When you’re having a difficult time, fail, make a mistake or notice something you don’t like about yourself, how do you typically respond? With compassion toward yourself? Or with harsh judgement and self-criticism? Many of us find it difficult to offer ourselves the same understanding and kindness we would to a friend who is going through a hard time or feels inadequate. Instead we find ourselves stuck in constant debilitating self-judgement. As some of you already know, I signed up for swimming
Read more →“What do you need to relinquish in order to receive what you cannot yet imagine?” ~Walter Brueggemann~
Read more →Although life coaching is all about “growing forward”, our pasts can sometimes get in the way of the very progress we say we want to make. We get stuck, we hit roadblocks, we sabotage ourselves, we have difficulty in relationships. Sometimes it’s important to pause, reflect and learn from our past. We can then apply this self-awareness into our current reality and be in a better position to move forward. Take “difficulty in relationships” for example. This just happens
Read more →“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” Henry David Thoreau What perspective are you wearing today? It can be helpful to ask ourselves this question because we’re often unaware of our perspective until we check-in with ourselves. It’s good to be aware because sometimes our current perspective is a powerful filter that can limit the possibilities we see. It can help to try on other more empowering perspectives. PERSPECTIVE: the way we see things; the way we
Read more →Do you ever have trouble communicating? Discover that what you say and what people actually hear are not the same thing? I certainly do! Making ourselves understood isn’t always easy. Fortunately, there are numerous things we can do to sharpen our communication skills and improve how we are heard. Last week, while spending time with my seven young grandchildren, I witnessed my five-year-old granddaughter having trouble getting her point across to one of her cousins. Her little voice got louder and louder as she attempted to be heard
Read more →“We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust.” — Henri Nouwen Do you ever feel lost? Like you need a compass to help you navigate your life from the inside out rather than being at the mercy of life’s changes? Dawna Markova provides such a compass in her book, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion.
Read more →“It is not the events in your life that determine who you are, it’s how you choose to respond to them” Victor Frankl I have no idea how or why the 35-year-old from Illinois ever came back to find me in the crowd of several thousand runners as I was approaching mile 24 of the Little Rock Marathon last weekend. “FOCUS!” he shouted, as he caught my eye. He could tell I was utterly exhausted and somehow knew my
Read more →Negative self-talk can make it difficult for us to move forward in our lives. When we listen to our negative messages and believe them, we can end up sabotaging ourselves. “You aren’t working hard enough.” “You should be further along in your career.” “You aren’t smart enough, attractive enough, wealthy enough, experienced enough, old enough……..you’re not enough!” “You’re too introverted, too extroverted, too aggressive……you’re too much!” Such messages, called “Saboteur Voices” in the coaching world, are often the result of
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Do your daily or weekly habits support the goals you have for yourself? Or do they prevent you from reaching your goals? These are important questions to ask because we shape our lives by making choices again and again, moment by moment, year after year. Every day we face hundreds of small discreet tiny choice points to engage in this behavior or that, this habit or that. Take the goal of weight loss, for example. This goal just happens to
Read more →I came across “The Mayonnaise Jar” on my personal facebook page today and decided it was worth posting here on my blog. This “lesson” has been making rounds on the internet for at least 10 years but it’s message is timeless. For those of you who may have already seen this, welcome to a good reminder! The Mayonnaise Jar When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar
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