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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Lisa, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Lisa Murrell: Yes, I’m very happy to be here.  Lisa Murrell.  I am the cofounder of MetaSystem Consulting Group and Equine Alchemy.  I live in New York.  It is a coaching and consulting firm that works with leaders and executives all over the world.  MetaSystem Consulting Group is confined mostly to in-person coaching with just people, and the Equine Alchemy aspect, as you might imagine, involves horses; but it’s all towards the same thing – personal and professional development on all levels helping people and businesses to work optimally and create what they really want to create.

Toni: Well it sounds fascinating.  It’s a great lead-in to the first question, which is, when you think about inspiration, Lisa, who do you inspire and how does that happen?

Lisa: As I work with the horses, I have to say I got a totally different relationship, or developed a different relationship, with inspiration.  I feel like when I’m with them, they inspire me and I inspire them.  It is such a reciprocal relationship, and relationship is the key word.  So I have been experiencing and have been told, especially when people come to work with the horses, that they are so inspired by that one thing, being in relationship, because people don’t want to be alone.  They don’t want to feel like they’re on their own.

In fact, whether we’re talking about business and strategic planning or we’re talking about couples that come to see me, it is always about how do they develop relationships with themselves differently so that they can develop relationships with other people differently.  So those people who are seeking that are the people that I end up fortunately being in the presence of and working with the horses to inspire.

Toni: Can you give an example for those of us that may not be as familiar with that type of work?  How does that inspiration occur when you’re doing that type of work with individuals as well using the horses?

Lisa: Yes, actually, there was an amazing session that I had yesterday.  There is a woman who has MS, multiples sclerosis, and she has always been a very active woman and she has obviously … her physical capacities have been diminished in the recent years, and she’s always loved working with the horses.  And when I say working with the horses, it’s all on the ground, and it’s usually in a small round area called the round pen.

And so, she was in there with Coach Simon yesterday, and he was feeling quite agitated.  They’re just kind of together, not doing too much, just kind of seeing if they can actually relate with each other on a different level than either verbally, cognitively, or touching.  So it’s really about awareness of who you are and who the horse is and how that intersects, and she was having a feeling that they were not connecting at all, that he wasn’t paying attention to her, she was feeling bad.

Then for some reason, I don’t know why – I think it’s because I’m so intuitively connected when I do this kind of coaching — I decided to put a chair inside the round pen, something that I had never done before, and I invited her to sit down.  The minute she sat down, Coach Simon came over immediately, and he was so, so careful of her boundaries and her vulnerability, so he did not push himself in her space.  I mean, he was so perfectly in relationship with her and her with him, and I asked her “What are you taking from this?  What does this mean to you?”

She thought about it, and she was very, very passionate when she said “I have to understand what I can and cannot do, and that it’s okay for me to sit and not do.  I can be in relationship with people differently than I have before.”

Toni: Wow, that’s amazing.  Thank you so much for that example.  When you do this type of work, or it can be personally or professionally, how do you think that you help others to explore their own potential?

Lisa: Well, I’ll use the example of a leader that came here for a four-day retreat.  He was an executive, and he had been asked to do some leadership training.  I think his whole crew there loved his expertise and him as a professional, but he was not a people person.  So actually his coach knew about this work and they both came together.

One of the exercises that we have is called the leading exercise with the horses, and it is like you might think.  You have a halter and you have a rope, and you just simply lead them around.  Well, if you’ve noticed, horses are 1,200 pounds or more.  They’re not going to go anywhere with you unless they want to.  This gentleman was jerking and yanking and the horse just did not want to go anywhere.  There was no connection.  There was no relationship, because the horses need to be connected in the relationship with you because they are herd animals.

So he, through that experience, began to understand what people were telling him about the fact that he was not … he could never be the leader that he wanted to be.  He was just an expert in his field, because he did not know how to be in relationship with other people, and he had no idea what impact he had on people.  He didn’t know that he was doing that.  He didn’t know that he was getting in his own way.  He didn’t know that he was literally yanking and jerking on the horse.  He wasn’t even aware that he was doing that, but it was doing that energetically with the people that worked for him and with him.

