and education that I don’t have.

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I have read, absorbed, digested, and learned what others have gone to the trouble to collect, collate, and share with us. I have brought their research, tools, and practices into this course combining their brilliance and labour with my experience, perspective, and anecdotal evidence. In having done this, I hope to introduce you to some innovative ideas that you can explore further as you deepen the process and connect with yourself as a Woman of Wellness.

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As we move through the material over the coming weeks and months, I am excited about the shifts, epiphanies, experiences, ideas, discoveries, and aha moments I am sure you will have.

Yours in Wellness,

Leigh-Anne