Facing Old Issues with New Insights

Are you a creature of habit? Are your habits good or bad? Do you keep approaching things in the same way expecting a different outcome? We can talk about positive thinking and positive self-talk until the cows come home but the reality is, for most, it appears easier said than done. We often develop habits that are not helpful and when bad or negative experiences happen in our lives they become bigger and turn into an issue! This issue is something we don’t want to face because we fear it, feel dealing with it hasn’t worked in the past, or perhaps we’ve just buried our heads in the sand hoping it will go away! The trouble is, issues don’t go away and won’t change until we approach them differently. Let’s look at how we can all make positive changes in our lives, either personally or professionally. Think about an old

Is your worry as painful as toothache?

I was reminded of this when I had a tooth infection resulting in one of the worst pains anyone can experience – toothache! For those of you who have experienced this you will know what I’m talking about. During this constant, nagging, throbbing pain, I tried SO hard to focus on something other than the pain, but it was impossible! I was paralysed with pain, focusing on that one thing, almost unable to think about anything else, let alone do anything else, only wanting to go into a quiet room and feel sorry for myself. And in a way, that’s what I did, but only for a short while. I realised hiding away, doing nothing, and focusing on the pain wasn’t going to make it any better. I drew upon my coaching skills to think positively and practically about how I could help my situation. I started planning my day.

What was I thinking?

I recently climbed Mount Culverden. Whilst this mountain isn’t the biggest I’ve climbed at 586m, nor the hardest, it was my self-talking I wanted to share with you! The initial climb was moderate and continuous, and very slippery underfoot. My focus was looking down where I was walking, frequently looking ahead and upwards where I was heading. When we reached the summit of the first peak, 100m from the highest point of Mount Culverden, I looked towards our destination and saw the task that lay ahead! It began with a rock face we had to climb down first, before climbing the three peaks you can see in the photo before reaching our destination! My first thought was how far away the summit was, with slight trepidation seeing three peaks we had to climb before reaching Mount Culverden summit, which in fact was only 100m higher than where we stood! What

Just Find the Entrance Door and go Through It!

"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning." Mahatma Gandhi This quote made me realise that there are times when I know when I feel I can really achieve something I can do it, but sometimes when my positive self-talking has abandoned me, I feel my confidence waning, or feel overwhelmed at the thought of just getting started. I remember when I started my MBA. I felt scared, apprehensive and that I had been an idiot to even think that I could even consider studying at that level. I felt everyone else in the room was much more able than I was. I doubted myself and my abilities, and was daunted at the prospect of the huge challenges ahead. I had to believe that I could do it, and

Making Your Own Magic!

Pull yourself together! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Just move on and get over it! I’m sure you’ve heard all these expressions before and perhaps even had these said to you! I know I have! I want to focus on the importance of positive self-talking and how using this technique can, will and does help. We all go through periods of time when we doubt our abilities and question our judgement often telling ourselves we can’t do this or handle that. I have found that when I do things that are new to me and outside my comfort zone then the doubts creep in which start changing my persona from a confident person to a person with self-doubt and self-belief. What happens to our thinking to make us start to feel so negative and overwhelmed? Well apart from the physical symptoms that we can all feel when we

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

Where There's A Will There's a Way Do any of the following statements ring any bells for you? 1.   When a problem is on my mind I can’t sleep 2.   I worry about things all the time 3.   I feel bad when I don’t get done all the things I had on my daily list 4.   I worry about not being good enough Worry = concern / fear / apprehension / anxiety Worrying is probably one of the, if not the biggest time waster. Worrying drains us of energy, motivation, confidence and abilities. We end up having this argument with ourselves – on the one hand we have the willpower to get these things done, but our imagination completely takes over and not only leads the way but wins! Positive thinking articles and self-help books are plentiful, and yet clients tell me one constant is worry.. Worrying won’t make the

Bringing Value and Balance into your Life!

Bringing Value and Balance into your Life! We talk about work / life balance, bringing positivity to our lives instead of looking at what defines us as a person, what makes us tick, what makes us value ourselves as a person. We all have values and these change during our lifetime. This could be due to a change of job, career or circumstances. Our values define what is important to us in our everyday lives. But do we know and understand what our values are, and can they help us feel more positive about what we do and why we do it? For most of us we have different values for each aspect of our lives, professional and personal, and so need to determine what these are and how they describe us. Would you agree that values are important as they help define what we think, what we say and

Give Yourself a Grateful Kiss!

Give Yourself a Grateful Kiss! Sometimes things happen in our lives that turn us inside out and back to front, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job or our health, but somewhere most of us find the strength to mentally get back up, dust ourselves off and manage to keep going, other times we feel we just can’t get up again, and why should we as we will just get knocked down again. Have you ever had this feeling? Have you ever felt this way? What did you do? What can you do? As children, our mothers gave us that special hug that ‘makes everything better’ or a kiss on our ‘hurt bit’ that makes the pain go away. As adults, this doesn’t work as we realise that wasn’t real. How can we bring back positive thinking? How can we re-ignite our motivation? How

When Even The Snow Looks Black!

When Even The Snow Looks Black! When we think of positive thinking, what do we think about? Stopping negative thinking; starting positive thinking! Black vs White! Supposedly easy, but easier said than done! We know that positive thinking is beneficial to us mentally and emotionally, but to enable us to even start thinking positively, surely it will help us if we consider the consequences of negativity, and how negative thinking desperately impacts our lives and wellbeing! When we can’t feel positive, we know we focus on negative things which becomes a downwards spiral - a self-fulfilling prophecy. So how can we kick-start positive thinking and banish negative thinking? Here are 5 easy steps on changing the negative to a positive to give you real results. List the things that create negativity in your life, work or business – in doing this it will help you to identify what your perceived