May Newsletter

I Can Life Coaching - May Newsletter Discovering and creating yourself I hope you are enjoying my newsletters and I love hearing your feedback on them.  Please let me know If there's anything in particular you would like to see in future editions. This month, I thought I would focus on Discovering and Creating yourself because it's so important with helping your self esteem and confidence.  Being happy with yourself as a truly wonderful and unique human being can work wonders on all different aspects in your life. Knowing your strengths and core values helps you define who you are so you can be more confident with your choices and decisions. There's a wonderful questionnaire I use to help people discover their strengths; clients find it so helpful to understand themselves and also understand others. There isn't a one size fits all as we all have a mixture of different personality traits and we also have our own unique stories and values to mix in with them. As with most personality questionaires, styles are broken down into 4 categories.  The one I use is called DISC and was originally devised by Dr William M Marston (who was also responsible for the lie detector/polygraph!).  He was a great behaviourist expert and broke down the categories nicely into Drive Influence Steadiness and Compliance.  We all have different blends of these and depending on how high or low each category is, gives us our individual personality.  High D people tend to be very determined and are great at focusing on tasks. High I people tend to be very sociable and generally have great people skills.  High S people are very steady and like harmony and team work.  High C people are generally very compliant and are great with paying attention to detail.  We are all made up of our own individual combinations of these styles. There are no good or bad styles as they all have their own strengths. When I go through this with clients, I explain all the styles and traits covering what the general characteristics & behaviours are, what motivates each style, what each style is afraid of, what environments they prefer to be in, how they prefer to be treated and much more so you can get a great understanding of people in general.  This isn't meant to label anyone or to judge anyone; it's meant to help understand yourself and others similarities and differences. It's a fantastic way to discover yourself and learn from other styles on how you can personally grow in other areas too.  This is also particularly useful if you have a job interview coming up and you need to identify your true strengths either for your CV or an interview. It's also a great way to understand your family, friends or colleagues and how you can get along together (great confidence booster for children to identify their talents & strengths too)! If this is something you might be interested in, please feel free to get in touch to find out more.  I offer sessions for both individuals and groups, so if you would like this for yourself, or your family (starts at age 9), or for a group of friends or for your team, please contact me on (01993) 824993 to find out more. Famous People's DISC styles D - Determined Do-er's are typically people who focus on the task to get what they want.  Simon Cowell is a great example of this (although, he has learnt to adapt his people skills more now than when he first appeared on TV!) I - Influential, outgoing socialisers typically love people and talking. Jonathan Ross is a great example. He's a great talker and likes to be liked. He is also working on his listening skills as often High I's prefer to talk than listen! S - Steady, harmonious team players typically want peace in the world and want everyone to get along.  A great example is Mother Theresa with her wonderful caring nature. C - Compliant, cautious & competent and genius prone! Albert Einstein is a great example. So as you can see all styles have great potential. Styles can also be blended; so for example Richard Branson is a DI - he likes a challenge and he also likes to have fun.  Michael Jackson was an SC, he would keep practising for perfection and would then have a group hug! Lance Armstrong is a DC - very determined to get results and prepared to put in the research to do whatever it takes! Connecting: If you would like to find out more about Life Coaching or if you would like to connect with me via social media, please click on the relevant links below: Email: info@icanlifecoaching.co.uk View my website: www.icanlifecoaching.co.uk Follow my Facebook Page: ICanLifeCoaching Join me on Twitter: @icanlifecoachin Connect with me on LinkedIn: Nicolina Zarola Read my blog: icanlifecoaching.blogspot.co.uk Follow me on Pinterest: icanlifecoachin Tale of two frogs One day a group of frogs were jumping around in the woods when 2 of them fell into a deep pit.  They tried to jump out but couldn't.  When the other frogs saw that they couldn't get out, they kept telling them to give up as they were as good as dead.  To start off with both frogs ignored them and carried on trying to jump out of the pit.  The other frogs told them to stop causing themselves so much pain and to give up and die. Finally, one of the frogs listened to what the rest of the frogs were saying and gave up and died.  But the other frog continued as hard as he could until he finally made it back up. "Didn't you hear us trying to tell you to give up?" asked one of the frogs.  "Sorry I'm hard of hearing and I thought you were encouraging me to keep trying" he replied! 2 morals to this story! Don't listen to people who tell you to give up! Encourage others! Mind your language! I don't mean your P's and Q's! I mean your subconscious language.  Think about how you talk to yourself i.e. "That 'always' happens to me" or "I could 'never' do that".  What are you telling your subconscious mind when you say things like that! Try to think of your subconscious mind as your taxi driver.  It will go where you tell it to go and if you tell it to 'never' go there, it won't! When you make your subconscious thoughts conscious, you become aware of what you are really thinking.  Try it and see. And if you catch yourself using the wrong language, change it!  Try saying something like "I can do that if I put my mind to it" Play around with it so it fits in with you and question your self-doubts. Think of your self doubts as the group of frogs in the tale above and remember "Where there's a will, there's a way".  Sometimes it comes down to the cliché 'Think outside the box'! It's true, make your thoughts conscious and change them to fit in with what you want.  Tell your taxi driver exactly where  you want to go. You get what you focus on! Sharing is caring! If you like this newsletter and feel others would like it too, please feel free to share it by clicking on the links below. They can then choose to subscribe using the link at the bottom if they wish! Like Tweet Share Forward to Friend +1 If a friend has forwarded this email onto you and you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please click here and press send Copyright © 2013 I Can Life Coaching, All rights reserved. I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and I hope you enjoy future newsletters too. I always welcome feedback - so please let me know of any ways you think I could improve this newsletter. If it's not your thing, please feel free to unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the link below or if you wish to remain subscribed but at a different email address, please feel free to amend your details in the subscription preferences below. To make sure you don't miss out on future newsletters, please add me to your address book! I treat your privacy seriously and will never pass on your details to a third party. Our mailing address is: I Can Life Coaching 20 Birch Drive Bradwell Village, Oxfordshire OX18 4XH United Kingdom Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

