Jan 2026 Newsletter
A Letter from a Quiet Place
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Happy new year! 🎍
“This is how I would like to live this year (again)” - I sincerely hope that you will be able to spend the year 2026 in a way that feels true to that wish ✨
Working With People, Not For Them
There is something I have come to notice again and again among the people who come to me for coaching. When I ask my clients why they chose their current work or activities, and why they continue doing what they do, a similar answer often comes back.
"I want to work on the ground and close to the people"
"I want to be present where support is needed"
"I want to see each person as they are"
"I want to ask directly what people are thinking and what they truly need, to engage in dialogue with them"
"I want to work with people - not for them"
Many of my clients work in sectors often described as international cooperation or humanitarian assistance, though not all of them do. Even so, I frequently hear things like:
“I want to work close to the essence of social issues.”
“It makes me genuinely happy when the people I serve feel truly satisfied.”
There is a shared wish to meet each individual with care, to listen sincerely to what they are struggling with or reflecting on, and to allow what truly matters to them to shape one’s own work. It is a desire to live and work in this way.
I heard these very words again from a client who joined my first coaching trial session of the new year, the other day. In that moment, I felt goosebumps.
Although this sense of “common ground” comes from people who live in different places and work in entirely different contexts, hearing it again - especially from someone I had just met - felt like a gentle breeze passing by my side. Something familiar, yet often set aside, suddenly returned with freshness and tenderness.
Coaching is, of course, a professional practice in which the coach supports clients through skills and mindset. At the same time, there is always something the coach learns from the coaching conversation itself. From experience, I can say this with confidence.
This particular session reminded me clearly of my own mission - not something I had forgotten, but something that had quietly receded into the background of my awareness.
Your Vision and Mission, Now
As we continue our work and activities, moments may arise when we find ourselves thinking:
• I no longer know why I am doing this work.
• I care about my work, but the relationships around me feel difficult, and I want to leave this environment.
• I no longer know what I truly want to do.
• My attention is pulled in too many directions, and I don’t know where to begin.
At times like these, coaching conversations can offer real support. Just as in my own case, because something is our mission, we tend to assume that we “know it” or “understand it well.” Yet we may not be consciously living in connection with it on a daily basis.
When I speak of vision, in my own words, it can be very simple:
“What kind of world would I like to live in?”
“What would I like to feel by living in such a world?”
“What kind of community would I like to belong to?”
A vision does not need to be precise or detailed. A broad sense of “it would be nice if…” is more than enough.
In other words, vision invites us to reflect not only on what kind of world we imagine, but also on how we wish to live within it - especially in relation to others and to society.
Mission, on the other hand, refers to how we move toward that vision. It is about what we choose to do, how we relate to people and society, and which actions and values we hold as important.
When, through coaching, we try to put into words the vision and mission we believe we already “know,” unexpected insights often emerge.
You may realise that although your vision has remained the same - or even grown stronger - the mission that once guided you no longer fits who you are now. Or that while your mission remains unchanged, the way you live it out feels different.
Through dialogue with a coach, revisiting your own vision and mission can offer new perspectives - helping you, as a whole person, reconnect with how you wish to be in this moment.
Feedback as a Gift
Now, five and a half years into my journey as a coach, one area in which I feel I have grown significantly is my relationship with giving feedback.
For a long time, I believed that the greatest strength of coaching lay in not giving advice. Taken too far, however, this belief led me to avoid saying anything that might even sound like advice.
At times, I held back intuitive insights that had come to me - valuable feedback - out of concern that I might upset the client by speaking up. Looking back, I feel deeply regretful that I may have taken away opportunities for learning and awareness.
Feedback, I have since realised, is a truly essential coaching tool. I now offer it as a gift within coaching sessions, particularly when intuitive insights naturally arise for me.
Before sharing anything, I ask for the client’s permission:
“I’m noticing something as I listen to you - would it be alright if I shared it?”
Afterwards, I ask:
“How does it feel for you to hear this?”
