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Baby steps to big change

It is usually best to ease into a big change by starting small.  By making small changes with baby steps we allow ourselves to grow into a new habit and make it a permanent part of our lives. Making a sudden change may set us up to fail and that will make it difficult to go on, and we will be more likely to revert to our old ways. But don’t despair, even if we have made a sudden change and find ourselves contemplating the choice to start over again, we can decide to take it slowly this time, and move forward.

The goals we set for ourselves are indicators of the need for change and are very useful in getting us moving in the right direction. However, it is possible that once we try out what we thought was ideal, we may find that it doesn’t actually suit us, or make us feel the way we had hoped.  By taking baby steps we have the chance to look around and consider other options as we learn and grow.  We have time to examine the underlying values of the desire for change and find ways to manifest those feelings, whether it looks exactly like our initial goal or not. Taking baby steps forward gives us time to adjust and find secure footing on our new path.

Often life doesn’t give us the opportunity to anticipate or prepare for a big change, and we may find ourselves overwhelmed by what is in front of us. By choosing one thing to work on at a time, we focus our attention on something manageable, and eventually we will look up to see that we have accomplished quite a bit. Forcing change is, in essence, a sign that we do not trust the universe’s wisdom. Instead, we can listen to our inner guidance and make changes at a pace that is right for us, ensuring that we do so in alignment with the rhythm of the universe.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch. I want to work with you so you have more freedom, more fun, less stress.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Go hug a tree

You may not be aware that trees are among the world’s greatest givers. They provide the world with clean air, their roots filter water, and their majestically spreading branches provide shade through their slow and gentle life cycles. Full of vibrant, natural energy, trees can also give us the gifts of peace and nurturance. You will find that hugging a tree or sitting with your spine against the trunk of any tree can ground your body and inspire a profound closeness with nature as the energy of the tree connects to you. Making physical contact with a tree can help you relax, alleviate stress, sleep more deeply, and hold on to more positive energy. Trees can absorb great amounts of energy and have the ability to soak up harmful energy from deep within you. If you are feeling anxious, sad, drained, or tense, then try going to hug a tree.

Take a trip to the woods, or a garden, or a park, and find the tree that you would like to hug. Stand next to that tree and close your eyes. Relax your senses while breathing in the scent of leaves and bark. Listen to the creaking of the branches. When you feel settled, open your eyes, keeping them unfocused, and walk around its trunk. Feel the unique energy of the tree as your auras meet each other. Ask the tree for permission to touch it. If you feel the tree saying yes to you, begin breathing in its energy. Put your arms around the trunk and press your face to its bark. Embrace the tree for as long as you wish, feeling the roughness of its wood and the strength of its years. Relax into that strength and let the tree support you. You may even be able to physically feel a cyclical flow of energy taking place between your body and the tree.

You can sit with your back pressed to the tree for the same effect if you feel more comfortable doing so. Likewise, if you are seeking greater comfort, you may want to wrap your legs and arms around the tree, either at the base or by straddling a branch. Remember to thank the tree because by hugging your tree you are drinking from the well of natural copious energy cultivated by the tree’s many years on this earth.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch. I want to work with you so you have more freedom, more fun, less stress.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Feelings of guilt about being happy

We all deserve happiness in our lives and is an experience we all long for. We may wish for the happiness that comes with a much-needed holiday or an exciting new relationship, yet when the actual experience of happiness emerges, we may be too overcome with guilt to enjoy it. You may find relief in looking at the beliefs you hold about yourself and what it means for you to be happy, If guilt is interfering with your ability to feel joy.

Guilt about feeling happy can pop up for different reasons. Deep down you may believe that you don’t deserve to be happy because you think you hurt someone in the past, perceived you had more than others growing up, or maybe you received a nasty comment from someone you admired. Perhaps it once seemed that painful experiences always followed happy ones; now whenever you begin to feel happy, you find yourself waiting for the other shoe to drop. Happiness may even just feel uncomfortable because you’ve got so used to feeling down. The truth is that when you feel too guilty to let yourself enjoy positive emotions, you are denying a part of yourself that has a right to exist. By limiting your life experience to just the negative feelings, you are cutting yourself off from the fullness of life  which includes all of the positive emotions as well. Fortunately, you can begin to shift the way you respond to happiness even in this moment.

