Not the best way to engage and make positive emotional connections! It simply makes the other person shut down. Sam and Gina discuss the J-word vis-a-vis their own relationships. And offer 3 helpful tips on how we can check in on our own behaviour – and make powerful adjustments – before we start projecting and blaming others. 

Do you buy things you don’t really need – upgrading whenever a new and better version appears?

Are you in debt as a result of buying more and more ‘stuff’?

Do you feel trapped in a job you hate, just because you need the money to pay off the debt you’ve incurred by accumulating?

If you’ve answered ‘yes!’ to just a few of these questions, then you’ll appreciate this short inspiring TED talk from Adam Baker.

I was lucky enough to attend a workshop of Julia’s here in London recently. Her amazing way of engaging the subconscious and allowing it full expression, despite the ego’s resistance was a wonderful exercise in giving my creativity full reign. I remembered long forgotten dreams of photography, art and dance. Working in pairs we blasted through self-doubt and internal critics to discover what we would truly love to create. And the best thing? It doesn’t have to be perfect.

I have listed below some of the questions that helped us reach this awareness. And I hope that you find them equally challenging and enlightening. And that this self-questioning will take you closer to your heartfelt desires to create – each and every day of your life. Just keep it simple.

1. Family
What did your mother think about artists and creativity?
What did your father think about artists and creativity?

2. What was the art form you practised as a child?

3. What’s the art form you lust after RIGHT NOW?

4. If you had 5 ‘other’ lives what would they be? And what small action can you take right now to taste some of those lives. eg dancer – take dance classes.

5. List 15 things/activities you absolutely love.

6. List 7 artistic U-turns. e.g. I started piano but gave up when I started dating…

7. If you didn’t have to do it perfectly, what would you try right now?  e.g. learn to ride a motorbike, play piano etc

8. List 5 Ways You are Mean to Yourself

9. List 5 Ways You are Loving to Yourself

10. List 5 adventures you’d like to have

11. What Do You Need To Try?

12. What Do You Need to Know?

13. What Do You Need to Accept?

14. Write a letter from your 8-year-old self to your current self.

15. Write a letter from your 80-year-old self to your current self.

Just a few examples of a little creative archaeology! And keep asking yourself, ‘What Do I Love’ You might be surprised at the answer.

HAPPY CREATING!

Are you looking for new direction and new inspiration this year? Instead of asking others for advice, how about asking yourself these 10 power questions. They’ll give you insights and guidance towards creating the life that you really want.

1.  If tomorrow was your last day on Earth, what would you wish you’d done in your life (but haven’t).

2. Do you have a recurring vision or dream about a particular place, job, activity, people?

3. What do you feel you were put on this Earth to do?

4. What do you care deeply about?

5. Name 5 things you are really good at.

6. Ask 5 people what they think you’re good at.

7. If you had a week all to yourself without any responsibilities, what would you do?

8. What’s the most important decision you are facing right now? What stops you from making it?

9. If I told you that you had unlimited time and resources and that you could do anything you want in life, what would that be?

10. What are the first steps you can take towards doing the work or leading the life you’d love?

Inside your heart is a dream that may yet be unfulfilled. By focusing on what you love, rather than what you feel you should be doing will give you greater energy and insight. One easy way to start is to write non-stop for about 20 minutes, listing all the things you love doing. I did this recently and it was very revealing! Begin using your imagination to create, rather than clinging to a belief system that holds you back. Every single thing you see in the world today was created initially by someone’s imagination. As Lennon himself said: “Imagine…”

The first week of January is a very potent, magical time. It’s a great opportunity to sit back and reflect on the past year: your successes and achievements, and also a look at things that didn’t work out quite as you’d planned.

Many of us have New Year’s resolutions we’d like to put into action, but all too often by the third week of January, they are forgotten dreams. Put into mothballs for December 31st next year.

If you’re like me, you probably want to change the pattern this year. To somehow stay motivated, pick goals that are attainable (as well as nudging yourself out of your comfort zone) and make your dreams a 3D, tangible reality.