Seeking permission → offering feedback → exploring how it is received. Honouring all three steps of feedback is the essence of a true coaching conversation.
This year as well, I will continue refining my practice, offering coaching that is increasingly grounded in intuition, alongside well-developed and continually refreshed skills.
My Focus as a Facilitator
As a professional facilitator, I will continue to centre my work this year around two main pillars:
• Creating truly inclusive spaces where every voice is valued
• Nature-conscious self-leadership
In my work on inclusive spaces, I will continue developing and hosting a Learning Circle (currently being redesigned) where mindsets, tools, and practical approaches to facilitation can be shared and explored together.
At the same time, I will keep nurturing dialogue spaces - Dialogue Salon - where facilitators, trainers, educators, and others engaged in inclusive practices can meet, reflect, and learn from one another.
Nature-conscious self-leadership is rooted in a personal decision of my own: to stop dividing my values depending on context.
The coach in me.
The facilitator.
The trainer and lecturer.
The part of me that wants to speak up for the natural environment.
The part of me that believes in the power of energy.
Rather than separating these aspects and telling myself, for example, “My stance as someone who cares about the environment doesn’t belong here when I am working as a coach,” I have decided to live in a more integrated way.
This means speaking up when something feels misaligned with my values - even in professional settings - rather than postponing putting awareness into practice to “next time.” It means expressing what matters to me, here and now, with care and honesty.
At the same time, it means drawing strength from the sense of awe and healing that nature offers, and allowing that to inform how I lead and live.
A Shift in How I See Reality
Seven years ago, feeling that life was somehow difficult to navigate, I first stepped into the world of energy work. Since then, I have gradually come to recognise how the energy we emit - our aura, or frequency - shapes what unfolds around us.
Through meditation, journalling, and automatic writing, I explored this awareness, though not always consistently. At times, several months would pass without me meditating at all.
Toward the end of last year, while listening to audiobooks and watching related resources, I encountered a book during my December stay in Japan that brought everything together.
It helped me understand, not just intellectually but viscerally, that what appears in front of us resonates with our own energy. More importantly, it offered clear and convincing ways to bring my energy into alignment - throughout my body and inner centres - and to sustain a higher, more coherent state.
This is why gratitude journalling is so often recommended: when we view people and events through the lens of gratitude, our energy naturally becomes warmer, brighter, and more transparent.
In a world filled with unsettling news, it is easy to be pulled into fear, anger, or anxiety. When I notice myself being drawn in, I try to pause, shift my attention, and return to gratitude - for what already exists, for what I have, and even for the learning hidden within difficult experiences.
Criticism, anger, and attack do not change others or the world around us. The only thing we can truly change is our own energy - and that, I believe, is where transformation begins.
I once thought that I could not focus on what I truly wanted because I was too busy with other responsibilities, such as AAA. Yet I came to realise that, underneath, there was fear - fear of fully focusing on what I felt I was meant to do, and fear of failing at it. Clinging to AAA as a routine felt safer.
As a result, the reality I experienced reflected that energy. I remained busy with AAA and unable to focus on what I truly wanted to do. I had been creating that reality myself. Even intuition cannot reach us if our inner state is not aligned.
Of course, in busy daily life, being pulled away from ourselves is inevitable. That is why I created a prayer rooted in my mission - one I now return to each morning.
To conclude this newsletter, I would like to share that prayer with you.
To all that has shaped me into who I am today -
all living beings, events, and people -
thank you.
Because of you, I am here today.
May I stay deeply grateful for this day -
a day in which I am healthy, calm, and able to be fully present.
Through my work and activities,
may a world unfold where people rediscover their connection with themselves,
with others, and with nature -
a world where the richness of living together is deeply felt.
May a society grow that is guided by awareness, compassion,
and awe for all forms of life,
and may such ways of living take deep root and continue to expand.
May I fully bring forth my strengths in service of this purpose.
May I stay grounded in my centre, and, from that stillness,
may my own light, presence, and energy
gently illuminate those around me.
