Carry out a personal development plan to transform your life

What’s the real scoop about Thanksgiving being about an attitude of gratitude?

allaboutlifecoaching — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:00:12 +0000

I have a suspicion that Thanksgiving which has the obvious celebration of gratitude – the Pilgrims gratitude to the Native Americans for their help in surviving in this harsh land – has – I truly believe – a deeper, more spiritual mean and reason for being.

I’ve noticed over the years the apparent spiritual brilliance sneaking through things like the Constitution. Were the Founding Fathers so smart or were they inspired to create a country that has achieved so much enlightened behavior. Certainly we have had our times of great adversity – to whit the last 8 years – but I feel that too is all in the plan. It does seem to be we humans grow – adversity causes jumps in consciousness both individually and group consciously also.

So, Thanksgiving. Imagine a holiday that celebrates gratitude. What other purpose could it have? Could it be how the “spirits” let us know that gratitude is important. Gratitude is so important it is likely the next to healthiest emotion we can have. Pure love is the healthiest but gratitude takes a very close second because proper use of it uncovers the love that’s always there. It has the ability to plug you in to the love you forgot momentarily. And why do we want to have those feelings so much besides the fact that they feel so good?

Because that is how we create ourselves to be positive attractors. How make use of Law of Attraction on purpose – not by default. Law of Attraction works whether we know it, like it, work with it – or not. It is a Universal Law like gravity. If you consciously create a certain emotional vibration, you can consciously attract into your life experience and material stuff that match it. Like attracts like.

So I’m thinking that Thanksgiving is a reminder each year to get back on track with gratitude if you want to create the life of your dreams.

September 2, 2010 | law of attraction | No comment

Become Your Own Life Coach – Women Self Help

allaboutlifecoaching — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:00:03 +0000

Women Self Help

Of course being a life coach and having had the great benefits that great life coaching offers, I believe having a life coach is a helpful – sometimes vital – addition to reaching your goals and overcoming challenges in your life. However, for a lot of people it isn’t an affordable option.

The good news is there are ways to overcome these obstacles and become your own life coach. These women self help starters will help you accomplish this on your own. It is much easier to stay focused on your goals and achieve them when you have them laid out in full view.

Suggestion 1 : Start with two notebooks. On the first page of the notebook, write “To Do Now List” and make sure you leave a few blank pages after it. Now, take ten minutes and think of every little thing that you can think of that you want to do. Skip a few pages and begin to list all the things you would like to add or change about your life like buying a new house or car, improving your self esteem, regularly exercising or investigating a new career. Label this your “Dreams and Goals List”. After you have listed all of them, go further in the notebook and describe in detail, the changes you want to make. Describe the kind of house or car, where you want to go, what kind of career, the things you want to do in as much details as you can on a separate page for each.

Continue asking yourself questions and avoid any negative thinking until you feel like you have a good overall picture of what you want and when.

Now, take the second notebook and go back to your to do list and pick the top five priorities and list them in the second notebook. You may want to include the benefits of each one to your goals. Begin working on the tasks in the second notebook and refer to the first notebook frequently to keep on track.

Suggestion 2 : Invite a buddy to go on this journey with you.

When you find a buddy you have found:

1. Someone who shares the joys and difficulties of growth along with you.
2. Someone who is totally interested in what you have to say.
3. Someone who will be able to see your growth and tell you what they see – many times even before you are aware of it yourself.
4. Someone who will tell you if you are tricking yourself or are in denial.
5. Someone who will be able to tell you if you are being true to your Real Self.
pg. 48 excerpt from Once Upon a Time There Was You: Three Magic Secrets to Finding Your Real Self

Suggestion 3 : Keep coming back to this site for women self help and tips – or better yet, sign up for the RSS feed and let the updates come to you. Part of the purpose of this site is to help you help yourself. Enjoy!

September 2, 2010 | life tools | No comment

Life is a School By Savina Cavallo

allaboutlifecoaching — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:56 +0000

Everyday, something happens that highlights this perspective. It’s always little things, since my life is pretty flat lined right now. I mean, exciting things are happening, but it’s mostly inside of me along with the seeds that I’m planting as I create the life I want to experience.
I am learning so many new things. There’s a limitless world and universe out there. I didn’t know this. I see now there are so many doors I can knock on, so much to learn, my growth can be infinite, unless I block it. What I mean is, for a long time I felt stuck. I felt stuck in the country I was living in, stuck in a spiritual community, stuck in my job/career.
From feeling stuck I got the courage to make huge changes. But, the changes didn’t get me to where I thought I wanted to be. I was feeling stuck again. And then I felt anxious, and I felt there was something wrong with me. Could it be I didn’t really know what I wanted?
From all this, Life itself, God, began providing gentle answers to my questions (because I never stopped asking). I was meeting people (my life coach, spiritually like-minded people), healing relationships, getting the help and support I needed for my anxiety and depression….all this was moving and guiding me to the place where I am right now. There is nothing, not one thing, in this path of mine, that I would change.
There’s a difference now to how I perceive the stuckness. Before, it created frustration and complaining. Ongoing. My life now, it’s not perfect (it never will be, that doesn’t exist). It’s interesting, though. It’s been really hard at times. But, I have learned so much.