It was through four days of working with the horses at the end – and he told me this when I spoke to him actually recently – he said “That changed my life.  It changed my marriage, it changed everything that was going on with me.”

It developed an awareness for him, a different perspective that he never had before, because with people when we try to have these interactions, there’s so much cognitive … what I’m going to call “baggage.”  But with the horse, there’s not so many variables, and they’re very pure and it’s very easy to just really relate to those nonverbal cues, if you will, or electromagnetic fields of our heart.  You can learn so much about yourself that you never knew before, and that could be certainly eye-opening, and most of the time inspiring.

Toni: Oh, absolutely.  It’s interesting, because by the horse having no filter, so to speak, was giving the most important feedback of all.

Lisa: In fact, even when I work with … well, anybody, but I’m speaking specifically about executives and in the corporate realm, everyone always tells me “I’ve never had such immediate, undisputed feedback.”

Toni: That’s what I’m taking away from this is that there are no filters there; there’s no politeness, there’s no, you know, “This is how I was brought up to give praise and criticism,” but the horse just tells you like it is.

Lisa: Yes, which is actually quite helpful when there’s people from different cultures, and culture can be defined any way — it could be from different countries, it could be from different nationalities, it could be from a large family and a small family.  People don’t know what their cultural biases are and that they are so much a part of them in how they interact in their lives.

Of course, you as a coach would know all of this plays into what kind of success you’re having in your life, where are your blocks, where are your challenges, especially if you just can’t figure out why you never seem to get to the place you want to.  You don’t know where you’re getting in your own way.  You don’t know what’s happening.  And so, work with the horses, I like to say, it makes conscious that which is unconscious for us.

Toni: So what inspires you, Lisa?

Lisa: Well, I don’t know if you can tell that I like this work.

Toni: Slightly.  I think we only hear that slightly in your voice.

Lisa: You know, the thing that really inspires me — and I didn’t know this, Toni, until I started taking this journey with the horses — is really being in relationship with someone.  I mean, even when I’m sitting here with you and we’re having this interview, I feel like you’re listening to me.  I don’t feel like it’s something where you ask the question and then there’s the answer and then that’s that.  And you took the time to be in relationship before we had the interview.

So that’s what I mean by being in relationship, that there’s a connection, that there’s really a caring about who is this other person or being or animal that is here in the same space with me, and what kind of awarenesses do we  have – what do you have, what do I have, what do we have together?  That really gets me inspired, because then I start thinking about “What can we cook up?  What can we create?  What can we play with?”  So for me, that’s the way I work the best, is when I’m in relationship and partnership with someone else, and I learned so much about that from the work with the horses.

Toni: Are there tools and resources that you tend to reach for on a regular basis when you are looking for inspiration?

Lisa: Yes.  There’s some work from Karla McLaren, who did a series of tapes in, I think, around 2000 or 2001 called “Emotional Genius,” and basically her concepts follow closely Daniel Goleman’s, but there’s definite departures.  She talks about the messages behind emotions.

And so, a couple of parts to it … one, our emotions are part of us and our feelings and our body’s sensations, and they’re there as information, so being aware of them, and then really contemplating “Why am I feeling this way?  What is going on?  What is this other piece of information that if I’m using my body as an organ of perception and intelligence, not just my mind, how can I live more fully and listen to it, or through listening to it?”

And so, looking at those messages behind emotions is very, very helpful for me.  And the other place that I probably get inspiration all the time is my spiritual path.  I am very devoted to that path, and I meditate on a regular basis, and I feel like I see that in other people a lot, and I recognize when I don’t, and I question if that’s where I need to be or who I need to be working with.  Those things are very important to me.

Toni: And what do you do now, and what will you continue to do so that you can continue to explore your own potential in all of these areas that you’ve spoken about so eloquently to continue do the great work that you do?

Lisa: It’s interesting that you ask that, because I was actually just kind of recommitting to myself and my vision and my family and my work recently, and one of the things that I realize that I must do is continue to do the work with the horses on myself.  To continue to understand that every moment that I am with them, if I’m paying attention, is a reflection of who I am, and then I generalize that to recognize very clearly that the people that I’m coaching, the people that I’m around or with anywhere are still reflections of me as well.

