Where are you finding your ‘get unstuck’ aha moments? Here’s an option or two…

It’s international coaching week, and I just watched “The Happy Movie”.   Sharing things you might not know about coaching, and some options for your thought-shifting way into ‘Happy!”  (one is a very affordable course that starts this Thursday.. read on for amazing, dancing with your thoughts..)

The Main Reasons my personal clients choose to be coached:  (Yes, I did the numbers!) 

46% begin coaching because they are unhappy in their current work (or lack of it)  or education choice.

27% are seeking a balance in life that addresses all areas because they want to have “less guilt, less chaos and more Happy!”

27% want their creative voice or spiritual gifts to be a bigger part of their life.   (50 % of those have books they want to write.)

New Thinking for those same old, same old, issues… 

“The significant problems we face in life cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

 ~ Albert Einstein ~

 Honestly, this quote is the epitome of coaching:

It all comes down to thinking differently.

It seldom works, though, to simply say to  ourselves:  “Oh, let’s think differently about this issue.” Yes, we say it. Yes, we try it.. but darn, same old same old continues:

~ Finances still play havoc.

~ The job is making you crazy but the way to make it different just isn’t showing itself. (Sadly the fantasy of shipping your boss to a foreign country permanently, although a creative concept, just isn’t helping you find the legal and do-able way to make that happen.)

~ You still can’t find ways you love to keep fit, eat well, and inspire healing.  Why isn’t there options that give you the same joy as sinking your teeth into rich milk chocolate, anyway? (or just maybe there is..)

~ And for those who are creative and unique thinkers… sometimes the overwhelm of too many ideas just stops you in your tracks!

You get the picture…  So how does one find a new way to think differently to create change and create happy?

 Find ways to think differently.

1.   Do silly brainstorming.. not boring brainstorming.  Sharing this technique again because it works:  Find a friend and concoct wild and crazy ways to make the changes you are seeking.  A seed will be revealed when your logical ‘same old same old’ thinking steps aside.. and it will, because after all, it thinks ‘you are just being silly.”

2. There are great books available: Jill Badonsky’s Nine Modern Day Muses and How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb are a couple of my favourites.  (Which reminds me… the next training for Jill Badonsky’s Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching begins very soon. You could become an expert at helping self and others think differently!  Learn more here!)

3. Great option.. invest in personal coaching.

4. But another Best and Awesome option is:   “Amazing You. No, really.. Amazing You!” ‘Say what?” you ask. A new affordable course to experience my most powerful tools for thinking differently. Create significant changes around those age old issues of money, health, career, purpose.  With what makes you HAPPY being key! Practical tools that work; but so unique and empowering that my personal clients often call the experiences magical. It starts this coming Thursday the 16th, and there’s still some spaces available. If ‘The Pirate’s Way” “Treasure mind mapping” “Blissed or pi~sed” (excuse my language) and “Body Bliss” sound intriguing, go here to learn more. At a crazy low introductory fee,(six weeks, $110) you can leap into new thinking while I leap into new technology. Call it ‘beta-testing’ .. the content is tried and true.. the special rate is for those wanting to join me as I try new and cool interactive technology to make the experience truly engaging and valuable for you.  (via webinar/teleconferencing, and support website) Coaching changes people’s lives.  For each person that gets to live their lives authentically, a ripple effect reaches out creating a better world. I want more people to have the chance to be happy, live authentically and create a better world. I want you to have the opportunity to dance with your new thinking! Note:  Men are welcome in this course…. I just didn’t have a dancing image that was more masculine

http://www.musingsandmud.com/amazingyou.html

For Momma’s.. the pressure nowadays is crazy!

I came across a popular article on managing overwhelm for Moms and by the time I read through it, I was overwhelmed.

Only a robot could pull it off: Every day (note: EVERY DAY) wash, dry and fold the laundry, open and file the mail, clean the bathroom, keep only one piece of your child’s artwork and toss the rest, make sure every key, shoe, toy and craft item has a place and gets put away every night, etc., etc.

You get the picture; all work, no play, no time to create the life you really want: just another bit of advice in the media to add to the already insane pressures on Moms.

You are supposed to feed your children locally grown organic nutritious meals and never ever pick up fast food.

Your home should be clean, beautifully decorated, the yard immaculate, and your dog shouldn’t bark.

Your children should be involved in dance, soccer, creative play, free play, story time, and have play dates, attend parties, be offered all learning opportunities and toys to develop spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically… and if they act like a brat… well, it’s your fault, you did something wrong.

When you do sit down and finally read a book, you feel guilty because you should be doing something else.

And if you dream of living overseas with your family, or even a Disney vacation before the kids are ‘at a good age’… well, you’re crazy.

You should be involved with the school and the community.

Oh and of course, you should show up to your career refreshed renewed and giving 110%, ditto for your spouse whom we haven’t even begun to mention here, and you really ought to work out daily and host more get togethers with friends and family.

And you wonder why you have Mommy Brain – I think it’s there to make sure you forget half of these pressures! Uh huh.

There is a better way:

Tip # 1: Do not add the ‘reduce overwhelm’ advice mentioned earlier to your repertoire of ‘must do’s’ unless they happen to sing to your soul.

Tip #2: Notice when you say ‘should.’ Often a ‘should’ is society’s or somebody else’s expectations you are trying to live up to and that results in it being demotivating instead of motivating.

Tip #3: You are hereby given permission to lower expectations, be blissfully imperfect and regularly say, “good enough.”

Tip #4: Getting clearer on where you really want to be, personally and as a family, will reduce overwhelm.

Tip #5  Get things done by using laughably do-able steps .. .so small they make you laugh and say “Ya, I can do that!”  Honestly 2 minutes cleaning a counter is likely to happen, where 4 hours getting the entire kitchen, stove, fridge scrubbed isn’t.

Tip #6.  Question anything that has you thinking you are anything less than awesome.

~~~~~~~~

An excerpt from the full article in Kamloops Momma Magazine Dec 2011.

Click here to read current and past issues!

Janet L. Whitehead is a professional life coach and master creativity coach who introduces Moms to a variety of ceative tools and concepts that lead to less guilt, more fun, and inspired lives lived by design rather than by default.