Three Brains, Two trains and Mia Fratino (Day 155)

We so enjoy meeting people, and today we met Dave who shared with us about our three brains. and Amy who shared with us about Mia Fratino - worth exploring both.

Late morning we got the train to meet up with Dave. The first time I met him was a couple of years ago at Sue and Gene’s Coaching Mastery near Henley upon Thames and we have kept in touch since. In fact Dave used to live very close to us near Peterborough and came to visit. I remember us sitting in our garden in wonderful spring sunshine, and now we are together on the other side of the world near Melbourne.

I introduced Dave to Tim and we sat chatting. We discovered that Dave and I were both in Melbourne at the same time back in 1990! Who’d have thought! We chatted for a good couple of hours about a multitude of subjects, travel, Brexit, Trump and aspects of coaching. Both Dave and I have written a book each so chatted about these. Dave wrote “WTF! Life is Not Always What it Seems” in 2015 which is an autobiographical account of his journey in life, going from the heights of success to the depths of depression with the aim to highlight the importance of looking after your body, your mind and your soul to achieve your dreams. We both are looking forward to reading it.

I remember when I last saw Dave, he was just about to go to the Netherlands on a course about mBraining based on the latest neuroscience insights that we have a brain in our head, heart and gut, where we can tap into our intuitive wisdom of our gut brain, align this with the creative insights of our head brain and tempering it all with our powerful heart intelligence. The aim is to have the three aligned for a content and peaceful life. I was fascinated to hear how Dave got an insight about his struggle with leaving the UK through techniques based on this and now uses this in his Coaching.

He recommended a book for us to read – another for the ever growing list! We both found it so easy and delightful chatting with Dave, and of course, there was much laughter as well. A great guy.

Rather than catching the train back, we decided to walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day, I am glad to say that the temperature has risen to a respectable 23 degrees. We were not enjoying the 16 degrees from the other day. I am glad to hear that the UK is having fabulous weather at last – it sounds as if it’s been a long wet and cold winter until now.

As we were walking along the flat fine creamy sand with the ocean like a millpond, with just a splutter of a tide, we noticed two young ladies struggling down a path with clothes hanging on a rail. How weird! I was intrigued so went and asked what it was all about. We met Amy Jones who is the clothes designer for @MiaFratino. She was waiting for a photographer to turn up for a photo shoot of some of her delightful clothes, which are beautiful timeless classical knitwear made from 100% Mongolian Cashmere. Ah – they were sooo soft. Amy shared with us that they manufacture their clothes in their own factory in Sri Lanka with a fully transparent ethical supply chain. We could see the pride on her face and with passion she informed us that they also have set up a not for profit charitable endeavour http://miafratinofoundation.com/ based in Sri Lanka which enables women to have a life free from poverty. Their goal is to help 1000 Sri Lankan women start micro-businesses by 2020, creating role model momentum for other women to follow and build a better life for themselves and their families. (Tim Pare and Udena – we wondered if either of you had come across this charity – seems there could be some synergy here)

I am so pleased that we stopped to chat with her. An inspiring young lady who is making a difference to people’s lives and using her innate creative talent.

After making sure I had walked at least 10,000 steps, we hopped on a train, eventually getting back to find a very excited Murphy the dog waiting for us. He is such a funny dog, so full of character – a joy to look after, and with top tips from our friend Alix, we are able to do some dog training with him – sit – stay….stay….stay…..come!