In order to get results in 2011 it’s essential to keep your goals and aspirations SMART:

S: specific, significant stretching.
M: measurable, meaingful, motivational.
A: achievable, attainable, action-oriented.
R: realistic, relevant, results-oriented.
T: tangible, time-based, trackable

So, if your goal is to lose weight, start by joining a gym, work out a regular exercise programme and take a look at eliminating foods from your diet that are keeping the flab on. And be realistic. You’re not going to be totally toned in just 2 weeks, it could take several months. Give yourself treats along the way to encourage and support yourself. Get a gym or exercise buddy who can help you keep accountability and get you to those classes.

If your goal is to write that long thought-about book this year, join a writing class, start a stream of consciousness writing every morning. Take small, achievable steps towards achieving your goal. Have a plan of writing so many words a day – and stick to it.

Carrot or Stick?
Some of us work well when we have a reward in sight, others need deadlines to make us cross the finishing line. Whether you’re a carrot or stick person, work out what works best for you.

Accountability buddy – or life coach
Find a friend or professional coach whom you’ll be accountable to. I’ve found this to be the most successful way to achieve goals. Knowing I have someone to be accountable to ups the stakes and makes me want to succeed that much more.

Create a vision board
Get a piece of large coloured cardboard and start collecting images from magazines that embody the life you want to live. From the geographical location, to the type of partner you want to be with, to the kind of house you want to live in. This is not only a fun exercise, it really works.

Feel into your dreams
Above all, take time out, sit down, close your eyes and begin to imagine your ideal life. Have you been striving for things that in your heart you don’t really want? Once you move from your head to your heart, and begin to use your intuition the answers will come rapidly. You’ll see signs along the way leading you along the perfect path for you. Once you start practising this daily meditation you’ll begin to trust yourself more. And realise that only YOU know what’s best for you.

Happy New Year and happy manifesting!

It’s a great phrase, ‘comfort zone’. It sounds so familiar, so safe, so secure.  A sure haven where we can rest a while – for centuries even – and never leave. So instead of taking risks, stepping out and seeing what we really are capable of in life, we tend to expand our comfort zones. Ever increasing circles. Ever decreasing opportunities. Clever, or so our mind thinks, but not a very practical nor far sighted life strategy. Believe me, there are times when I’ve stayed in mine for years. And serve me it has not.

So how can we mitigate the reptilian fears that come up every time a new opportunity in life arises, or new challenges, whether they be work, relationships, moving home, moving country? The list is endless. I’ve realised one of the major obstacles to escaping the zone of comfort is an often debilitating and incapacitating fear of the unknown. What we do not know we fear. Is it safe? Can I go there? Can I really be happy? Is it the right move? We all want to make sure it’s safe before we take that leap of faith. And a leap of faith is really what it’s all about. Learning to take that action, trust ourselves and then build up our self-confidence to take more leaps of faith. Giant leaps into more fulfilling, creative and happier lives, relationships and geographical surroundings.

We cannot know with utter certainty – even the most psychic among us – what really lies ahead. We can only imagine. Imagining the worst often attracts the worst case scenario; imagining the best will create that for us. What you think you become as Buddha said. Moving out of our comfort zones involves giving a polite nod to that part of our brain that is on continual red alert. Tell it that we are grateful that it’s doing it’s job so well, but its high time it took the A40 to Brighton and had a day off.

I can remember the time very clearly that I did my first – and only – parachute jump. Leaping, or in my case edging nervously out of a plane at 2000ft meant – to my rational mind – certain death. But I had total confidence, and the recklessness of youth, in my parachute opening. And it did.

My methods of moving out of my comfort zone include the following:

1. Just do it. Take action, no matter how small to move you one step ahead.

2. Equip yourself with as much information you can about your intended move.

3. Talk to people you know who have successfully moved out of their comfort zones. How did they do it? And what benefit did they get out of it?