From now on, when you begin to feel happy, try to accept it, relish in it, ask it to stay. It’s okay to feel happy even if you believe you don’t deserve it. Feeling good is an expression of your wholeness and your connection with life. The next time happiness appears for you, try not to feel guilty about it. Instead, welcome your happiness in like a long-awaited friend.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch. I want to work with you so you have more freedom, more fun, less stress.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Natural sleep cycles

As humans we are designed to fall asleep soon after darkness falls and to wake as it gets light at dawn. Sleep cycles were governed by patterns of darkness and light for thousands of years, meaning that for much of history, humanity has enjoyed nine of more hours of sleep each night. The human body is naturally encoded to respond to light and dark and to sleeping with the rhythms of Mother Nature.  These days, artificial light has changed the way we schedule our day-to-day lives, and most people sleep for less than seven hours at a stretch.  It is possible, however, to come back to natural sleeping cycles by making a few small changes. When our bodies and minds are attuned to the world’s natural rhythms, we feel calmer, more centred, and more energetic while awake.  Sleep is more satisfying because we afford ourselves more than enough time for restoration and rejuvenation.

Our use of indoor lighting further compounds our disassociation from the natural cycles of light and darkness that would otherwise encourage our sleep. You can mimic the passage of the day by changing the quality of the light. Sleeping without heavy curtains or blackout blinds is best so you can wake up with the sun. If sleeping by a window without a curtain is not an option, a dawn simulator lamp imitates the sun by growing steadily brighter with the coming of the morning.

You may discover that changing your sleep patterns to be in sync with the daily cycle of light and darkness is easy and that you feel more alive when your sleeping and waking rhythms are in alignment to those of the earth. Nature’s own phases will be your guide to wellness, granting you more waking hours in the summertime when you will benefit greatly from spending time outside and ensuring you get plenty of sleep in the winter when you likely need it most.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Whatever we believe becomes our reality. 

We tend to ignore information that we think is inconsistent with our reality. Successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. They do not think or talk about the possibilities of failing. They do not even consider the possibility of failure. We usually act in a manner consistent with our beliefs. The most important belief system we can build is one where we absolutely believe that we are going succeed. This is called positive thinking, confirming our reality that we absolutely know that no matter what, we will be successful.

Often positive thinking is difficult because our parents or guardians only gave love and approval to their children when they did something that they wanted them to do.  If we grew up with this kind of conditional love we will inevitably tend to seek unconditional approval from others.  When we become adults, this need for approval from the parent is transferred to the workplace and to our boss or workmates. We can become preoccupied with the opinion of the boss and some totally imagined high standard. If we can change the way we think about ourselves and our potential, we can open new doors to unlimited possibilities and point ourselves in the right direction to a better, more fulfilling professional and personal life.  We should not think about what other people think of us, but we should concentrate on what we want and adjust our thinking so that we will achieve it. 

To begin to change the way we think about ourselves, we need to stimulate our imaginations.  This can be done by writing down a clear and detailed description of our ideal outcome.  We must be absolutely clear about the outcome, but we must also be flexible about the process of achieving it. 

There is a method you can use to see yourself having achieved your outcome.  It is called the ‘Hindsight Tool’.  It works like this:  

  • Think about the outcome you want, visualise yourself as having achieved it. 
  • In your mind imagine yourself in, say, five years time, picture yourself being the successful person you want to be. How would you look? What would you be wearing? What would you be saying or doing?  Who would be around you, who wouldn’t be around you? 
  • Then use the ‘hindsight tool’  –  turn round and look back to the present and see what course and actions you took, what mistakes you may have made and how you corrected them.

It may be that the outcome you imagined is not exactly what you hoped for.  That is fine and very normal.  Re-think your outcome and do the process over again.  You can do this many times until you get the outcome you want.  Then put it all into practice. 

