Got Resilience?

When most of us talk about health, we are really referring to a reduction in illness. The kind of Health that I want in my life, and that I equip my clients to create in their lives, is different. This is Health with a capital H. This kind of Health often appears as:

• Peace-of-Mind
• Energy & Vitality
• Desire for Whole Foods, from nature not the factory
• Fulfilling Relationships
• Empowered Choices
• Enough Rest
• Spiritual Connection
• Letting Go, when necessary
• Smiles, Laughter, Fun

Sound good? Yes, you really can have all of that. The best ways to achieve Health require attention to the many and varied factors that contribute to our well-being, such as stress level, good nutrition, healthy relationships, fulfilling work, positive self-image, and self-empowerment. These factors are interconnected and synergistic, whether we realize it or not.  I have believed and experienced for a number of years now, that achieving Health has as much, if not more, to do with who we are being, than what we are doing. I am sure my 1-on-1 coaching clients would attest to that statement. It seems that much of the work these individuals are doing is the work of creating Health in their lives by looking closely at who they are being and what they are creating or manifesting in their lives as a result.

How about you? What is your vision for Health & well-being in your life? How do you create Health and well-being from the inside out? Let me offer to you a powerful resource called Got Resilience?, which is my program for creating Health in your life. Got Resilience? guides you in claiming the Health that is rightfully yours; remember the bulleted list at the beginning of this post? You really can have all of that. Got Resilience? includes a 4-session teleclass series, a day-long retreat, and individual coaching (packaged separately; you do not need to participate in all, though it is recommended for maximum benefit). The next teleclass series begins on Thursday, Sept 29th. The next retreat will be on Wednesday November 2, 2011. Read on for teleclass details. Retreat information and registration will be available soon.

I hope you will join me for this important and powerful series and find answers to your Health questions.

Got Resilience? Teleclass Series: Four Thursday lunch hours (12pm-1pm). Sept 29, Oct 6, Oct 13, oct 20.  Click here to register.

Learning Objectives:

1. Self-assess your current stress level and level of satisfaction in key life areas
2. Identify your primary internal & external stressors
3. Identify the steps you can take to eliminate stressors that are within your control
4. Identify the steps you can take to relate differently with those stressors that are outside of your control
5. Gain clarity around self-sabotages, limiting beliefs, and the assumptions that currently run your life
6. Gain clarity around your desired future state…what are you moving towards?
7. Increase skill at avoiding emotional reactions “in the moment” and instead, respond to situations with intentionality
8. Learn and practice various stress management / resiliency building activities
9. Learn skills and tools for rewriting limiting beliefs, changing your self-sabotaging inner dialogues, and establishing and maintaining clear boundaries in your relationships
10. Understand how to best nourish your body and mind for greatest resiliency, vitality, and energy through whole foods
11. Achieve greater congruency or resonance in your life; that is, aligning your daily behaviors with your most important values. A congruent life is the key to peace-of-mind.
12. Real-time coaching to support and challenge you, and help you make the changes you most want to make in your life.

Some of the tools you’ll receive in the teleclass:

1. Wheel of Resiliency, self-assessment
2. Goal Setting and Milestones Planning
3. Language of Empowerment
4. Power of a Perspective, 6-step process to perspective shifts
5. One Belief at a Time, a process for rewriting limiting beliefs
6. Resources for incorporating more whole foods into your daily diet (and avoiding energy-sapping processed foods)
7. Values Clarification Exercise
8. Real-time Coaching segments during the calls

Registration Fee for the 4-part Teleclass: $75. Click here to register.

A new season, a new schedule, time for a new You? I’ve heard it said that September and January are the two months of the year that, more than any other time, trigger people into action towards their goals and desires. January has the obvious claim to fame around New Year’s Resolutions. What is it about September? Perhaps the cool crispness in the air feels more motivating than the hazy sluggishness of summer days. For us moms (and dads) the kids returning to school schedules creates more structure, if not more time, for us to work within then do the summer months. And maybe it’s something about the sheer beauty of Autumn approaching, with its metaphorical presentations of transition and change.