And if it’s a difficult or challenging time I’m having in that situation, asking myself “Well how is this like me?  What part of me is being reflected in what’s going on right now?”  Because I feel like we’re all so connected that we’re really not that separate, so we can see the good, the bad, and the ugly in everything if we just choose to look.

Toni: What great advice, and what a great place to leave the interview with everyone who will be reading and listening to you.  It is really fascinating, the work that you do, and you can tell that you’re very passionate about it.  And for sharing this with us today on the Get Inspired! Project, we are so appreciative, Lisa.  Thank you so very much.

Lisa: Thank you, and I appreciate all the wonderful work.  This is really important, what you’re doing, so thank you.

Toni: Thank you.  Take care, Lisa.

Lisa: Okay, you too, Toni.

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For more information about Lisa Murrell:  www.equinealchemy.com, www.equinealchemy.com/equinealchemy.com/blog

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Toni Reece: Louise, I know we’re speaking to you in Portugal, my morning, I believe your afternoon, and I want to thank you so much for agreeing to take part in this project.  And before we go into the questions, could you please introduce yourself?

Louise Wiles: Okay, yes, thank you very much for the opportunity to participate.  I think it’s a really exciting project.  As you said, my name is Louise Wiles, and I live in Portugal.  I live on a small Portuguese island which is called Madeira.  It’s usually a little dot on any atlas you might find, very small, and I live there with my two young daughters and my husband.  I run my own business, which is Success Abroad Coaching which I aim to support people who are embarking on new lives abroad.  I came to coaching from a background in professional training, development, and occupational psychology, and my business draws on my personal experience really, which is being, of course, a number of years living and working abroad.  That’s me in a nutshell.

Toni: Well thank you very, very much Louise; and when you think of the work that you do or just in your personal life and you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how?

Louise: Okay.  Well it’s interesting, because I guess this project in a way drew me to it because my business pipeline is inspiring great lives abroad.  So I’ve been giving that question thought in setting up my business, and what I mean by inspiring people who have made the decision to live abroad.  So I guess on one level, the business level, I perhaps inspire my clients to realize their dreams.  I think often people make moves to live and work abroad based on their dreams of creating better, happier lives, perhaps taking advantage of opportunities offered that don’t exist back home.  I guess they need the feeling that they’re going to create lives far better than perhaps those that they had in their home environment or will offer that opportunity.

I guess a lot of them achieve their dreams, but perhaps sometimes it comes at a cost — initially anyway — where starting and setting up their lives is perhaps not as straightforward as perhaps they imagined.  And I hope that what I offer when I work with my clients is I inspire them to keep their dreams and their personal inspirations alive; and I think this is the interesting thing, because usually my clients have been inspired to make a big change in their lives personally.  It has come from within; it has not come from me.  And at the point that we meet, they often try to keep that sort of inspiration, that dream, alive.

And so my role is to support them as they pursue that inspiration — and for the feel of that inspiration — and help them through the challenging times, perhaps the adaptation, the culture shock, getting used to a new job and a new language and so on.

Outside of my professional life, I hope that I inspire my children and my husband and my friends in that way that I live my life and sort of what I think about what I do as I coach.  I’m often a mentor in my professional role and helping people to face adversity or difficulties, challenges, helping them stay positive and optimistic and enthusiastic, and I guess I always have that at the forefront in my mind when I’m working with them.  I think it’s important.

I think when people move abroad, they leave their normal support structures behind, they start a new life without those structures, often at a time when they need them most.  That’s the ironic thing about it, really, I guess.  And sometimes the challenges are too great.  People give up their home.  Other times they struggle on for years perhaps not realizing their true potential or creating the happy life they were expecting they would create, and I hope that when I …  And often it’s those times people that I work with … I hope that I help them to remember why they moved in the first place and to look at the situation and their circumstances and work to create a better experience for themselves.

Toni: Well Louise, when you’re working with your clients or even your family — and I would imagine that the same would apply to both whether it’s in professional or personal — that you need to keep these people motivated and enthusiastic.  And I had a business partner that emigrated to a new country and she absolutely was astonished at how difficult it was to acclimate to that country; and she felt she was a very outgoing, giving woman, and she felt very isolated.  And so I can really imagine that people would really need you to stay motivated and inspired that their decision was a good decision.