4. Trust your own intuition. Only you know what’s best for you. So if you want to jack in your day job as a trader and practise beekeeping in Sussex. Do it!

5. Learn to listen to your emotions. Our minds tend to rationalise and find reasons for not doing things. Our emotions and feelings are great motivators, however. If the same thoughts around change keep coming up in your mind, then find ways of following these messages and move out of your comfort zone.

Trust me, taking action to move out of your comfort zone, whether it be a big push or baby steps, will be well worth it! Take the risk and dare to feel the fear and do it anyway!

I’d love to hear how you’ve successfully busted through your own comfort zones – and the benefits you gained by doing so. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the box under this post.

The show on NBC isn’t available to people outside of the USA, so you can view the first episode directly from breakthroughwithtonyrobbins.com

If you have downloaded the podcast from iTunes remember to post a review and visit our website at ActionPodcast.com to leave a comment or contact one of the presenters directly. Sign up for our newsletter to receive the podcast directly to your inbox, plus an additional weekly blog post!

Apparently, psychologist Clayton Barbeau gave the world the oft-used ‘shoulding all over yourself’, taken to a more below-the belt conclusion by another couch potato – clearly a big Freud fan – who dubbed it ‘musterbation’.

But whatever moniker you give this feeling, if you’re anything like me, once the dread word ‘should’ enters your brain you have a sudden indescribable urge to do exactly the opposite. Or put it off for weeks, nay months, even years for the more stubborn ‘delayers’ among us.

So where does all this wonderful ‘shoulding’ come from? Is it parents, teachers, the Bible, News of the World? Ourselves? Clearly in life there are certain essentials that do need doing: the garbage ‘should’ be taken out, otherwise you risk a rat-attack. And it’s advisable to engage in regular ablutions to avoid a sad case of Billy No Mates. But nowhere is there a written law for adults who have left the parental nest that you have to do any of those things. You can jolly well please yourself.

Differentiating between what is essential and what isn’t is a matter of conjecture and totally subjective. However, if you feel you are ‘shoulding’ on various topics way past their sell-by date, it may help to take a closer look… And ask yourself the question… What am I resisting here? Do the benefits of doing this outweigh the non-benefits? Whose voice is this? Mine or someone else’s? Am I delaying because actually doing this ‘should’ thing will make me unhappy?

‘I should get a job to pay my mortgage’ is a sensible thought indeed if you are currently sans income. But if the thought of doing work you previously hated, just to support some unscrupulous bankster cartel fills you with dread, then perhaps it would be useful to look at what other work you can do. Or sell. Downsize. There are always alternatives.

A client of mine who has made tremendous progress in dealing with her inner gremlin self-limiting beliefs told me last week that she ‘should go back into teaching’. When I asked her what she had gained from having left the profession three months ago, she quickly gave me 20 brilliant reasons why she was so much happier now. She definitely should not be going back to the Bronx and class warfare.

Stop shoulding all over yourself!

During a recent session it quickly became clear that I was on the verge of taking on too much. Over the last few months the power of being coached has resulted in some significant changes in my life and how I view situations. I’d been actively putting in a lot of work, spinning a lot of plates and generally been about as busy as I could physically be.

What surprised me was that I’ve now reached a point where pretty much everything is going to plan, on track and on schedule. I found myself looking for that extra thing that would put me back into the sensation of feeling, well rushed, busy and on the edge of coping.

I had become so used to “working my butt off” that now I had been able to schedule things better, automate them or even outsource them (my new favourite thing!) I was presented with a strange feeling of “what next?”!

Thankfully working with my coach I was able to see that, I was busy, very busy in fact. I was however, working smarter, better than before and I was now producing the results without having to work 16 hours a day. Ultimately I want to keep it this way, working at a pace that is healthy and even FUN!  As long as I’m still progressing, make moves in the direction that I want to go at a pace that works, then I’m doing the right thing.

I’d love to hear from others that have almost become so used to feeling rushed, that they often end up missing that feeling when everything is going to plan. What do you do to make sure you don’t overload yourself, just because you feel you should. How do you know when enough is enough?

