"One of these mornings, You gonna rise up singin' - Yes, you'll spread your wings -  And you'll take to the sky!!"

Dear Kathleen

We laugh here in Ireland that we never really had a summer this year - just a few odd days of warm dry weather! But the long days of light are always wonderful and this summer we had some beautiful sunsets like this one (pic taken by my niece, Niamh Mason) - and some lucky people even saw the Northern Lights here! 

I hope you had a lovely, restful and reviving summer wherever you are. I know that isn’t always the case and school holidays, different child care challenges, and work never really slowing down are some of the issues my clients have shared over the years. Despite all that, I hope you took time for you!!

I love this time of the year and the sense of new beginnings. We have energy for new hobbies, courses and our own self care. I’ve spoken about this in this video ▶️  Click to listen to my recording.

🍁 Here are 3 AUTUMNAL TIPS!

1. Embracing Change and New Beginnings

As Mel Robbins says in a recent podcast, autumn symbolizes transition. It didn’t surprise me to hear that after all our many school years, we are actually ‘programmed’ for this. Think back to the excitement of new school supplies, new clothes (or uniform for me) and wondering how the next number of months would go for us with our teacher and school pals.

At this time of the year, I love to start a new course, a new practice and maybe a new self care routine. For me this inspires personal growth. 

➡️ TRY THIS... Hold a new notebook in your hand, and then close your eyes.

Visualise what you will accomplish this ‘school year’. Ask your deepest self what you’d most like to focus on.

I've created a Back to School worksheet if you’d like to do some planning after this visualisation.

2. Boosting Resilience for the School Year

Are you feeling strong and ready to tackle the challenges of the school year? I hope that your school-going children are adjusting well to new teachers and perhaps a new school. Help them to re-frame challenges that can come up to see the positive possibilities. In Positive Intelligence® we say that there is a gift and an opportunity in every setback or problem. It can be hard to do at times, but often when we look back we can see the gift.

As adults, we also need to work to keep a positive outlook. Optimism is an important ingredient in Resilience, as is my favourite practice of Gratitude. Research has shown that these two tools contribute to better physical and mental health - and even longevity.

➡️ Gratitude Exercise: A wonderful practice to do yourself - and/or with your children -  is to finish each day thinking or writing 3 things you are grateful for. It really makes a difference and with time our brain embraces this practice and focuses on showing us more reasons to be grateful.

3. Developing a Growth Mindset for Success

In her book Mindset, Carol Dweck explains why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success, but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. "A growth mindset is all about the attitude with which a person faces challenges, how they process failures, and how they adapt and evolve as a result". 

➡️ Take a minute to reflect on how you might operate more from a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset - it makes learning more enriching and enjoyable. It also teaches us that mistakes are a source of learning not something to beat ourselves up for!

I hope that one or all of these TIPS has got the ‘juices flowing’ in regard to planning for the Fall.

October Group Coaching Cohort

The time left in 2024 is a great opportunity to create new self care practices, learn a new skill - or make the change that you’ve been putting off. If I can support you in that I’d be delighted.

If you 'grow better’ in a safe, supportive setting consider joining my next Group Coaching cohort starting 15th October. Have a read here for more details and avail of fantastic early bird pricing of only $960 before the end of September.

And lastly, I’d really appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to complete this short survey https://forms.gle/aAhi2zkDzMZYQ8FSA I’d like to know what you see as the greatest challenges / issues are. Thanks so much!

All the best,

 P.S. If you have any questions or want more information about the upcoming Group Coaching cohort, let's talk! You can schedule an appointment here.