Coaching HeartTalk

Inspiring Thought

This morning, reading about Nicholas Hughes’ tragic death (the son of Sylvia Path and Ted Hughes committed suicide as did his mother 46 years ago), I found myself moved by something his father is said to have written him.  “..the only thing people regret is that they didn’t live boldly enough, that they didn’t invest enough heart, didn’t love enough.  Nothing else really counts at all”.

That stopped me in my tracks.  It made me question myself:  Am I living boldly enough?  Have I?  Do I invest enough heart in everything I do?  Do I love enough?

The answers to such questions don’t come quickly. Then again, good coaching questions (or ‘inquiries’ as we like to call them) don’t - they are not intended to.  What they are intended to do is have us think deeply, reflect, recalilbrate, perhaps shift our perspective, and ultimately our actions.

I plan to do just that with these questions about living life boldly, with enough heart, and loving alot!

For you, ask yourself also:

What does living bold mean to me/for me? Am I living boldly enough? 

Am I investing enough heart? What is enough? What does investing enough heart give to me? to others?

Do I love enough?  Do I let others know of my love for them?

There are so many questions this thought raises. I’d love to know if it has inspired you and how you answer them.

Energy Plus

What is it about a sunny day that makes us (me anyway) feel so positive and productive?  We’ve had sun here in eastern Ontario, Canada for a week now and I am positively brimming with energy and motivation.  (Or could it have to do with the fact that I’ve been going to the gym more often than usual?  Or that spring really is around the corner?)

Anyway, there’s something about a bright sky that brightens my life…. And I bet yours too.   For me it’s a feeling of expansiveness, lightness, excitement, anticipation…..and more.

How much does the brightness of the day affect your energy level?  Your feelings of optimism?  Your motivation? Your productivity?  What else?

Letting Go

So often clients come to coaching because they are “stuck”.  Stuck in an old story, stuck in a way of doing things, stuck in an idea of what isn’t possible.... in other ways, nothing moves forward.  A project stalls, an idea gets buried, a creation freezes.  

As a coach, I work with clients to get unstuck.  Usually by helping them see that there are more perspectives than their stuck one, and see that in fact they can choose the one that is more palatable.  

This week I was reminded that in order to see another perspective, sometimes you have to just admit your stuckness and decide to do something about it!!  I found myself ‘stuck’ in my own plan to do something that just wasn’t working.  Yesterday I had a little talk with myself, and realized that in order to move forward, I just had to ‘let go’ of the plan I thought was so great.  

When I did that, I was able to offer a way forward.  It may or may not work out, since it took me so long to come to this wonderful realization...but you know what?  It feels alot lighter to be rid of that load and however it turns out, I know that I am back 'in the flow'.  

So the coaching questions I offer you today are:

What place might you be stuck in?  
What do you need to let go of?

If you did let go, what is the way forward that you now see that you didn’t see before?

Would love to hear your comments about stuckness and letting go.