Find something you’re scared of, and 9 times out of 10 it involves some kind of change in your life: new job, new relationship, new hair colour, new house, new school, new teacher, new country, new car! The list is endless.

So why do we resist? And how can we overcome the fear of change? Or rather, do we really have to?

I’ve now been living in New York for just over 5 months. It’s actually my 6th visit to the city, so it’s not entirely an alien planet. But culturally it often feels like it. I’d been wanting to live here for a few years, but always resisted the calling: too expensive, won’t get enough work to keep me here, will be all on my little lonesome. The excuses were really endless. Strange, really, since my life in London was hardly one of spellbinding excitement and stimulation. I guess it really was the fear of the unknown. Of moving out of my comfort zone and changing it for something totally out of my sphere.

But has the experience turned into a nightmare of epic proportions? Absolutely not! In fact I wish I’d come here years ago, when the economy was still buoyant and finding work a helluva lot easier. Yet despite the inherent challenges of moving to a new city and not knowing anyone, I’ve met some incredible people, made great professional contacts and thoroughly immersed myself in the cultural life here. In my opinion it’s just about the greatest city on earth. I love it here. I moved out of my comfort zone and embraced the changes. And as I did so became more confident. Not always less fearful, but soon discovered that the fear passed once I actually got on and did the very thing that was spooking me!

If you’re a change junkie, then you’ll have no problem uprooting in every sense. Change to you is an adrenalin kick. But for more cautious types, I have one thing to say. Feel the fear and do it anyway! Life is passing you by so very quickly. Stop dreaming and start doing. Make the changes you’ve always dreamed of, before it’s too late.

Photo courtesy: mediaslap.soundworks.com

Make connections

So what is rapport?
A dictionary definition describes it as relation; connection, esp. harmonious or sympathetic relation. It’s all about communicating effectively in your life, to strengthen your connection with people and ensure you are understood. And it has its roots in the French verb, rapporter, to bring back. It’s a give and take scenario here. Successful communication is equally important between family, friends, lovers, and work colleagues. Personal development expert, Tony Robbins asks: “Is it more important to be right, or more important to be in love with someone?” Good question!

It’s your choice: win friends and influence people? (Dale Carnegie’s seminal book, originally written for sales people in 1937 is still a best seller) or in the case of journalist Toby Young: lose friends and alienate people [great book/hilarious movie].

When younger, I made little effort to maintain rapport with people who rubbed me up the wrong way. But in hindsight and some age-gathered wisdom, I now see that these people were generally just mirroring aspects of myself I hadn’t integrated or were still completely unaware of. These ‘pain in the butt’ folks were actually my greatest teachers – or would have been if I hadn’t exited sharply stage left. Today, I’m happy to say I rarely dismiss new contacts out of hand, and instead take time to find out what makes them tick. To imagine the world from their view and stand in their shoes for a while. Not easy, but a whole lot smoother on the nervous system than outright condemnation and disregard.

I’ll admit to only just having read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People  and will also admit to being blown away by its contents. Despite its much-maligned title, Mr C’s message is as applicable today as it was in the Thirties. And you don’t have to be in sales to benefit. This book has made me sit up and think so profoundly that I’m going to repeat 10 of his building blocks of successful rapport right here:

Don’t criticise, condemn or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation. Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound, in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Make the other person feel important. And do it sincerely.
Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong”
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Let the other person save face.

By applying even a few of these each week since reading the book, I’ve noticed a profound change in my relationships with others. Most noticeably is that I’ve become infinitely more interested in other people. Not just people who are like me. But everyone I meet! Every human being you are likely to encounter in life will have an incredible story to tell. And is always worth listening to.

