By Linda Harkcom,
Certified Comprehensive Coach
In our jammed packed 21 century lives it seems like all we ever get done is rushing around. From the time we get up in the morning, we rush to get ready, get the kids off to school and get our work done. Right up until the end of the day when we are rushing from soccer practice to dance class, trying to get dinner made, everyone one fed, bathed and in bed on time so we can do it all again tomorrow. Weekends are no better. They are filled with soccer and baseball games, special projects around the house and yard or just trying to get caught up on housework that didn’t get done during the week. Does this sound like your life? Most of the people I know would answer yes to that question.
It is so easy to get so caught up in trying to be the best parent, spouse, employee, business owner, etc. and all we feel we “have to do” to fill those roles the best we can that we forget about simple pleasures. We rush through our lives in our busy routines usually focused on what we “have to do” next while not being fully present in what we are experiencing at that moment. Think about it. Take a moment and think about the last couple of days. What did you do? Where did you go? Chances are you had to go outside at some point. Was the sky blue? Were there clouds in it? Were the birds singing? Did you see any beautiful spring flowers? Is most of it a blur and you only remember the “important stuff?” If you answered yes to the last question, ask your self if you just can’t remember or did your mind never actually recognize any of that.
I call it going through your life on autopilot. Everyone has experienced it at one time or another. Your driving your car as part of your regular routine. You are thinking about something, usually what all you “have to do” when you reach that destination or the next. Suddenly you realize that you have driven for miles and you honestly do not remember it. You know you did it but you can’t specifically remember anything about that time. You were on autopilot. You were not fully in the present. Quite often we are on autopilot so much we get so used to it we do not even realize when we are doing it. Sometimes when this happens, our subconscious or the universe, which ever you prefer, will do things to “wake us up” so to speak, such as losing things or having small accidents like bumping your arm or catching your finger in a drawer. If this doesn’t get our attention to make us slow down, that is when even bigger things can happen, car accidents, illness, etc. until we finally have to slow down.
I had a client that called me for coaching and she said, “I just keep loosing things. First a bracelet I got for Christmas, I haven’t see it since. Then some files in my office went missing and last weekend I lost my keys at the mall.” By asking her questions about what she was doing the last time she saw each item, what she remembered and what she was thinking at these times, we were able to determine that she was not fully present at all of those moments. For example, when she lost her bracelet, she had been packing to go home after the holiday. She was rushing around, thinking of everything she had to do before she left and packed the bracelet while this was happening. She thought she had packed the bracelet but she did not have a real memory of exactly where she packed it because she was not fully present. The other two missing items happened the same way. The homework I gave her was to slow down and make a conscience effort to be fully present in her life. When I spoke to her a couple of weeks later she told me she had practiced being fully present (and yes it does take practice). This resulted in her not only stopping the trend of losing things but she was even able to find the misplaced bracelet. She is a busy woman who balances a lot of different responsibilities by running her own business while also being a wife and mother. Once she recognized that she was losing things because she was not being fully present, she made a conscious choice to slow down. She also realized that by slowing down and being present in all that she did, in the long run, it actually saved her time. She no longer had to take time to think about where she put things and search for the items. She also had fewer minor accidents.
By going through life on autopilot we are letting life happen to us instead of living our lives. So take back control and live your life! Be in the present at every moment and take time to see the flowers, notice how blue the sky is, hear the birds sing and see what a difference it makes in your life.
Linda Harkcom offers one on one coaching, in person or via phone. She is also available for speaking engaements and offers private classes for groups of 5 or more. To register for a class or for more information please call 724-433-0444 or e-mail her at Linda@successcoachingservices.com.
Linda Harkcom is a Certified Comprehensive Coach and she is also a Certified Personal Coach Trainer, one of only 10 people in the world with this certification. She is a success coach who works with women and men seeking to bring balance, direction, and success into their lives. Linda has almost 30 years of marketing and public relations experience and has run her own marketing company, The Hark.com Marketing Company, for the past 20 years. She has combined her expertise in business, motherhood and marriage with specialized training from the Coach Institute to offer individual and group coaching sessions in which clients learn how to unlock their own possibilities and live a successful and balanced life. To schedule a free Conditional Consultation or to suggest a topic you would like Linda to write about contact her at 724-433-0444 or e-mail her at Linda@SuccessCoachingServices.com
What is Life Coaching?
Professional Life coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients activate the possibilities in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives by helping the client change success inhibiting beliefs, patterns, actions, etc. into ones that will make a positive change in their life.