Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Learn To Forgive Yourself And Others

In order to live a healthy life both mentally and physically one must learn to forgive. Forgiveness allows an individual to work through the hurts and bitterness experienced and to let go of all the negative elements. In embracing the act of forgiveness and moving on the body and mind can then start to experience the peace, hope and joy that is the byproduct of forgiveness.

The physical implications are vast and serious when it comes to harboring unforgiveness. There are actual scientific researches that conclusively agree that the body’s chemical make up is disturbed dramatically when there is resentment and unforgiveness in the individual.

This disturbance that causes the imbalance will then transcend into either serious or mild unhealthy medical conditions. Some of these conditions can escalate to further seriousness if the unforgiveness goes unchecked.

Perhaps knowing some of the benefits that can be enjoyed if unforgiveness was absent, the individual would be more willing to let go and move on.

Healthier relationships can be fostered when the step to forgive is taken. This is because the individual bearing the grudge will be able to release all the negative energy that is dominant in the unforgiveness element.

A greater level of spiritual and physiological state of well being can be attained. This level of release will also ensure the corresponding peace and joyous feelings to be abounded. Medically, stress levels are considerable lowered as with blood pressures. There will also be less likely symptoms of depression, anxiety, and chronic pains.

Though forgiveness is not an easy thing to do, however it is not only vital bit also possible to achieve. The process of forgiveness starts one step at a time.

It is a committed act of consciously accepting the facts and moving away from the pain and rejections caused. The end desired product is the ability to gain the positive elements of compassion and understanding.

Essentials For Be a Life Coach

Becoming a life coach is not easy. As easy or as lucrative that job might seem, a person has to have certain essential characteristics before they are considered to have the potential to be a life coach. So what are the important characteristics that are needed to be a life coach?

1. The passion to help
To be a life coach, you need to be eager to help people. People are coming to you seeking for your help. So there has to be a real sincere passion for you to help them. Without this passion or eagerness, you will easily lose your patience and your clients will not be able to succeed in achieving their goals.

2. Be a good listener.
You need to listen more than you talk. Your clients will be coming in telling you about their problems and the goals they want to achieve. If you are one of those people who are unable to sympathize when another person is talking, this is not the job for you. You need to listen to what your client has to say and understand what they are truly saying and meaning.

3. Be objective and don’t judge.
You must be able to make objective observations and tell your clients of your observation in a clear and truthful manner. You also need to keep your own judgement and bias out of your observation.

4. Excellent communication skills
Most of the life coaching conducted may be via telephone. So you need to have excellent communication skills and relationship skills for you to be able to connect with the client at a personal level. If you are cold and distant, your life coaching will be ineffective.

To sum it up, if you have all the criteria stated above to a life coach, so you do have the potential to be a life coach. All you need is to sign up for a training program and start on a journey that is both rewarding and fulfilling.

How to Be a Life Coach: Inspire Yourself, Inspire Them

Life coaches are consultants who work with people and help them achieve and make the desired changes in their lives. If you want to take on the job as a life coach, here are a few steps that you should take first.

Firstly, you need to be caring and emphatic. The work of a life coach involves listening and understanding other people’s problems. Then you need to help these people and encourage them to achieve their goals. This requires you to be extremely caring and emphatic. If you are an impatient and unfriendly person, you would lose patience with your clients fast and would not be able to communicate well with your clients.

Secondly, you need to decide on what area of life coaching you want to specialize in. Some life coaches specialize in helping people with their interpersonal relationships, businesses, careers or even on a personal development level.

Thirdly, you need to be trained. You have to enter training at private institutes which offers this course. This will help you to receive accreditation from a recognized organization such as International Coach Federation or the International Association of Coaching. Although this is not a requirement but getting yourself accredited makes you part of the organization’s life coaching network and this can direct clients to you.

Fourthly, it is recommended that you get yourself mentored by an established life coach too. A life coach has to have personal and professional development too. Whilst you are receiving your mentoring from an established life coach, you too can also start to give out coaching of your own. By doing so you are actually putting what you learn in to practice and it accelerates your learning process too.