Transition and Change. Where in your life are you ready for a change? What new transitions might you be facing this fall? Now through October 30th, 2010 I am offering free sample coaching sessions for individuals wanting to explore new possibilities for their life, career, health, relationships.

Letting Go. “Angels fly because they learn to take themselves lightly” Susan Jeffers. Where in your life would it serve you to ‘lighten up?’ What is it time to let go of? Powerful questions that we can explore together in a coaching relationship. Give me a call!

Denise@SherpaDeCoaching.com

610.287.2989

www.SherpaDeCoaching.com

Introducing my new Wellness Workshop series

Health, Wholeness, Vitality

I am excited to be co-hosting a monthly wellness workshop with my good friend, AnnMarie DeLucca, RN and Wellness Educator. Our kickoff session is this Wednesday, Sept 22nd from 12:30-2pm. I am also excited about the venue we’ve selected for our series: The Cedars House in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

The workshops in our series combine wellness and nutrition teaching with the life coaching necessary to make it all stick. Each 90-minute program blends personal coaching activities and goal setting with practical information to help you achieve greater health and vitality for yourself and your family. Open to the public. Registration is free, but please pre-register by contacting me at 610.287.2989.

View more details here:

Wellness Workshops at Cedars House 2010



What in your life do you want to create anew? At the end of this article is a link to take my free “Healthiest You” assessment and help you answer this question. AND through April 30^th, I am offering a free 30-minute coaching session with me to debrief your assessment and claim your intentional fresh start!  Read on.

We are less than a week away from the first (calendar) day of Spring!

What does the approach of Springtime evoke in you?

For me, the start of Spring evokes excitement and wonder over the new life happening in the natural world around me:

• Shoots and sprouts are pushing up through the earth
• Trees and perennials are forming buds
• The animal world is busy welcoming in new babies
• Color is slowly creeping back in to my yard
• Bright leafy greens adorn the local farm stands

The start of Spring also brings to mind ‘spring cleaning’. When I was a kid, spring cleaning involved washing and ironing curtains, emptying and washing out kitchen cupboards, and cleaning out closets. While I’m sure I did my share of complaining, I did, at some level, feel connected with the idea of de-cluttering and an intentional “fresh start.”

An Intentional Fresh Start

My examples above are but a few of the many metaphors Springtime offers us, pointing us in the direction of “creating anew.”

What in your life do you want to create anew?

Perhaps a relationship, your fitness level, your work/career, your emotional resilience, a goal you want to reclaim, your home environment? Align with the inspiration of Springtime and create some new possibilities for yourself now!

I’ve created a coaching package to support you, called The Healthiest You. The package provides a structure for you to explore:

• Your goals and taking action towards them NOW
• The balance in your life now (or lack of balance)
• New perspectives and activities to get you “unstuck” and make a fresh start
• Empowered choices for yourself
• Fulfillment in your work and relationships

Get started now! I am offering you a no-cost opportunity to take my

“The Healthiest You” assessment, powered by ChangeWorks (the online system you’ll click through to).

“The Healthiest You” looks at 12 activities that lead to a balanced and healthy life.  Click on the link above (and below) to access the assessment. It will ask you to rate how challenging you find each activity, how important each activity is to you, and your current ability to successfully handle each activity.

Through April 30^th, I am offering a free 30-minute coaching session with me to debrief your assessment and claim your intentional fresh start! I’ll email you to schedule our session once you’ve completed the assessment.

Here’s the link again:

The Healthiest You Assessment.

And thank you for taking this first step to creating anew the life you truly want!

One of the niche areas I focus my coaching practice on is working with individuals who want to reduce their environmental footprint; to learn new choices or approaches that create greater planetary health. One area I am particularly passionate about is food. It is part of my personal mission to help people understand why and how to make different food choices; choices that include understanding the terms sustainable, organic, conventional, etc., exploring traditional (“old-fashioned”) food preparation methods, building relationships with local farmers, and having the peace-of-mind of knowing where your food comes from.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a new USDA initiative called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” that is focused on connecting local consumers with local food producers in an effort to revitalize communities. I wanted to add to my previous comments about the importance of this initiative and of buying locally grown food.

