, I was recounting how I'm back in the UK after a wonderful few weeks in Australia and New Zealand. It was mostly very beautiful and hot, hot, hot, but I am actually quite glad to get back to our nice cool mellow autumn
mists.
They say travel broadens the mind, which I guess is true, and for me it's made me appreciate home even more. And we know that gratitude is good for us!
More from the Personal Life Analysis |
We have only a few more questions to look at in my free Personal Life Analysis, where you score different areas of your life. You then get a nice full colour chart pinpointing the areas you can focus on that are likely to make the most difference for you.
This time the question is, How often do you do something creative
that you enjoy? The subject of creativity is huge and I will only touch on it here insofar as it relates to personal well-being. There is a whole other world about creativity and innovation at work, and I'll look at that another
time.
We can say that creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something that was not there before, or to do it in a different way. I think there is also something about feeling pleased and
satisfied at what you have done. So a craft project, a piece of writing, a new recipe, even a web page could be examples of creativity, whereas completing a jigsaw, even if you enjoy it, is not creative, although it may be beneficial.
Creativity is related to being in 'flow', where you forget yourself and you are immersed in what you are doing. It's very good for you and takes you out of your everyday preoccupations.
For me,
it's often about writing, like I am doing now, and putting things out there in an attractive way. I can cook, knit and sew but haven't done that much in recent years. Maybe I will!
What could you do,, to honour this part of yourself? It has often been remarked that Shakespeare is full of quotations, and this one is pertinent today -
'....All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances...' The author likens the prefrontal cortex, the executive centre of the brain, to a theatre, imagining that thoughts leap onto the stage like actors, in ways that may or may not be useful. We don't always want every actor on stage at the same time as we can't keep track of too many things at once. As the author says, '
the mental stage is smaller than you might expect' (loc 415 in Kindle edition).
But we can deliberately say to the less useful thoughts, exit stage right until I want you! This can
really help with focus. I say to my extraneous actors, thank you for the thought but I'm not ready for you at the moment - go and sit in the audience and I'll call you back later.
It can also help with sleep when you have thoughts buzzing round your head. I imagine the theatre director ( i.e. me) turning off the lights in the theatre, bringing down the curtain and saying, the theatre's closed just now; come back tomorrow.
Executives are people too! |
When I work with senior executives, there is a slightly different process from more personal and well-being coaching. However important people are, though, they still have
the same fundamental needs as anyone. You can try the full questionnaire that I use for free here - it's set out as an intake form but you can ignore any bits that aren't relevant. If your issues are around work you might like to try this exercise as well as the Personal Life
Analysis.
What's going on at This Coaching Business |
I'm back now, as Bilbo said - so normal service is resumed. I can offer a limited number of
face to face or remote personal and executive coaching sessions, for senior managers and entrepreneurs, especially in health and social care. Of course this often overlaps with personal coaching as we are all people first, even if we do have super important jobs.
You can also access my online courses, which are now hosted by Thinkific. There are at least two now, and you can see them here. All have a free trial section, and I would welcome feedback about it.
If you're wondering about what
coaching involves and whether to undertake it yourself, you can book a short free no obligation call with me here for when I get back.
Let me know if there is anything I can assist you with, and I'll be in touch again soon. P.S. if you like this update and you got it from someone else then you can get your own personal regular copy by signing up safely here. Please feel free to share it with anyone you think may like it; just keep the attribution to me. You also get a free download on sign up that will help you increase your well being, effectiveness and resilience. |
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