Personal Experiences
… and Results

Wish-list Come True
Dana, USA
Teacher, musician

The summer I attended a three-month course directed by Charmaine Hicks was a much-needed and life-changing season. I was a music teacher at a private school in Michigan and involved in contemporary church music, hoping that lots of activities and meetings would eventually evolve into fulfillment. But Charmaine asked, "What's in your heart?"

Charmaine facilitated many discussions and "homework" assignments to reveal true desire, design and destiny. By the end of the summer, I had many pages in my own handwriting titled, "What I Really Think," "Who I Really Am," and "What I Really Want to Do Is…". As a result, five life goals emerged.

So here is my "Wish-come-true" list-all accomplished within about a year of finishing the course:

1. Change graduate schools to study something more interesting I stepped out of the academic track I felt stuck in and enrolled at a new university as a graduate student in Inter-disciplinary Studies.
2. Get off the continent The first class in the program included a study trip to China to stay with graduate students in Hangzou province. I planned not to be part of the trip at first, assuming I couldn\'t go because of my teaching job. But a new way of thinking prompted me to tell my boss about the trip and she was in full agreement that I should go!
3. Study African music I also coordinated a joint concert with my school and an African music and dance group from Ghana. The musicians came to our class and taught our children parts to play with them in concert. The event was a success and we imported 100 African bells and 15 drums for our program.
4. Play piano with other musicians During the same concert, I performed a Handel sonata for piano and flute. The flute part was played on an African flute (atenteben) by a Ghanaian who learned how to finger the chromatic Western music on his pentatonic flute. We rehearsed together and it stretched me to learn new music and perform publicly-the challenge I really wanted.
5. Lose weight (I was 217 pounds at the time) I began an intense weight management program through a medical clinic and lost 50 of the 57 pounds I wanted to lose. Eating/dieting was a way of dealing with life that I started when I was very young. I tried countless strategies to break the power of overeating but it was the belief (that Charmaine first challenged me to believe) that my dreams could come true that finally enabled me to receive grace to become new, inside and out.

Before the course, I "wished" for these things, yet I scoffed at goals, scorned thin people and argued the impossibility of fulfillment. It was the process of meeting frequently and sharing honest thoughts with Charmaine that helped me get unstuck, moving from what is to what could be.

Now I'm not afraid to make goals because I've experienced the joy of accomplishing them, and I know it's not a fluke or random prize I don't deserve.

Charmaine challenges her students in a loving way. It is always obvious that she wants people to be free to live well, do things right, and operate from the truest place in our hearts. Charmaine challenges one's excuses for not living well, not doing your dream and not living from a place of abundance. And always with the intention of helping you rise to a higher level of personal integrity.

From the ledgers to the movies
Christy Peters, USA
Accountant-turned-filmmaker

When I met Charmaine I was finishing my Business degree and had been in accounting jobs for eight years. But having worked part-time in television production years earlier, my real desire was a career in film.

I also wanted to leave Indiana and move to LA, but did not really believe that I deserved to be happy and to pursue my dream. I wasn't sure that I would have the courage to take the risk and there were beliefs in me that prevented me. Actually, I had sabotaged my own dream several times in years past and this was sort of my usual practice.

Charmaine was instrumental in helping to clear out the negative thought patterns and belief systems that held me back from moving forward with my "impossible" dream. She leads with gentleness and wisdom as she brings up the things that cause the obstacles in our lives, and skillfully assists in their removal.

After about 12 weeks [with Charmaine] I got enough of the negative beliefs about myself and my destiny cleared out to apply to a graduate program in Film Production, left Indiana, moved to Southern California, and have almost completed my Master of Fine Arts degree.

As a result, I have worked with people in the broader film industry and am beginning to network and to get some real work. It is amazing and a dream come true.

I know that if I hadn't spent those 12 weeks working with Charmaine I would have found "reasons" to sabotage the dream again. (In fact I struggled with it even as I was applying to film school.) But my confidence was strengthened and I received the courage to move forward, even when there appeared to be obstacles.

Charmaine led with gentleness, opened up possibilities in my thinking and didn't play into the beliefs that I had served and held me back from becoming all that I wanted to become. With Charmaine what always seemed to be a "no" was really a "yes". I found out that the big no's were really just from me. When someone gives you permission to dream, it opens up a whole new world.

Charmaine helped me with that permission to dream. She believed my dream and never discouraged the possibilities, but helped me take realistic steps towards my dreams and goals. Sometimes that's all it takes to push you into fulfilling them.

