101 Artist’s Date Ideas.
Am doing the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – highly recommend this – it will stretch out out of your comfort zone and towards the best most adventurous, peaceful and happy YOU!
How I lost that Baby Weight!
thank you to those who have told me that my article inspired them and touched them…it encourages me to share even more..
Meetings, Bloody Meetings
We all hate long meetings! Who doesn’t? Long conversations that seem to go round in circles with no end. Some think in order to get things done, they need to be long. I have a different opinion on this very important matter.
As a meeting facilitator, I believe I have a solution for you professionals, leaders, and managers. You see, although the details of the meetings are very important and necessary to communicate, the process in how the meeting flows from start to finish is just as imperative. It is the Chair or the facilitator to ensure the process flows as it should.
- Creepy Poison Technique: People speaking at a time can draw out a meeting. I teach my clients different ways of talking. Instead, you can give a person a minute to talk, and stick to it. Everyone can write their views or questions and discuss as a group before sharing with the whole group. This saves time and narrows the discussion pro
cess. - The Six Thinking Hats Technique: Created by Edward de Bono, it is recommended that the Chair create a space for full participation and have the team to think in six clear functions and roles. This encourages the team to clarify the intentions of the meeting.
- Open Space Technology: This method allows for the meeting to be completely owned by the participants. The facilitator is present but invisible. The participants self-organize themselves dealing with the complexity of the issues discussed, diverse solutions, handling any conflict and doing it quickl
y. - NLP’s Disney Strategy: This is a process that helps generate solutions to problems. Avoiding our tendency to shoot down ideas that block creativity. Using a structure that has three phases in the generation of ideas. The Dreamer, is what we want to create; The Realist, is how they plan and organize and the Critic reviews the risks.
- The Check list: Similar to what many of use already do, this check list emphasizes an efficient flow of dialogue. Were the meeting and the people appropriately introduced?
- Was the agenda used, and adhered to?
- Was time well managed? (Did the meeting start and finish on time; was the right amount of time spent on each item?)
- Were the people well managed – brought into the discussion (or shut up!) as appropriate?
- Was someone taking minutes or (better) writing notes onto a flipchart?
- Were any necessary formalities observed?
- Was the purpose of the meeting clear to all and did we draw real conclusions and make decisions?
- Feedback: A method that only has you improving future meetings based on what is said but show the power of vulnerability to those in the meeting. Knowing your weakness is humbling and urges growth.
y.How I lost that Baby Weight!
Like many women, I struggled with my weight soon after I had had my
daughter and turned forty. In addition to being a snacker and foodie, the weight just crept on. I knew I was losing control and wanted to get it back. I know that I am not alone in this battle.
Man or woman, we want to get back in shape in some way or other. It takes many of us many tries. Not one shoe fits all. For some, like me, it took a number of strategies to get me where I needed to be.
I started off with Pilates. a specialized form of exercise that is designed to improve physical strength, flexibility, and posture, and enhance mental awareness. I even had a personal trainer on this part of my journey. I built strength and endurance. It was amazing. However, I was still a size 14. I wanted to be smaller.
My next line of action was to enroll a nutritionist. They often say that you are what you eat. I was listening. But, if you know anything about nutritionists, you know they drive a hard bargain. The strict plan was more than I could handle. Difficult to stick to the regimen of not eating all those food I love, I had to think plan “c”.
Where I should have started is where I ended, at dealing with my habits, working on my emotional state and thus find a way to change my mindset about food and my body.
There is a technique called: “family constellations”. It is essentially an alternative therapeutic method which draws on elements of family systems therapy, existential phenomenology towards family and self. I used this method to deal with the foods I loved but were keeping me from my weight goals. I dealt with the “have it all” attitude which had me indulging in desserts, cappuccinos and pastries. Through the process, I programmed my mindset to choose nature and sunshine rather than the contents of a cookie jar.
There is another technique, “Submodalities” that helped me kick the chocolate-biscuits-eating after dinner. The technique quickly has you have your mind moves something you deem as “yummy” to “yuck”. This powerful method, effectively has you switching your likes to dislikes in minutes. To this day, has me cringing at and wanting to wretch!
One last stop was going to a coach. You see, we have limited beliefs, an illogical way our unconscious minds work. A limiting belief I seemed to carry was that: “If I get slim and attractive, I risk getting pregnant again.” A belief set by a traumatizing pregnancy and delivery. With my coach’s help and through a number of methods including, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Strategic Intervention (Tony Robbins) and EquilibritEion (Janetta Barry).
Losing weight is often an uphill battle. This process had me look outside the box. Even as far as getting a coach for myself, even though I am a trainer of coaches. The journey of expanding and growing ensures that I be a better person. With every hurdle I get over, I share and apply my experiences with others like you.
If you have a hurdle you need help with, do not hesitate to get in touch! It is never a bad idea to liberate yourself of any habit or limiting belief that keeps you back from your goals!
What is “Emotional Fitness”?
Emotional fitness is a state of mind where you are able to maintain a stream of positive thoughts and thus be able to focus on creative and constructive tasks. It is recommended that one maintain their emotional fitness as it is the key to all aspects of our lives.
So how do you do harness emotional fitness?
There are a few tools I use. The first is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) which was brought to the world by Gary Craig. The second is Timeline Therapy, an amazing technique created by Tad James. Lastly, I often meditate. My favourite two methods are the Wholeness Meditation by Schinta Abhavaratn and the Chakra Mediation by Deepak Chopra.
Here
is how you can use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to maintain your emotional fitness. EFT is all about tapping or massaging acupressure points on your head, face, and upper body. Tapping these pressure points, while deep breathing and repeating affirming statements welcomes a desired emotion or belief that you are resisting.
Did you know that an emotion is simply energy in motion? And imagine that this motion simply flows through us if we were not afraid or resistant to it. EFT works on your invisible body, what the Chinese call meridians. EFT works quickly to calm someone down or to change their mood within a few minutes.
EFT provided emotional support where I did not think there was any. When I was pregnant, our housekeeper passed away tragically in a road accident. I was incredibly shocked and traumatized. My friend suggested I do EFT. And through tapping, my intense emotional distress and shock reduced from a rating of 9/10 (extreme crying and panic, etc.) right down to 3/10 (where I could actually think straight about how I could assist his family with their immediate needs).
For a few weeks, I repeated the technique at least twice a day. The process provided me the emotional fitness to weather the storm. By being emotionally fit, I am aware, tuned in to my needs and others and able to flow with life’s ups and downs positively.
Everyone is different, so everyone will gravitate to different methods on finding one’s emotional fitness. The point is, we all need to find balance. Life has its shocks and awe, with your processes in hand, you can handle whatever comes forth!
I facilitate workshops in Emotional Fitness and Stress Management and also coach people individually on balancing their emotions. Let me know how I can get you and yours emotionally balanced.