I picked up James Doty's "Into the Magic Shop" as a holiday read. Having completed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program a few months earlier, it opened my eyes to a new dimension of mindfulness that paved the way to open my heart and discover my true passion.

Daniel Goleman's book "Emotional Intelligence" sits on many leaders' bookshelves. I dusted off my copy and read it with a different perspective. It reinforced that early on the path to develop empathy, it is so important to understand our own emotions and reactions.

Early in my career I became friends with a colleague who I understand had a psychotic break due to schizophrenia. I spent many years pondering the possibility that the visions and voices he experienced are real. Whilst doing research into trauma, I came across Eleanor Longden. Her story reminded me how much more there is to learn about our inner workings and reinforced the importance of releasing emotion and listening to our intuition.

Peter Levine's somatic experiencing method showed me how important it is to release our emotions to remove blocks created by past trauma. 

I was given a copy of this book by someone whom I had just met who said: "Once you have read this book you'll never go back to Corporate life". As it happens I didn't go back to the life I had had, yet it did reinforce the kind of environment I believe is key for us to flourish. I spent most of my corporate life working in what he would term an Orange organization yet I am privileged to have spent 8 years in a corporate division where I could use and develop methods and practices typically associated with Teal. These practices are the foundation of my work today. I am also an active member of Basel's Responsive Org group.

I first heard Alan Seale speak whilst doing research into the concept of Highly Sensitive People. Inspired by his methods and tools, I had the privilege to train with him and transform my coaching practice.

Alan Watkins' work opens a doorway to further developing our emotional intelligence. Inspired by his tool, I developed an experiment for a retreat to track our energy and emotion. It revealed a number of things; how our level or energy has no corrolation to our emotions and we can experience a variety of emotions (even paradoxically) simultaneously.