5 Common Life Coaching Questions

Date: December 12, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: Leave a reply

When you’re thinking of going into something as life-changing as life coaching, questions are to be expected. It does sound too good to be true: life coaching gets rid of distractions, refocuses your goals and generally gets your life back on track. If you’ve ever been apprehensive or skeptical about life coaching before, these 5 questions are a good place to start finding answers.Does life coaching really work?Yes it does, but only if you let it work. Although life coaching will have you working with a life coach or two, the process of identifying improvement goals and then successfully implementing them is still dependent on you taking action. You have to go into the activities with an open mind to let the process work.Does life coaching involve any religion?Unless you specifically requested life coaching sessions that focused on religion and spirituality, your life coach won’t delve into that region of your life with you. Life coaching targets more visible areas of your life, such as your career or your family. Project-Transform does offer spiritual life coaching if you’re looking for guidance and direction with your spirituality and faith.Isn’t life coaching just psychology?Although life coaches commonly share some techniques with psychology, the two fields are very distinct. Psychologists specialize in diagnosing conditions and identifying causes; a Project-Transform life coach focuses on helping you express your problems and identify solutions. They sound very similar but life coaching is primarily focused on defining concrete action steps for improving your life instead of worrying about the causes. Your Project-Transform life coach will also be more directive than a psychologist and will present specific recommendations on how you might proceed with achieving your goals.How long will results take?This is one of the life coaching questions whose answer varies from person to person. Your Project-Transform life coach will be focused on helping you make some immediate improvements to the quality of your life. Sustaining those improvements and making more complex improvements will require you to keep working on implementing changes in your life. The actual time frame for your activities and life plans depends on the complexity of your goals and your willingness to actively work towards achieving those goals. Some people make considerable progress within a month or two, while there are also individuals who stick with a program for several years.From a life coaching perspective, neither case is better than the other. Change can be a very difficult thing to do; it’s a personal journey, not a race against others. The important thing isn’t that you achieve change earlier than the other person, but that you make the improvements you wanted as effortlessly as possible. What makes a life coach so valuable?First of all, life coaches are valuable to the change process because they have training in facilitating change. The Project-Transform life coaches follow a life coaching process that will bring you immediate improvements in your life while building the foundation needed to more easily implement future improvements. This is related to another life coaching question about why you should get life coaches in the first place. While you could just ask advice from a more successful or better-adjusted friend, a life coach who has never met you before can give you an entirely new perspective to examine your life with. And because many of the coaches were on the receiving end of life coaching in the past themselves, they make excellent guides along the road to change.

Stress- A Part of Daily Life

Date: December 12, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress- A Part of Daily Life

Existence is a gradually becoming a very complicated process. In the olden days, life was much simpler. People were bothered with the day to day proceedings. They did not have much complicated life styles. Their unhappiness was much more basic. Maybe it stemmed from lack of money or resources, or the illness of relatives etc. The word ‘stress’ was virtually unknown at that time. These days, every few sentence includes the word stress in it. Most people do not quite realize what exactly it is.

The word ‘stress’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a state of affair involving demand on physical or mental energy”. A situation or circumstance (not always adverse), which can disturb the normal physical and mental health of an individual. In medical terms ‘stress’ is defined as an alteration of the body’s homeostasis. This demand on mind-body occurs when it tries to cope with incessant changes in life.

A ‘stress’ condition seems ‘relative’ in nature. Extreme stress conditions, psychologists say, are detrimental to human health but in moderation stress is normal and, in many cases, proves useful. Stress, nonetheless, is synonymous with negative conditions.

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
—Thomas Jefferson

The events that provoke stress are called stressors, and they cover a whole assortment of situations – everything from absolute physical danger to making a class presentation.

The human body responds to stressors by activating the nervous system and specific hormones. The hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol and release them into the bloodstream. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and metabolism. Blood vessels open wider to let more blood flow to large muscle groups, putting our muscles on alert. Pupils dilate to improve vision. The liver releases some of its stored glucose to increase the body’s energy. And sweat is produced to cool the body. All of these physical changes prepare a person to react quickly and effectively to handle the pressure of the moment.

