Years ago, as a single mom I was working very hard to reinvent myself with very few credentials to my name. My financial and emotional bank accounts were constantly being drained with demands and responsibilities. There were days where I would have preferred to stay in bed for a month, but I got out of bed, painted on a smile and picked up my boxing gloves; just like every under-employed single mom I knew.
At work, I had a colleague named Raj. He had a Master’s degree in Mathematics, came from a prominent family, and was newly engaged to a professional woman. They were living the dream and had life by the balls! (more…)
Out of the blue, someone I know professionally wrote me a quick Facebook private message telling me he thinks I’m amazing. Truthfully, I didn’t even know how to respond. I read it and sat with it for a couple of hours before I responded. It truly confused and bothered me.
He was not pointing to anything in particular I had done.
I expected he was most likely responding to a Facebook opinion post. (more…)
Checking out my YouTube videos and I thought I’d reshare an older one.
At 8:05, it gets a tad saucy. 🙂
Who do you know might benefit from my speaking, training or private coaching services? I’d love an introduction.
BIO
Monique works with organizations or people who want to reduce conflict to create a culture of collaboration, engagement and productivity.The most successful leaders are not infallible when faced with someone who “drives them crazy!” Her strategies to empower people to better understand each other and have better outcomes, while having fun, are appreciated by all who meet her. She draws from 30 years of crisis intervention and mental health work, she is a Level II Accredited Trainer for DISC as a Human Behavior Consultant and a Certified NLP Professional Coach. She loves meeting people and getting to know them and their industry. So feel free to reach out.
When we love and care for someone who suffers from a serious mental illness, there are beautiful, joyful moments where everything is well managed.
The best of everything and everyone is possible.
I try to take pictures with my heart at those moments.
Then, every number of years, there is a major health crisis. (more…)
Listening to the Harvey Weinstein story brought back some memories. One of them is of a parenting workshop participant I had several years ago. As a Family Life Educator, in my workshops, because it’s such an important topic, I often opened up the concept of how to teach children values and sexuality. This workshop was no different. (more…)
At one point, I asked Dad to teach me how to knit. My first project was some uneven potholders for my mom. They were yellow. Of course, Mom loved them.
Eventually, wanting to do follow more intricate patterns, I bought a book on how to knit.
I was having a difficult time understanding one of the steps for a sweater and asked for advice.
The girl at the knitting store told me that I was holding my yarn and needles in the wrong hands. I was basically knitting backwards. (more…)
When I first heard “haters gotta hate”, I didn’t know what it meant until I changed the words to “saboteurs gotta sabotage”. Then it made sense.
When I decided to go out on my own and be an entrepreneur, the skills I needed were opposite from what my environment taught me.
After all, to attract paying clients, I have to put myself out there.
I have to tell people my stories so they can laugh at what not to do.
This is my method of teaching others what I have learned in the school of hard knocks. (more…)
We begin every year with new resolutions and a commitment to making positive changes in our life. A fresh start! Healthier habits! Better relationships! Then it’s January 3rd …
Well for better relationships, we get to try again starting on February 14th.
If you have children, you have probably read something at some point about how to raise a happy child. They all include the advice of “Love them unconditionally”.
No matter what our children do, love them beyond the behavior. Otherwise, our act of resentment will drag them down and hold them back in life.
Successful parenting always has components of forgiveness, adapting and letting go. Those are elements of unconditional love. (more…)
I still remember as a little girl while at school, I suddenly began to feel very poorly and almost passed out. When the school nurse took my temperature, she immediately called my father to come bring me home. By the time he got there, the cold compresses had had their effect and I felt quite normal. My father punished me for faking a temperature and pretending to faint. To this day when I get sick, I try to power through, convincing myself that it will pass. (more…)
Growing up in Montreal, Quebec during the rise of a separatist political party in the 1970’s, this gave me a front row seat to how families can be divided because of political differences. Every Sunday, after church, this division played out in my living room. (more…)
As a recovering doormat, I struggled with setting boundaries. But first, I needed to figure out when my boundaries were actually being crossed. When working as a counselor in mental health, I got a crash course on personality disorders. These disorders have a strong element of emotional blackmail to them where another’s boundaries are unimportant. This was an eye opener! (more…)