Lastly, you need to continue to improve your life coaching skills. Life is about constantly learning so keep on taking the continuing education classes to develop yourself not only from a professional point of point of view but also for your own personal development.

Inspiring Others Through Life Coaching: 4 Great Steps

Being a life coach, you need to be able to inspire others to make a change in your life. However, has there been a time, where you are worried that you won’t have the answer, or you’ll give the wrong answers? Well here are 4 great steps for you as a life coach to take to help inspire others to make a change.

1. Be there for them
When they signed up for your sessions, your clients know that they are being held accountable to you. They know that next week you are going to ask them did they do it. You just need to be there for them. By being there for them, you are helping to push them to discover what is important in their life and inspiring them to move towards achieving their goal each and every day.

2. Listen to them
You need to listen to your clients with undivided attention. You need to gather what the client is saying and what the client actually means. You may ask questions such as what steps can you take to what do you really mean? This way you are asking questions that will make the client really think of what they are really saying.

3. Talking it out
Sometimes all that is needed to find a solution to the problem is to talk it out. Every week, you are giving your client the chance to talk out the problem that has been bugging them for the whole week. When the both of you are talking out the problem, it will shed more light on the issue they are facing.

4. Two head are better than one.
When your client is telling you about their issue, you are able to observe it from a detached point of view. This is because you are not personally involved in that issue. You are then able to give an objective observation that will give a whole different perspective to your client’s issue. You might even suggest different solutions that they have never thought of.

In conclusion, most people think that to inspire others, you need to get out of your box and do the fantastic to reach to the clients. The most important thing actually is to be there for the client and to be understanding. Only through that you will be able to inspire your clients to make a change for the better.

Life Coaching: The Pros They Have To Offer

Many people do not know what a life coach can do for them. The job of a life coach is to basically help you identify goals and to motivate you to achieve those goals. So here are the few benefits of having a life coach.

In your present mind frame, it is difficult for you to manifest success in your life because you have no idea what is your personal goal or the personal success you want to achieve. A life coach is able to help you to point out what is important to you and once they have pointed out your priorities, they can help you work out and set up a goal for you to achieve.

Secondly, a life coach is also there to lend some clarity to the issue that you are going through. When you are grappling with an issue, it is easy to not be able to see the solution as clearly as others because you have been blinded for so long. By talking it out with a life coach, they will be able to give an objective and truthful observation about your issue and also shed some light on the problem that you are having. Furthermore, they would also be able to come up with ideas that you have never thought about.

Thirdly, a life coach is there to help you to put your plan into action. Once you are done with setting your goal and setting a course of action, they help you to make decisions much more quickly and reduce costly delays and thus proving better quality action.

Fourthly, when you have a life coach, you are therefore accountable towards them. They will ask you each week of your progress and will hold you accountable to your action. If you are unable to put your plan into action, they will be able to motivate you towards your goals and to stick to your action plan.

Lastly, a life coach is there to give you support. They will listen to what you have to say without judging or criticizing. They will also give you their support during the toughest times and they will also be there to celebrate your successes.

So to sum it all up, getting a life coach will be the next best step towards trying to improve your life and trying to achieve your dreams. So what are you waiting for? Seek out a life coach today.

The Benefits Of Being A Life Coach

Life coaching is a profession that is different from consulting, mentoring or counselling. The process of coaching addresses issues such as business, personal projects, relationships and the client’s personal growth. So what are the benefits of becoming a life coach?

There are many benefits of becoming a life coach. Firstly, it a rewarding and fulfilling career choice. They have the opportunity to help people get the most out of their life. They are working with positive people who are eager to learn and achieve. You don’t have to struggle to try and change that person’s mindset. That person wasn’t sent to you. When you are a life coach, people come seeking you to help them. This means the battle is already half won because they are willing to change and they are willing to pay you to help them change.

Secondly, being a life coach also accelerates your personal and professional development. When you are a life coach, you are expected to be at a certain level of personal and professional ranking already. You are the expert and that is why people are seeking you out. When you start coaching others on how to develop themselves personally and professionally, you are accelerating your own pace because you are learning from your clients too at the same time.

