Self-Coaching Tips Blog

Self-Coaching Tip: Enjoy Doing Your Taxes

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:00:00 CST

For many of my new clients in the U.S., getting their taxes done is one of the most stressful chores they face each year. However, after learning to coach themselves around taxes, they experience a sense of peace, empowerment and satisfaction. Today, I'd like to share some of our self-coaching strategies for tax season. Try what feels good to you and ignore the rest. After all, what have you got to lose? Days of stress? An onerous chore? Teeth gnashing? Before you go any further, get clear about how you want to FEEL while doing your taxes. Some of my clients want to feel abundant. Some strive to overcome their procrastination. I like to feel at Peace. Once you've identified the FEELING, list 3 things that usually make you FEEL that way. Here's my list to help you get started: 1. watch my favorite movie (always puts me in a 'go with the flow' emotional state). 2. Visiting with my son or best friend. 3. Meditation. These sound like rewards, don't they? Well, that's exactly ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Discover the Benefits of Self-Coaching

info@quantumspirit.net (by Deborah Ivanoff) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:00 CST

This week we mix things up a bit. Listen as Deborah Ivanoff, Master Coach Trainer, interviews Carolyn Wilson-Elliott, CEO of Quantum Spirit International on the benefits of learning self-coaching skills. And don't forget to reserve your spot for our next Spiritual Cross-Training: Coach Your Self to Inner Peace and Outer Success program. Part One: What can be gained by learning and using self-coaching skills? Notice how Carolyn models the self-coaching process as she answers my question while giving examples of mental, emotional and physical patterns. She discusses the way in which changing any one of those three types of patterns gives us new choices so we never have to over-react. And she gives us a valuable tool to immediately shift our emotions. ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Find the Guidance in Your Procrastination

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:00 CST

This week is National Procrastination Week, a time for me to celebrate. I learned some of my best self-coaching strategies while struggling with my tendency to procrastinate. Did you know that procrastination isn't caused by laziness? Just like anything else, procrastination has a body-emotion-thought connection. For example, research shows several causes for procrastination: BODY: Procrastination can be caused by low activity or damage in the prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that filters out stimuli, especially distracting stimulation that makes it difficult to stay focused and organized around completing a task. EMOTION: Procrastination can be caused by our emotional state, such as depression, fear, anxiety or addiction. THOUGHT: Procrastination can be caused by the way we think about a task. If we think the task is too small or insignificant, we'll tend to procrastinate. On the other hand, if we think it's too big and overwhelming, we'll have a te ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Change Your Environment

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:00:00 CST

When I was little, my mother used to tell me, "don't slouch." I can still hear her voice in my head. Little did I know, that admonition would serve me well when I began learning how to coach myself. Think about it. Every moment of every day, your body is interacting with environmental forces, such as lighting, seating and gravity. If the environment is in harmony with your body's needs, you maintain good posture. On the other hand, poor lighting or sitting at a desk that is too big or too small, causes you to adapt your posture to the poor environment. Change in posture is the body's way of communicating that there is a change in your energy. The longer you maintain incorrect posture, the more constricted your body becomes. As the tension grows, your breathing is restricted, reducing the amount of oxygen getting into your system. You become more myopic-seeing less, hearing less, understanding less, and fearing more. That's right. Your posture actually affects your emotional state. T ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Expect the Unexpected

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:00:00 CST

A few years ago, I set an Intention for peace and harmony in my relationship with my ex-husband. Within three days, the energy of the amplified intentions was having an impact on my life-but it didn't look anything like peace and harmony. Almost overnight, the situation with my ex-husband threatened to become litigious. I felt overwhelmed and threatened at a core survival level. I knew what usually worked to coach myself through this situation, but I was having some difficulty. I became angry with my ex-, blaming him for the situation. For days, I held my anger as a protective shield against the primal fears that were surfacing. The anger interfered with my abilities to function effectively as a parent, a coach, a CEO. Finally, after several days of missing deadlines and appointments, I called a fellow Coach and asked for help. After doing the body movements that help me move out of my fears, I spent some time working through one of my favorite tools that helps me get out of my head ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Move Your Body, Change Your Thoughts