Louise: Yes, yes, yes.  I think that’s very true.  I think the initial time …  I kind of, when I think about my move, I know for the first few months I’m always very excited, it’s a new environment, there’s lots to see, lots to do, and it’s quite easy at that initial point.  And then after a while, I personally find I perhaps question why we made the move.  You know, you get to the point where you get over the initial excitement of something new.

It’s a bit like having had a holiday for a couple of months and then perhaps having gotten to the point where you met and made good friends, you got several acquaintances but not the kind of friendships that offer the support that you have from friends and family back home, and I think that’s often where the difficulty comes, why people perhaps need something or someone to just pick themselves up and to remind themselves why they made the move in the first place, and inspire them to keep going in a very positive way.  It can become quite easy at that point to dip and to question quite seriously what the move was all about.

Toni: Right, right.  I know that she experienced that as well, so I can relate very much to the need here.  When you’re working with your clients and you’re working — when you’re doing … even just trying to inspire your family — do you also help them explore their potential?  And if you do, how does that happen?

Louise: Yes, very much so.  I think potential is really important.  There’s a potential and skills that people leave and they sort of leave their country and move to their new country and not thinking of their family and friends.  I think potential … Often, we don’t even consider our potential, do we?  And I think we’ll consider our strengths and positives that we have within us that can help us in the situations and circumstances that we find ourselves.  And so, yeah, the way in which I work, and I hope that’s the way I am with my friends and family as well.  It’s very much about helping them to think about what it is they want from their circumstances we’re talking about and thinking about what skills and strengths they have within them, and also what their dreams and their goals are for themselves.  We’ll pull on and use those skills and strengths.

I think inspiration often comes from … I think often people make changes in their lives in favor of things that they can handle — although they may not see it that way.  And so the way in which I sort of look at it with people is that if you’ve decided to make a change — even though you’re going through a difficulty and it’s uncomfortable initially — there’s always something within you that meant that you felt that you could handle this, that you’ve got the skills there, you’ve got the ability.

So it’s not a question of whether you can or can’t; it’s a question of how you’re going to succeed.  And so the way in which I guess I work to inspire people to succeed is by thinking about using their resources and their strengths and the potential and drawing on those; thinking about the successes, thinking about something we often forget to do.  I certainly do.  You know, I can get to the end of the day and I think that was a really nothing day.  But then when I actually force myself and — I should do this more often — sit down and think about well, “What was the success?” — even the tiniest little things — I fully start to feel better, a whole lot better, about the day.

And I think society, in a way, often pushes us towards thinking about things in a negative way and not achieving things fast enough.  Life moves so quickly now, doesn’t it?  We just don’t realize how much we’re achieving every day because we feel we should be achieving it more quickly and perhaps it’s one more issue, one thing to think about, and is, you know, time, making time; and this is how I kind of inspire myself as well.

If I take time to sit down and think about what I’m doing — I might be thinking about family or might be thinking about my business, I don’t know — but I find quiet time.  And I live in the most perfect environment for that as well.  It’s a beautiful island, so it’s easy for me to find a quiet spot.  And that’s inspirational for me and just the time, 10 or 15 minutes just to think.  Often I have my best thoughts at that point, just let my mind go about business or family and life and changes that we might want to make.

Toni: Well, that does bring us into the next question which you’ve so beautifully answered, which is what do you need for inspiration.  And your answer is that you need to take the time to think and whatever issue that you’re dealing with and to allow yourself some quiet time to reframe and to be inspired.  And when you’re in that place, Louise, are there tools or resources that you seek or that you use to help you stay inspired?

Louise: The answer is yes to that.  I guess I work in the perfect profession really, the tools about, you know, investigating my potential or ideas.  I need to read self-help books and so on, and I use them often.  And so I investigate, if you like, my passions and my purposes and have a good sense about that for myself, and that helps to inspire me.  So I do through that … I make this in a very structured way, but then often not at all.  I just go and sit somewhere quietly or one of the other things I do and recently have restarted … I’ve always done a lot of horse riding, and just recently I’ve started doing horse riding and learning to do some more advanced dressage type of horse riding.  And it really inspired me because it’s showing me how just tiny little changes in my attitude and mental approach can have very different effects.

