Grateful List 6/27/10

Thanks Kaye George for commenting on yesterday's post. Kaye is the author of When I am Grateful. Here's link to her website, http://wheniamgrateful.com/. Spread the word about gratitude!

Here's my list for today, Sunday 6/27/10
1) Freshly folded laundry
2) Kind neighbors
3) My iPod
4) Tonight's sunset
5) True friends
6) My feet!
7) My loving wife's beautiful blue eyes.

So I went past 5. All well, the more the merrier. What's on your grateful list? Join the Visceral Coaching Social Networking Initiative and post your grateful list in the comments section. Share your gratitude and see how it effects your attitude and the attitude of those around you.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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Grateful List 6/26/10

As part of a new Visceral Coaching Social Networking Initiative, I'm consciously choosing to have a positive and grateful attitude towards life. A simple step towards doing this is to write a quick gratitude list; 5 things I'm grateful for today. I'm posting on Twitter and Facebook and I want you to too. As stated in my earlier posts, I'm doing a 7 day commitment to focus on all that I'm grateful for. Here's day one:

Today I'm grateful for...

1) Deep full breaths
2) Coffee house music
3) The power of choice
4) Old friends
5) Veggie Omelets

And you? What are you grateful for today? Post your list in the comments section. Share your gratitude and see how it effects your attitude and the attitude of those around you.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

Where do you want to be in 30 days?

Enroll in the 30 Day Visceral Goals Intensive.

Commit Yourself /Achieve Your Goals/Create Your Future

What are you grateful for today?

This question is simple and yet, somehow elusive. How easy is it to slip into the "I'm not getting what I want or need out of life" attitude. Answering this question on a daily basis can have an everlasting positive effect on life's day to day circumstances.

Here's a great way to keep the dulldrums away by maintaining an attitude of gratitude.

Try this exercise for 7 days and see how it positively impacts your life:

Write down 5 things you are grateful for in your life today. Do the same tomorrow as well. It's okay if one or two things appear on the list each day. But also add new things. If you get in the flow and want to put more than 5 things down, go for it. No need to edit yourself!

I work on this with my Visceral Coaching clients all the time. It's an empowering and resourceful way to refocus on what is working in life rather that what isn't.

What am I grateful for today? Here's my list:

1) Full deep breaths

2) Fresh peanut butter & bananas

3) A happy marriage

4) Early summer rain

5) Freedom to express

It's that simple. Post your list in the comments box below. Share your positive attitude with me and those around you. See the difference it will make.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

Where do you want to be in 30 days?

Enroll in the 30 Day Visceral Goals Intensive.

Commit Yourself /Achieve Your Goals/Create Your Future

The Art of Listening

Become aware of your surroundings and pay attention to your listening. Is your listening active or inactive?

In my very first professional acting class I was told to make the other person more important. Simply stated, It's my job to listen and react to my partner under the given circumstances of a script as if for the first time, every time. As a coach, I'm trained to listen; listen to what's going on with my clients, mind, body and soul.
I do this by employing a few different levels of awareness when I'm listening. You can do this too. In business meetings, with your employees, team members, vendors & clients. With your friends, family, significant other and children.

Here's a breakdown of the levels of listening awareness:

First, there's a geocentric type of listening whereby we relate what the other person is saying by thinking & saying what we did when whatever they're talking about "happened to us". This kind of listening keeps the focus on the listener rather than the one who is being listened to. This type of listening has a short reach that only serves to keep the focus on the one's self. This is never a great place to listen from when a person needs to work in teams or partnerships

Second is an acute & direct form of listening that holds sharp attention to what the other person is saying. Attention is 100% over there; eyes locked, aware of what is being said. Attention is being paid. This a great for one-to-one interpersonal skills, problem solving and short time frame discussions where information needs to be disseminated.

Third is an environmental type of listening. One listens to the other and incorporates the space around them into the listening process. Examples are, listening for things that are said or not said, drawing awareness to the emphasis on words or phrases, self editing, pauses, emotional reactions, focus of the eyes, interruptions in the conversation. This is a deeper level of listening. It allows us to listen not only with our ears & brains, but our hearts and bodies as well. A wealth of information is accessed when listening from this deep place. This level of awareness also sparks a persons intuition or gut reactions to things.

These levels of listening awareness are always available to us whatever our profession, life circumstance, mood, disposition or objective. I invite you to direct your attention to your listening skills. Use these techniques in your business and your life and see if anything changes as a result. Post a comment, let me know how it went.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

Where do you want to be in 30 days?

Enroll in the 30 Day Visceral Goals Intensive.

Commit Yourself /Achieve Your Goals/Create Your Future

Nine Steps To Regain Focus & Direction

As an Empowerment Coach, I have the opportunity to come into contact with people who know on an intuitive level that there is some thing more that they need to be doing in their lives; a desire to play a bigger game. That desire is communicated to me is so many different ways. The choice of words are different, the ideas for action are different and the types of commitment are different, but the spirit of the desire remains the same. Often there exists some confusion or hesitation about where a person is and what the next step is to move forward in an empowering, resourceful way. To assist is regaining focus & direction in ones life I use the following nine steps. This is done as directed form of stream of consciousness writing:

1) Who am I? - A short question that asks us to take an inward look. Name, Family, Origin, belief systems, values, assumption, agenda. No editing!