Here are my own tips for creating better rapport:

1.    Make eye contact. And hold it for longer (without staring!)
2.    Make your body language open. Uncross your arms, uncover your heart and turn to face the person you are talking to. This encourages openness and trust.
3.    Show that you’ve been listening by asking appropriate questions. Sincerely. Most people spend 95% of their time thinking about themselves. They love it when you show genuine interest in what you’re doing.
4.    Find common ground from the beginning of the conversation. Generally, people like people who are like themselves.
5.    Listen for verbal thinking preference clues. Is the person you are talking to visual (I see what you’re saying), Aural (I hear you), Kinaesthetic (How do you feel about?).
6.    Step into the other person’s shoes and imagine life from their viewpoint. Not a single person on the planet has exactly the perspective on life. Yet we often imagine other people see things exactly the way we do. Wrong!
7. Match your tone, pace, volume and inflection – without it being obvious – to the person with whom you’re talking. I’m not talking about mimicry here, rather a subtle shift in the way you communicate.

The above points are easy to practice – and you’ll be amazed at the results. Happy connecting!

Photo: www.persuasive.net

For further information on family coaching and resources available visit Alan’s website at: www.developyourchild.co.uk

I have done this before and wanted to start doing it again. This morning however, I was really struggling to get dressed, ready and out the door. I was really close to saying to myself that it was OK and that I could go later. That’s when it hit me….

Why bother? Why am I bothering to drag my tired body off the the gym?
Answer: Because one of my goals is to get fitter, a LOT fitter.

It didn’t end the internal conversation though, which surprised me a bit, so I went with it.

Why bother? My little internal voice was repetitive but clearly unimpressed with my first answer. So I began to list of the reasons, no matter how small, why I wanted to get fitter:-

1. Real health history, my mother died at 45 from a heart attack. My father has vascular dementia at 72 and is confined to a wheel chair. I have a sleeping disorder called Sleep Apnoea, which basically means I stop breathing when I’m asleep. So I have to use a CPAP (in basic terms a breathing machine) to allow me to sleep properly at night. If going to the gym will help me long a better quality of life for longer then that is a huge reason to go to the gym this morning.
2. I’ll be 40 in two years time. I’m not getting any younger or any prettier for that matter! So if I can help myself feel and look a little younger by having a good fit body then hitting the big 4-0 won’t seem such a big deal.
3. I’m a life coach. I love to help people achieve what they dream about and help them find the motivation to do so. So if I can’t motivate myself to go to the gym this morning how can I expect my clients to?
4. Once I’m at the gym, within just a few minutes I’ll start to feel the endorphins working. I’ll feel uplifted and be able to carry that energy throughout the rest of my day.
5. Because I do enjoy it. I like learning new things and working out a routine for myself plays on my desire to do things right, but to do things my way.

Why……..? My inner voice fell silent.

As a coach I was trained NOT to ask a question starting with Why? Which for 99% of the time is true. WHY? Because….. to answer a why question the client jumps straight to “because” and begins to justify themselves. This can stop people looking deeper to find out what is really driving them.

On this occasion, my subconscious was using it correctly though. I needed to spend some time justifying why I was bothering to drag my tired body to the gym.

I went to the gym this morning.

I enjoyed it.

WHEN life gets challenging, do you find yourself ruminating regretfully on the past – searching for reasons to justify present dissatisfactions? The anxiety producing “If only… you’d taken that job, married that person, moved countries, bought that flat, had different parents, gone to a different college, taken less drugs, taken more drugs, had more fun, travelled more, had children, not had children… This ego-inspired reasoning, which keeps us in a state of disempowerment and impotence is endless. And endlessly demotivating. And it lures us away from the immense power of being fully conscious and fully present.
Right here, right now.

Or perhaps like many of us, you prefer to focus on the future to avoid feeling any present pain. Or taking action to move out of your current unease. The “What if…. line of anxiety producing self-enquiry… What if…. I get made redundant, make the wrong decision, my boyfriend/girlfriend leaves me, choose the wrong job, it all goes terribly wrong, lose all my money, feel lonely, etc. Projecting our fear into future events, which have yet to happen.

