Letters of Love to Life

Privilege

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 16:39:43 -0700

“There is confidence in knowing that you are enough, your uniqueness is, in fact your strength, and you are meant to realize your dreams.”

Bonnie Fatio, A Fire in her belly

There are moments in life when you need to apply all the knowledge acquired over the years and just be in the moment. These last couple of weeks were in that logic and it made me realize yet again that we have very little control and yet that we do have choices on how to show up and act.

What a privilege to have that choice when others are stuck to a bed because of illness, have their human rights disrespected, sleep in the streets or do not get any formal education because they fall outside the systems far from home and family.

In Italy I had the privilege to be picked up by a taxi from the place where for a week I had been working with my colleagues from Redrim facilitating a feminine leadership program to bring about systemic organizational changes. The driver was particularly friendly, and I relaxed into the back seat. So much so, that I forgot my phone and all my travel documents in the taxi. I found myself in Milan airport with no phone, no ID just a stamped boarding pass. How stupid can you be!

It was one of these moments when I missed the old-fashioned public telephone cells and realized that the only connection I could activate was within. I could potentially not travel back to The Netherlands because I had no ID and not withdraw money from the bank. In split seconds I realized that this was one of these moments when you need to just be and connect to your own energy.

First thing I did was to ground as I had learned working with Sarah McCrum.
Second thing was to relax through the balancing...Read More

Letting Go

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:33:58 -0700

“The increasing fragmentation of knowledge makes us loose the gratitude for the ‘undivided’, which is reflected in and through our own body. I believe the divine dwells in us whether we call it God or otherwise.”

Rose, Letters of Love to Life

The silence that was present these last weeks was reverberating, inviting us to be humble in front of the complexity we face in whatever context.

Letting go of dear ones, even when their time is up and they chose to leave, makes us again realise how different lives can be, how differently they are celebrated, how different the same event is being embraced or not.

Letting go of the linearity of events and our lives, letting go of fixed assumptions and prejudices yet alone expectations that can never be met, invites new energy to fill our daily lives. An energy that is fresh, rich, and warm and that celebrates life no matter what.

The gratitude for the undivided that dwells in us is a daily practice of stretching lame muscles, brain structures, mindsets, cultural boundaries and invites the systemic thinker to sense into what cannot be thought. Each time we think that we hit a wall the next day a new opening presents itself that gives us a glimpse of the miracle of life that is continuous movement, breath, light and joy expanding not along a fixed grid of lines but in fractals that keep surprising us. Even if on some level we...Read More

Letters That Speak Lines

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 16:33:51 -0700

The other day I had a wonderful conversation with a friend who lives in New York, who is reading my book and we spoke about nature. Our nature in a female body and nature in the short history of humankind. She justly said: “she seems to be in the way,” referring to she as human beings of female gender and nature itself.

Where nature surprises us again and again in her cyclic movements of the universal expansion, in unity with planets that hold her waters and give her fire, humanity cuts grits of straight lines through ancient forests and deep oceanic waters interrupting the natural flow of energy that unites us all.

The same natural flow of energy that arouses from a healthy feminine and masculine body that is in flow with its natural force too has been suppressed by many traditions and still is, to silence the voice of strong and vibrant human communities that live in harmony with nature’s habitat, the plants, and the animals.

In the way of what exactly, many keep wondering. Have we really forgotten that we are part of nature and intrinsically woven into the cloth of her abundance? Have we forgotten that we are part of the emerging creation that manifests itself through us...Read More

Thank You!

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:25:04 -0800

Sunday, I received a beautiful appreciation for my book Rose letters of love to life.

“Delicious prose, a precious gift, life giving wisdom resonating beautifully and profoundly.”

It is such a gift to notice that a reader working in the field of big system change and who contributes to humanity in a loving and generous way resonates with the prose of Rose. Thank you!

For a big system change to happen many small systems need to change as well. For that our mighty minds might need to bend a little to meet our living reality.

Many are going through major changes of perspective right now and that can be tiring, scary and very unpleasant. The kind words of a friend, the gentle support of a partner or the appreciation of a reader can work miracles in that liminal space where we know that the old ways do not work anymore, and the new ways have not shown themselves yet.

Underneath the surface the seeds are present, ready to come to the light individually and collectively. Life is inviting us to change our focus opening our hearts to redefine our future. I see this again and again also in Can you feel it as well? Beneath the chaos and destruction, a beautiful world is present that is harmonious and caring. Many more people than ever before are rediscovering their own light and goodness and are cultivating, despite all odds, forgiveness and love for self and their communities. They connect to an innate source that words can rarely translate.

