Getting my head around NLP
*This post contains a gifted experience* Towards the beginning of this year, when I was in full-on coaching mode, I was looking into NLP courses. NLP stands for neuro linguistic programming and the NLP Academy defines it in the following way: “NLP is the practice of understanding how people organise their thinking, feeling, language and behaviour to produce the results they do. NLP provides people with a methodology to model…
When you really want to quit
It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. Those moments when the thought of quitting your dream takes you and feels utterly overwhelming. If you’re a fellow side-hustler or own your own business, I’m sure you can relate. I had a moment like this recently. I woke up one morning and just thought… is it worth it? I’ve been working so hard since launching my coaching services a year and a…
What I’m doing to learn more about race (part 2)
Two years ago, almost to the day, I wrote about race for the very first time. Here’s how that piece started: “This is one of those blog posts that makes my chest tight writing about. It makes me uncomfortable because I feel unqualified to talk about race and I’m treading a very fine line between using my privileged position to speak about important issues and centralising myself, a white woman,…
Navigating growing pain
As you may have noticed after reading last week’s blog on the impact of self-belief on my life, I’ve been feeling reflective recently. Maybe lockdown is encouraging more navel-gazing than usual, who knows, but it’s been interesting. For this week’s blog I wanted to talk about the fact that growth can be painful. It’s amazing of course, to develop, learn and grow as a person, but it can be uncomfortable.…
How self-belief has shaped my life
There’s a reason I go on about self-worth, self-belief and confidence so much. I’ve seen the impact developing these areas has had on my life. For context, and for those of you who may not know my story, any self-belief I had as a kid got knocked out of me in my early teens. As a young kid I was always pretty shy and quiet, but I did have self-belief.…
What to do when you feel stuck
I think all of us can relate to the feeling of being stuck in a certain area of our lives. You feel like you don’t know which way to turn or how to take the next step forward. You know things have to change, but you don’t know how. You feel frustrated, exhausted and paralysed. It’s a horrible feeling. But the frustration we feel can be turned into fuel, propelling…
The impact of knowing your worth
I talk about self-worth a lot, being a self-worth coach, but I know sometimes phrases like this can feel a little fluffy and intangible. It can be hard to get your head around what it actually is, and why you should care. So let’s start with a real quick definition of self-worth: “the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person; self-esteem; self-respect.” The reason I have such…
Why are we scared of taking risks?
Are you a natural risk taker? I am 100% not, but it’s something I’m working on. When I say risk here, I don’t mean jumping out of a plane type risk, I’m talking about social and psychological risks. Doing new things, doing the things that your self-doubt tells you you can’t. I’ve been learning a lot about the brain lately, through a science of wellbeing course I took last year…
How to tell if an investment is right for you
The word investment can have a lot of different meanings. Today I want to look at investments of time and money into your personal development or your business. And I’m coming at this as someone who’s recently done a fair bit of investing into my business specifically. I haven’t done the maths, but I’ve spent a lot of money on my business since deciding to become a coach, from my…
Looking ahead to 2020
Hello everyone and happy New Year! Welcome to the brand new Blue Jay of Happiness site – what do you think? I’m really happy with it. The colours, the navigation – all of it just flows better and is more functional. While blogging is a key part of my work, so is coaching and now podcasting and I feel this new site communicates this well. I want to say a…