Resistance
We all, myself very much included, have constructed myriad ways of resisting the present moment. The Right Here. Right Now. The mind, ego, whatever you want to call it, invariably takes us away from true consciousness. It feeds off and promotes our fear. Controlling and self-denying, it loves the whip hand. And until we take charge of our thoughts, the CD of self-sabotage will continue to play into the sunset… like an interminable Groundhog Day (without the humour!).

Why do we avoid feeling present?
If you are a human being – and I’m assuming most of you reading this are of that persuasion – then you’ll probably find yourself taking more action to avoid pain, than taking positive action towards experiencing pleasure in life. Think about it. Sex addiction, work addiction, drug addiction – we self-medicate and self-anaesthetise to suppress painful emotions and feelings. But of course they simply go underground, emerging at inappropriate moments with the result that we often self-sabotage – in work and our personal life – the very relationships we hold most dear. Or we simply never invite them in in the first place. We avoid ‘being’.

Observe your emotions
One way I work with clients is to encourage them to feel their emotions. Not deny them. Look at the very word ‘emotion’. Motion = movement. They are simply passing through. They are not OF you. By refusing to  identify with the emotions, but by simply observing them as they move through, you will become less addicted to checking out. There are many ways of staying present, with presence. The most powerful way is to focus on your breath. Put all your attention on your in – and your out breath. Practise this daily for at least 5 minutes at a time. Then any time you feel overwhelmed by emotions and feel yourself checking out, use this technique to change your state. It’s the best way to be fully present. And surrender to the moment.

Ground yourself
Another way is to stay in your body – preferably 24/7. Use grounding exercises such as imagining heavy cords reaching from the soles of both feet down into the ground. As far as the earth’s core. Tie these cords or vines around large boulders. Then draw up that fabulous fire energy from the earth’s molten core. Visualise that energising orange, brown, red colour rising up your feet, ankles, and legs until it fills your whole body. You will feel energised and more powerfully in your body.

Pay attention
Give your full attention to whatever you are doing. Whether it’s watching soapsuds on a glass you’re washing up, to watching the trees on your way to work, to totally focusing on your work. Practise right here. Right now.

Give yourself permission to be increasingly creative… Write a stream of consciousness page every morning as soon as you get up. Start painting, drawing, learn a musical instrument… move your consciousness from your left to your right brain. The source of all inspiration. Play! Play! Play! Run around a field, scream and shout. Allow your inner child expression and let go! Laugh – and above all, don’t take yourself too seriously.

Results
Being fully present will enable you to draw on unlimited inspiration. You will be able to deal with your emotions in a constructive way, instead of diving in and becoming overwhelmed by them. Unfettered by the past or future, you will access all the energy, self-awareness and clarity you need for peace of mind and a more creative and fulfilling life. Enjoy your presence!

Now, we all know there is a lot of uncertainty, gloom & pressure in the broadcast view of the economic climate at the moment; but it is still a shock when it impacts directly on someone you know (and even more if it happens to you!)

Then after a 15 minute conversation, he was not only feeling a bit better – but he’d gone from feeling like he had no real prospects in the New Year, to having a lot to look forward to!

So how can someone’s Job Loss become their Freedom Gained? Let’s play with some perspectives.

Redundancy (and I’ve been there) is usually something that happens TO you; and like a lot of big, scary changes – it can feel forced upon you. You might feel sad, shocked, angry, hurt, confused, betrayed, and even abandoned, guilty, or ashamed.

It is pretty hard to celebrate what you enjoyed about your job in that kind of mood… and it could be very tough to enter the New Year feeling motivated about job-hunting under these circumstances. What started turning it around for my friend?

First, I asked him what his job ideas/plans were for the New Year – and I noticed that whilst he had a few ideas about where to start, he was clear he wasn’t going to go back to exactly the same type of job again. Then I asked what he would celebrate about his old job, and it turns out he didn’t think very highly of the place at all… what he did love (and what had kept him there for so long) though, was the people! Now he understood where some of the sadness around leaving was coming from, and he knew straight away who he wanted to stay in contact with (in fact he already had a plan in place for this!). He admitted that change feels scary (which it definitely does); and so by celebrating the people he loved working with, enjoying the fact that he was now leaving behind a place he didn’t like, and having plans for staying in contact with certain individuals, he immediately felt better about the whole situation.