Thirdly, being a life coach gives you mobility. You have the freedom to live and work anywhere you wish. You can coach from your home, from an office or while travelling. It can be done through telephone or you can even do it through email!

Fourthly, your coaching business can bring in big money for you. You can earn on an average $120 an hour in coaching fees. It ranges from $100-$300. At the same time you can also earn while you learn. Most coaches who start coaching within 6 months of entering a training program are also earning fees shortly after. It is important for you to practice what you learn and learn from what you are practicing.

Lastly, coaching is how you can make a difference in the lives of others. You are helping others to improve their lives and achieve their dreams. Furthermore, by the end of the day, you will feel great joy because you are able to help someone.

In conclusion, there are many benefits to being a life coach. The most important benefit of all is that not only you derive joy from coaching but you yourself are able to grow too. So what are you waiting for? Be a life coach today.

10 Simple Ways To Living A Happy Life.

Everyone strives to be happy but the mistake that everyone makes is that they think that happiness is some kind of finishing line in a race. Once you crossed that line, you will live happily ever after. That is not true. Happiness is a choice! You can choose to make your life happy. So here are a few ways you could try.

1. Let go of past memories.
Everyone has both sad and happy moments. So forget about your painful memories. What’s in the past stays in the past. Instead focus on your good memories and move on.

2. Be optimistic.
Always try looking on the bright side of things. Look for the silver lining behind each dark cloud. For example, if you had an unfortunate accident and your car is badly dented, but on the bright side is that nobody got hurt and that dent in your car can be repaired. There is always a bright side to look on so be optimistic!

3. Be close to your family
Try and maintain a close relationship with your family and friends. Our relationships with them have a greater impact on our happiness than anything else. Human beings are made to be social creatures. So appreciate the existing relationships that you have.

4. Try finding a job that gives you happiness.
If you are feeling stressed out in your current job and not getting the job satisfaction that you want, perhaps it’s time for a career change. Job satisfaction plays an important part in your happiness. So give your job a chance. Try having a positive attitude in your job. If that doesn’t work, it may time for a change of jobs.

5. Make friends
You need to make friends with people who share a common interest. Find something that you are deeply passionate about. It could be a hobby or an organization you can volunteer in. There you could meet people who the same interest and passion as you.

6. Exercise
Exercising releases endorphins. So, not only you are taking care of your body but you will automatically start to feel good about yourself.

7. Change your thinking
You have to start living life to the fullest. Don’t delay your life a second longer. Try something new everyday or pick up a new skill!

8. Don’t let the small stuff bug you.
Remember all the small petty stuff that used to bother you? Forget all about it and focus on the bigger picture. Life is too short to be worry about trivial stuff.

9. Live your life for yourself.
Stop trying to live your life up to other people’s expectations. You are your own person. So start living it for yourself!

10. Lastly, remember to love with all your heart. You have all these love to give so give your love to something and start feeling happy today!

A Simple Guide To Being Happy At Work

Nobody ever thought you could derive happiness from work but you can do that. Studies have found that people who are happier at work have an overall better quality of life than people who are always frustrated because of their work. So how do you be happy at work?

Most importantly, you need to choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. Think positively about your work. Try avoiding the negative aspects of the office like gossips and backstabbing colleagues. Find colleagues who you get along with and who share the same interest as you. Spend time with them and get to know them. You can always ask them out for drinks after work or have your lunches with them.

Next, don’t be stuck in a rut at your work. You need to take charge of your own professional development. You may not be able to grow or learn as much as your want from your current job. However, this doesn’t mean that you will not be able to grow professionally. Make specific plans about what you want to achieve and how you will go about achieving it. Will it be you taking up extra classes to pick up new skill? Anything! Don’t be on a plateau phase. Keep on going up!

Then, you could ask for feedback from your boss and from your customers. Tell your boss that you would like to hear his opinion about your work. Try getting feedbacks form your clients too. If you are doing a good job, this will further affirm your believe that you are doing a good job but if there are negative criticisms, take it as an opportunity to grow from their feedbacks.