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Burying your emotions

When you experience emotions that disturb or distress you, your first reaction is to push those feelings away.  Sometimes it is possible to distract yourself with other tasks, or bury your emotions or even deny the validity of your feelings. But the different emotions experienced are neither good nor bad, they are simply a part of being human. Choosing not to experience pain, anger, or other intense feelings could cause those feelings to become buried deep within your physical body. They may remain there unresolved and unable to emerge, even as they affect the way you experience the world. Allowing yourself to experience all of your emotions rather than push the more painful ones away can help you come to terms with your feelings so you can experience them and then move on.

It is possible to bring out the old feelings that have been pushed aside and experience them in a safe and enriching way.  It may sound a little daft to set aside time to feel your old wounds that haven’t been dealt with, but this can be a very beneficial healing experience. Find a safe place and pick a time when you can be alone. Ensure that you feel secure and comfortable in your surroundings. Bring to mind those circumstances that originally triggered the emotions you’ve been pushing away. You may need to revisit these circumstances by reading your journal or using visualisation to relive your past. Once you have triggered those buried emotions, let yourself feel your feelings, and try not to judge your reactions. Cry or sound your emotions if you need to, and don’t block the flow of your feelings. Allow any thoughts that are connected to your emotions to surface. As you release the feelings you have pushed deep down inside of you, you will find yourself healing from the experience associated with these emotions.

When you deal with your feelings directly, they can move through you rather than causing emotional blocks in your body that can sometimes turn into disease. Acknowledging your emotions, instead of pushing them away, allows you to stay emotionally healthy and in touch with your feelings.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Being silly

As children we have an instinctual grasp of humour and appreciate all that is silly as a matter of course. Even the smallest absurdities provoke joyous gales of giggles or laughter. As we get older, this innate ability to see the value of silliness can diminish. Work takes precedence over play, and we seem to have less incentive to exercise our imaginative minds by focusing on what is funny.  When we remember childhood, we may recall the pleasures of dressing up in funny costumes, reciting nonsense poems, making up strange games, or playing pretend. This unabashed silliness nourished our vitality and creativity. We can take in this nourishment once again by giving ourselves permission to lighten up and be silly.

Too often we believe it serves no purpose to encourage our inherent silliness that is an inborn aspect of self.  We may believe it is at odds with the grown-up culture of maturity. We play yet we don’t lose ourselves in play, and our imaginations are never truly given free reign because we regard the products of irrational creativity as being valueless. Yet silliness itself constitutes a vital part of human existence on many levels. Our first taste of ethereal bliss is often a consequence of our willingness to dabble in what we deem outrageous, nonsensical, or absurd. We delight in ridiculousness not only because laughter is intrinsically pleasurable, but also because it serves as a reminder that existence itself is fun. Skipping, doodling, and singing funny songs are no less entertaining than they were when we were children. We need not lose all interest in these cheerful and amusing activities, but to make them a part of our lives we must be ready to sacrifice a little dignity and a lot of fear.

Silliness should be regarded as a priority because so much of life is inescapably serious. Through the magic of imagination, you can be or become anything–a photographer, a professional athlete, a dancer, a pilot. Whether you take hundreds of silly pictures, revel in the adulation of your fans as you make the winning catch, boogie down rock-star style in front of your bedroom mirror, or turn your desk into a cockpit, the ensuing hilarity will help you see that light-hearted fun and adulthood are not at all incompatible.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Those first minutes of your day

Those first minutes of the day when you open your eyes and come into consciousness is an opportunity to cherish. Those first minutes set the tone for everything that comes after them, a bit like the opening scene in a film or the first chapter of a novel. In those minutes, your ability to create the day is at its most powerful, and you can offer yourself fully to this creative process by filling these minutes with whatever inspires you most. Perhaps you want to be more generous, or it may be that you want to be more open to beauty in your daily life. Whatever the case, if you bring this vision into your mind at this very fertile minute, you empower it to be the guiding principle of your day.

It is possible to wake up with a mood already seemingly in place, and it’s important to give this feeling its due. It can inform us and deepen our awareness to what’s going on inside us, as well as around us. As long as we are conscious, we can honour this feeling and also introduce our new affirmation or vision, our conscious offering to the day. We may want to decide before we go to sleep what we want to bring to the next day of our lives. It could be that we simply want to be more open to whatever comes our way. Or we may want to summon a particular quality such as confidence. Perhaps we may simply call up a feeling that perfectly captures how we want our day to be.

