EYE OPENER
Kiki's blog for November 2009
November 2009
Back to school with a vengeance! At the end of this September (2009) I completed an OCM programme where I’d been a year studying part-time for a CIPD level 7 academic advanced diploma in professional coach mentoring. I also became a Member of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council.
This was an intense whirlwind 1 year experience that involved huge amounts of work including closely monitored coaching of 4 coachees over 7 months, or co-learners as I called them. It was well worth the not inconsiderable investment in time and money as I felt I needed to gain a high level qualification in something I’d been doing for years.
It was also a time of deep introspection to consider who “I” am in the coaching context / conversation in terms of my coaching philosophy and approach. During this 
time I was able to conduct an extensive evaluation of many coaching methodologies, approaches, toolkits and even philosophies which was great fun and deeply challenging.
I also met some wonderful peers on the OCM programme, and experienced some fascinating workshop experiences along the way. Frustratingly I won’t know my pass grade for a little while yet as University of Oxford Brookes gets to cast an academic eye over my written efforts. I have a superb bottle of champagne still on ice waiting for my moment of ‘graduation’!
My favourite inspirational quotes from the past year’s study (and there are many) include:
Deepak Chopra: “The day will come when you will realize that the entire universe can be found inside you.”
Maya Angelou: “I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as making a life.”
Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science…”
More from Einstein: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
Stephen Covey: “People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them. The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.”
Gandhi: “Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviours.
Keep your behaviours positive because your behaviours become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”