Seasonal Contrast

My Next Stage Coach

Life coaching for your next stage

Judy Panek, MS, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Judy@mynextstagecoach.com

November 25, 2011

Good Morning,

Another beautiful day, especially so as we look at the calendar and appreciate some sunshine and mild temperatures; it’s all about contrast. Knowing the experience of cold winds, icy roads, and gray skies we welcome the ease and comfort of a day like this so late in November.

Contrast is a good thought for today. As we move into the holiday season consider the contrast in thoughts, emotions, and actions under different conditions. What changes for you when under stress? What gets triggered this time of year? What patterns exert more influence? What old stories, beliefs surface?

If you have been going through a transition, making changes, consciously choosing a different path this time a year may present some challenges. How can you prepare yourself? What do you want to keep in mind? What practices support you in maintaining your journey?

Here are some strategies for staying true to creating what you want:

Start with noticing: what’s the thought? What’s the feeling? What triggered that?

Give yourself permission to take a time out: take a breath; find a quiet space; get grounded.

Practice some statements: “I’m simplifying; making some changes; it’s time to let some things go; let me think about that before committing.”

Smooth sledding,

Judy

Email mailto:judy@mynextstagecoach.com?subject=consultation for a free consultation.

Growing

My Next Stage Coach

Life coaching for your next stage

Judy Panek, MS, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Judy@mynextstagecoach.com

November 18, 2011

Good Morning,

Here are a couple thoughts to sit with this week: There is no security in stagnation, as long as we are alive we are either growing or we’re dying. This may seem a rather stark notion, but consider - being alive means we are constantly growing, changing, evolving.

Our choice becomes: What are we growing? Being conscious we are aware and able to choose what we are growing. We can also appreciate what it means to grow and recognize what growth feels like, looks like, what the process of growth is. We know that growth is not always comfortable; it can feel very awkward, and clumsy. There is uncertainty and doubt, since the very nature of growth means we are trying something new, unfamiliar, out of our comfort zone.

When we see a baby learning to walk we accept the falling down, we celebrate the clumsiness because we recognize that this is a necessary part of the process of learning. We know this is essential for the eventual grace, ease of movement, running, dancing that is in this baby’s future.

And so with us, when we choose some area we want to grow, to expand, to develop (a new language, better fitness, more balance, leadership, compassion, money management, stronger relationships....) The decision becomes; What is it I want to grow? What are the conditions that will support me in this? If we don’t do this consciously, we do it by default, and so we may grow our discontent, our frustration.

What are you growing?

Judy

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. - Leonardo da Vinci

Email mailto:judy@mynextstagecoach.com?subject=consultation for a free consultation.

Room to Grow

My Next Stage Coach

Life coaching for your next stage

Judy Panek, MS, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Judy@mynextstagecoach.com

November 11, 2011

Good Morning,

Today let’s think about spaciousness. What comes up for you when you notice empty space? Are you inclined to fill it? Do you wait for a certain thing or activity to fill the space? Are you selective? What’s your comfort level with openness, unstructured time, and uncluttered spaces?

One of the advantages of moving along the life line is getting to a place where there are some open spaces. We can experience a shift in responsibilities, altered expectations, and changes in roles. These changes can create open spaces. What once took a lot of time and attention is not so demanding; stuff doesn’t seem so necessary; we’re better at determining where to spend our energy. We may feel a desire to clear the clutter, downsize, simplify; having our environment reflect what is going on inside.

Experiencing this allows fertile ground for questions around, “Now What?”

What does this make room for? If we don’t make some effort to understand and declare what we want we may find those spaces filled with activities, thoughts, old patterns that are not what we really want.

Where are you now in knowing and living your purpose?

Now you may have the time and space to explore!

Enjoy the room to grow,

Judy

Email mailto:judy@mynextstagecoach.com?subject=consultation for a free consultation.

Guidance

My Next Stage Coach

Life coaching for your next stage

Judy Panek, MS, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Judy@mynextstagecoach.com

November 4, 2011

Good Morning,

As you may- or - may not know, besides being a life coach, I am a teacher. I teach adults who want to learn &/or brush-up on basic skills. They come to adult education for a variety of reasons including things like: to be more employable, to be ready for further training, for personal satisfaction, as part of a career development plan, to be able to help their children with their homework. What I have been thinking about this morning are the parallels of teaching and coaching.

For example:

Teaching Identifying student goals Identifying present skill levels - gaps Developing a path to achieve goals Use tests, formal and informal to gauge progress Use good teaching practices: introduce, model, scaffold (teaching term), application/generalize, integrate

Coaching Clarifying client goals Discovering client’s style, strengths, areas of concern Co-creating a path Check-in to determine progress, set benchmarks Provide resources, structure, feedback, acknowledgement

These are a few thoughts off the top. What is not on here is the part about putting the process into a context for the student/client. It takes something to face what you don’t know, to put yourself on the path of learning and growing. It takes commitment; it takes effort; it takes openness to move forward – to learn – to grow. And, I think it is wise to get some support, some guidance on this path. Learning and growing are work – important work.

The question for you today is around your personal commitment to learning and growing. These questions around who you are; where to focus your energies; what is your passion; what’s your vision; how to be whole, healthy, happy are all vital to your well being. How do you navigate that path?

Stay curious,

Judy

Email mailto:judy@mynextstagecoach.com?subject=consultation for a free consultation