Boggles - Mindfulness Videos Articles and Tips

Coaching Videos & Tips - November 14 2019 No.627

STUMBLING BLOCK #1

Even when we've learned how to get out of our own way what do we do?  Get in our own way!  Let yourself go or, actually, just let go completely...

And, if you'd like to go a little deeper, don't forget that you can browse all the "back issues" in The Archive!

 

Today's Quick Tip

Two quick tips today!

Follow me on Facebook! Not because I'm looking for loads of followers but because, starting next week, I'm going to be on Facebook Live regularly... next Tuesday I'm going to be talking about STRESS... or the lack of it. 

Simply click here and click "Follow" - that's where you'll find next Tuesday's live link.

Second tip for today: see how many "normal crazy" people or situations you can spot on the way home this evening.  Observing is a key skill we all must learn - because we observe in the here and now.

When you watch one of my videos or read a Quick Tip, what do you do about it?  When you buy a self-help or personal development book, do you even read it through to the end?  Research suggests that people who want to "self-help" are repeat spenders on books and courses, whilst, over the last couple of weeks, I've had three entirely separate conversations with individuals who buy the kind of books I'm talking about and neither read them through or take any of the actions suggested.

Of course, it must be said, the paper used to produce many of the so-called self-help books on the market would be better used as kitchen roll... but that's beside the point.  We are so good at imagining "what if" but not taking the necessary steps.

A number of years ago, a client and an erstwhile friend would regularly (about every six weeks) send me a copy of the latest self-help book he had purchased.  After a while I asked him to stop - "It's like going around all the travel agents and collecting all the holiday brochures but never even getting to the point of booking a holiday, never mind taking one" I suggested... hence the "erstwhile"!

I've talked about "the necessary steps" and, in that regard, the holiday analogy falls flat.  Because moving forward in your career, business, health, finances, relationships, fitness, life does not require that you go on some exotic safari (I'm sticking with the holiday analogy after all!) - all that is required is that you open up your front door, step outside and start engaging with the real world.

Four times in as many weeks, clients have told me that they've started discovering life-changing opportunities... by talking the people!  - talking to people with an open and focused mind.

The steps to transformation are miniscule - we take them one step at a time, starting with a few minutes of mental exercising each morning (that's what opens and focuses your mind).  We take one of those steps every time we do something that we wouldn't have otherwise done had we not been focused (like actually talking to people and listening).  We take one every time we put one foot in front of the other when we get off the couch and take the exercise we know we need to take.

The journey of life, like every journey, is taken one step at a time.  What steps will you take today?

I'm fascinated by the security queue in airports!

Late Friday evening, Dublin Airport, two guys in front of me had an argument when a security guard told them they couldn't take two large tubes of bathroom sealer through security... what were they thinking or, more to the point, did they think they don't have sealer in London?

But the real action was in the security line in Geneva.  A well-presented gent was all nice and chatty with the airport staff until he was asked: "Are you carrying any liquids or gels?"  He produced this enormous bottle of aftershave from his bag... there must have been a litre of the stuff (and he'd definitely splashed a lot of it all over himself earlier in the day)!

He was given two choices: go back downstairs and check in your bag or bin the perfume!  He completely lost it - shouting at the security guard, who was of African origin (it's relevant): "Do you know how much this stuff costs?  Of course, people like you would have no idea!"

I was waved through and, as I collected by bag airside, I was elbowed in the ribs by my perfumed friend as he went to collect his bag, without the liquids or gels!

   

Mindfulness-Based Leadership Development Coaching ©Willie Horton 2024 All Rights Reserved