About Me

I Have Super Powers

We all do of course.

Super Powers aren't just for a Super Hero in comic books and movies. We all have unique skill sets and magical abilities that have developed over time to help us survive and thrive.

Here are the Super Powers I've come to see in myself:

I am an Invitation. 

I show up in a way that invites others to see themselves newly or be curious about how they could. I help people transition from a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset.

I am a Super Communicator.  

I listen intently, hear more than is said and foster intimacy for safe sharing. This lets people express hopes and challenges they may have never shared with anyone before.

I open up Brave Spaces For Connection.  

This is a mystical element I can’t quite explain but people who are drawn to me often feel drawn to each other, creating incredible spaces for growth, relationship building and self-discovery.

Origins: How Did I Come By My Super Powers?

Just like you have, I've picked up skills through the journey of life, some came as a direct result of difficult childhood.  (I have shared my story in the book, Get Past Your Sh*t. You can read/listen here if you'd like to get to know me even more.)

An unwanted baby... I was born into an impossible situation, give away through adoption to a family member who had no business being trusted with another child.  

The little ways I found to protect myself and cope with a hostile home environment blossomed into Super Powers I've learned to embrace and hone to create more of what I want in the world.

Here's what I've come to understand about the origins of my greatest Coaching Strengths:

I have become an Invitation after finally accepting the Invitation of others.

I was once so dedicated to my past story, so full of limitations and utter 'stuckness' that you'd have thought I was etched in stone.  

Believing I was the sum of my experiences, nothing more and nothing less. Totally resistant to change, when someone tried to offer me a new way of thinking, I would scoff and say 'You don't understand what I've been through.'

Thankfully, a Coach with a Super Hero level of Love crashed into my world and offered up a powerful invitation to see myself differently.  Therese Sparkins seemed fearless to me the way she busted into my life and proclaimed she already loved me - and pretty much everyone else she laid eyes on.  When I offered up my usual firm limitations, she invited me to see all the ways I already proved myself wonderfully capable of growth and possibilities.  

No one can change another human. All anyone can be is an invitation.  Her invitation to me was ultimately irresistible and I entered into a rich coaching relationship that morphed into a loving friendship. As I accepted her invitation and others, I came to see that I am not the sum of my past - I am who I choose to be NOW.

Over and over I've thought to myself, I'm so grateful for the invitation I received. If I'd known from the beginning that I could choose and write my story newly every day, my life early could have been soo different. I feel I wasted 20+ years in an old story. Thank goodness, I'm spending the rest of my life writing a new one.

I love being this same invitation to others!

Like most, I became a Super Communicator to survive - and now it allows me to thrive.

Read this description for the book: Super Communicators by Charles Duhigg:

"Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect.

Supercommunicators know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations, and deeply held beliefs that color so much of what we say and how we listen. Our experiences, our values, our emotional lives—and how we see ourselves, and others—shape every discussion, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work. In this book, you will learn why some people are able to make themselves heard, and to hear others, so clearly."

Super Communicators are sometimes as skilled as they are because they had to use communication to survive difficult childhoods. In an interview on Armchair Expert, it was noted by the host (Dax Shephard) that his experiences in childhood made him high attuned to others - it's a self protective instinct.  I can relate!

Dealing with an angry alcoholic mother on a daily basis meant I had to be able to read her emotional state and make wise moves to protect myself. Certainly, I wasn't always successful. I lived through beatings and emotional tirades all too often.  

Outside of using communication to protect myself at home, I later learned to use it to establish intimate relationships with other women - who would often end up giving me the maternal loving energy I needed in my life.  

In my work as a Content Creator, Podcast Host & Coach - being an intent listener is crucial. Being able to express myself and engage in true connection is what makes what I do so impactful and fulfilling.

I think perhaps that's one of the clear signs of a Super Power. It protects AND creates.

I needed Brave Spaces, so I created them for myself and now they benefit others.

This is a mystical element I can’t quite explain but people who are drawn to me often feel drawn to each other, creating incredible spaces for growth, relationship building and self-discovery. 

My first experience with creating Brave Spaces goes all the way back to the late 1990's. Long before I started a business on the internet I was working on staff at my church in northern Michigan. A friend and I started to take small groups of women down to visit my sister for a weekend of resale shopping.  Magic happened every single time. As we shopped, cooked, laughed and cried together - relationships deepened, future visions were born and old hurts were healed.

I didn't know it at the time but I NEEDED Brave Spaces and hadn't been able to find them. That I stumbled on a gift for creating them is just amazing. I never could have learned to see my true value until I started to see myself through the eyes of others in Brave Spaces where we could all be vulnerable and practice authenticity.

Hearing from others that I have a way of fostering connection was difficult for me to hear and understand - but then, of course it makes sense. Who else but an unwanted child like me can really understand how important it is to feel wanted and valued and listened to?

With my online business ventures, I soon found that the same sort of magic could happen in virtual venues. Open up a space and invite people into it and voila - beautiful things start to happen.  Virtual Group Coaching, Masterminds, as well as In Person Events & Retreats have been offering Brave Spaces for personal and entrepreneurial growth in my world since the first one opened in 2004.

Here at Me Skills, I look forward to practicing all of my Super Powers:

• I'm here to be an Invitation to YOU to move from stuckness to true aliveness.
• I bring my Super Communicator listening and connection skills to every coaching experience.
• I offer you a spot in Brave Spaces where you can meet and thrive with others who want to stretch and grow in amazing aways.

Permission To Create What I Want (And You Too!)

I love this life I'm creating and give myself permission to enjoy every messy step!

I'm the only one who can really know what I want.

I'm the only one who can judge whether I'm doing what's right for me.

I'm the only one who can choose the people I allow to speak into my life.

This has always been true. I've always had all the power - but it hasn't always been how I lived.

I'm grateful to be more in touch with myself. My autonomy. My value. My dreams.

Knowing myself and being able to act confidently on my choices, these are my Me Skills and I'm practicing them every day.