The Tools I Use:

Coaching

Why is coaching one of the fastest growing new professions? We all know that dedicated athletes use coaches to increase their focus and to provide support, structure, and accountability to be at their best. You too may have a deep need to grow and develop, to actualize your potential, and to "go for the gold" in the game of life. A coach can help you to bring out the best in yourself and to stay on track in creating and living the life you want to live. The Personal and Professional Coaches Association defines coaching as "an ongoing relationship that focuses on clients taking action toward the realization of their vision, goals or desires. Coaching uses a process of inquiry and personal discovery to build the client's level of awareness and responsibility, and provides the client with structure, support and feedback." How is that different from existing professions? Like counseling, it is client-centered and individual. Like consulting, it is outcome oriented, dealing in visions and actions. Coaching differs from consulting or therapy because a coach does not give you advice. Coaching assumes you are the expert on yourself and your life. Coaching is challenging and rewarding because it assumes you are responsible for the results you create. And a masterful coach helps you to create the results you want.

Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry (AI), developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in the 1980s, is an exciting new paradigm for human development and social innovation. Cooperrider and Srivastva note that our current model, used by most people and organizations, creates an assumption that a person or organization is "a problem to be solved." AI offers the proposition that a person or organization is "a miracle to be embraced." It is about seeing what others may not see. It's about heightening our awareness of the value, strength and potential in oneself and others and overcoming the limits that we impose, often unconsciously, on our own capacities. The approach is based on the premise that 'organizations (and individuals) change in the direction in which they inquire.' An organization that inquires into problems will keep finding problems but an organization that seeks to appreciate what is best in itself will discover more and more that is good. The focus is on finding and expanding the positive core (the beliefs, values, strengths, and talents) that exists within you or within your organization. This core provides the passion and life force to make miracles happen. By asking positive questions, we generate new images of the future based on the positive core in the best of the past and present. These powerful images of us, our organizations, and the world inspire action and innovation. AI uses the best of the past and present in order to ignite the collective imagination of what might be. It can then use these discoveries to build a new future where the best becomes the norm.

NLP

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has been hailed as the science of achievement. Originally developed by studying patterns of communicating and thinking used by highly successful people, it has since evolved into the cutting-edge science of how we create and maintain our ongoing experience in life. It is the practical science of detecting and using conscious and unconscious thinking and behavioral patterns to learn, communicate, change, and evolve both oneself and others. Have you ever wondered why you can be at your best at some times and not at others? Have you ever wondered how others can do some things so well naturally? NLP offers tools to help you access states of excellence in yourself and others. With NLP, you can perform at your best more consistently and draw the best out in others when needed. NLP is known for specific "how to" skills to create change in one's self and assist others in becoming more resourceful and effective. The field of NLP has mapped hundreds of successful strategies for negotiating both the little and the big challenges in life. Have difficulty handling criticism? NLP can teach you how. Struggle with internal conflict? NLP can help you to resolve these conflicts elegantly and naturally. Stymied by limiting beliefs? NLP can assist you to let go and transform them into new empowering ones! Can’t deal with a colleague? NLP can offer insight into other people and help you with powerful tools to influence others, negotiate successfully, and create win/win outcomes. NLP is truly empowering and can help you do whatever you do better!

Hypnotherapy

Psychological research now offers extensive evidence that most psycho-physiological processes operate outside of conscious awareness. These processes are directed by the “unconscious mind” or, as some researchers call it, the “ancestral mind.” This mind works in tandem with the conscious mind allowing us to process information and conduct activities on multiple levels. Some features of our ancestral mind include Physiology: It maintains physiological functions It coordinates movement Perception: It processes sensory input and perception It maintains arousal level and directs attention Cognitive-Affective: It provides instantaneous interpretations of input and sensations It generates emotional responses It stores experiences (memory) It makes associations and connections between present input and past experiences It sources intuition and creativity It processes language and provides words to convey meaning It carries out some problem-solving and planning functions Behavior: It directs routine activities (habits) It creates rules for behavior based on experiences We rely on this ancestral mind in almost everything we do on a daily basis. In many ways, it is what allows us to enjoy the fragrance of a flower or the beauty of a sunset. But it also maintains and directs those habits of thought and behavior that are often counterproductive in our lives. It can do so even though we wish otherwise because it often operates independently of the conscious mind. Though it functions independently of the conscious mind, the unconscious mind interacts with the conscious mind. This means that we can influence what and how our unconscious mind processes information and the responses it generates in life. Hypnosis provides the most powerful bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. With hypnosis, you can access and alter the unconscious processes that direct most of our thinking, feeling, and behavior.