April Newsletter

I Can Life Coaching April Newsletter

I Can Life Coaching - April Newsletter ♫ ♫ I'm dreaming of a white Easter! ♫ ♫ Well, we did have a few flakes over Easter and the coldest March for 50 years too which is unbelievable particularly as my last newsletter was looking forward to the beginning of Spring! It's a shame we've had such a cold snap when so many of us were looking forward to beautiful, warm, springy days, so I thought I would base this newsletter on what happens when things don't go according to plan! Hope you had a great Easter weekend, by the way! "Well you can either laugh or cry" I've heard many times and it is so true! Quite often we can feel like crying when things go wrong but sometimes, we choose to laugh instead - as it's often so ridiculous! The truth of the matter is it's all down to our choice as to what we decide to do.  And for most of the time, I'd certainly choose to laugh where I can rather than cry - although there are times, when a good old cry can certainly release a lot of built up tension! But the trick, I think is not to let that happen too often. If it's happening too often it's a sign that things are out of balance somewhere and could do with addressing! My favourite equation is O=E+R.  I try to use it as often as I can and the more often I use it, the more natural it becomes. It stands for Outcome equals Event plus Reaction. Imagine you are late for an important event and you are on the motorway when you get stuck in traffic. What do you do? Do you scream and shout at the cars in front, moan about the roadworks, shout at other passengers in the car maybe or do you stop and think "There's nothing I can do about this, so I will stick on my favourite music and make the most of this extra time?" What is the Outcome you want? Do you want to be stressed or would you rather turn up relaxed to this event? Whatever Outcome you want, can help you decide what your Reaction could be to this Event! It's really worth taking some time to think about this; as often we can choose the wrong Reaction which generally has a snowball effect on the rest of the day too. Have you ever had days when everything seems to go wrong? This can often put us in a bad mood and others react to us accordingly.  If we choose to be more positive, it can have a massive impact on our day and the way other people react to us too.  Feel free to try it out and see for yourself! I'd love to hear how you get on, please feel free to email me and let me know your stories on how it's worked for you! Giving up Life can often be so simple really! Do you know why most people don't stick to their New Year's Resolutions or Goals? Well, it's simply because they give up! The trick is to accept that there will be obstacles and challenges along the way but when they happen, stop, assess what's happened and work out ways to continue moving forward. Think of your goal as the top of a mountain. To get to the top, you need to take one step at a time. When you get to the top, it's a result of all those little steps you took! You didn't give up and turn back around! Sometimes your limiting beliefs get in the way or you may set goals which aren't congruent with your values.  Life Coaches can help you gain clarity on what gets in the way and they will also help you set goals in line with your values. Connecting: If you would like to find out more about Life Coaching or if you would like to connect with me via social media, please click on the relevant links below: Email: info@icanlifecoaching.co.uk View my website: www.icanlifecoaching.co.uk Follow my Facebook Page: ICanLifeCoaching Join me on Twitter: @icanlifecoachin Connect with me on LinkedIn: Nicolina Zarola Read my blog: icanlifecoaching.blogspot.co.uk Follow me on Pinterest: icanlifecoachin

