Many people I’ve talked to lately are feeling anxious and depleted. Anxious and depleted about our country struggling with an ongoing pandemic, a divided country, an economic crisis, violence, social and racial injustice, protests and more. But to be a healthy person it’s important to boost your energy from within, helping life balance and taking care of ourselves, our families as well as our values.
I recently watched an inspiring Ted Talk with Chris Hill, a chef, and the talk was called What Makes Your Heart Sing? He left his profession in marketing because he was looking for more fulfillment in his life. And he loved cooking. But one day after a difficult day at the restaurant, he was frustrated and locked himself in a room and wrote for eight hours. He wrote a long blog about his inspiration of being a chef and what’s important in life and posted it. He eventually had over 100,000 people reading his blog daily and received hundreds of emails. In short, he realized that what makes his heart sing is connecting with others and when people around him are happy. He also talked about his mother who died when he was 14, she fought a five-year battle with Cancer. She was always positive and made a huge impact on his life. Her favorite quote was “Life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 per cent of how your respond to it. “He asks, how are you showing up to life, to your family, to your community, to the world?
I’d like to ask you, what makes your heart sing?
It’s not difficult, but If you have trouble thinking of what makes your heart sing, here is a short exercise the International Coaching Federation suggests that can help:
- Allow yourself 10 minutes of quiet journaling to write your answers.
- Don’t analyze, just write.
- Feel free to add extra things to your list that come up in the days and weeks ahead.
Helpful Hints:
- To help you, just for a moment, close your eyes and think back to your childhood. What were you doing when you were having most fun?
- Consider your senses: Sight, hearing, touch/feeling, smell and taste. You could come up with one joy for each.
- Examples could include watching children or dogs/cats playing, hiking a mountain, cooking, telling someone you love them, fresh sheets on your bed …or something completely different. Whatever it is, it is unique to you.
- Here are a few questions to consider: What do you notice as you review your list? What common themes, powerful messages or surprises do you see? Why do you think you don’t do these more often?
- Perhaps you’re already thinking of ways you can bring some of these ideas into your life.
- Now, write one specific action you will take to bring more joy into your life.
Do you need help with making your heart sing?
If you are experiencing issues with fear, stress, lack of confidence, that pesky inner critic or Covid-19, please reach out to me. I offer free telephone consultations and offering Zoom and phone coaching as well as hypnotherapy sessions. You don’t have to suffer alone. You can reach me from my website at https://belacoaching.com/contact/ or by phone at 503-848-3640.