September 1, 2010 | life coaching | No comment

My heartfelt thanks to you for the coaching exercise of 150 positive ways I am being

allaboutlifecoaching — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:33 +0000

Maia,

My heartfelt thanks to you for the coaching exercise of 150 positive ways I am being – meant to open my awareness to some of the many positive things about myself. At first I was just focused on anything that sounded or felt positive, without the consideration of whether it was about something I am doing (action) or a way I am being (vibration). Setting aside more important and impactful deadlines, I poured myself into this exercise and had written down 150 items overnight! Wow, I really do a lot of positive things. Then you clarified the exercise, asking for ways of being only. I went from my initial state of elation to feeling frustrated, and then finally to anger (directed at you for changing the rules of the project, or so I thought). Finally, I took charge of the “Being” project and got a handle on it. To get to this stage took me a few days of incubation, where I didn’t even think about it on a conscious level, but would agree I felt frustrated, and then, really, about 15 minutes of moving from anger to “take charge”.

Several months ago, I read a little book entitled Bringers of the Light , written by Neale Donald Walsh, in which he proposed that we make lists of the things we do and then to translate these actions to the state of being while doing the action. The value of this for Walsh was to remind ourselves that we are not human doings, we are human beings.

From my list of 150 things, half of the first 60 or so were ways I am being, and the entire rest of the list was made up of things I do. It seems that once I had begun to focus on things I do, on action, ways of being ceased occurring to me as the list grew in length. Here’s how I fixed this project:

I divided a sheet of paper into 2 uneven columns, and used the wider one to enter things from my original list that were about doing/action/activity and the smaller column for the approximately 30 ways of being I had written down. Then I took the approximately 120 actions and wrote in the smaller column beside each, the ways I was being when I did that action. While some ways of being such as compassionate, health conscious, self-actualized, were found in several actions, I also realized that, for example, when I donate old books to the library (action) I am being “conservation-minded, philanthropic, and sharing”. Maia suggested I could also be showing “awareness of clutter energy in my home” (we currently have seven tall bookcases and 4 short ones, stacked with books of all kinds). When I let others do things for me, I am being “considerate, empowering, gracious, and grateful”. Having retired after 49 years, I find I am being “laid back, feeling renewed, and being more available”. Oh, one more: I’m a “collector”, and when I collect things, I am being “aesthetic sensibility, a morphologist, and selfish”. While the word “selfish” may have a negative connotation for others, it is not so for me – it’s just one way we care for ourselves, and we should cheerfully admit it.

So, it seemed I added a layer of complexity to the list of positive attributes, which my coach, Maia, had asked me to do in order to gain a fresh appreciation for who I am being in the world, and yet it made the exercise richer and deeper for me. It seems it also showed me that I don’t like to feel like I didn’t get it right the first time.

Thank you, Maia, for the coaching, the support, the friendship. With me, you are always being any, some, or all of these: empowering, loving, compassionate, patient, persistent, thoughtful, aware, innovative, straightforward, collaborative, fair, intuitive, considerate, observant, self-actualizing, curious, imaginative, talented, light hearted, funny, alert, visionary, spiritual, dependable, communicative, accepting, open-minded – more later, that’s all I can think of for now!

Love you,

Anita Bruce-Marbois

September 1, 2010 | life tools | No comment

Relationship Advice – Secret #12

allaboutlifecoaching — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:51 +0000

Relationship Advice

I didn’t know when I wrote “10 Secrets to Keeping Your Relationship Working Happily Ever After”, that I’d discover Secret #11 and now, Secret #12. Secret #11 is “Follow your own path”. This morning I realized the 12th Secret which is “Have a memory for the good”. I love giving relationship advice but only because I am living it.

One of the ways I get over the little annoyances and aggravations of daily living with another person is to keep remembering the good. And we have so much good.How can his sounding sarcastic about something (which could just be my interpretation and not his intention at all) compare with him always seeing me as capable of anything? How can his forgetting to put butter in the butter dish and putting the butter dish away empty and needing to be washed compare with him being loving and supportive even when I’m sick or feeling lousy about myself?

Over our 25 years together we could have chosen to go in whatever direction with our relationship we wanted to. We could have built on the negatives or built on the positives. I’m so glad we have chosen the way we have and I pray that we continue to do so.

So my relationship advice for you is a question. What’s your choice? Can you make a better one?

August 31, 2010 | life tools | No comment

Do You Need Training to Become a Life Coach?

allaboutlifecoaching — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:49 +0000

Life Coach Training – Yes or No?

There are no formal requirements for life coach training in order to become a life coach. Some people say, “Yet”. But there are several national and international coaching associations that provide information and mentoring on what you’ll need to become a life coach.

Many people think becoming a life coach is an easy title, but they miss the point. If you have nothing to offer, you won’t just get clients. It’s not that easy. People want to know they are going to get something in return before they would consider signing on and being your client.

Some coaches believe age and experience are important factors in being a good life coach, but in other cases younger people are just as effective as a more seasoned professional. Make sure though, if you say you’re great at time management or a specific business niche, that you’ve got extensive experience with the topic. Your client will find out quickly enough if you don’t.

My personal prejudice on this subject is that I wouldn’t want to work with a coach in an area that she doesn’t have success in. But that’s me.

August 31, 2010 | so you want to be a life coach | No comment

Accomplishment Exercise – A Writing Exercise**

allaboutlifecoaching — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:59 +0000

WHAT AND HOW HAVE YOU ACCOMPLISHED WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS?

1. I have been willing to make these changes regarding my work or career and this is what happened ……. Date it, mark down the page. You could call this “Accomplishment Exercise”.