Shifts Work

An exercise to guide you in coaching yourself from a problem focus to a results focus

This week's episode is 6 1/2 minutes of clear, useful steps that will allow you to coach yourself out of a focus on a problem that has you stuck or frustrated. When all you can see is something you don't want (something you'd like to lose or stop), take a walk or sit down with a journal and work through these five steps. The result will be a new perspective on the problem and fresh energy for getting where you want to go instead.

Find Your Calm

When you look at a picture of your life, do you see calm or chaos? Most of us get caught up in the nots: not clear, not comfortable, not on purpose.  Take five minutes to look for grounded, specific, and true. You'll find your way to calm, no matter what's in the picture. 

Manage your language to manage your attention to manage your mindset.

Celebrate Like It's the Most Important Choice You'll Make

Celebrations are fun - but are they important? Listen to find out why celebration is one of the most important choices we make as human beings. Anyone will pay attention and remember times of threat or suffering. We have to consciously make an effort to pay equal attention to times of achievement and satisfaction. When we do, we store the light we need in dark times.

4 Chairs: Shift Perspectives to Shift a Problem

Maybe you're stuck. You've been hurt or disappointed and you don't know what to do next. You're reaching for something you can't quite define. You're doing well, but you've hit the edge of your interest and there's no clear path ahead.  

Take 10 minutes and imagine that you have the chance to sit with 3 people, someone you trust, someone you admire, someone who loves you. If you could see through their eyes, what would you discover that you don't know now? What new attitude or information would come into your awareness to help you find that next step?

A brief exercise to settle the monkeys in your mind so you can focus and work

When the Buddhists call it "monkey mind" they mean that the ideas, emotions, memories, passions and connections in your head act like a troop of monkeys, bouncing, climbing, feeding, interacting and making mischief. Use this brief exercise to help your monkeys settle into connection and prepare to work together.

A guided exercise to find the you who is genuinely thankful

Sometimes it's hard to feel thankful on cue. You might know that mindful gratitude is a wonderful attitude that leads to all kinds of benefits. It does, but how do you get there? For many people, thanksgiving holidays are a reminder that they are alone, or that their families are nuts, or that they have way too much to do. You might be stressed or insecure or tired. What's the best way to put all that aside and notice that you are already thankful? What's the best way to get from grumpy to glad?

We are wired for connection, and our wires get crossed

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you know the right thing when you hear it or do you just know it?  Understanding your personality might be less helpful than understanding how all human brain/mind/body systems are wired. 

It's complicated. On the one hand, humans are pack animals who have highly sophisticated, complex internal systems for reading each other's expressions, getting into sync, and collaborating. On the other, each human being has a distinct sense of themselves as individual. The voice in your head tells you that what you want matters because you are the only "you" on the planet. The wiring in your brain wants to sync with the wants of the people around you.  It's noisy in there.

So You Want More Control?

Welcome back after a summer break. Today's episode is about how to get more control: control of yourself, control of your situation, control of what other people will do or notice.

The person with the best choices has the most control. Learn how to change your thinking so you have better choices available to you.

A short exercise in breathing big and becoming centred

You're not really the centre of the world. But you are the centre of your world, the centre that perceives and experiences and connects.

If you're tired, for the moment, of good advice and choices to make and to-do lists to accomplish, then stop for a few minutes and breathe with me.

To find your voice, begin in silence

In this episode, Linda introduces the reasons it is so hard to hear your own voice. Language is always carried by a voice, in writing or in speaking. To find the voice that works best for you, you need to separate your own voice from the voices around you and the voices you carry in your head. When you make space in your life for silence, you can begin to focus on separating out your voice from the contagious voices around you and the voices of influencers that you carry within you.