Through music, the blossoming of a flower, or the birth of a child, this tender force that moves us to tears, is at the core of our humanity. Call it compassion, call it love or beauty. It is life inviting us to change our focus opening our hearts to redefine our future.

I invite you to check where your focus is. Is it on the past that you cannot change? The doings of others, where you have no influence or is it on what you personally most desire?

You always have a choice to create that what you most aspire to live. Going against the general current might ask some courage. Take courage to create what you want rather than fight what you do not want and get some inspiration in The Garden of Rose.

We are deeply connected to the cycles of the natural world and the universe as many indigenous traditions know. This source of life is beautifully reflected in the wise face of the moon.

Wishing you all a wonderful year, a year full of promises that is helping us to create structures and flow for many years to come.

Some are already experiencing the abundance of flow that they were craving for, others are patiently waiting for new energy to nourish their deepest wishes to the point of manifestation.

The Garden of Rose
In winter all appears dormant yet under the surface much is happening. Some basic elements stay the same and are always on offer.

What’s always on offer is:

The book in pocket and kindle version.

NOTE: Exciting to note that soon to come is the e-book for all devices!

Coaching sessions with Cécile author and founder of The Garden of Rose
For many years I am a leadership coach specialized in feminine leadership and the integration of our multiple intelligences, through mBIT coaching® for effective decision...Read More

Preparing the Ground

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 09:11:04 -0800

This summer was a challenging one for trees, as they burned by the thousands in several continents, or tiering to find enough water and humidity in the air here in Europe, or because they were cut to make space for roads, houses, or industrial plants anywhere. Yet trees create a breathing eco-system that feeds us every day, a ground that manifests love and life through visible and invisible connections. As Rose writes,

“It felt like home this forest floor as if I had known it forever. At the age of four, a day is like eternity, the ground you tread on, sacred.”

Yes, indeed this ground is sacred and alive and the older I grow the more I appreciate this body called earth I am allowed to dwell on for a little while longer. Nurturing the ground in which the trees grow and develop, treasuring a living tree however humble in size and beauty, is worth my time.

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Trasformation

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 09:24:36 -0800

“The garden, like us, really becomes itself with time. Yes, its beauty is ephemeral; yet when seen, the movement of butterfly wings transforms the ordinary....”

Rose, Letters of Love to Life

After a long and warm summer break much is happening in The Garden of Rose. Behind the screen many conversations were held, and I am happy to share some of them with you.

One theme that keeps coming back is that many suffer of unhealthy leadership practices that result in the various crisis’s we are facing. Leadership practices that do not allow people to breathe, to fall silent and tap into a deeper source of wisdom that is their own. Practices that emphasise duality, division, and violence rather than focussing on what makes life on earth worth living and witnessing: abundance and love.

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Love

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 09:27:00 -0700

The other day my friend Isabelle Pujol, CEO of Pluribus Global, shared a beautiful extract of the conversation with Christine Lagarde. And I hope you will share it too on LinkedIN and other channels too. How incredible that she should speak about love as the most important factor in her journey. And yet, how very, very true.

Last year I sat with my friend and colleague Maija van Langendonck to look at what was at the core of my business and within an hour it was clear that all I have done the last years is to help my clients fall in love with life again. Their own personal life but also life in the greater sense of the word. My book Rose, Letters of Love to Life is certainly a reflection of what it takes to love no matter what.

Another expression of love is the slow growing activities in The Garden of Rose.

Are you highly...Read More

Simplicity

Fri, 06 May 2022 09:30:00 -0700

Purpose calls for Love

These last couple of weeks have made me realize again how fragile life is and how much a nurturing space is needed where true dialogue can happen. Dialogue with yourself and with others. In many organizations there is little time to reflect, to really sense into what is needed as millions are trapped in a close to infernal loop of action-reaction. This mode of working suits some, but others wish to have more time to set out a path for themselves that gives more meaning to their lives.

That is why I send out a quick reminder that the program A Letter of Love to Life is starting 10^th May.

You might think that it is all a little big or fluffy or not concrete enough. Yet from the 25 years of working in various countries with people of all walks of life I realize that appreciating and loving life no matter what is one of the toughest things to achieve for many.

Many are fiercely yet elegantly looking for new ways to welcome a future that honours life and its natural harmony. Many have gone before us yet never has the need for more feminine qualities and presence been so...Read More