And, you know, we’ve all heard — or quite a few people have heard — the saying when you’re clear what you want will sharpen your life but only to the extent that you’re clear.  And this is very true when you’re on a horse, because if I’m 100% clear about what I want the horse to do, or if I have a small element of doubt in my mind, it doesn’t work.  And that’s a really good lesson for me about my life in general.

I think sometimes I’m very clear about my direction for my business but then things perhaps don’t happen as I want them to and so then, using that analogy, I question, “Well,  was I really clear about what I wanted? Were there doubts in mind about it?”; and often I find there were.  So thinking about things on that level, that sort of inspires me to change the way I’m thinking, I think, and perhaps being more positive and definitely more clear about what I want.  And sort of trying to get rid of the baggage, the excess, you know, the negative thoughts, as well, and be very sort of clear about where I’m going.

Toni: And that’s also how you then explore your own potential, which you’ve spoken about the self-help books.  But I think the clarity and being clear on the direction helps you explore your potential as well; listening to you using the horse and your riding as an experience to keep you, as you said, to use the example of being clear because, if you’re not, the horse will let you know.

Louise: Actually, yes.  And it’s amazing how you kind of think that horse riding is about your physical movements, if you like, but that all comes from your mental process and your thought process.  And what I’m realizing is that just a tiny little change in my mental approach or my thoughts … when I make tiny movements in my body which the whole sense is, and just all … You have to be authentic in what you are asking the horse to do, because if you’re not, the horse will pick up on it.  I mean, I guess all horses being somewhat hardened to, you know, beginners and things that others who are not sensitive to how they’ve ridden it does.

It’s amazing the difference it makes, and I sort of apply that to life and it makes me think very much about clarity.  I think I’m clear on my purpose, and my passion is to work in this area and to be really, really clear about what I’m offering to my clients and also to my personal life.  Sometimes I think people wonder why what they thought they wanted isn’t turning out.  And I just wonder whether sometimes it’s because actually you thought you were clear but you’re not 100% clear; there’s some doubt there.  There’s something that’s not clicked into place.

Toni: Well, Louise, I can tell you that listening to your interview today and how you have taken … when we’ve gotten to what you need as far as to be inspired and also for your own potential and to use that, use the word of being clear and knowing what you want and if it’s not heading in that direction then to clarify are you really clear.  I would imagine that then absolutely then transfers into your client and your approach.

If someone is looking to make that move and they are going abroad and they are looking to start a new life, then they have to be clear on their purpose and they have to clarify what they want and be very clear on what their skills and strengths are to keep them and make them successful on this journey.  So it is really interesting for me in this interview to hear what you do, then what you need, and how that translates into your clients.

Louise: Yes, it is fascinating.  That’s the thing that happens is that you put the two together here to be whole.  But yes, I think that’s very, very true.  And I think the problem for a lot of my clients is they don’t start the transition to a new life abroad with all of that thought very clearly.  It would be great to see them before they make that move and make sure the whole clarity issue was there, and often it’s not so.  I’m picking them up somewhere along the process where the clarity has become muddled and fuzzy by experience, and then having to redefine it.  That’s certainly how I hope I inspire.

It’s funny, even to think of the word inspiration, inspiring, you know.  When I first thought about it, well that’s something, you know?  You listen to a charismatic speaker and you’re inspired, and I guess there’s an external input in there.  But I think the inspiration that really makes the difference is what comes from within.  It’s being clear about where you’re going and what you want and therefore being able to inspire oneself.  Because external inspiration can have an impact up to a point, but it’s not there all the time.  You have to also manage it personally, having things drawn internally.

Toni: Well, absolutely, and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate that you have shared in this snapshot of time your approaches and your needs.  And I know that people who are reading and listening to your interview will benefit from this and learn from this, and for that, I thank you.

Louise: Thank you very much for the opportunity, and all the best with the program in the next, however many, 300 days.  I’ll listen to them with interest.  I think it’s fascinating.