This natural reaction is known as the stress response. Stress in certain circumstances may be experienced positively. Eustress, for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of internal resources to meet challenges and achieve goals. But the stress response can also cause problems when it overreacts or fails to turn off and reset itself properly.

Good Stress and Bad Stress

The stress response (also called the fight or flight response) is critical during emergency situations, such as when a driver has to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident. It can also be activated in a milder form at a time when the pressure’s on but there’s no actual danger – like stepping up to take the foul shot that could win the game, getting ready to go to a big dance, or sitting down for a final exam. A little of this stress can help keep you on your toes, ready to rise to a challenge. And the nervous system quickly returns to its normal state, standing by to respond again when needed.

But stress doesn’t always happen in response to things that are immediate or that are over quickly. Ongoing or long-term events, like coping with a divorce or moving to a new neighborhood or school, can cause stress, too. Long-term stressful situations can produce a lasting, low-level stress that’s hard on people. The nervous system senses continued pressure and may remain slightly activated and continue to pump out extra stress hormones over an extended period. This can wear out the body’s reserves, leave a person feeling depleted or overwhelmed, weaken the body’s immune system, and cause other problems.

Although just enough stress can be a good thing, stress overload is a different story – too much stress isn’t good for anyone. For example, feeling a little stress about a test that’s coming up can motivate you to study hard. But stressing out too much over the test can make it hard to concentrate on the material you need to learn.

Pressures that are too intense or last too long, or troubles that are shouldered alone, can cause people to feel stress overload. Here are some of the things that can overwhelm the body’s ability to cope if they continue for a long time:

Some stressful situations can be extreme and may require special attention and care. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a very strong stress reaction that can develop in people who have lived through an extremely traumatic event, such as a serious car accident, a natural disaster like an earthquake, or an assault like rape.

Some people have anxiety problems that can cause them to overreact to stress, making even small difficulties seem like crises. If a person frequently feels tense, upset, worried, or stressed, it may be a sign of anxiety. Anxiety problems usually need attention, and many people turn to professional counselors for help in overcoming them.

People who are experiencing stress overload may notice some of the following signs:

Experiences of stress differ from person to person. Some people become angry and act out their stress or take it out on others. Some people internalize it and develop eating disorders or substance abuse problems. And some people who have a chronic illness like blood pressure, blood sugar, arthritis etc may find that the symptoms of their illness flare up under an overload of stress.

Stress-management skills work best when they’re used regularly, not just when the pressure’s on. Knowing how to “de-stress” and doing it when things are relatively calm can help one get through challenging circumstances that may arise. Here are some things that can help keep stress under control.

Some people are very resilient under stressful situations. They’re cool under pressure and able to handle problems as they come up. They are very well balanced and capable.

 

What is Life Coaching, Really?

Date: December 11, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: Leave a reply

