AMBASSADOR BRUNY GOES TO THE NETHERLANDS
As some of you know I am just back from a trip to the Netherlands were I co-created and co-lead a workshop called: “All Aboard: Life Won’t Wait, Why Should You?”
I worked with an unbelievable woman who believes in living life to the fullest. Her name is Lady Karen. We are part of a leadership program that connected us and we decided to work together to bring the people in the Netherlands a workshop they would not forget. We worked together several weeks in advance through Skype (we would talk every Tuesday for about 2hrs) getting to know each other better and establishing a couple of things, most importantly why we were doing this thing and what we wanted the people to get out of it.
THE WORK BEFORE THE WORK:
Our Stake (Purpose): Make people step out of the waiting room and step into a fulfilling life
Desired Impact: 1) wake people up so they realize what they have been missing 2) get curious to discover the rest 3) regret that they didn't think of it earlier 4) having the feeling of: "I could have AND still can"
Desired Outcome: Start your own compass / itinerary, provide list of interesting books, 5 people coming up after the workshop saying, "Thank you, so much."(They saw the light).
After we had those down the next step was to design our alliance; basically how we wanted to work together. We decided that we would be upfront with each other regarding anything that was bother us. We decided to come up with a phrase: “Shall we dance,” to bring us to a place where we could have a heart-to-heart despite any ill feelings we may have been harboring at that particular time. We spoke about our fears and concerns going into this venture; Karen shared the concern about actually putting something together that would have some kind of impact on our participates (since we were creating in such a short amount of time) and I shared my concern about working with a partner when I’m used to creating my own workshops and delivering them on my own. The concern was more that I would try to dominate instead of letting her be part of the dance.
AMBASSADOR BRUNY ARRIVES IN THE NETHERLANDS:
You can watch the brief video that summarizes the nightmare of a delay I had leaving from Logan Airport in Boston:
I arrived in the Netherlands on a Wednesday afternoon giving us 3 full days to put together all the logistics to make this workshop a success. I started off in my typical fashion of creating a overview of the number of days I will be in The Netherlands and we filled in the slots with the things that must be done (Dinner with friends on Thurs. night, visit the venue, and workshop on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.) and the things I would like to do (Salsa on Friday night, visit the Apple store, Go to Amsterdam to visit the museums and take in all the sights). We knew we were in for a lot of work, but really didn’t know how much.
While most folks thought I was vacationing in The Netherlands, the truth was I spent the majority of my time in what I call the Penthouse (Karen lives on the top floor with an unbelievable panoramic view) surrounded by flip charts. Don’t get me wrong I had a great time with everything including my first Dutch breakfast (which included what was described to me as raw cow which pregnant women shouldn’t eat), realizing that I met more cows than people at first, a great workshop and my one day escape to Amsterdam and all it has to offer.
The workshop was a great success and I love how two individuals came together with a vague idea of what we wanted to create and how we shaped that idea into a concrete workshop that we are looking to conduct in other places. The response was great and we even got a chance to create in the moment based on what we saw was going on with the participants. One of the biggest things that our participants walked away with was moving themselves out of the waiting rooms of their lives with the following process:
“I Can’t--> I Can-->I Will.”
One of the personal highlights that came after the workshop was when one of the participants told me that Brooklyn, NY (my hometown) was named after a town that was only 15 kilometers from where we were. The towns name is Breukelen. You know we had to visit and I had to take a picture near a bridge so I could say, “I stood at the original Brooklyn bridge.”
THE DAY AFTER THE WORKSHOP:
The day after the workshop was time to play. We planned to spend the day in Amsterdam. We walked around and visited a couple of the museums in the area including the Sex Museum, the Diamond Museum and The Van Gogh Museum. It was amazing to see how much history I was surrounded by. I stood in a square where Napoleon stood when he first conquered the Netherlands.
I was really moved by Van Gogh’s story. A couple of the things that moved me:
- I did not know that he did not start to paint or draw until he was 27yrs old and only did it for 10yrs before his death (“yes” he killed himself because he felt he was a failure).
- He did not want his paintings to focus on the teachings of one school or the other, but what he wanted was to leave a certain souvenir to humankind.
- He tried his hand at religion because he wanted to serve
- He had this cool quote, “The time was ripe and I must paint what I am not yet able to, in order to learn how to do it.” I love that!
- He wanted to create an artist collaborative with like minded artist. He believed they would be stronger, artistically and financially.
“Yes,” we went into the Red Light District and most of the things you have either heard or read about is true (contact me directly for details). It does really have a cool vibe with many narrow cobblestone streets with many bars and restaurants.
That concluded my trip to The Netherlands. I really left there feeling the possibilities of what I can and where I can accomplish it has been severally expanded.
Want to check out more of my pictures? Visit the following link: http://gallery.me.com/runthepoint#100097
Your Ambassador,
Michael Bruny, CPCC
Professional Life Coach, Speaker, Author
Run the Point Enterprises
www.runthepoint.com
Senior Contributing Writer: www.ethniconline.net
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Author of: "Move the Crowd: 30 Days of Hip Hop Affirmations to Change Your Life." As Seen in The Source Magazine
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