On top of that, he knows that he can look forward to the extra support of a coaching session in the New Year, to kick-start things and ensure his next job is the one he really feels best about!

Of course – Redundancy is still a painful experience to go through, and one conversation won’t magically smooth it all over. So what can you do to make the journey a bit less bumpy? How about:

• Allow yourself to feel (and acknowledge) all the emotions and thoughts you have about facing redundancy. Unless you’re jumping for joy, there are going to be some rough patches.
• Set a date for when you will finish grieving the loss of your old job. Choose when you will be ready to leave it behind, and make an agreement with yourself that you’ll start stepping forward after that point.
• Remember that whilst you may not have chosen to be in this situation, you do have the power to choose your reactions to it…

Will your choice be Loss or Gain?
I know which Christmas present I’d want to give myself.

Finances: Research your quotes for electricity, gas, insurance, mobile, cable, etc. Companies are desperate to keep customers, so they’re offering great deals right now. Manage your debt. Cut up your credit cards, or decide to pay them off every month. Recessions are great for investors as stocks on quality companies also lose value. They can then be bought at a good price, with excellent long-term prospects. Interests rates are currently at an all-time low. So if you’re not locked in to lengthy fixed repayments, change your mortgage to a base rate or tracker.

Career: Practise a positive mental outlook. Redundancy can give you the perfect kick start to move into a career or business you’ve always dreamed about, but haven’t dared consider – till now. Make a list of your goals and options. And take small steps each week towards achieving them. Smarten up your cv and put it out there. Lots of people are too scared to change jobs right now, so competition for new positions has actually reduced.

Personally: Practise a positive mental outlook. If you succumb to fear’s stranglehold and consequent inertia, you’re an instant loser. Think like a winner. Pick someone you personally admire and model their behaviour. This is your chance to be adaptive, creative and try something or someone(!) new. Seize your day, focus on the present and stop procrastinating. Recessions can be a fertile time for professional and personal growth. You’ll discover your strengths – and make use of them.

Business: Practise a positive mental outlook. To survive in this climate, your business must be increasingly creative. You’ll need to look for new markets, and exploit existing ones. And refine your products and business strategies. Competition is reduced as competitors go bust. If you run a small business, it’s prudent to delay larger expenditures. But as with every recession, businesses will continue to do business. And consumers will continue to flex their plastic. Focus on issues you can personally control.

In essence, the recession can be tough for some, but it’s also a massive opportunity for positive change. Respond to the collective fear and anxiety by expanding. Take small, regular steps outside your comfort zone to increase your self-confidence and self-awareness. Make the positive decision to motivate yourself into realising your dreams.

Life coaching helps you rise to the challenges. You’ll discover your strengths and use them to propel your life forward. Personally and professionally you’ll become more creative, more fulfilled and more successful.

This ‘cast is not just for those of you who have piles of paperwork across your desk, or so much stuff in a room that you can’t see the floor… How aware are you, of the areas in which you allow things to accumulate?

Do you find yourself surrounded by things and yet still unable to find what you’re looking for? What does it take to push you into having a clear out and letting go of all those things you don’t need?

Join us to find out what being a little more active when it comes to making space & utilising all your resources would be like for you!

Just because things are going your way doesn’t mean that your relationship is on the rocks. However if you have already considered all your options and talked things through, sometimes you need to make some really hard decisions. They may be tough, but they can also take you forward into a more fulfilling future.

Can you give yourself permission to follow your dreams?

Knowing what to do to calm your mind could be a handy tool to have in your belt – but how do you even know when you get to that point where things are becoming a bit ‘too much’?

Discover your personal triggers/signals, and the ways that work best for you to calm your mind before it takes over(!) or the dreaded insomnia kicks in.