How to eat an elephant

Ever had those passages in life when everything just seems too much? One moment life was slow and you were eager for something to get all excited about.The next thing you know, you are spinning out of control, with lists dancing in your head at night, waking up with a racing heart persuaded you have missed something important, suddenly snapping at everyone and wanting nothing more than to to get into bed and pull the covers over your head? I seem to do quite a bit of that and I guess the correct term is ...OVERWHELM.
So what is overwhelm? One definition I like goes along the lines of: moments where our life seems negatively impacted by people and events outside our control. We feel it is all too much. Since our self-esteem is tied to our ability to feel we are in control of events in our environment, we feel down beat, we feel we can't deal with it and just wish it would all go away.
So what can you do? Basically you need to re-evaluate what is the most important to you. You need to take control again, even if it is only on paper. Get those lists out of your head where they just seem to be flashing incessantly and get them down on paper. Maybe at first just note them randomly to catch them all, a bit like downloading a computer to clear room for more. Then go back, look at what you have noted and put them in groups. It can be matching categories,things you HAVE to do, things you WISH to do.
You are now taking control.
Put them in order of priority and tackle them one by own, determine an action for each and a date to do it and commit to it.
Step by step.
Which brings me to the elephant... So, How DO YOU eat an elephant? The answer is simple: one bite at a time! Good luck!
Here's to making it happen! Have a great week!

What you resist, persists....

I can't claim to having coined that sentence, but Carl Jung can and it is worth taking some time to realise the implications...
We are what we think of most of the time so if we are telling ourselves "Whatever I do, I do not want to be like..." or "Don't smoke, I must stop smoking" or "Right I am on a diet now so no chocolates for me, I will fight the hunger pangs, I hope I dont get too bad hunger pangs and loose control, gosh was that a hunger pang?"...etc Silly examples maybe but I am sure you can replace them with some of your own.
The fact is that when we resist something, we are thinking about it, that is where our focus is, our energy, our time and attention. We are so busy resisting that we are feeding with our energy whatever it is that we do not want , hence it is persisting.
If you are aiming at making changes in your life, on whatever level, make sure to focus on WHAT IT IS THAT YOU WANT, and not what you don't want. All your focus, energy and attention should be spcifically aimed at what you DO want in your life. So imagine what life will be like with the change made, see yourself having achieved the change: what do you feel? see? hear? What is different?
Make your affirmations positive (stating what you want), present (under the motto: fake it till you make it) and personal (you only have the power to change yourself): I AM smoke free and healthy, I AM feeding my body with healthy, balanced produce..etc  I AM fitter every day...whatever it is.

Here is to making it happen! Good luck and keep me posted!

Are you communicating what you really mean?

One fact which really surprised me during my coaching studies was that communication is made up of 55% of body language, 38% of word tonality and actually only an itsy witsy 7% of actual words! That is amazing! What our bodies are then saying is closer to what we really mean than the words we choose or just let gushing out. By body language I am refering to aspects such as our posture: leaning forward or back, upright or slouched, how do you sit, leg position, what you do with your hands, how and where you look, even the colour and texture of your skin. When in communication with someone, if you are unsure of what they are saying or meaning, always trust the signs you instinctively pick up from the body.
Once I became aware of that fact, I started paying closer attention and indeed have found that it helps me get a better understanding of those talking to me, whether professionally or privately and I can perceive more of what they are not saying and help them come into alignement.
Of course then one also becomes aware of one's own body signals in all forms of communication. I caught myself just yesterday assuring my 11 year old that I WAS listening but in effect was turned away from him and was doing something else at the same time, hence the clear signals he was receiving that he didnt have my full attention and I was only partially listening, hence his frustration.
I tried it out on my 13 year old too who didnt understand why I was always reproaching him of being disrespectful. The words might have been OK (well OKish at least ) but his body language with slouched posture, staring at the table, sighing and rolling his eyes...were telling me he wasnt taking our talk seriously.

Give it a try! Pay attention to the body language you are emitting and what the other is REALLY saying to you! If we understand fully what the other person really feels and means and if we take care to be in alignement with ourselves the quality of our communication will improve tremendously and so will our feeling of fulfillment! So lets make it happen!!!