In conclusion, you can be happy in your job if you choose to be. However if all else fails, it is probably time to re-evaluate your current job and employer. You don’t have to stay there your whole life. Make a conscious decision to change now!

Being Happy With Yourself: A Step By Step Guide

Have you ever stood in front of the mirror and started criticizing your appearance? Or there is that little voice in your head that keeps on putting you down? Well, learn to shut that voice and all that negative thoughts. All those thoughts are just pulling you down and stopping you from being happy. Happiness is a choice and you need to choose to be happy. So read our step by step guide on how to be happy.

Firstly, you need to be yourself. Forget about trying to fulfil other people’s expectation. Don’t live your life for others. If you fulfilled their expectations, would you feel happier? The answer is NO. Start living life for yourself!

Secondly, you need to learn to accept yourself. Take a piece of paper. Now write down all your flaws. Write down everything that you hate about yourself. After you looked at it, now tear it up! You need to learn to accept yourself. Now write down a list of the things that you love about yourself. Be kind to yourself. You will soon discover there are plenty of things to love about yourself.

Thirdly, take out the emotional trash. Do you have friends who are always putting you down and making fun of you? Well you don’t need that kind of people. The only reason they are making fun of you is because they derive pleasure from putting you down. So cut them out of your life. You won’t lose out.

Fourthly, laugh everyday. Hang out with your friends, watch a funny movie, have long chats with old friends and reminisce about the past. Make it a point to laugh everyday. Laughter will help you relax, boost your immune system and help you in general. So learn how to laugh!

Fifthly, try something new! Try a new experience every single day. Life is too short to be spent in the same old routine every single day. So try something new! Be open to new stuff. You never know that you have some hidden talent and you will soon get to see yourself in a whole new light.

So what are you waiting for? Make the wise decision of being happy today. You have the choice and you might as well choose it now.

Making A Happy Family: 5 Simple Tips

Many families now are suffering from issues such as separation, divorce, turmoil and even domestic violence. So how are you going to make your family a happy one? Here are five simple tips.

1. Focus on teamwork
In any successful sports team, teamwork is extremely important and forms the backbone of the team. A happy family need that too. You could start by doing simple things together like chores and move on to planning a vacation together. If your child has a problem at school, both of you could sit down together and try to solve that problem together.

2. Spend time together
Try allocating time everyday to spend some quality family time together. Try having activities together like a jog in the park or game night on Friday where all of you could sit down together and play board games.

3. Enjoy each other’s company.
While spending time with each other, don’t treat it as a chore. You need to learn to enjoy each other’s company. When you enjoy each other’s company, it creates a happier and enjoyable environment at home.

4. Have dinner together
This may sound simple but families hardly do it! The parents might come home late or the children may be busy with their after school activities. You need to start doing this. Family dinners are absolutely essential. When you eat together, you will be able to spend time together and know how each other days went. You may learn what went on during school and you can tell them what happen in yours. So you are actually encouraging your kids to share.

5. Be understanding.
Try to be understanding of each other. You need to accept each other for all your talents and limitations. By understanding each other it will create an environment of warmth and trust.

Most importantly, you need to remember, friends may come and go, but your family will always be there for you. So start creating your happy family now.

The Benefits of Achieving Happiness

All fairy-tales usually end with the words “And they lived happily ever after”. Everybody is constantly striving to achieve their expectation of happiness. So what is it about happiness that is so perfect? Here are a few benefits that being happy can give you.

You get better health!
Happy people are more likely to have a stronger immune system. They are also shown to endure pain better. Did you also know that happy people are less likely to suffer from depression and there are also fewer suicides because happy people just have better coping skills?

They live longer
People who are always looking on the bright side of life, tend to live longer than pessimists. So what are you waiting for? Have a new positive outlook today.

Success at work
Happier people are more productive at work. When you are happy, not only you feel better, you also have more energy and are able to focus. This increases productivity and creativity. They tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and more happiness shows higher income! Unhappy people are more sluggish, distracted and they are also less productive at work. When working with clients, clients are also attracted to one who emits a positive emotion. A happy person exudes confidence and this confidence will attract more clients.

