Where Does Anger Come From?

Anger is a secondary emotion. This means that there is an underlying emotion that comes before anger.  We generally don't notice this first emotion, but we definitely notice the anger when it rears its ugly head shortly thereafter.  All emotions serve an important purpose. Often anger serves to defend ourselves: to make ourselves seem larger...

Acceptance

It’s all a matter of perception. I finally have the time on my hands to catch up on my blog!  I am writing this in my 32nd week of pregnancy from strict hospital bedrest in order to prevent premature labor.  For those of you who know me, it is a big challenge for me sit so...

Take the Step

enough said.

Building a Mindfulness Practice

When working with coaching client to build her own mindfulness practice, she asked me if I, myself, meditated.  I hung my head as I had to say, "no."  I had experimented with it on and off, managed a daily practice for a month or two, but never developed the long-term habit.  I was struck by the contradiction between my belief in...

Do Something That Scares the #@%&! Out of You.

We all like to sit on the couch and watch TV after a long day. It’s easy and we also deserve a break from life! But wait, a break from what exactly? We are living every minute, and every minute we should be choosing what we want in our life. And of course sometimes we...

Be Wary of Judgements

Be wary of judgements. They help our brains to organize information, file new experiences nearly away into old ones, and make sense of the world.  They can also simply a world that is too complex and multicolored to be orderly and predictable.  They dismiss the uniqueness of people, places and experiences because it is easier...

You Are Your Own Expert

As a coach, an important principle that guides my practice is my belief that each client already has his or her own solutions. Everyone has had small moments when they can remember being successful, one week when they worked out regularly, one argument they were able to negotiate peacefully, or one day when they were...

Be Yourself

It’s corny and you’ve heard it a million times before, but when you are adapting to new customs, new people, and new work, I have found this very important. Sometimes we don’t realize when we are not being genuinely ourselves. We get energy and happiness from being fully ourselves. Since arriving in Germany, I’ve reined...

The Rulebook

In the coaching certification process, we try out all the tools and techniques on ourselves and other coaches, before using them with clients. One tool we experimented with is called “The Rulebook.” Inside this small booklet are twenty blank pages each entitled with “Rule” at the top of the page. The idea is that we...

Perfection

What is perfect anyway? People throw this word around constantly, talking about the perfect day or perfect shoes, in a way that many people feel takes the meaning out of the word. Yet even used whimsically, it indicates when something feels just right in that moment. It may not seem perfect to anyone else, but...