Life coaching is often touted as ‘one of the best methods’ for improving your life. With enough of it, some people say, you could make the changes that you’ve wanted for so long. But none of that answers one very simple question: what is life coaching?What is Life Coaching?Athletes have sports coaches, singers have voice coaches and orators have speaking coaches, all for a single reason – they want to improve their performance in their respective fields. So if you want to improve your performance in day-to-day life, life coaching is the way to go.So what is life coaching? It’s essentially a program where you have a third party – a life coach – help you form and carry out decisions that will affect your life in a big way. That doesn’t just mean buying a new car or changing your address; it involves how you perceive yourself and the process you use for identifying and implementing improvements. A life coach will also help you deal with problems as they come along. Real life coaching looks at your life from many aspects and perspectives to help you spot improvement possibilities you might not even have been aware of.The Role of Life CoachesLife coaches are the critical elements in the life coaching process. After all, what is life coaching without the coach? Project-Transform life coaches will help you identify specific areas of your life that you want to improve and then assist you in developing methods for implementing those improvements. Now, it has to be clarified that life coaches aren’t psychologists or shrinks, even if they sometimes use techniques from either profession. Their role in the life coaching process is to give a new point of view when you begin examining your life. You will be surprised at some of the insights your life coach will provide you.Once your improvement areas have been outlined, your life coach will also help you to design an action plan for implementing and sustaining your improvements. The plan will initially address creating space in your life for better enjoying the present moment and for building a foundation to facilitate making larger improvements in the future. As you get your life more under control, your life coach will help you expand your action plan into a life plan that provides a roadmap for what you want to achieve with your life. Your life coach will be a resource for you as you implement your improvements to ensure that your actions are as productive as possible. Life Coaching RealitiesThe Project-Transform life coaching process focuses on helping you improve your life immediately. However, life coaching is not some three-day seminar that you complete and forget about. Using life coaching to improve your life is a long-term and continuous process of self-discovery and change. And it all starts with you. The coaches and the sessions can only show you the road to change and help you stick to it. You have to walk the road yourself, putting one figurative foot in front of the other. It’s not easy, but it’s the best route towards lasting change in the way you live your life. If you’ve ever felt lost or confused about your direction before, a coaching session can be the most helpful place to start.

Free Your Mind of Stress

Date: December 11, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

I know that many of you will be thinking what will meditation do for me, why is it so important and of course ‘I don’t have time to sit around trying to clear my head, I’m busy’. Well let’s be honest here, do you suffer from stress, now think about this a little more, because the answer is yes and if you’re not sure about that read on and think a little more…and don’t forget to check out my recommendation for easy stress relief.

Why Are We All Stressed?

With modern day living comes the hectic and ever demanding pace of live, it’s no wonder that many of us feel stressed and overworked and how many of us take this home with us, how many others feel the impact of the stress we feel?

Our stress and tiredness of everyday life lead us to the feelings of unhappiness, frustration and a lack of patience when it comes to dealing with even the most simple every day routines. Not to mention the impact that all this has on our health, the tiredness that we feel, the ever nagging inner voice reminding us that we need to do this and that and the other. Or the demands of our boss, our clients, our family and friends all add up to making life one big stress ball.

‘I’m stressed out’, ‘work is one big stress’, ‘I’m under too much stress’, ‘the kids are stressing me out’, these are all phrases that we are all too familiar with and it is also an acceptable part of every day life.

How Do I Define My Stress?

Stress is hard to define as it means different things to different people; however, one thing that is perfectly clear to all of us is that stress is a negative emotion, negative energy as opposed to positive.

Stress can be both physical and mental. Physical stress could be the result of a lack of sleep, or a poor diet and even an effect of an illness. Mental stress can be worrying about money, or how you’re going to survive retirement, or from experiencing a devastatingly emotional event such as the death of a family member, or being fired from work.

Our Natural Stress Response System

But did you know that much of our stress comes from less dramatic everyday routines. Obligations and pressures which are both physical and mental are not always that obvious to us and in response to these daily strains our body automatically invokes a stress response which floods your body with chemicals which increases your blood pressure, your heart rate, the blood flow to your muscles, your metabolism and your respiration. All of these responses are natural reactions so that our bodies are ready to react quickly and effectively under high pressure situations, termed fight or flight. Now whilst a stress response is useful in true emergency situations when you need to be on alert, it can considerably wear your body down when constantly active.

We are all continuously reacting to stressful situations, which is termed stress response, but without making adjustments in our lives to counter the effects. Stress can cause physical, emotional and behavioral disorders which affect our health, vitality and peace of mind; and of course it also affects our personal and professional relationships. Stress is also the key cause to many minor illnesses such as insomnia, headaches and backaches on top of the life threatening diseases such as high blood pressure and even heard disease.

It is also very true that every person handles stress differently, take for example a major life decision like changing careers, or moving house. I know some of you are cringing at the thought, but I also know that some of you would relish the thought. Whatever may be overwhelming to some people might actually be seen as a welcome change to others. An even simpler example is sitting in traffic, some people find this too much to tolerate tooting their horns and screaming out for more coffee, whilst others just take it in their stride maybe with the help of a little music, or a happy thought.