Toni: Well thank you, Louise, it’s been a pleasure to meet you.  Take care.

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For more information about Louise Wiles:  www.SuccessAbroadCoaching.com

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Herman Veitch: Part 1

Herman Veitch: Part 2

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Toni Reece: Thank you so very much for this interview today.  Before we begin the questioning, could you please introduce yourself to us and tell us what you do?

Herman Veitch: Yes, thanks Toni.  My name is Herman Veitch and I am an ICC coach in Bloemfontein, South Africa, a small city right in the center of our beautiful country, and I mainly coach my clients with horses.

Toni Reece: Oh, that’s interesting…you coach your clients with horses; can you tell us just a little bit about that?

Herman Veitch: It is very exciting.  It is actually a privilege to co-coach with horses.  They are beautiful animals and they pick up the handler’s emotional space very intuitively and with that, we help our clients to get great breakthroughs in all parts of their life.

Toni Reece: Wow, that is really interesting.  I have to tell you I am thrilled to be interviewing you in South Africa this morning–my morning–I know your afternoon–and I want to start with my first question with you, which is:  Who do you inspire, Herman, and how do you do that?

Herman Veitch: Who do I inspire?  That is a bit of a difficult question because I think inspiration is a surge of motivational insight a person experiences, and it is not something that somebody externally can actually do.  So who I inspire?  I wouldn’t know; I hope a lot of people, but what I do know is that I have to be the best I can be, and that is inspiring, and I try always to focus on what can I do really well, and do it even better.

Toni Reece: I understand your definition of inspiration, and that is really interesting, and I appreciate that.  I am sure a lot of your clients might have a different answer to that as far as how you inspire them, but by being the best that  you can be, how would that possibly impact inspiring others, or helping them to be inspired by being the best that you can be?

Herman Veitch: I think when I am who I am with all my good and my shallow sides, it is important for me to be true to myself, and by being true, I release people to be true to themselves as well, to be real.   I think that is what is inspiring, to be real, to be authentic.

Toni Reece: So being authentic…

Herman Veitch: Yes.

Toni Reece: Okay, fantastic!  So just to recap for my understanding and for the readers of the interview; if you believe that you are authentic and you are real and show all of your sides, the shallow sides as well as the good sides, that that will help others that you are working with or you are around to be themselves as well and to show all of their good, bad, and ugly sides as well.

Herman Veitch: Yes, correct, that space where you can be comfortable being yourself, and I believe your inner beauty starts to shine.

Toni Reece: Thank you for that.  My second question, Herman, is:  What do you do in that same spirit to help explore the potential in others; how do you go about that?

Herman Veitch: I think one of my gifts is to see beauty, especially beauty in people, and when I sense or see somebody’s beauty, I dive in and explore with them different ways how to showcase that beauty to the world, and I think that is how I go about to explore people’s potential, to seek with them ways to be as beautiful as they are.

Toni Reece: Can you give us some examples of how you do that?

Herman Veitch: Questions.

Toni Reece: Okay.

Herman Veitch: I ask them questions.

Toni Reece: You ask questions…so do people come to you when you work with them?  Do you find most people do not seem to really understand where their inner beauty lies?  Is that something that you find?

Herman Veitch: Most of my clients come to me with the sense of “I need that little bit extra to really have a fulfilling life,” and together we explore what that is; and constantly I find that it turns back to their own inner authenticity, their own inner beauty, and to be comfortable to just be that.  That is the beauty of coaching with horses, because you cannot lie to a horse.  A horse senses your true nature, and he reflects it back to you, and that is why I love coaching with them, and through questions I ask them.  For example, what do you think the horse is trying to tell you right now about yourself, and then the clients start picking up what is really their true self.

Toni Reece: Wow, that is very exciting.  What do you need to be inspired, Herman?  What do you look for?  Where does your searching take you when you are looking for inspiration?

Herman Veitch: Well, beauty in all its forms; and it is very important that we understand beauty.  Beauty is in some sense the unexpected next to the expected, and so that is very important for me.  I need to be surrounded by beautiful things, gardens, paintings, photography, but also silence.  Silence inspires me, and nature, so I like to be outside.  I often put off my stereo.  But the most inspiring moment for me is that brief….

