Question from the Chat Letter

Questions are the stock in trade of a life coach.  I include a question in each of my chat letter emails to give you inspiration.  For example:

“Where do you get inspiration from?”

We’re all inspired differently. By a person, a book, a film, you name it. It’s useful to know what works for you so that if you are feeling a little bit stale, stuck in a rut or dull you can get yourself going again.

I had a wonderful response to the question in the chat letter from Amanda who listed all sorts of different types of inspiration. She’s obviously really thought about the question.

Here’s what she had to say:

“Sources of inspiration – so many! 

  • You, obviously (you did know that, right?);
  • my other life coach, Pete Cohen, and the online community he’s created (Mi365), which is free and massively supportive of anyone who wants to make positive changes in their lives (I will understand if you decide not to mention him and them in your newsletter!);
  • Books – so many, but off the top of my head “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod (packed with easily applied goodies and downloads to inspire you to tweak your life for the better) is inspirational;
  • There can be things like websites, too – have you ever sat down with one (non-work) question and an hour spare at google.com? If you follow the search through with all the other questions that the answers to your first question bring up, you can end up in some amazing places! You can discover great new websites, which prompt ideas. Speaking of which, try “stumbleupon.com“. Brilliant.
  • My cats – they are very much a driver of the positive changes I want to make because they are my family and my most loved creatures or people in the world (for other people it might be their children, I imagine, but this is the nearest I’ve got to that and they do inspire me forwards when times are hard)
  • (Visual) the sea, a sunset or sunrise (a sunrise OVER the sea – that’s a double whammy);
  • (Aural) the sound of the sea, waves lapping at the shore on a beach or even when you need a different kind of inspiration, the sound of the waves crashing hard over rocks;
  • (Olfactory) the smell of fresh bread, fresh coffee (even though I don’t really drink it and was brought up on tea but it smells so gorgeous!), freshly-mown grass – you could go on and add tastes of favourite foods. Anything that comforts me shores me up against whatever it is that I need to deal with and inspires me onwards or even to entirely new things, fresh ideas.
  • Nature – only I tend to work better with photographs or films of nature rather than having to go rough and ready to be in amongst the real thing, but whatever works for you, right?
  • Anything you have at home which fits that quotation by William Morris about how you should only have things around you which are beautiful or useful – well, the beautiful stuff. That always inspires.
  • Exercise – failing that, movement and action. Keep moving and you are bound to find something inspiring in your life.
  • Oh and something I have learned BOTH through cognitive behavioural therapy AND life coaching is that if you need inspiration, take action *first*, even if you don’t feel like it. Trust the process, the inspiration will come *after* the action has been taken (and will inspire further action in future). Action is the key.”

About Clare Wildman

Life coaching from Lincolnshire. Having moved from Milton Keynes I'm now based between Boston and New York, in the UK. Looking forward to welcoming clients to the new coaching room and having the option for walking as we talk or taking advantage of sunny days in the garden.