So what’s the answer? Well, aside from the inexhaustible amount of drugs available to reduce stress, which include free side effects I may add, there’s one very simple and natural way to reduce stress that takes 10 to 20 minutes of your day and has no side effects, meditation.

Our Natural Relaxation Response System

Earlier I mentioned that the secret to reducing your stress is by making adjustments in your life to counter the effects of stress, well this is done by evoking a relaxation response within you.

A relaxation response is a state of deep rest that is the opposite of the stress response. The relaxation response brings your body back into balance by deepening your breathing, reducing the stress chemicals in your body, slowing down your heart rate and relaxing your muscles. It also increases your energy, improves your focus, relieves headaches and other aches and pains, heightens your problem solving skills and boosts motivation and productivity and the best news is that with a little practice anyone can gain from these benefits.

Recommendations

As many of you out there are new to meditation and I am certain that there are also many of you who don’t want to get into depth of how to meditate or what form of meditation to use and want a quick head start, I would recommend you begin with an affordable audio meditation. I use several and one that is particularly good for stress relief is Totally Tranquil by Holothink and you can pick up a free ten minute demonstration by clicking on, or copying and pasting this link into your browser: http://holothink.com/hg/?a=V1L0R1YlpM

also increases energy and focus, combats illness, relieves aches and pains, heightens problem-solving abilities, and boosts motivation and productivity. Best of all – with a little practice – anyone can reap these benefits.

deepening your breathing, reducing stress hormones, slowing down your heart rate and blood pressure, and relaxing your muscles.

a state of deep rest that is the polar opposite of the stress response. this is known as Just ten or twenty minutes a day of meditation will bring relief from chronic stress and also increase your tolerance to it.

Remember, each person handles stress differently. Some people actually seek out situations which may appear stressful to others. A major life decision, such as changing careers or buying a house, might be overwhelming for some people, while others may welcome the change. Some find sitting in traffic too much to tolerate, while others take it in stride. The key is determining your personal tolerance levels for stressful situations. Stress can cause physical, emotional and behavioral disorders which can affect your health, vitality, peace-of-mind, as well as personal and professional relationships. Too much stress can cause relatively minor illnesses like insomnia, backaches, or headaches, and can contribute to potentially life-threatening diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease.

Stress can also be mental: when you worry about money, a loved oneÕs illness, retirement, or experience an emotionally devastating event, such as the death of a spouse or being fired from work. However, much of our stress comes from less dramatic everyday responsibilities. Obligations and pressures which are both physical and mental are not always obvious to us. In response to these daily strains your body automatically increases blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to you muscles. This response, is intended to help your body react quickly and effectively to a high-pressure situation.

With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. We are often so busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation as explained below can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance.

Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming meditations found in the Buddhist tradition. This is a profound spiritual practice you can enjoy throughout the day, not just while seated in meditation.

Hi there,

http://www.morphogeneticmeditation.com is a new social network site for meditation. It is based on morphogenetic field theory, which encompasses theory of a collective consciousness. The aim of my website is to bring people together whether you are new to meditation, or a meditation guru and arrange group meditation across the globe.

Yes, that’s right, I want to have people collectively meditating on any chosen topic at the same time anywhere in the world and thus improving your success with meditation and also manifestation. I want to prove to the world through your success that the collective consciousness exists and so I want you to share your success with everyone.

We are also going to arrange times for everyone on the site to get together at a predetermined time and meditate on peace, love and happiness and raise awareness of the collective consciousness.

At http://www.morphogeneticmeditation.com you will be able to add a whole host of content including video, pictures, music, your own blog, submit articles, post classified advertisements, post upcoming events and of course make friends, chat, learn and meditate. MorphopgeneticMeditation.com is your very own meditation social network so come along and have some fun at http://www.morphogeneticmeditation.com

Come and join us in our quest to make this world and your world a better place to live in through collective meditation.