Life Makeover
Sara Harvey, USA
Musician, songwriter, businesswoman, wife

The quote, "Leap, and the net will appear," has become a familiar phrase. When I met Charmaine, I felt burnt out, stuck and unmotivated. During the three months she worked with me, she challenged me to try new things - things that took me out of my comfort zone, things I had wanted to do for a long time but was afraid of trying (like knee-boarding!).

At a personal level, with her encouragement, I started taking better care of myself: I started exercising (I go to the YMCA several times a week... by myself!), lost weight, changed my makeup and hair, and took dance lessons with my husband. He once said, "This has been so helpful for both of us. I feel like I got a new wife out of the deal!"

She challenged me to put a much higher value on the people around me, and to take the time to invest in people. This year, my husband and I opened up our house to a couple of people who needed a place to stay. I now write note cards to friends.

In terms of work and career, I am now running finances for 3 businesses, and trying to learn about taxes...scary thought! These are all 180-degree turns from where I had been.

Most importantly for me, Charmaine was a safe place to grow. She listened, encouraged, and supported me in my new pursuits, even in their early stages. She was always open to the "baby steps" between where I was and wanted to be. And she helped me to do those things for myself.

Jump Start for the Achiever
Caleb, USA
Yale Master's graduate, academic editor, roots musician

Charmaine's compassionate listening and perceptive insights have been incredibly helpful to me. She has been nothing less than a catalyst of significant change in the way that I perceive myself and my purpose in this world.

Many times I have discussed with her some issue that was frustrating me, and left the conversation feeling encouraged and hopeful, stirred to take new action that would have previously felt insurmountably risky. Charmaine is a brilliant encourager.

Through Charmaine's gently perceptive conversation and willingness to meet me where I was, without letting me forget future possibilities, I broke into a new level of growth in my life.

Charmaine is a consummate counselor, kind and gentle, but full of a liberating, contagious, visionary hope that lends strength and resolve to a will that could use a jumpstart.

Leading Life Around
Kim Bagwell, USA
Church leader, team builder, musician… and person

I am currently developing and implementing a music leadership team for a new church plant. While I have been in leadership positions before, I can't say that I would have taken on such a daunting task had it not been for my time spent with Charmaine.

Taking this on has meant taking a RISK… possibly failing. No one likes to fail, but standing still and wondering "what if" wasn't really working (living) for me either. Through Charmaine's input, I was able to see this as an opportunity to grow and didn't just dismiss it like I may have done in previous years. When I go about my day I am much more open to seeing the littlest moment as a divine appointment to learn more about myself.

Charmaine used many creative and thought provoking activities to help me get in touch with myself and the "me" I was designed to be. Aspects of my life were holding me back, things that I didn't even know were there until she sensitively challenged them with her listening skills and feedback on assignments. Through this process the "old tapes" in my thinking slowly got rewound and replaced with much more positive thoughts and belief systems, i.e. truth.

For one thing, I've learned to surround myself with a close-knit group of supportive and positive people, give myself permission to take care of me, and curtail relationships that were siphoning off what time and energy I had to spare.

The skills Charmaine taught me not only affected my professional life but my personal life as well. My husband and I share more passionately about our dreams and we our excited to raise our family with this new ability to enjoy this life more fully as an individual, wife and mom.

I now have a freedom in myself that I had been seeking for years. I know it sounds silly, but instead of life leading me around, I feel as though I am leading life around.

Thank you Charmaine!

Lost & Found
Caroline Bone, England
Administrator, trainer

Life Coaching with Charmaine has helped me unpack parts of my self which had become lost in the busy-ness of life.

Wherever…
Karen Gower, New Zealand, Canada, England, Israel…
Administrator, counselor, minister

In my job I have been responsible for assisting in the character development of many different kinds of people. However, my old relational style was to bring others down to my level. By dishing out quick remarks that either made fun of or simply put people down, I believed that I wouldn't be seen as such a failure myself. Time with Charmaine has taught me to appreciate others' strengths and not feel threatened by my own limitations.

Whereas before I did not feel secure enough to identify with those I was helping, I can now use my own experiences to encourage them to move past their seeming 'failures' and believe with them for progress. The results are so much more effective.

Charmaine provided me with a safe 'environment' to look at who I really was, but also gave wise and positive feedback enabling me to change my perceptions and develop my attitudes into healthy ways of thinking.

Being nudged to go beyond my comfort zone in various work and team situations also prepared me to step out and take on transitions to new locations which weren't necessarily comfortable.