I Make a Difference

The Truth to Being Your True Self

The truth is there is a beautiful, unique, powerful, accepting, loving and free shining light and being within you that is you, the true you.

To truly reconnect and be your true self it is not a journey that requires an overnight bag with a change of clothes. It is an adventure that requires your willingness, resilience, commitment and action as you explore all the depths, breadths, crevices and parts of you where there is no light and where there is sunshine. Why?

You have emotions that require healing, truth you need to face within you, behaviors you need to look at, thoughts you need to unravel and faith and trust you need to reclaim so that you can get to know, respect, accept, value and be who you truly are.

In doing so you will feel things that are uncomfortable, face truths that you do not want to admit, experience vulnerability that feels like you are in quicksand and you may even want to throw in the towel and run away. At the same time, you will uncover beautiful parts of you, you have not been owning or forgot about. You will grow your belief and trust of you, you will identify and listen to your knowing (the voice of your soul) with great clarity. You will be more accepting of yourself, others and life, and discover that life is a process that you cannot control and you wont want to, because you trust how it unfolds. And you will do right by you and the right thing from a place of clarity, strength, love and care.

What does it require from you to be your true self?

Not just read a book about how to become your true self, or attend a course and say you know it and just pay lip service to your process. It requires you to get really real with yourself, face and admit what is really going on inside of you. For you to feel the emotions you experience and be in them and for you to put the tools and processes you know will help you, into action and live them.

You need to heal, unravel that which is not you, relearn about what is you, reconnect to, discover and uncover you - the true you.

I Make a Difference can guide you to do that.

When I designed the I Make a Difference process the reason I did so was for people to have processes, tools and ways they could make a real and sustainable difference to how they felt, what they thought, how they behaved, their interactions in their relationships and their life. And most importantly, so that they had the ability to self-facilitate their process and reconnect to who they truly are.

I Make a Difference and myself are here to support you on your adventure to reconnecting to your true self.

Melinda Cates

Follow Us On Social Media

I Make a Difference Processes

The I Make a Difference Adventure

FROM CONDITIONED YOU

No matter what your age is, your gender, culture or background, life does not discriminate as to who will experience emotional, mental, physiological and energy craziness and mayhem. Processing that goes on inside of you that is confusing, overwhelming at times and can even leave you feeling quite desperate. This is the conditioned and hurt you. And you find yourself asking and even internally screaming "what is it that is happening to me?", "why am I experiencing this?" and "how do I stop the hurt?" and "how do I change the conditioning?

TO THE TRUE YOU

However there is also a jewel within you, a place that is filled with strength, gentleness, beauty, acceptance, simplicity, stillness and an abundance of love. This is you, the true you. You find you are curious and want to know who truly are, what is true and right for you, how to connect and listen to the answers you know you have inside of you and how to be you.

Join I Make a Difference on Instagram

I worked in the steel industry for many years and during that time I attended many personal development programs. But the IMAD program is different and for me the first time that everything else has made sense. The reason for this is that IMAD is about understanding yourself. It is about understanding that everyone’s life journey has been different and that these things build the person that you are today. And that despite the differences we all have basically the same emotional responses but that our history has made certain things have more or less impact and therefore have changed us in different ways. The course does this in a way that personalised it for me and made it real. It was a journey of discovery where the reason for my own behaviour was uncovered. For the first time I was able to understand my emotional response to various situations. This created a strength and confidence that I had not experienced before. Circumstances that had previously stressed me are now much easier to deal with. I rarely go a day without reflecting on what I learnt at IMAD and continually using that to improve myself.

The I Make a Difference program was a critical stage in my life. Prior to the programme I felt as if I was floating through life with no sense of direction, purpose or awareness. I was depressed and self-sabotaging. The program was an opportunity to spend time learning about myself. I began to understand the reason why I behaved the way I had been and the impacts that this had on myself and others. This awareness provided me with choices which I didn't feel that I had! I could choose to dwell on what I had lost and mistakes I had made, or I could acknowledge these, work through them with the tools that were provided and make choices for different outcomes in the future. I switched from being reactive to being responsive, taking responsibility for my life and choices. I use the tools from the programme years after attending and I am grateful to my core for this as this has supported me to fully appreciate my life and journey. This programme is not a surface skimmer - it has depth and realness as it came from Melinda's journey.

I attended IMAD as part of my application for a role at GMAD. Taking part in IMAD was an edifying and inspiring experience personally and professionally. The program helped me to take stock of my experiences, assess my strengths and challenges, clarify my goals and troubleshoot road blocks to success. Melinda Cates’ facilitation was brilliant; - incisive, intelligent and yet deeply caring and supportive; all necessary ingredients to effect positive change.The GMAD and IMAD models were inspiring because they reinforced to me the power of personal development within a range of business models and particularly recruitment and HR.I went on to continue my career in the Arts as a Vocal Consultant, with stints in Community Development project work, Event Management and Retail Fashion.IMAD gave me the confidence to always keep personal development at the heart of my projects and work which has enabled me to make a difference in all my endeavours; personally, professionally, culturally and commercially

The IMAD experience allowed me to see the situations in my life that had an emotional and mental impact on my confidence and self-esteem. I was empowered by the dedication and leadership of the program to facilitate my personal development and to never lose sight of who I am and where I have come from. IMAD really understood the people they were working with.

“It is a personal development program that allows you the space and time to look in and discover, connect with the person you want to be, have been and really are. It provides you with the tools to make change in your life once you have highlighted your areas for development or growth. It is done in an environment that is safe and respectful, with people who are accepting and truthful.”

“Since I participated in the I Make a Difference programme I believe it has had an amazing impact on my life. I am a better person, my marriage is so strong and my relationship with my children is fantastic. I have been able to let people who I care about get close to me and I have been able to talk to them. For the first time I have discussed with people close to me, some of the feelings, sensitivities, and needs that I have. I have acknowledged to myself that I can enjoy life more by sharing more of me with others instead of being closed off. I feel less influenced by external events in terms of my reactions to things, events and adversities."

“For me personally I would describe the program as confronting and empowering. I chose to think about issues and events in my life that I have been avoiding for a long time. This was confronting for me because I am so used to portraying that everything in my life is fine and that I have everything under control and that things don’t affect me. I must admit I was a little unprepared for the emotions that I would feel throughout the five days which swung wildly from very eager to be there to resenting that I was thinking about things I didn’t want to think about. Aside from being personally confronting I found the program empowering as it allowed me to identify incidents in my life that have shaped me into the person I am and how I can work through some of these issues to help myself and therefore the way I relate and interact with people in my life. It has made me consciously aware of the thoughts and feelings I’m having and why I am having them and also the impact it has on others. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to attend this program and while I can certainly identify that I have a lot further to go, at least I am taking a proactive step in the right direction. “

FIND OUT MORE

© Melinda Cates 2018-2019. All rights reserved.

Terms and Conditions.

Privacy Policy.