Environmentally speaking, food purchased in the same local region where it was produced does not require the massive amounts of fuel and energy as most of the food you find in the average supermarket. Most of the fresh foods sold in the US today are grown in California, Florida, or Washington, and are then shipped to your local store. It is estimated that food travels an average of 1,300 miles from farm to table! That’s a whole lot of carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials.

Economically speaking, buying locally, and especially direct from the farmer, ensures that the farmers receive a larger share of the profit for their food and helps to make farming more profitable (and selling farmland for development less attractive).  Local farmers spend their money with local merchants. The money stays in town where it benefits everyone and builds a stronger local economy. Independent, family-owned farms supply more local jobs and contribute to the local economy at higher rates than do large, corporate-owned farms.

And from a health standpoint, purchasing food direct from the farmers who grew/raised it allows for a few things to happen:

• Most local farm operations are smaller and more open than large factory farms. You can go and visit and explore firsthand how the animals and the people working the farm are cared for and to learn about the processes involved in growing and producing your food.
• Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown or raised enables you to choose safe food from farmers who avoid or reduce their use of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified seed in their operations.
• Most local farmers also live on the farms they work. They have a relationship with the land there and a vested interest in taking proper measures to keep their land and environment healthy so it will continue to produce healthy food.
• Local produce is frequently picked within a day or two of the consumer’s purchase. The longer the fruit/vegetable is allowed to ripen and mature in the earth, the more nutrients (and flavor) it will contain. In many cases, you can go right to the farm or orchard and pick your produce yourself.

There are so many reasons to seek out local sources of food. And finding sources close to you is pretty easy these days. Here is a link to one of many websites where you can search for local farmers’ markets, farms, CSAs, and more.   http://www.localharvest.org

I’ll talk about CSAs and some of the local food opportunities in my community in my next post. In the meantime, let me know if you want to explore your personal food choices and nutrition in detail. I’d love to help you get started.

www.SherpaDeCoaching.com

One of the niche areas I focus my coaching practice on is working with individuals who want to reduce their environmental footprint; to learn new choices or approaches that create greater planetary health. One area I am particularly passionate about is food. It is part of my personal mission to help people understand why and how to make different food choices; choices that include understanding the terms sustainable, organic, conventional, etc., exploring traditional (“old-fashioned”) food preparation methods, building relationships with local farmers, and having the peace-of-mind of knowing where your food comes from.

Do you know where your food comes from? And I don’t mean the grocery store. Looking lower down on the food chain, where were the ‘raw materials’ making up your food grown? In what manner were they cared for and produced? How did they get from their place of origin to your grocery store? If you’ve been following the sustainable food conversation happening for some time now, you probably already know the importance of seeking out and purchasing food through local sources.  This is important on many fronts, including economic, environment, and health, to name a few.

Economically speaking, and stated simply by USDA Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan,  “by connecting local consumers with their local food producers, local wealth stays in local economies, and rural communities get revitalized.” This is also the intention behind the USDA’s recently announced initiative, “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” Among other aspects, the initiative will provide funding and assistance for schools to partner with local farms in providing healthy, fresh food for school lunches. Read a news article and view a short video about the initiative here: http://www.kticam.com/news/agricultural/50733a14-cdc5-4b96-a6eb-81e9c80c67b5

For a sustainable food fanatic like myself, this announcement is exciting, yet frankly sounds a little “too good to be true” and is raising a lot of questions for me. I’ll continue to explore these and report back here. I’d love to hear your questions and comments as well. Stay tuned as I’ll write about the environmental and health impacts of local food economies in my next blog posts.

Until then, a question to consider: what resources do you have in your community to help you find and purchase locally grown and produced meats, grains, eggs, produce, dairy products, etc.?

Not sure? Let me know. I’d love to help you get started. www.SherpaDeCoaching.com