Bonjour!
I hope this finds you well.
I’m writing this with the biggest smile on my face, overlooking Lake Geneva, on the Swiss/French border. I’ve been here a week. It’s been magical.
I started this holiday at a 300-year old winery in the Alsace. I ran through the vineyards, spent time talking to the farmers, and then I became one. I visited the tiny French town that gave NY Lady Liberty. I ate and drank my way through the whole area. Then we went up to a cabin on the lake. I read, I wrote, I found such clarity in my head and my heart.
It was much needed after so much work – designing and redesigning several courses, preparing for the huge Rock That Mouth! launch (for those of you who have joined the waiting list – I see you, I thank you, and I cannot wait to work with you!) and coaching so many inspiring people both online and in person.
But the biggest gift I gave myself this gift was the gift of reflection. I turned off all of my social media for 2 weeks. I’ve never gone this long without contact from the ‘outside’ world. It was scary for about 3 minutes, and then I exhaled very slowly and felt so much tension releasing my body. This special kind of silence has taught me a lot. I realise now I was spending too much time scrolling and reacting, instead of creating and sharing. I have now created a new social media policy for myself for when I get back. Before I grab my phone (and all social media apps are hidden and on a timer now) I will ask myself ‘Am I serving and sharing?’. If the answer is yes, I will post and share. If I’m just bored and scrolling, I will not go online.
I had so much headspace on this trip I have made the outline for over 100 blogposts. Ideas just came to me so often and so fast I had to capture them all. The silence in my head welcomed all of these new ideas and I’m so happy I gave myself the gift of time to receive them with an open heart and a receptive mind.
I now realise that so often I grabbed my phone because I was hungry. Hungry in my mind for information. But it wasn’t the information I found from randomly scrolling. It was information about the world. I got back into my old habit of reading one whole book a day and writing 10-15 pages a day. This is who I am. This is how my mind functions best. Not by handing out likes or smileys but by truly getting inspired to learn, to create, to develop – and then to share that in a meaningful way with the world.
I’m excited to take this new policy home with me. I feel relaxed and yet very excited for this new approach. I’m also very very honored to take on a special new project – a Grammy winning, multi-platinum British artist (her manager, actually) has asked me to train her German backing singers for her new world tour, which is starting soon. Incredible how news of my work here in the Netherlands has reached London. This just shows the power of social media, and the ripple effect it can create. So many people around the world are interested in sounding more natural and native in English. I’m excited to welcome them to my Rock That Mouth program, and to coach them personally as well.
How has your summer been?
I hope fabulous!
I’ll write you again soon.
From….New York!
With love,
French Farmer Buffi, wearing her favorite hat and dress, bought in the local supermarket. ♥️
PS: To find out more about how to speak with confidence, click here.