Expand Your Mind To See Problems As Opportunities: How Coaching Can Help
Posted on September 01, 2013 by Anne Wotring, One of Thousands of Relationship Coaches on Noomii.
Anne Wotring, PhD, describes how coaching helps you see difficult problems positively. It stimulates the brain to build new neural pathways.
If the summer heat and disruptions have gotten to you – like they have to me, take a look at my video describing a simple technique that you can use to calm your frazzled nerves. http://www.annewotring.com/summer-heat/
Here’s my summer so far. No electricity for 53-hours in 100+ daytime temps and 93 at night. No fridge for 10 days before that due to a broken condenser.
And for 4 weeks during this time, we had our Pandora’s Box experience, in which our lower level became a demolition site. Workmen jackhammered up 18 linear feet of tile and concrete to rid us of a 2+ year sewer fly infestation. 2+ years is a long time and clearly our strategies were not working. Now we know why. I won’t tell you the gory details except that the sewer flies were cohabiting under our house in rusted-out, broken pipes with other sewage loving creatures.
The workmen promised they’d protect it all with plastic. But the project was “the worst-case they’d ever seen,” and their taping job was not adequate even for the best-case.
I was haunted by the image of sticky dirty dust covering every surface in my office – the walls, furniture, my papers, books, printer and desk. Even when I knew the sewer flies and broken pipes were history, I had this inner torture chamber going on.
You’d think that with all my mindfulness training and knowledge, I’d find a way to transform the image. I tried the technique of coming up with at least 3 reasons why it was a good thing everything got covered.
I found 6:
1. I renewed my acquaintance with my many, many books while wiping them down.
2. My office got thoroughly cleaned – twice.
3. I threw away [some] stuff – not easy for me even under these circumstances.
4. I learned I could be more tolerant of chaos than I previously thought.
5. I had to work really hard building new images of the situation, and thus began creating new and better neural pathways.
6. These new neural pathways will benefit not only me, but my family, my clients and – if Field theorists are correct, a new more positive future.
…I’m still not entirely convinced that it was a good thing, but that last one felt pretty good.
If your mind needs expanding beyond what appear to be problems or limitations, I hope you’ll give me a call.