2) What time is it? - Time of day, week, month, quarter, year, decade, millennium. What moment are you in? Get present.

3) Where Am I? - Physically, spiritually, emotionally. Be detailed.

4) What surrounds me? - See, smell, hear, touch & taste your immediate & ancillary surroundings. Write it all down.

5) What are my Circumstances? - What brought to the place you are in right now? Are you at work, home, on vacation, on the bus? Happy, sad, indifferent? Where did you just come from? Where are you going to?

6) What Is My Relationship? - To yourself, those immediately around you, your friends, family, spouse, co-workers, acquaintances, enemies, neighbors, etc...

7) What Do I Want? - Another short & deep question. What is your desired focus? Be detailed!

8) What's In My Way (of getting what I want) - What are the hurdles for you to jump? Name them. Are they "out there"? "In here"?

9) What Do I Do To Get What I Want? - Time for action. Be specific. Choose a direction. Claim your commitments & go!

The nine steps are there for a person to take a "snap-shot, cross-section" of who, what & where they truly are in a given moment. From there they can take the next empowering, resourceful step to fulfilling their day-to- day life. I Invite you to try this out with yourself or your clients. Post a comment and let me know how it goes.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Visceral Coaching

robert@visceralcoaching.com

Top 10 Cool & Groovy Things To Do This Summer

It's a well known fact that we live longer healthier lives when we are laughing, relaxed and content.These are all qualities of Summer. So even though summer is technically still about a month away, It's good to get a jump on the top 10 cool & groovy things to do this summer. Whether you're a beach bum or a land lubber, this list has something for you to stay in the calm & relaxed mindset of Summer.

1) Eat a tomato like an apple. - Make sure it's a ripe one and don't forget the napkin.

2) Watch the sunrise over the Ocean. - Grab a special friend & watch as the sky turns night-blue to pink to azure to yellow to daylight all in 60-90 minutes
3) Ride a Ferris wheel. - Take in the atmosphere of a carnival from the highest point
4) Body surf. - It's all in the timing & wave choice, but you know you got it right when you end up on the sand with a mouth full of sea foam!
5) Watch an awesome fireworks display from a comfy locale. - Bring the digital camera to snap images for year long Ooo's & Ahhh's
6) Go to a baseball game. Hey, they don't call it our national past time for nothin'. Any game, any level of sport.
7) Eat a hot dog - guilt free. Moderation is key here, but indulge for a night.
8) Go camping, make a campfire - Step away from the iThing for the weekend, become one with nature & gaze into the dancing flames. (The campfire app will be waiting for you on Monday morning)
9) Read the Sunday paper cover to cover then take a nap in the shade. - 'Nuf said.
10) Host or attend a BBQ with great food and great friends. - No special occasion needed. Make memories.

If you can sail through this list in a few weeks then recycle through them again! Do you have a list of your own? Post a comment. Let me know.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

Visceral Coaching

robert@visceralcoaching.com

Get What You Want

We all want something. Always. And we all want someone to do things for us. This is not selfish, dishonest or manipulative. This is life & business. Examples: managers present incentives for their sales force to make their numbers, parents offer rewards for their children for good behavior, dog owners dangle a treat to recall their dogs. In any situation involving human interaction; simple or complex; personal, professional or otherwise there exists three basic principals.

1) An objective (That "thing" that a person wants)

2) An obstacle (That "thing" in the way of getting what a person wants)

3) An action (That thing to "do" to get what a person wants, i.e. overcome the obstacle)

Here's a very simple step-by-step breakdown of how you get clarity on what you want, stay focused on it and jump the hurdles along the way. This is great for problem solving, managerial skills & interpersonal issues in the workplace as well.

1) Objective:

Ask yourself the following question. What do I want? Get a promotion? Communicate more effectively? Start a family? loose weight? What ever it is, be specific and write it down.

2)Obstacle:

Ask yourself the following question. What's in the way of getting what I want?

Often times the famous Pogo comic strip quote, "We have met the enemy and he is us" applies here. Take an inventory of whatever is in your way. Again, get specific about it. Name it. Write it down.

3) Action

Ask yourself the following question. What will I do to get what I want?

Given the presupposition that we are all acting within the moral, ethical and legal confines of our global society, what is the most resourceful action for you to take to overcome the obstacle in your way from achieving your objective? How much of it is within your power to change? How much of it do you need to rely on others to change? Specificity is important here. Name it.

Armed with these three specific questions and answers, you will be able to achieve and progress in any interpersonal interaction. The truth is, we all answer these questions in nano-seconds hundreds and hundreds of times a day, everyday of our lives. This three step process is designed to put the process in super slow-motion and allow you the time to be conscious of how to effectively get to the next level of your life. You handle the specifics, i.e. career, money, health, friends & family, personal growth, recreation, physical environment. Just plug in the issue to the algorithm and strap yourself in for a speedy trip to the next level.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC

Certified Professional Co-Active Coach

www.visceralcoaching.com