All posts tagged: Personal development

How Smooth is your Wheel of Life?

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There’s a very useful coaching tool called the Wheel of Life, used to take a snap shot of our lives at any given moment and help us assess the areas that need improvement. Completing the wheel allows time for reflection; for us to pause and take stock of the areas that use up most of our time and energy. These areas include Money, Career, Friends and Family, Significant Other, Fun and Recreation, Health, Physical Environment and Personal Development. To complete the wheel you must give each area a mark out of 10 for how satisfied you are with them currently – the centre represents 0 and the outer perimeter a 10. You then draw a line or curve at that point to create a new outer edge. Looking at your completed wheel, what do you notice? How balanced is the Wheel? How smooth or bumpy is the ride? Which mark would you like to be giving in 6 months time? What are some steps you could take to reach those goals?        

How Well Do You Look After Your Mental Health?

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Our brains produce up to a staggering 50,000 thoughts per day (National Science Foundation). 95% of those thoughts are habitual and repeated on an almost daily basis. If you’re a naturally skeptical or negative person whose mind is filled with worry and anxiety, it’s inevitable this storm of gloomy, negative thoughts is going to have a frightening impact on your mental health and wellbeing. Especially since our thoughts govern our actions – “All that we are is a result of all that we have thought.” Buddha One very important way to look after our mental health, is to take a regular mental inventory of our thoughts to assess what we’re creating in our lives. How much time is spent worrying or complaining? Criticising ourself and others? How much time appreciating the things we do have instead of noticing everything we don’t? Looking at our lives with wonder and gratitude?  If what we experience now is a result of our past thoughts, then we’re creating our future with every new thought. If our thoughts are positive and encouraging, then we’re more likely to act in an uplifting …

Make decisions through Love

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Loving ourselves is the first and most important step towards personal development and growth. Spending time with and by ourselves, observing and understanding the landscape of our hearts and minds isn’t egotistical or self-centred, but instead a very selfless act of love and kindness. Because by knowing and working on ourselves – exploring our strengths and weaknesses, dealing with and letting go of past sufferings and future expectations, nurturing and feeding our minds and souls with self-love and compassion – we can become our best possible selves. Better equipped to love and thrive and therefore benefitting everyone we come into contact with. 8 Steps to Self-Love – Choose Grateful. Be grateful for who you are and what makes you unique. Start each day focusing on the good stuff, don’t automatically reach for your phone but instead take a moment to feel gratitude. Practice Contemplation. Whether through meditation, prayer or simply gazing at the stars in wonder. Learn to be quiet and let your soul speak. Be Honest. If we can’t be honest with ourselves, there’s little hope …

Empower your strengths and capitalise on happiness

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Research proves that people who know their character strengths live happier, more satisfied lives because knowing ourselves – what we’re good at, what energises and motivates us, and what our life values are – gives us the ability to lead more engaging and meaningful lives, true to our individual personalities. Strengths come in all forms and the great news is, we all have them! Whether it’s persistence, humour, gratitude, drive, commitment, loyalty, love or courage – if you’ve never thought about what your strengths are and how you can adapt your life to utilise them in a more powerful and effective way, now is the time. The VIA survey is a popular and free tool to help assess your best strengths, it can be found here – http://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register And if you still need persuading, here are five ways knowing our character strengths can help our personal development and emotional intelligence – An increased self-awareness allows us to build stronger, more effective relationships Acceptance of who we are improves our self esteem Allow us to set more tailored and attainable goals …

new year. new book. new perspective.

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The Road Less Travelled is a ‘classic work on relationships, spiritual growth and life’s meaning’. Written by best-selling author M. Scott Peck, it draws heavily on his experience as a psychiatrist and is a compelling book full of wisdom and tips to a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. It’s one of the few books I’ve carried around that gained a great deal of attention. Sat in coffee shops, on the bus, waiting for a friend in a restaurant, endless people noticed I was reading it and felt compelled to comment; “Great book”, “That’ll stay with you forever”, “Wonderful read” and I completely understand why. It is a life-changing book and one I will no doubt revisit again and again. Topics covered include – Discipline and the art of delaying gratification, giving up comforts in the present for future gain. Love as a choice not a feeling, extending one’s self for the purpose of nurturing another’s spiritual growth. Finding Grace within ourselves, evolving our conscious minds and making the unconscious, conscious. It’s a thought-provoking journey that took me …