Do you agonize over even the smallest mistakes in your work? Do you attribute your success to luck or external factors? Do you feel like sooner or later, you will be found out as a phony? Do you downplay your own expertise, even in areas where you are genuinely more skilled than others? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you might very well be suffering with Imposter Syndrome. What is Read more…
Have you ever played the game Buckaroo? The game features a plastic model of mule and 12 items which can be loaded onto the mule’s back. Each player takes a turn to add an item. At some point the load gets too much and the mule bucks the whole load off. It’s a tense game It’s also a metaphor for life. When you take on too much, say yes to everyone and everything, you can Read more…
A jellyfish contracts its body to propel itself forward. As its muscles contract, it forces water out of its bell, and as the water is ejected, the jellyfish starts to move. Why am I sharing this? Because sometimes moving forward in life can be deceptive. You do not realise it is happening. It feels like you are getting smaller, when in fact you are preparing for the next big push. Sometimes, you have to let Read more…
What stories are you telling yourself about sleep? Do you dread going to bed? Do you find it impossible to switch off? Do you just know that you will wake in the night and struggle to get back to sleep? Do you have racing thoughts at bedtime? There’s a reason many people can’t stop thinking about things before going to bed. Your brain is collecting new information all day long According to Jim Kwik in Read more…
In business, being decisive is vital to good leadership. Being able to make a good decision that is well thought out and executed in a timely fashion is not always easy. So how do you make a good decision? The problem is that we only realise what is a good or bad decision after the event! And so we need to have skills and strategies in place to enable us to evaluate our choices Read more…
Positive thinking is the practice of focusing on the good in any given situation, rather than dwelling on the negative. It is a way of approaching life with a hopeful and optimistic attitude, even in the face of challenges and setbacks. There are many benefits to cultivating a positive outlook. For one, it can improve your mental health and overall well-being. When you focus on the positive aspects of your life, it can reduce stress Read more…
I’ve read so many good books in 2022. I thought I’d share my favourites: You Are Enough by Panache Desai is a beautiful book exploring samadhi – remembering who you truly are; a divine being. The author explores the life journey, including love, acceptance, trust and surrender. It filled my soul. I read Solve For Happy by Mo Gawdat after listening to Mo speak on Steven Bartlett’s podcast The Diary of a CEO. (Episode 101). It is the true story of Read more…
I first started using affirmations over 20 years ago, after reading the books Ask and It Is Given and The Secret. Back then affirmations were largely dismissed as wishful thinking. Now, what once was thought of as woo has since been confirmed by science. What are affirmations? An affirmation is an assertion, statement, or declaration about something. It can be positive or negative. The fact is you are constantly affirming beliefs to yourself. The problem Read more…
Before considering the actions you can take to lift your mood, it is important to first recognise your emotions and be able to assess the cause. This is what emotional intelligence is. Being aware of and able to express your emotions is vital to your well-being. Is it immediately obvious what is causing you to feel down? You should take a few minutes first to reflect on what has brought you to this state. Often Read more…
The Cookie Thief by Valerie Cox A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which Read more…
Making the decision to hire a coach is a very personal one. The reason I hired a coach in 2010 was because I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of a very busy business and fear was keeping me stuck. In one conversation, I was able to dig deeper into that fear and understand it better. What I discovered was that the surface fear was simply a mask for the underlying anxiety. The coach helped me Read more…
“Amanda, you can’t pick up all the pebbles on the beach”. These words of wisdom were said to me years ago by a colleague at work. I had just returned from maternity leave, having accepted a big promotion, and I was struggling to cope. The promotion was exciting. I had a team of 35 and our company was going through a large and complicated merger. But I had a baby to consider, and my mom, Read more…
In his book Letting Go, David Hawkins describes the state of acceptance as one in which you enjoy the experience of harmony. You feel as though events are flowing. You feel secure. Hawkins says, ‘there is the feeling. I’m okay. You’re okay. And it’s okay.’ And because of the security this state provides, you can allow yourself to be flexible, easy-going, and natural. There is joy. There is the feeling that nothing needs to be Read more…
Carl Jung first explored the notion of the shadow personality. The shadow represents those traits in your personality that you do not like or do not accept about yourself. Typically, these ugly, disowned aspects that you do not acknowledge become repressed in your mind. Shadow Work is the process of acknowledging and accepting those hidden parts of your personality. “Everyone carries a shadow and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the Read more…
In 2020, my word of the year was “surrender”. Little did I know at the beginning of that fateful year, that my word would have such significance, not just for me, but for the rest of the world. But what is surrender? It is important to point out that what I am talking about here has nothing to do with war. It is all about spiritual surrender. Let’s start with what it is Read more…
Manifesting What is it manifesting? This is simply bringing something we do or do not want into our reality. We can all do it; we are all doing it. We do it by thought. Everything starts with thought. In the book The Secret, author Rhonda Byrne encourages us to Ask, Believe & Receive. This instruction simply follows the words in the bible: Matthew 7:7-11 – Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; Read more…
To me, this is what coaching is all about. One of the four cornerstones of the Co-Active Training Institute coaching model is ~ People are Naturally Creative, Resourceful, and Whole. You do not need rescuing; you are not broken. You are whole, you are powerful, and although it might not seem like it right now, you have all the resources you need inside of you. It is incredible and thrilling for me to watch my clients go Read more…
Do you doubt yourself? There are many people that believe self-doubt to be a bad thing. Well, I disagree. I think it’s good to doubt yourself – a little. I believe it’s good to have doubts, to question everything – challenge is healthy. A little self-doubt can lead you to think more critically and gain more clarity before taking the next step. It nudges you to prepare more, which creates familiarity, gives you more Read more…
I sat in the hot, busy maternity ward, and I cried. I’d been a mother less than 24 hours, and I already felt like a failure. My beautiful newborn son, lay sleeping in the crib beside me. I’d tried to nurse him already several times but failed. It seemed to be getting harder with every attempt. To make things worse, I had just had breakfast, and sat opposite me was a confident young mother, babe Read more…
Visualisation is a process of creating a mental image of a future event. In essence, it is using our imagination to create a vision of what we want. They say seeing is believing. Well, everything begins with thought and we must see it in our mind before we can believe it in front of us. The “seeing” part is what motivates and prepares us to pursue our goal. Visualisation is not simply “think it and Read more…
Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain caused by adverse circumstances. It is the body’s response to pressure from external circumstances. When you say you are stressed, you are describing the degree to which you feel overwhelmed or unable to cope because of unmanageable tension. When we are feeling stressed, our body releases the chemical cortisol (aka ‘the stress hormone’) into our system. Cortisol is useful in “fight or flight” situations Read more…
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