Toni Reece: I’m sorry Herman; because we are on Skype there was a bit of a delay there.  You have said that the most inspiring…

Part Two

Toni Reece: We are back on for the second part of the interview.  Part of what you were talking about during your interview is keeping things real and authentic, and because we are using a Skype service and depending on the fickleness of the internet, calls will drop during the interview and we will just pick it right back up and continue with our interview, if that is okay with you.

Herman Veitch: That is 100% okay.

Toni Reece: Okay, fantastic.  I would like to clarify the question that we left was “what do you need to be inspired”, and you had talked about beauty and you had made a statement “the unexpected next to the expected”, if I heard that correctly;  could you please clarify that a little bit for me?  What do you mean by that?

Herman Veitch: It is a green plant growing next to a dust bin.

Toni Reece: A green plant growing next to a dust bin?

Herman Veitch: Yes.

Toni Reece: I see…you also were about to explain about what the most important thing is that inspires you, and that is where the internet went down.  So if we can pick up from there as well?

Herman Veitch: Yes, I think another important element for me is silence.  I like to be in nature and I like the silence of nature, but most of what I like is that moment of silence just before a client gets an insight.  It’s as if right then, the world stands still, and in a fraction of a second there is this beautiful, beautiful silence, and that is very inspiring for me because I anticipate this “wow” experience in the client’s life to come through; that is inspiring.

Toni Reece: And you actually feel that moment?  You know it’s there?  You are in that moment with the client when it happens?

Herman Veitch: Yes….it is awesome.  Sometimes it is very small, and sometimes it is profound; it goes for a whole second or something, but I have the privilege of seeing it.

Toni Reece: That is incredible!  What do you need, Herman, to explore your own potential, to continue to look for inspiration and ways to explore your own potential to be the best that you can do and to be the best that you can be?  What do you do?  What it is that you look for?  What do you need?

Herman Veitch: For myself, I think it is buckle down and start looking.  It is very hard to be authentic, because we have been conditioned to conform to the norms of society, and that is not always very true.  Hard work is what I need.  I need to work very hard on myself to be authentic, to be truthful, look the negative part of myself in the eye and make friends with him and say, “okay, let’s see what can we do about this and make it better.”   And hard work on the outside as well.   I think we are a person because of other people, so relationships are also very important, so working hard on relationships, because true friends mirror back to you who you truly are.

Toni Reece: I see.  That is inspiring in itself, and it is hard work to be authentic.  When you are exploring different avenues or ways to remain authentic and not to conform to society and to remain truthful and to look that negative part in the mirror, what it is exactly…are there lessons you look for that you explore?  Are there resources or tools that you use?  What have you found that helps you to keep that true, to explore your own potential?

Herman Veitch: Some of the tools that I use are meditation, to be coached myself, and to be aware of what is happening and asking myself questions of what is really presenting itself now, and how can I connect it to what I know about myself?  I think the most important tool might be questioning; that and meditation.

Toni Reece: So meditation is a very important tool for yourself personally; questioning seems to be your tool of choice as well with the horses to help others be inspired and explore the beauty and potential within themselves and to keep things real.  My final question to you is, how do you use the horses to inspire yourself or to explore your own potential, and do you do that?

Herman Veitch: That is a very good question.  Maybe I need somebody to coach me with my own horses, eh?  I think just being with the horses allows me to be myself.

Toni Reece: I see.  Herman, you have been an absolute joy to interview and I so appreciate the fact that you are giving us this little sound bite into your world of helping others to be inspired and also helping others to explore their own potential; as well as what you need to be inspired and continue to explore your own potential, and I am so grateful to you for participating in this Get Inspired! Project and sharing that with others.

Herman Veitch: Thank you for the opportunity, I am pleased.  Thank you.

Toni Reece: Thank you very much Herman, and I hope that we talk soon.

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For more information about Herman Veitch: http://www.livepositive.co.za/

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This interview was recorded in Skype.  To download the audio for listening on an mp3 player, iPod, etc., simply right-click the green player image at the top of this post and select “Save Target As” to save the mp3 file to a folder on your computer.

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