life coaching

The Subconscious Mind Matters

Anybody else resonate with this, or is it just me?!

Seriously though, it’s experiences like these that can teach us a lot about how our brains work. They’re designed to be efficient. What our brain CAN put on autopilot, it’s going to put on autopilot. For example, breathing, walking, chewing ... most of us don’t actually have to think through how to do those things, right?

That’s because when we repeat something — behaviors, thoughts, or feelings — our brain takes the cue and works to make that repetition easy to recall and continue. Our brain does that for necessary, life-sustaining behaviors, as well as any good, healthy habits we may set out to build. However, our brain doesn’t discriminate in its drive for efficiency. That means our not so helpful ways of being and doing also can easily become automatic.

PONDER: Have you ever felt like you didn’t have control over how you felt or reacted to something (or someone)? Ever find yourself stuck in a thought pattern you can’t quite shake?

Frankly, you may be feeling less than awesome BECAUSE your brain is so good at what it does. 

Fortunately, we can leverage your brain’s awesomeness for positive change, as well.

Want to know how? In a word: neuroplasticity. The process? An intentional, conscious one. It starts with getting clarity on what automatic processes aren’t helping you anymore.

Make an appointment to get started on changing your brain … and, ultimately, your life for the better!

Dx: Anvil Anticipation

I think a lot of people suffer from it.*

It's a mental disorder in which a person expects to get smushed by life. They live life hunched over and shirking, ever observant and constantly processing, certain — even in (and especially in) their good times — that bad is going to come careening out of the sky with a weight and a force that destroys. They are Wylie Coyote and their destiny is to have anvils fall out of the sky upon them. Those unfortunate enough to have this disorder, find that trust does not come easily. Their joy is cautious, rarely fully realized. Defeat and depression are the homeland they must regularly wade through, push past and daily leave behind.

Treatment plans often feature leaps of faith, immersion therapy, supportive relationships with trustworthy people, regular vacations, hugs, analysis of past smushings, paying particular attention to the positives, sharing moments of delight, and time.

*this is not a real disorder.


Does this "diagnosis" fit you? You're not alone ... and I'd love to help you work through it. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!

Inspiration for the Indifferent

Maybe you haven't been traveling through Patagonia like the couple in the video, but the path YOU'VE been been on? Like theirs, it comes to an end, fades, transitions. Maybe it already has. And YOUR FUTURE, quietly waiting, asks you:

1. Is it possible to be happy with THIS life?
2. Did you enjoy your story?

If you can't answer yes ... I urge you to start looking for a different answer. Do whatever it takes to know that you know that you know that joy is still possible. Start today. Go. Try. Be. Change.

Go travel. Make eye contact. Say "hello." Run a new route. Change your diet. Get foolish and engage a grand gesture. Stop living half-assed and quit making excuses (Revelation 3:15-17, The Message). Fear owns you. You're no good for anyone (including yourself) all stifled and hunched inward. Tradition, authority, rules and norms? Analyze them, shake them, change them.

One life. One chance at influence and time and transformation. Don't blow this.

Just live a better story, k? Need a little help or hope to get you started? I'm game. That's what therapy is all aboutGive me a call.

Redefining Failure for Success

The path to success involves a lot of how you deal with failure.

Do you believe failure to be a (by)product or do you view failure as an indictment on identity? A simple litmus test:

When something you've been working on/betting on doesn't work out as you planned/hoped, what is your internal monologue?

1) Well, that failed.

2) Well, I failed.

Think about it. The former perspective assumes grace and possibility and leads to a motivation to try again. The latter perspective blinds us to possibility and keeps us from confidence and hope.

Where do you land?