Inspirational Reads and Websites

•My book pick of the month is Transitions by William Bridges. I read this book years ago and have been recently re-reading it. There is so much here. The thing I have gotten from it this time is just that we can use the power of change instead of being overpowered by it. What a comforting thought, don't you think?

•The Energy of Money by Maria Nemeth. This is an interesting book all about your relationship to money. It is not a "financial" book, but more of a spiritual book about looking at yourself, your TRUE self, and creating the kind of relationship to money that best supports YOU.

•Want some fun and lightness every weekday? Sign up for Notes from the Universe. Every day you will receive a personalized message to remind you of who you are. These messages almost never fail to bring a smile to my face.

•Read fascinating research about the heart at the Institute of HeartMath. There are articles and tips on how we can live more in tune with our hearts, connecting our hearts and our minds on a daily basis.

Past Book Picks of the month

Identifying My Core Values
Step One: Look over the list below. Identify the top ten values that are most important to you at this point in your life. Mark these by highlighting them or putting an X in the box. If you don’t see one of your core values, add it in one of the empty boxes. Don’t think too much. Just find the ones that resonate with you. And have fun!

Family Happiness * Self-Respect * Generosity * Competitiveness
Wisdom * Friendship * Recognition * Advancement * Spirituality
Affection * Health * Loyalty * Cooperation * Responsibility * Culture
Adventure * Fame * Inner Harmony *Achievement * Involvement
Order * Wealth * Creativity * Economic Serenity * Pleasure
Integrity * Freedom * Power * Personal Development * Fun
Belonging * Life-long learning * Honesty * Genuineness * Spontaneity
Success * Authenticity * Flexibility * Intimacy * Accountability
Knowledge * Commitment * Community * Connection * Directness
Communication * Efficiency * Sincerity * Gentleness * Professionalism
Strength * Meaning * Compassion * Accomplishment * Character * Influence
Caring * Focus * Follow-through * Truth * Humor * Purpose * Sacrifice
Passion * Emotion * Achievement * Leadership * Marriage * Diversity
Mastery * Duty * Competence * Movement * Heritage * Fulfillment
Excellence * Service * New * Challenges * Planning * Reflection * Hospitality
Concern * Practicality * Nurture * Joy * Partnership * Nature * Romance
Beauty * Love * Exploration * Respect * Movement * Motivation
Progress *Thoughtfulness * Lightness * Changing the world

Step Two: From these ten, pick the five that are most important to you at this time and write a short definition or explanation of each.

Step Three: From these five, pick the one that is most important to you right now.
My most important value:

Coaching Model

Background:
For me, coaching is all about the journey. I’ve heard about the journey and understood it intellectually for years. But it wasn’t until my own coaching journey that I started to understand it in a way that allowed me to actually LIVE it. Through my own journey, I was able to stop searching for THE answer and to start living in a way that allowed me to have more curiosity, joy, acceptance, compassion and love in my life on a daily basis. This enabled me to find and live my something MORE. The model below is the way that I work with you to support you in creating and living YOUR own something more and in finding pure enjoyment throughout the process.


The model elements:
You are HERE: This is naturally the starting point, and is perfect place to start no matter where that is. It involves forming that initial connection that allows you to be able to look within. With help from a pre-coaching questionnaire, you go in and identify your own values. This is the start of the process of truly recognizing or remembering or deciding on what is important in life. What are the essential elements needed? What is it that fulfills you? These are revisited throughout the coaching process and revisions and additions are incorporated into this foundation—the starting point of the journey.

Envision: Here you look more at the destination. You open the big world map to see where you want to go. What is it that is missing in your life right now? What are you looking for? If you look into the future, who would you want to see at the end of our coaching journey together? What would be different? The pre-coaching questionnaire will also help you answer some of these questions so we have a better idea of what the end goal is—or at least some of the main stops along the way.

Exploration & Discovery: This and the next part of the journey (Awareness & Conscious Choice) are closely related, but are still two separate phases. This first stop is all about being curious. About looking at the present and maybe even discovering a bit of the past. Looking with curiosity about our beliefs and about our old patterns. In order to better understand these, we might explore where they come from – where did you learn that? This is when you discover all kinds of both empowering and limiting beliefs. The most important part of this stop on the journey is the air of curiosity—it’s all about leaving the judgment behind. We get to be open and full of wonder—just like on any good travel experience.

Awareness & Conscious Choice: Now that we have explored and discovered those underlying beliefs, the client gets to do an exciting thing. They get to choose! Do they choose this belief or pattern? Is it empowering them or is it limiting them? If this is something they learned in childhood, do they still believe it? Is this consistent with who they truly are? Or is it something someone told them once and they have been carrying it around automatically? This is when we can look at new perspectives if necessary and replace those old out-of-date patterns that just aren’t working.

Energy-filled Action: So many times you create goals, but don’t achieve them. So many times you say you want to do something, but it never gets done. This can be related to ‘the shoulds’. You should lose weight or you should achieve this or that. But when you have discovered, explored and become aware, the conscious choices lead to energy-filled action. This is action not driven by shoulds or old patterns or beliefs, but by true connection to those values that you have discovered and have been building on. Now the action comes from a different place—a natural drive to go forward instead of a difficult struggle that feels unnatural and tiring. The action itself is filled with true energy and you are energized as a result of taking it.

Celebrate: This is a key step in the process. You might often focus on the ‘doing’—getting things done and crossing things off the list. And when you focus on this, there is a tendency to forget to relish the small or even the big events and happenings in life. With this part of the model in mind, I support you in taking the time to celebrate and relish in the moment--any new thought, any new pattern is cause to celebrate. Two essential elements here are gratitude and creating a quiet, reflective space. As coach, my role is to remind you where you were at the beginning and help you see where the journey so far has taken you—and I help you celebrate both those small and big steps along the way.