Are you ready to wake up and create the life that you want?

Category: Blog (Page 8 of 8)

1 Step at a Time

I’m in the middle of a huge business project and it is taking some time to complete.  I noticed a while ago that I kept putting it off because it seemed too overwhelming until I decided to tackle one piece of the project at a time. It feels so great when I complete each piece and as I can see the project coming together.

Seeing the whole picture is a critical part of creating something but it can also be overwhelming when we’re in the initial stages of creation.

Author Anne Lamott tells this story:  “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a  report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our  family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ”Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird.”  (Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird)

That’s great advice for anything we want to accomplish.  Bird by bird.

Please feel free to share this or any post and please credit Anne Pustil, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com/blog Thank you.

Copyright Anne Pustil 2011, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com

Don’t Take Anything Personally

That’s one of the Four Agreements in the wonderful book by Don Miguel Ruiz.  Many of my clients challenge me on that one asking how it’s possible to not take things personally.  Then they usually give me an example of a situation where someone was angry with them about something.

Not taking things personally doesn’t mean not taking responsibility for something we have done and making amends if necessary.  What it does mean is that if someone is angry with us and blasts our character instead of talking about our behavior, we can’t take their comments personally and believe that we are who they say we are or that we are bad because we did something that upset them.

If we want a good relationship, we have to take responsibility for what we did and apologize or talk with them about it.  They have to take responsibility for how they feel about what we did and talk with us about it.

Character assassination does not lead to warm, loving, honest relationships.  But we often do that when we’re hurt or angry because we take it personally when someone hurts us and assume that their behavior was intentional and meant to hurt us.

Please feel free to share this or any post and please credit Anne Pustil, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com/blog Thank you.

Copyright Anne Pustil 2011, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com

How to know what you want – Part 2

Did you know that you can’t know what you want if you run away from, resist, judge, fear, don’t accept, repress, deny, are unaware of, project, won’t allow or otherwise are not on speaking terms with your “negative feelings”?

Your inner compass to what you want is what brings you joy and makes you feel good but you can’t access those positive feelings if you’re not allowing your negative feelings.  Actually feelings are feelings.  Negative and positive are our judgments.  Can you allow your feelings?

Please feel free to share this or any post and please credit Anne Pustil, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com/blog Thank you.

Copyright Anne Pustil 2011, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com

When There’s Too Much On the To-Do List

I’ve been there.  Not being clear about what I wanted.  Even now, there’s so much that I want to do in my work and my life that I can feel stuck, not knowing what to focus on and where to put my energy.  Should I write, market my practise as a coach and therapist, develop and run more workshops, clear paper clutter, volunteer, read one of the books on my everexpanding list of must-reads, cook, meditate, walk, etc., etc.?

I told a client who was feeling overwhelmed that she would never get everything done, so could she accept that reality and decide what was most important to her?  She said that she had never thought of it that way before.

So, right now, at this time in your life, what matters most to you?  What would create the most passion in your heart and soul so that you can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning and get going on it?

Exercise:  Imagine that you are 95 years old, sitting in your favorite spot and you are looking back at your life.  What will you wish you had done?  Make a list of the things that are nonnegotiables for you so that you can look back when you’re 95 years old and know that you lived with guts, passion, enthusiasm, heart and courage?  Do it now and see what happens.

Please feel free to share this or any post and please credit Anne Pustil, http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com/blog Thank you.

Copyright Anne Pustil 2011 http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com

What Do You Want?

That’s it – what do you want?  We’re halfway through January.  What one thing could you work on this month or this year that would make a difference in your life?  Get in better shape, find your life partner, do more fulfilling work, meditate, have a better relationship with your kids/parents/partner?

What do you want?  Wake up.  Get real with yourself.  Your life matters.  Start with what you want and take it seriously.

Please feel free to share this or any post and please credit Anne Pustil, www.CoachingInANutshell.com/blog.  Thank you.

Copyright Anne Pustil 2011

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