Advocates of The Compassion Code Academy
Meet Betsy
Hear Betsy speak about how once she found Laura and her coaching programs, she was all in!
00:00 - Introduction to Betsy
01:30 - How did you come across Laura’s work and the programs? What was going on in your life and what lead you to say, “yes” to working with us?
06:40 - Miranda Dawn recaps Betsy’s mindset after Compassion Code Academy as she entered her second program, Light After Loss.
10:00 - Miranda Dawn speaks about the match between Laura’s programs and her coaching specialty (communication and language) and what Betsy was seeking in her personal and professional self-growth.
12:45 - Where do you see yourself moving forward next?
A writing from a past Compassion Code participant:
Once upon a time, I decided safety meant a moat of numbness to protect me.
So go with me here, to my safe island, with a fearful resident, surrounded by a moat - not a dangerous body of water, but intimidatingly large… not impassable, but daunting.
And yet somehow, some sensations and experiences could cross the moat of numbness, into the most sensitive part of my being that I went to great lengths to protect. Generally, the travelers gifting me the opportunity to feel sensations and have experiences were:
Animals (mostly horses and dogs)
Wonderful humans who thoroughly enjoy being themselves
Sexy narcissists.
Strange passengers on a river rafting trip, I agree.
And, at the turn of 2019 into 2020, a wonderful human hailing from Group 2 boarded a raft, forged the moat and lobbed a gift at my protected island of Very Selective Feeling.
She said, “trust me, do this.” And left me alone with it.
I opened the gift. I looked at it, turned it over in my hands, turned my back on it, railed at its demands.
“LEAVE ME ALONE I’M FINE,” I said.
“NO,” said the gift.
“I MIGHT FEEL SOMETHING DANGEROUS,” I said.
“GOOD,” said the gift.
“WHAT IF I DIE FROM FEELING THING? NOPE CAN’T RISK IT NO THANKS BYEEEEEEEEEE!”, I cried.
“YOU WON’T DIE AND IT’S A GOOD RISK,” said the gift. “YOU'LL SEE.”
So yeah, that’s why I came to CCA. A brave traveler forged an emotional moat and bossed me around in the most loving way. And then she bobbed on a raft for months, supporting me as I advanced and retreated, resisted and accepted, embraced and created.
Outside, the world raged.
Not that it’s all about me, but the Universe showered me opportunities to practice my Junior Compassion Skills right, left and center. And, although initially with all the coordination of a drunken baby giraffe, I practiced compassion. Weird feeling, especially self-compassion. I found it warmed me, elevated the quality of my interactions, anchored me, calmed me, healed me.
Well now. I wasn’t expecting all that.
So now, well, I can’t unsee. Or to reframe positively, “I SEE!!”
Seeing is my commitment. I will be a “SEER” of people and progress, of pain and passion and pretend and perspective. (Really, let’s just say all the good words that start with “P”.)
And, for me, seeing becomes relating and knowing and exploring and, maybe, just maybe, building the first steps of a bridge to cross a moat.
Once I met a man who proclaimed himself the “King of Second Chances.” What I now know is that compassion is the ultimate first chance to give yourself and others.