Hypnotherapy and Tft: Powerful Therapy

Date: December 11, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: Leave a reply

 

When it comes to a powerhouse of therapy, thought field therapy (TFT) combined with hypnotherapy is one of the most effective out there today. The mind is full of strength and power and when therapies combine to workout the struggles housed inside the mind, there is no stopping the positive outcome.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is the practice of hypnosis in a therapeutic manner. A person who is hypnotized allows the inner most walls of the mind to fall for a short period of time. During these sessions, the hypnotherapist can guide the person through the various sections of the mind seeking out the causes for any struggles or troubles they may be having in life. While in a hypnotic state, unlike a waking state, the mind does not block outside forces from persuading these negative thoughts and ideas out of the subconscious. Once the causative factors are found and neutralized, the patient of hypnotherapy will have a better feeling about their life and the situation that brought them into the hypnotherapist’s office in the first place.

 

Hypnotherapy is practiced for a variety of reasons. Patients often choose hypnotherapy for phobias, fears, weight loss and anti-smoking. As of late, relationship counselling is also moving up the list of the most common hypnosis treated concerns with patients.

 

Thought Field Therapy

Created by Roger Callahan, TFT is the practice of the physical combined with the mental treatments of certain physical ailments. It is explained that TFT uses what are called meridian points throughout the body as the centres for Qi flow. When a patient thinks about the negative feelings harbour their lives, those feelings are brought to the surface of the body at corresponding meridian points. When tapped upon in a certain manner, the Qi flow is restored and the negative feelings are washed away in minutes.

 

TFT also utilizes voice technology (referred to as VT) in order to help stimulate the rise of the negative energy to the surface of the skin. Training to learn the practices of TFT are very specialized and are taught only be Callahan himself.

 

The Power of Combination Therapy

 

When TFT and hypnotherapy are combined, the results are nothing less than phenomenal. The hypnotherapy is a fantastic beginning point for patients that are unaware of the reasons they are having certain symptoms or negative feelings. Phobias are the perfect example of such a situation. With hypnotherapy, the cause of the fear can be found and then the patient will resort to TFT to restore their inner balance and eliminate the fear from their lives.

 

While there are some doctors who are trained in both hypnotherapy and TFT, the most realistic choice is to find separate doctors within each specialty that are willing to work together in your treatment. The combination of forces needs to be something that all parties agree to and thus TFT needs to be a method the hypnotherapist is willing to accept.

 

While these two therapies are unique, in that they represent a more alternative option for therapy, their popularity is growing by leaps and bounds. Hypnotherapy and TFT are both completely natural and safe for the human body. With no known side effects, the patients of hypnotherapy and TFT are often turning to these treatments for more common ailments before visiting their medical doctors. If there is any chance that they are able to be cured in a manner that is 100% natural, that is becoming the most chosen medical path. From smoking to weight loss, relationship relief to stress relief, the power of combination hypnotherapy and TFT is strong and beneficial.

What You Should Know About Hypnotherapy and Depression

Date: December 10, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: Leave a reply

What is hypnotherapy? Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy which is conducted by putting an individual under hypnosis. Many people do not believe in hypnotherapy insisting that this kind of therapy is simply foolish and unrealistic. The truth is that hypnotherapy is capable of solving many problems that an individual may encounter in life. It is also said that this form of therapy is capable of helping an individual change their bad habits or overcome their greatest fears. In order for hypnotherapy to work, a highly qualified therapist with a lot of hypnotherapy training must be performing the therapy.

The word depression is often used to describe a low mood or short time feeling of extreme sadness. Many times, depression comes with an extremely feeling of hopelessness. A person experiencing depression can also lose interest in the things that were once enjoyable. Depression can really affect an individual’s entire life making it difficult for them to accomplish some of the effortless tasks that they were once able to complete with ease. Being able to crawl out of the bed in the morning can be extremely difficult when you’re extremely depressed. Obviously, you can see how bad depression can be for your life.