The Serenity Prayer - God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change... courage to change the things I can... and wisdom to know the difference - Reinhold Niebuhr Famous people who have overcome challenges! Albert Einstein couldn't speak until he was almost 4 and teachers said he wouldn't amount to much. Walt Disney was fired for lacking imagination and his Theme Park concept was rejected 302 times. The Beatles were told they had no future in show business. J K Rowling was turned down by multiple publishers. Helen Keller was deaf and blind and successfully promoted women's rights. Winston Churchill overcame stuttering and poor perfomance at school. Thomas Edison (even though he wasn't the inventor of the lightbulb), produced the first commercially viable one and is famous for saying he didn't fail, he just found 10,000 ways which didn't work! Henry Ford went broke 5 times before succeeding. Howard Schultz (Starbucks) was turned down by banks 242 times. Stephen Spielberg was rejected from Film School 3 times. Stephen King received 30 rejections before becoming a successful author. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 (the company he had created)! Michael Jordan was cut from his High School basketball team. The list could go on and on! There are many things which can get in the way but believing in yourself, persistence, resilience & determination are top common traits for people who overcome challenges. Sharing is caring! If you like this newsletter and feel others would like it too, please feel free to share it by clicking on the links below. They can then choose to subscribe using the link at the bottom if they wish! Like Tweet Forward to Friend +1 Share If a friend has forwarded this email onto you and you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please click here and press send

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March Newsletter

I Can Life Coaching - March Newsletter Spring is on it's way! Isn't it great that March is here and we know that Spring is on it's way. It can often be a time of spring cleaning and de-cluttering and can be a great time to spring clean and de-clutter our minds too! We may have set New Year's Resolutions and may be flying through them or we may need to take time to review them or even start them up again. What better time to do that than Spring when we are awakening and feeling more vibrant! How often do you take time out to review your life? What's going well and what needs tweaking. There's a great Life Coaching Tool called the Wheel of Life which enables you to look at important areas in your life and review them to see how satisfied you are in these areas and what you need to do to improve them. I have recently created a workbook which can help you create your own Personal Life Plan. It gives you the opportunity to use the Wheel of Life to help take stock of your life and work out what steps you need to do to ensure you are living a full and happy life! If you'd like a copy of this 'Free' Workbook, please click on the grey box below and I will email it to you. The workbook will help you create vision and give you tips on the best ways to set resolutions (or goals) in a way that you are able to stick to them. Even if you are completely happy with your life as it is now, it is still useful to be able to look and review it to help you keep moving forward! Please send me my free Create your own Personal Life Plan workbook Spring Cleaning your belief system. A belief is something that we accept as true even though it might not necessarily be true. Often we can believe things about ourselves which hold us back as we look for evidence to prove it as true. Our beliefs can often start in childhood and can be reinforced by parents, friends, teachers, work colleagues and other people we come into contact with. The trouble is beliefs can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example a child can trip up and a parent can quite innocently say "You are so clumsy". Brothers or Sisters may pick up on this too and again, innocently say "You are so clumsy". This could then be reinforced by friends and other people - again all quite innocently but the problem begins when we start believing this about ourself and then start to act that way too. Take a moment to stop and ask yourself what beliefs you have about yourself that are holding you back. One of the most common beliefs is "I'm not good enough". Spring clean this belief by reframing it to the opposite "I am good enough". Keep reinforcing it until it  becomes  a self-fulfilling prophecy!  Change your limiting beliefs to empowering beliefs! Connecting: If you would like to find out more about Life Coaching or if you would like to connect with me, please click on the following links: Email: info@icanlifecoaching.co.uk View my website: www.icanlifecoaching.co.uk Follow my Facebook Page: ICanLifeCoaching Join me on Twitter: @icanlifecoachin Connect with me on LinkedIn: Nicolina Zarola Read my blog: icanlifecoaching.blogspot.co.uk Follow me on Pinterest: icanlifecoachin If a friend has forwarded this email onto you and you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please click here and press send Hope you have a Springing March! Nicolina Zarola When you change the way you look at things, the way you look at things change. The Cookie Thief Poem by Valerie Cox A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops. Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.   So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”   With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought… oooh brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude. Why he didn’t even show any gratitude! She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called.   She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate. She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat. Then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes. If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologise, she realised with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief! Sharing: If you like this newsletter and feel others may benefit, please feel free to share by clicking on the links below: Like Tweet Forward to Friend +1 Share

Copyright © 2013 I Can Life Coaching, All rights reserved. I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and I hope you enjoy future newsletters too. I always welcome feedback - so please let me know of any ways you think I could improve this newsletter. If it's not your thing, please feel free to unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the link below or if you wish to remain subscribed but at a different email address, please feel free to amend your details in the subscription preferences below. To make sure you don't miss out on future newsletters, please add me to your address book! I treat your privacy seriously and will never pass on your details to a third party. Our mailing address is: I Can Life Coaching 20 Birch Drive Bradwell Village, Oxfordshire OX18 4XH United Kingdom Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

February Newsletter

Thought I'd share my February Newsletter with you. Please click on this link to view!
http://eepurl.com/uCLWf