Better relationships
People are always drawn to happy people. They would want to be around a happy person. Like attracts like. Your whole life becomes happier because you have established a warm and loving character. Your family and friends also become happier. Furthermore, your children respond well to positive thoughts and positive emotions. You will get your children laughing around and growing to happy adults too. In addition, your spouse will also be more loving in your response to your happiness.

So what are you waiting for? Happiness has many benefits and there are no downsides to being happy. So make a choice to be happy today!

4 Handy Tips To Get More Time

Who hasn’t wished that there were more hours in a day? We seem to be rushing from place to place trying to accomplish everything and if we don’t we end up feeling frustrated. So here are a few handy tips to create more hours in a day.

1. Acknowledge the fact that you can’t do it all.
Decide what is important in your life. You have to know that you can’t do it all. If you do try, you will end up being frustrated and burnt out. The most important thing is how you are spending your time. Are you having quality time? Are you happy with the way you spend it? Think about that.

2. Prioritize ruthlessly
Review the list of things you have to do. Now redo that list and prioritize that list. Not everything has equal importance in that list. Which is more important? Getting your hair done or that big paper which is due this Friday? Once you prioritized, you find that you will be able to get more things done instead of rushing around like a mad person.

3. Enough is enough
You have to know your limit. Do not commit yourself to the project if you are still in the middle of another project. Unless you are able to handle both projects at the same time, then go ahead although that is most likely not the case. If somebody asks you to do a favour for them and your day is jam packed, learn to say NO. You are not being unkind, but you have to think of yourself too at the same time.

4. Get away from the distraction
When you have that big project coming along, it is okay for you to sit down, shut the door and disregard the phone calls or emails that are coming through for that particular period. You need to get your work done and those email and calls can wait. Set aside another part of the day for you to listen or respond to emails and phone calls

In conclusion, remember, to lead a balanced life you need to get your life organized, so try our time management tips and you will be sure to achieve all that you want to do.

How To Manage Your Time: Creating More Hours In A Day

Sometimes you might feel as though there are not enough hours in a day. So how can you juggle everything between your career, family and your life? Here are a few tips on how to.

1. Have a to-do list.
List down the things that you need to do. You can have multiple lists for home, work, or studies. This will help you to organize your life instead of having one big messy list.

2. Prioritize
Do your list in order of priority, the most important task being on top. Which is truly important? By prioritizing, you are ensuring that you are directing your effort to what that matters. You will be able to give your attention fully to the first task and once you completed that task, you will be able to breathe easier and move on to the next task.

3. Break down your task.
Once you have prioritized your task, you can now break down your large task into small tasks. For example if you have a big paper you have to write for your college, start breaking it down into small tasks such as review textbook for ideas, background search using the internet, brainstorming topics, choosing topics and making a decision. Smaller tasks are less overwhelming and give a direction to how you are going to focus your energy.

4. Set deadlines
Now that you have broken down your large task into smaller tasks, start by giving each small task a deadline. Perhaps day one you could, do your background search with the internet. Once you got all that down, day 2 go on to brainstorming and by day 3 you will have your topics ready and you can meet the professor. Try doing consistent work day by day. Little by little everyday goes a long way.

5. Go with the flow.
When do you work best? Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Plan your day accordingly and save your most difficult work for the time you are at your freshest.

Most importantly, remember to make each day count and don’t procrastinate. If you do delay the work you have today, you will suffer the consequences later when you are burning the midnight oil.

Organize Your Life: 5 Helpful Tips

Sometimes you are so overwhelmed with endless work or studies, family and friends. You find that you don’t have the time to do anything. So how exactly, do you organize your life and create more hours in a day?

1. Get yourself a planner!
Write down everything that you need, your groceries list, your phone, your appointment dates. Write everything down inside there. Then in your planner, make a to-do list for your day. Don’t make a list that you can’t achieve. Like for instance, you would like to complete a paper by today. That is impossible isn’t it? Break your large tasks into small actionable tasks. Then make a to-do list for the week. This is an extension of your daily list. What you can’t do today, you can do tomorrow for that week.

