choice-making Archives - Page 4 of 4

If I Weren’t Me

A favorite part of my job as a Life Coach is that I get to witness human beings take tiny filaments of beliefs and turn them into huge knots of limitations. They, like most of us, aren’t able to hear themselves speak, nor see how their thoughts create the world around them. As their thinking partner, I hear what they themselves can’t hear, and I share with them what I’m hearing so they can make sense of the tangled knots of beliefs that lie within. After which they are at choice to choose differently. The other most favorite part of

Coming of Age “ Regardless of Age

One theme of Aging- Who Me? is that we are never not aging. We are never not developing, growing, unfolding, evolving. We are in fact in a constant state of emerging. As humans we are bombarded with choices, constantly. Some are big choices, some, not so big. For example, choosing the right college; choosing marriage or parenthood; choosing the “right career; choosing how to be with a partner or family member who’s harmful and abusive; choosing how to be with an incurable disease, choosing to come out of the closet in regard to their sexuality, their spirituality, or politics; choosing

The 3 D’s of Spiritual Rehab

Over the past few months I’ve found myself getting a little frustrated with clients who say they are committed to transformation and being on a spiritual path, while at the same time they make very little time for the personal processing required to make such transformations occur. It appears that our sense of the work required for personal and spiritual transformation is that it is somewhat magical & instantaneous – no mixing, stirring or messiness required. The truth, however, is that Discipline, Dedication, and Devotion are required – the 3 D’s of Spiritual Rehab. In essence, I see that the

Ready for Take Off

This piece is dedicated to Emily Reed who passed away this week. We are grateful, Emily, for the gifts of your gracious presence on our dear Island. Sit Back and Relax Some people get on a plane and head out to their destination, effortlessly surrendering control to their pilots. Others are in the throes of panic – terrified of being out of control. Anxiety and fear of the unknown ride within them until they touch down at their destination. They are hyper-vigilant for that moment when the plane blows up or crashes. They await the moment of impact when powerless,

80 Percent Effective

Michael, a COO of a growing startup in Austin, Texas, is a great guy and a brilliant thinker. He’s been hired by a particular company to bring about a turnaround in management and inevitably the bottom line. The company has experienced a significant loss in revenue over the past few months and it’s now Michael’s job to turn things around. If he fails, the company will fold “ end of story. Michael is about to take the company in a direction that will transform its vision, culture and business structure. There’s no doubt he has what it takes to create

The “Guilt-Free” Diet

Okay, so I found the diet of all diets! Obviously, by the title, you can imagine that it has something to do with being guilt-free, while engaging in any type of diet. Are you wanting to lose weight, stop spending, exercise more, quit smoking, spend more time with your sweetie, take time away from electronic companions? I get it! A guilt-free diet may be the way to go! Throughout my life, my body image has been really important to me “ the ‘image’ part is one thing, but the health that comes as a consequence of eating well and exercising

The Inside of Grief

My dog, Gracie has quite a few jobs on our 10 acre parcel of land on Orcas Island. One, in particular, is to chase the rabbits away and keep them from eating all the flowers and plants around the property. Sometimes this also means that she digs into nests and pulls out little baby rabbits and kills them. This certainly keeps the bunny population down. And, it causes me incredible grief to see dead baby rabbits strewn across the yard. I’ve come to justify this as our “ mine and Gracie’s contribution to the circle of life. I take the

Being Successful at Living Someone Elses Illusion

One of the fundamental truths I’ve been living with in my life is that I’m simply not enough and will never be enough. I can never do enough because I can never be enough “ you get the picture. Every day, I fail to bring about the magical miracle outcome that I hope will happen through completing ordinary tasks. The hope is unfulfilled. I’ve come to resist doing anything, or completing anything, because the evidence is that I will face the emptiness of unfulfilled expectations,… and I hate that feeling. Empty of magic; empty of miracles; death of a

5 Steps to Presencing (Being Present)

Presence: It seems like a no brainer; aren’t we always present wherever we go? Actually, it’s rare that we are present, in the moment, with our full attention on the individual, the group or task in front of us. Opportunities to have distractions pop up and take our attention away from what we are intending to be attending to. Cell phones, emails, texts, phones, people passing by our office or cubicle “ these are the some of the external distractions; what about the thoughts, emotions and body sensations that also pull us off course; the emotions, stress, anger and fatigue;

Gift Me with My Enemies and My Ministers

I woke up from a dream this morning that made me question: "Really?" It was only the last few seconds of the dream that seemed so profound. It was a children’s choir “ all boys, and they were singing a Christmas song. The only lyric I heard was: "Gift me with my enemies and my ministers." This is a pretty profound phrase, especially for a group of youngsters to be singing as a Christmas song. My Enemies My enemies infuse me with intense emotions “ rage, hatred, vile condemnation and contempt. Judgments are automatic, so much so I don’t even

Tag: choice-making