We can repeat our vision or affirmation as we shower and eat breakfast, as well as recalling it at various times throughout the day. We can write it down and carry it with us on a little slip of paper if this helps. Simply by being aware of those first minutes, we set the stage for a more conscious, enlivened experience, and we become active participants in the creation of our lives.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Expanding Your Comfort Zone

None of us is born with a manual that gives explicit rules for thought and behaviour that will enable us to navigate life successfully. Each of us develops a set of routines and habits to ground us so we can cope with the complexities to which all of humanity is subject.  their continuity assuring us that life is progressing normally. Most of us instinctively know that transformations can be uncomfortable, but we always learn and gain so much. Any discomfort we experience when expanding our comfort zones diminishes gradually as we become accustomed to change and begin to understand that temporary discomfort is a small price to pay for the transformation.

Your current comfort zone did serve a purpose in your life. But it is representative of behaviours and patterns of thought that empowered you to cope with challenges of days past. Now, your comfort zone does not facilitate the growth you wish to achieve in the present. Leaving your comfort zone behind through personal expansion of any kind can prepare you to take the larger leaps that will, in time, help you refine your purpose. Work your way outward at your own pace, and try not to let your discomfort interfere with your resolve. With the passage of each well-earned triumph, you will have grown and your comfort zone will have expanded to accommodate this evolution.

Whether your comfort zone is living with your parents, or perhaps being too shy to socialise, or maybe not changing the filling in your sandwich, whatever it is, start small, and you will discover that venturing beyond the limited comfort zone you now cling to is not as stressful an experience as you imagined it might be. And the joy you feel upon challenging yourself in this way will nearly always outweigh your discomfort. As you continue to expand your comfort zone to include new ideas, activities, goals, and experiences, you will see that you are capable of stimulating change and coping with the fresh challenges that accompany it.

Maggie Currie

Professional Award Winning Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk

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Feeling Depleted

Sometimes it seems our bodies are running on empty. We are not sick, nor are we necessarily pushing ourselves to the limit but it seems the energy we typically have has mysteriously dissipated, leaving only fatigue. Many people become accustomed to feeling this way because they do not know that it is possible to exist in any other state. The body’s natural state, however, is one of energy, clarity, and balance. Cultivating these virtues in our own bodies so that we can combat feelings of depletion is a matter of developing a refined awareness of ourselves and then making changes based on our observations.

Take a couple of moments of focused self-examination, assess your recent schedule, diet, and general health which will help you zero in on the factors causing your depletion. If you are struggling to cope with an overfull agenda, prioritising what is really important can provide you with more time to sleep and otherwise refresh yourself. Changing your eating habits so you eat plenty of nutritious foods may serve to restore your vigour. Identifying the source of your exhaustion will occasionally be more complicated than spotting a void in your lifestyle and filling it with some form of literal nourishment. Since your earthly and ethereal forms are so intimately entwined, matters of the mind and heart can take their toll on your physical self. Intense emotions such as anger, sadness, jealousy, and regret need fuel to manifest in your consciousness, and this fuel is more often than not corporeal energy. Conversely, a lack of mental and emotional stimulation may leave you feeling listless and lethargic.

When you can accept that the underlying cause of depletion might be more complex than you at first imagined, coping with the physical depletion and healing will be easier.  A harried lifestyle or a diet low in vital nutrients can represent only one part of a larger issue affecting your mood, stamina, and energy levels. When you believe that you are ultimately in control of how you feel, you will be empowered to transform yourself and your day-to-day life so that lasting fatigue can no longer gain a foothold in your existence.

If this has resonated with you in any way, please get in touch.

I offer coaching and mentoring to you – for you to make the changes you want to in your life. Build your confidence in your abilities.  Read my clients’ testimonials here. To help you to have more fun, more freedom and less stress. That is it. There is no catch. I believe in you. Get in touch today to book your coaching sessions.

Maggie Currie

Professional Transformational Coach, Consultant
Founder of MAGGIE CURRIE COACHING

Website:       http://www.maggiecurrie.co.uk

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/maggielifecoach/

Email:          hello@maggiecurrie.co.uk