Fallen and dried leaves crackle underfoot in a multi-coloured bed of forna

Branches cracked at the seams and crashed to the ground speak of times past

The autumn winds begin to take their toll

Creaking, the trees sway majestically as the sun, low in the northern sky, bounces off the trunks and the few leaves that still cling fast to the branches.

Shreds of pale blue sky appear through the sparsely decorated branches as you cast your eyes skywards.

Cradled by mother nature, yet alone, the path in front of you devoid of any other living creature.

The woodland providing shelter from the strong autumn winds, collar pulled high and hat pulled down, head tilted forward and shoulders lifted and rounded.

Yellow, green, brown. Uninterrupted views of a tri-coloured blanket of leaves that lay mixing in their autumnal social fair.

Breaking through to a clearing, the tall grasses blow wildly in the strong winds.

Rhythmically a wooden gate creaks and knocks as the wind catches it in its style.

The bright golden threads of sunlight dapple the leaves on a sycamore tree.

The cold and pale blue sky, empty, save for a lonely moon, suspended ghostly in its first moments of sight.

Fields, more brown, less green, barren in their post harvest state.

The sun bids you adieu as it dips beyond the horizon and bathes the sky in sheaths of pink and violet.

Wind biting into your face, thoughts turn to the crackling sounds and relaxing warmth of an open fire.

As you marvel at the gifts that autumn brings, a smile develops and contentment and peace fill your every breath.

Know who I've been but don't know who I am

Know what I've thought but don't know what to think

Know what I've said but don't know what to say

Know what I've read but don't know what to read

Know what I've written but don't know what to write

Know what I've sung but don't know what to sing

Know what I've done but don't know what to do

Know what I've felt but don't know what to feel

Know who I've helped but don't know how to heal

Know where I've been but don't know where I'm going

The answer's in between.

You look at me with your eyes but are you seeing me or do you see right through me? Do you see the truth within me?

Is truth what you seek from me?

Do you just want to hear what you want to hear?

My eyes see you, the real you, the pain and loss, the fear and unhappiness, the brave face you put on, the protective stance you take when someone gets too close to the truth of what you feel and think.

You are not alone.

We are all part of one great cosmos.

Insignificant particles we may be as individuals.

We are also very significant.

Each and every one of us is here to do the same thing.

Learn lessons.

Learn who we are.

It's a Hansel and Gretel story.

We have been left breadcrumbs by our higher selves to find our way home and from birth to death we have the opportunity to take many paths to find ourselves and evolve whilst struggling with the constraints of the physical form we are within.

We are so much more than the bodies we use for each lifetime.

When we talk about connecting with someone it's usually had nothing to do with the physical form.

It's usually to do with what they are representing energetically.

We like how they think, their attitude, the way they speak and what they speak about, their sense of humour and simply their presence.

None of these are the physical form they are all the essence of that person's spirit.

That spirit, that energy is what connects and I recognise myself in you.

When I look into your eyes and you allow me to see you, the real you, I know that confusion and struggle that is going on within you.

I have experienced that too.

I have always been someone who believes that fulfilment is our birthright. From a child I believed that we are all supposed to live abundant lives and I could not understand why people didn't have what they wanted.

My early childhood was spent in poor circumstances with both my parents suffering health problems and struggling just to have enough to eat day to day.

Like many of us, they do not always remember just how far they have come in their lifetime, but they live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle and have done for the last 30 years. Sure there are always challenges, but then, as I have come to learn, that is what life is all about. How we deal with them is the key to which way life takes us.

My view of the world as a child was of course simplistic, but this view does hold its own power, for the simple view is uncomplicated with the distractions of western civilised life.

I maintain my childhood view, but now appreciate how difficult it is to reach fulfilment when we subscribe completely to what we are presented with in the media as what we should aspire to and how we should aspire to be.

I am an entrepreneurial spirit who loves listening to people to learn from them and their experiences, as well as to offer them my experience where appropriate.

Having been forced to take stock of my life in recent years - what some would call a mid-life crisis, but what I consider to be a half-time opportunity to look back, learn from what has happened and plot a new or improved path onto which I can take a first step- I am now a calmer, focused but flexible and more patient man than I ever was.

One of my biggest lessons was that whilst I have always been big on communication, we can wrongly believe we are communicating when we are simply talking. It is also possible to be listening and not hearing what is actually being said.

Communication is what happens when someone says, shows or writes something and the person with whom we are trying to communicate understands what has been said, shown or written. All too often, we will say something and the fact that the words have left our mouth and been received at the other persons ears, we feel our job is done, when in reality they have not understood what has been said.

I learnt this lesson in one of the hardest ways I could imagine possible. I lost the woman I loved.

We weren't communicating for far too many years and it is only since our divorce and time apart, many letters, e-mails and telephone conversations that not only the error, but the time it began, has been revealed and so doing given me a better understanding of not only myself, but what I really needed in a relationship and what I had to offer.

I was a classic, work focused man who, whilst he likes to believe that he is working to build a better life for his family as well as himself, is also being motivated by his ego to be seen to be doing better and better and to welcome the adulation that comes with that. In that moment of adulation it is wonderful, but it's a deception. It's momentary unless it's built from selflessness. Then it lasts.

I have achieved many things in my life time and enjoyed my life immensely for the greater part.

I spent 18 years in the IT and Internet industry in various managament positions on both a national and international basis. I aslo started a couplem of businesses, one of which, Ecademy, is still running today. See http://www.ecademy.com

I have since worked in the real estate arena in the UK and in other countries.

Divorced after 17 years, I have 2 children, Adam and James, who spend every other week with me and from whom I learn so much, (children have an uncanny way of cutting to the chase and seeing things from a completely different perspective).

I love time with my children, walking, theatre, cinema, practicing Reiki and Tensegrity, good company, good food, good wine, travel, skiing, motorbikes. I have ecelectic tastes in everything from reading through, music, film, theatre and even friends! I love to explore the new and interesting.

Always passionate about life, my work, my friends and family. Invariably optimistic and positive thinking. A firm believer that life is what you make it. I have never considered coaching as a business but love spending time helping people see their way through to the other side of their issues. I seem to have enjoyed this more than anything for the greater part of my life and one day in the not too distant future will put pen to paper on it.

Thank you for visiting my profile and feel free to say hi.

Wishing you everything you would wish for yourself.

Steve :)