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:00 CST

For a large part of my life, my Inner Critic often stopped me from learning or doing something new by saying, "I'm not smart enough to learn this." And then, it reminded me of all the subjects in school that I struggled with like math and science. I literally re-lived the pain and embarrassment and confusion of various math and science classes throughout my school years each time I tried to learn something new. Here was a belief about myself that was not supporting me. I was convinced that my brain was just 'too slow' to understand new ideas. But, my story about 'being slow' was only a part of the picture. When I applied self-coaching to look at the whole picture, I discovered a few surprises. Remember, self-coaching includes looking at your body, emotion and thought patterns. Here's what the whole picture looked like: " Story/ Thoughts: I'm too slow to learn new ideas. " Emotions: pain, embarrassment and confusion " Body: quick, jerky and clumsy movements For me, being stupid meant be ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Partner With Your Emotions

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:00:00 CST

Did you know that emotions prioritize your thinking? For example, when I am depressed, my thoughts tend to focus on what I don't have: enough energy, creativity, love, etc. Once my thoughts start down this path, I begin to perceive lack in other areas of my life, such as relationships, finances, health. This emotion-thought pattern can feed on itself. Pretty soon, I begin feeling a great sense of hopelessness and I just stop trying to do anything. For many years, I tried to ignore my depression. I'd distract myself from it in an effort to make myself feel better, such as shopping or eating. But, then, as my self-coaching skills improved, I learned to partner with my depression and all that changed. Partnering with your emotions can be very scary, at first. Emotions can feel huge and overwhelming. I never wanted to really feel my depression because I was afraid it would swallow me up and I'd never find my way out of it. But, when I learned how to partner with my depression, I discovered ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Play Every Day

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:00:00 CST

As a child, I loved writing about distant planets, exotic aliens and grown-up, adventurous space-farers. But I got the details wrong. I didn't know enough of the world to recognize that cream puffs were not the breakfast of aliens or that clocks don't belong in prehistoric caves. The details were inaccurate, but I was connected to my passion for stories. I was alive and exploring my Authentic Self. As I got older, details gained an even greater importance in my life. Now, ignoring details had consequences. Catholic school nuns insisted I learn my catechism or go to hell, classmates deconstructed my clothing style - or lack thereof - to determine my popularity, teachers demanded I behave or it would go on my "permanent record." Eventually, I went off into the real world of adults, armed with an obsession over getting the details "right." Convinced the world would come to an end if I didn't arrive at work on time, pay the bills as soon as they arrived or iron the creases "just so" in my ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Begin Where You Are

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:00 CST

To celebrate the New Year, I'm using my self-coaching skills to transcend the historical practice of reflecting upon the past year and choosing goals for the New Year. Instead, I begin where I am. Think of it like the directory in a shopping mall. There's usually a map of all the stores with a big red dot that reads, "you are here." In order to get to the shop you want, you need to know where you are in relation to it. I need to know which beliefs are holding me back and which beliefs are helping me move forward. need the guidance that my emotions hold for me. And finally, I need to communicate with my body to make permanent, lasting changes that are easy and effortless Once I'm clear about where I am, really connected to myself on all three levels (physically, emotionally, mentally), something wondrous happens: co-creation. Co-creating takes me to a new place of connection. Instead of focusing on what I've accomplished (a left brain activity) or floating contentedly in a meditative st ...

Self-Coaching Tip: Measure Your Self-Coaching Abilities

info@quantumspirit.net (by Carolyn Wilson-Elliott) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:00:00 CST

Most people measure their success by externals: their job, income, number of cars, size of their home, etc. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, in this country, it is encouraged. But, if you're at this website, chances are those externals are not enough. There's something missing from your life that you can't quite put your finger on. Quantum Spirit International was built by people who were missing something from their lives. Educators, therapists, writers, artists, and entrepreneurs came together to find a way to bring their Spiritual Nature, or Authentic Power, into every area of their lives (family, work, health, finances, relationships, etc.). If this is what you're looking for, read on to find out what we discovered about 'success.' Success as a Connection to Spirit / Source / God Your behavior measures the success of your ability to stay connected to your Spiritual Nature. When you're angry, you may automatically respond with yelling or shouting, seething in sile ...