Kim Ratz

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From Kim Ratz, Speaker-Trainer-Troubadour, October 2013

Nothing fancy - just a fast, free read to inspire hope,
improve skills to cope, and induce some fun in your day!

It happened again last night in class: A 40-something adult had a scary childhood experience in the water and consequently avoided water at all costs for the next 40-some years ... Until her child learned to swim at the YMCA ... So she decided it was time for her to stop being scared of water, and to learn to swim ... And one of my favorite sayings showed its truth once again: "When the student is ready, the teacher always appears."

I frequently tell the adults in my "Y" Beginning Swimmer classes that for some people, learning what to do with their arms and legs will be the easy part, and that the muscle that may require the most work is sometimes the mind, and the things we tell ourselves like -- "I can't do this," or "This will never work" ... Like many challenging tasks: It's 98% mental & 2% physical, and we often make otherwise simple things more difficult than they need to be ... Phobias are very real, and Aquaphobia (the fear of water) is one of the more common fears (for an interesting list of hundreds of phobias, see: www.kimratz.com/phobias.html). Yet this fear can be managed if you focus on helping the learner (or yourself :) feel comfortable, and in control. Because only then can they get beyond what makes them anxious, so they feel they can place their focus on what they do with their arms, legs and breathing ... And once they learn what to do and how to do it and have a safe place to practice, they really start to feel the payoff in their transition from WANTING to learn to swim, to BELIEVING that they CAN swim, and that they CAN keep getting better ... And that's exactly what happened last night -- the 40-something's persistence and practice paid off, and she swam almost a full length of the pool (25 yds) using the front crawl stroke - swimming to the deep end of the pool! She not only managed her fear -- she gave herself a real boost of self-confidence, and a fun way to continue to get better with her daughter ...

I love sharing examples from the swim classes during my keynotes and workshops, because learning to swim, and overcoming a fear, is such a great metaphor for so many of the challenges we face in our life journey (and a lot of you readers are afraid of water and have avoided learning to swim - see the note below) ... It's like the non-swimmer who has learned how to deal with the law of gravity, and the automatic act of breathing every day of their life, and then suddenly realizes they need to re-learn something they've always done in a new or different way ... The first-time acts of lifting your feet off the bottom to float or swim, and putting your face in the water and learning the mechanics of rhythmic breathing, are H-U-G-E acts of faith and resilience, those intangible tools that help you try something you've never done before, work through your initial discomfort, and even believe that something good awaits you as an outcome ... And you increase your odds of success if you approach it in manageable chunks or steps, so that you continually achieve, and advance, and improve your confidence and competence ...

So -- What is that one thing you know you want to learn? What are you waiting for? Your opportunity may be closer than you think ...

FYI: Just in case you can relate to a fear of water, Gallup did a national poll in 1998 to find out how many people are afraid of water (aquaphobia), and found that: 64% (128 out of 200 million polled) are afraid in deep open water; 46% are afraid in deep water and swimming pools; and 39% are afraid to put their head under water. Frequent reasons why people are afraid: They have a parent(s) who is afraid of water, they had a scary experience in the water, or they don't like not being able to see what is under and around them. In many cases they can't even remember why or what happened that made them afraid, but it was probably a situation in which they felt like they lost control and it is transferred to a fear of water ... I hope you realize that you are not alone, and that like the woman in this article, and millions of other adults, you too can still learn what you didn't learn earlier -- as soon as you're ready to learn, and for your teacher to appear ...

You Might be Interested in last Month's Article to Meeting Planners:
Improve the Value & ROI at Your Conferences & Training Events

If you ever have to look for and hire a speaker for a workshop or conference, I want you to know about this article I sent to meeting planners last month - full of tips to help you get more value and return on your training investment. It starts with things you ask your speaker to help you do BEFORE the event, things to do AT the event, and tips for AFTER the event ... This link takes you directly to the article: www.kimratz.com/sep13.html.

(For more articles on my web site, click here: Kim's Articles

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. - Alvin Toffler

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school - Albert Einstein

Few have been taught to any purpose who have not been their own teachers. - Sir Joshua Reynolds

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts. - C.S. Lewis

I never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

Learning without thought is labor lost. - Confucius

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. - Henry Ford

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. - Will Durant

I find four great classes of students: The dumb who stay dumb. The dumb who become wise. The wise who got dumb. The wise who remain wise. - Martin Fischer

Education would be so much more effective if it's purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school very boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. - Sir William Haley

She knows what is the best purpose of education: not to be frightened by the best but to treat it as part of daily life. - John Mason Brown

Any fool can know. The point is to understand. It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the question much longer. - Albert Einstein

(For more articles and quotes on my web site, click here: Kim's Articles

I specialize in helping people create more harmony in their own life, and in their relationships with others. It's about Choices and Congruence - by aligning your Attitudes, Aptitudes and Actions - so that at day's end you feel content, not regret. This content is applied to outcomes including: Attitudes & Discpline for Personal Excellence, Communication and Relationship skills, Leadership, Teamwork and Customer Service. I do this through keynotes and workshops that inspire hope, help people improve skills to cope with change, challenge and conflict, and original music, stories and humor to induce some fun along the way!

If you need a presenter who shares content, energy and inspiration,
call me right away so we can discuss how one of these programs could help your group!

kimratz@aol.com

952.938.4472
(Central TZ)

3665 Woody Lane,
Minnetonka, MN 55305