2. Be effective with your activities!
Do all your shopping at one go. Don’t go to the store to buy your milk now, then in the evening, drop by to buy toilet paper. You are wasting your time. Compile a shopping list and do all your shopping at one go. Another example will be to pay your bills all at one time instead of paying them at different times.

3. Multi task
Do you have to wait at the dentist for an appointment and at the same time you have to write that important paper? So whilst you are waiting for the dentist, bring your piece of paper and brainstorm about the ideas you use to write in your paper. Load the washing machine and whilst waiting for it, send some emails, or do your calls.

4. Assign a time frame
Set a timeframe for your tasks each day. Give a time slot for each item and plan your day properly. For example, you have to go to the dentists at 11 and you also have to buy groceries. So while you are out of the house, put your groceries shopping at 10 in the morning and then you can go to the dentist after that. Then you can go straight away home. You are saving time and saving on fuel too instead of two trips out of the house.

So what are you waiting for? Get your life organized and you will find that you have more hours in a day to do everything!

How To Stop Wasting Time

Are you one of those people who are always wasting time? You are doing something else when you should be getting your work done? Everybody has a procrastination habit that they don’t want to admit to. So how are you going to kick this habit? Here are a few steps how.

1. Identify what you waste your time on.
Are you one of those people who waste their time on watching television or surfing the Internet when you should be getting your work done? List down those time wasters? It could also be lining up in a queue in the post office to get stamps. So list it all down.

2. Find solutions
Now that you know your time wasters, list down the solutions you can take to stop wasting time. It could be taking out the television plug, so that you can’t switch on the television. It could also be doing online banking instead of lining up to pay your electricity and water bills.

3. Plan your day
Have a checklist of what you have to do for that day. Try putting your checklist in order too. Say like you have to go to the store in the morning, put it as number 1. Number 2 could be clean the house. Make your check list as practical as possible. If you do have a checklist and you did not plan in what order you should be doing, you will most probably only be able to complete half of your checklist.

4. Plan your week.
After you are done planning your checklist by the day, you can now move on to a checklist for the week. Give a timeline to the things you have to do for that week. This way, it allows you to get more work done at a consistent pace and you will also be able to find some time in between to relax.

5. Multi task!
Multi tasking is how you could use your time more efficiently. You could go through your bills while watching your favourite show or you could do your online banking whilst having your breakfast in the morning. So multitask!

Most importantly, remember to make every second count! So start today! Remember, time waits for no man!

Time Management Tips: Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity

Are you one of these people who are unable to find enough time in the day to complete everything? You start being overwhelmed by the entire task that you have to do? Here are a few tips you can use to manage your time!

1. Plan each day
At the start of the week or if that is too ambitious, you can plan the night before, what do you need to do the next day. Remember to prioritize. Put your most important task at the top and those less important can take a back seat.

2. Delegate
Take a look at your to-do list and consider what you can pass on to someone else. Say, if you need to buy some groceries for your household but your spouse works near a grocery store, delegate the task to him. After all it is on their way home.

3. Set a timeframe
Set a timeframe for you to complete each task. However don’t be overambitious. Take the time you need to do a quality job. Doing your work right the first time may take more time but it is better than doing a shoddy work the first time and trying to repair it again later.

4. Take note of how you spend your time
Keep a diary of everything you do for that week. Look at how you are spending time and could you have used that time any more efficiently. For example, if you have to read your emails in the morning, you could also load the laundry at the same time. Find out what you are wasting time on and try to cut down on it.

5. Establish routines and habits
Try having a schedule to follow. This will make yourself more efficient. For example, reading and answering email can take the whole day. So set a limit to one hour a day for you to do that and stick to it.

6. Limit distractions
Have a quiet place for you to do your work. In that place, close the door and turn off your phone so as nothing will disturb you during that period.

So try our time management tips. Once you’ve managed to plan your life out, you will find that you lead a more balanced and relaxed life.