Living an Inspired Life Blog

Spring Clean Your Life!

"Dear Diary
I love the springtime, the first rays of sun, the extra hour of daylight in the evening as the clocks change, and the new flowers emerging in the garden.  I have noticed that these changes in the outside world seem to reflect a new creative phase in me too. During the winter, I find I tend to hoard things.. from clutter to emails to a few extra pounds of weight (for warmth purposes obviously!!) So how can I make the most of this new found energy to create more momentum in my life?"

This is a good time to capitalise on this burst of energy. Here are 3 tips for creating space in your life :

1) Clutter Clear: 
A great time to clear out the junk and stuff that you have accumulated. I have a philosophy of love it/use it... or bin (recycle) it. For more information on this, OrganizingLA have  some great suggestions at: http://organizingla.blogs.com/organizingla_blog/2005/07/excellent_syste.html

2) Create a system for your emails:
I love technology. When I consider the opportunities we have in this decade compared to even the last one, I am blown away (ok, I confess I am a secret geek, but don't tell anyone!). But I have noticed that many of my coaching clients don't always share my enthusiasm for IT, especially when it comes to email.

Making Decisions Work for you!

"Dear Diary
Making decisions isn't usually an issue for me. I tend to be quite focused and generally know what is right for me. Recently though, I've been experiencing situations where a face a dilemma. The good news is that the dilemma comes about because there are two or more options that I want to choose...and often they are only small decisions...but it's left me wondering how I can always ensure I am making the right choice in the moment. So short of cloning myself.. what can I do?!"

There are always going to be different choices we can make, and unless we have clear criteria for making our decisions, it can be a challenge to identify what is most important to us, and therefore what we ought to do.

We make our decisions based on our values. Values are deeply held beliefs about what we believe to be "good" or "right" and what we think will ultimately bring us the results we want. Sometimes, however, we perceive that we will get different benefits from doing different things, and this sets up a dilemma (known as a towards-towards conflict in NLP).

The Quality of Your Life is a Reflection of Your Questions

"Dear Diary,
I have had the privilege of coaching and working with some wonderful people. One thing is obvious… we all have self talk that either limits us or encourages us in the moment. I have been curious recently about what makes the difference between an internal chatter box that supports us and one that makes us less resourceful. In my experience, the difference that makes the difference is the quality of the questions we ask of ourselves. It is the questions that we ask ourselves that direct the focus of our attention and therefore affect the success (or lack of it) in our lives."

In my last post, I discussed how in the moment of facing a difficult situation, changing our focus is a really easy way to recover emotional wellbeing. To go a step further, our lives are a direct reflection of what we (consistently) focus upon and the quality of the questions we ask ourselves. Our internal dialogue (or self-talk) directs and controls our attention to the various aspects of our experience and is a deciding factor in the meaning we assign to events.

Personal Development "Guru" Tony Robbins is quoted as saying "The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask of yourself". He differentiates between low and high quality questions. Low quality questions are those questions that keep you stuck. High quality questions move you forward and help you to grow as a person.

Handling Set Backs

"Dear Diary,
This year has got off to a flying start and I am right on track with the deliberate creation of the lifestyle and wellbeing I really want. And then it happened…my most-of-the-time adorable 5 year old dropped a drink on my laptop. Firstly, anyone who knows me, also knows that my MacBook is one of my most treasured possessions but add to that a few weeks of non-backed up work and we are looking at a major trauma! My first reaction was blind panic….But in even the worst situations, there is always a learning opportunity… so apart from the obvious lesson (to back up my work more regularly!), how else can I learn to handle situations more effectively so if nothing else I can limit the emotional fall out?"

Even when we have made the decision to become the deliberate creators of our lives, there are going to be some unforeseen events, seemingly outside of our control, that knock us off balance and set us back. With hindsight, we may spot the clues or patterns of thinking that led up to the situation we face, but in immediately going into the analysis of what went wrong, we will tend to set ourselves up for guilt and regret, and this doesn’t serve us in getting back on track.

What we can do, even in the moment of experiencing a set back, is to make a conscious decision on how we are going to respond. This isn’t about taking action…instead its about making choices about the emotional journey that we want to take.

The blog is back... making a fresh start!

"Dear Diary
Every New Year's Eve, I spend the evening reviewing the last twelve months and setting goals for the year ahead. Not only does this save me from the dreaded New Year's Day hangover, but I really find it clarifies my thinking and my intentions for my life. In short, I get to work out what is really most important to me! As I reflect on 2008, I realise it was a year of consolidation, but there were a few areas where I am still not achieving what I want. So how can I make sure that this year will be truly successful?"

As I plan for an outstanding 2009, there are a number of questions that I ask myself to understand how I limit myself from reaching my potential and to help me to identify what my key priorities are and which are the areas of my life where I want to invest my energy. As the saying goes, you can do anything but not everything...so making choices about how to spend your time is vital in achieving your goals.

Here are some questions to get you thinking about what you would like to create in 2009:

• What did you achieve in 2008?
• In what areas of your life are you not yet achieving what you want?
• How do you hold yourself back? And do you get any secondary benefits from doing this?
• What have you learnt in 2008?
• Now, with these new learnings, what would you like to achieve in 2009?
• Where do you see yourself at the end of 2009?
• What are three changes that you could make, that would have the biggest impact in your life and move you closer to your vision?