If you are interested in finding out how to deal effectively with depression then please contact me. In order for hypnotherapy to be effective you will need to find an individual who has proper training and the right amount of experience. Anyone can setup a shop and tell others that they are a hypnotherapist. However, only people who have the right training and experience will be able to accomplish something with their hypnotherapy. This is one of the things you must consider when working on finding a good hypnotherapist. If you’re trying to cure yourself of depression then you’ll need to be able to talk with a doctor about your problems. It is important to be able to open up to this individual and allow them to analyze your problems otherwise they’ll never know where the root of the problem is.

Hypnotherapy and Personal Growth

Date: December 9, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Uncategorized
Comments: Leave a reply

Hypnotherapy is a form of hypnosis that is used for treating a variety of issues. Many clinicians have found that the use of hypnosis in addition to normal counseling therapy yields unbelievable results. Individuals that have the hypnotherapy as well as counseling reportedly have a more positive outlook much faster than others.
Hypnosis treatment has been used for treatment of anxiety, depression and other emotional disorders. The reason that hypnosis treatment is so effective is that it resolves the underlying issues that are causing the disorder. Sometimes through out life individuals have traumatic experiences or at minimum witness them.
These negative memories are stored within the mind and cause difficulties in different areas of life. Many do not even realize that the traumatic event may be inhibiting their success. With hypnotherapy they may uncover these negative thoughts that are causing negative emotions as well as behavior. With hypnotherapy these negative thoughts are replaced with positive scripts therefore eliminating the negative thoughts.
Hypnotherapy is commonly used for pain management. Whether it is chronic pain, short term pain or other types like surgery or child birth hypnotherapy can help. Hypnotherapy is very effective for teaching the individual to cope with the pain. This is completed by scripting in the unconscious mind that allows the body to relax and calm therefore easing the pain.
Most people become tense when they know that they are about to experience any type of pain, which can actually make it hurt worse. When individuals are able to relax, control their breathing and focus they are able to make the best of it. Not eliminating the pain, but making it more bearable is the goal of pain management hypnotherapy.
Clinical hypnosis is used to treat issues such as drug addiction or some other negative behavior. Clinical hypnosis works very close to the same way Cognitive Behavior Therapy does, only in the highly suggestive state of hypnosis. The hypnotherapist will introduce scripting that allows for the correct thoughts to replace irrational thoughts.
Though the body may become addicted to a substance the mind also comes to depend on the release from the substance. Making it a habit as well as the abused substance. Under hypnosis this habit can be replaced with something that is better for the individual and more productive. Cigarettes, drugs and other addictive behaviors have responded very well to clinical hypnosis as well as hypnotherapy.
There are many counselors that use traditional counseling only which works for some individuals. Those that use traditional counseling with hypnotherapy will pair the two allowing the individual to learn techniques that will help them cope.
There are many issues that surround addiction and emotional disorders. It is a wonderful idea to use both counseling and hypnotherapy in order to allow the patient to uncover underlying issues that may have been buried deep inside the subconscious for many years. A person can truly not be better until they resolve these issues.
Many use hypnotherapy to eliminate memories of bad times through childhood. It may be that they lived in an abusive household or lost a parent at an early age. Hypnotherapy can assist them with returning to the past as an on looker only to confront the situation.
It may be saying something that was never said or carrying out an action that they have regrets about not performing as a child. If death is something that the child was dealing with they may carry the baggage of not being able to say goodbye to the parent. Hypnotherapy can assist by allowing the individual to bring these thoughts to the front of the mind and lay it to rest. Though the memories or bad times will never be forgotten they can be put back in an appropriate place that allows the individual to have a productive life.
Hypnosis therapy is highly effective and used by many clinicians, doctors and other professionals all over the world. It can be used for a number of issues and is completely safe for the patient as well as the clinician. Hypnotherapy is more cost effective and has no negative side effects.
More information on the medical positives of hypnotherapy can be found in peer reviewed journals and in medical journals as well. That way you can view what medical science has deemed one of the best treatments available for yourself.