Synthesis Coaching

The Bounce Back Ingredient — Resiliency

 
After a session with a client this past week, I've started to think more about how some people seem able to "bounce back" and survive a tough time while others seem to snap or break.

Let's face it, we all have trying times in our lives—none of us gets to escape that. Whether it be a bad patch in your marriage, a challenging time with a teenage child, health problems with a loved one...and no matter what the specific of the challenge is, it's  combined with the everyday tasks and obligations in our busy lives.

Yet some women seem to handle it with grace and ease. What's the magic that they have?

I really believe that resiliency is the magic bounce back ingredient necessary for moving through changes and transitions.

Women are generally more resilient than men — but I'm guessing that part of it may have something to do with the numerous life-stage changes that women go through in their lives. I've also noticed that women more naturally seem to "roll with the punches" than men do.

Like most women, I've had many opportunities in my life to use and strengthen my resiliency. My biggest challenge was when my first husband Allan got sick just weeks after Jessie was born, was diagnosed with leukemia 6 months later, and died before her first birthday. During that one year alone I had numerous opportunities to practice being resilient.

How did I get through?  Here are some of my secrets that you can use too!

• Asked for help
• Kept my optimism up
• Believed "this too shall pass"
• Tried to enjoy myself where I could, like enjoying seeing and being with my baby
• Looked for the silver lining
• I held on to my steadfast belief that life is good.

How has resiliency gotten you through a major crisis or been significant in your life?

 

Adventures to Transformation™ Interview Series: Elisa Balabram of Women and Biz

Today I'm chatting with Elisa Balabram of Women and Biz, an online community to created to inspire women to pursue their business dreams.

In our 15-minute interview, Elisa shares her journey and tips with us in order to help us move forward:

• How following her passion for writing led her to start Women and Biz.
• How self-care is helpful for women business owners and is often overlooked
• How she needed to learn to manage and control her "self talk" in order to go for her dreams
• How she kept her dream of being a published author alive by standing in commitment. She wrote for 15 minutes every day No Matter What!

 Don't miss our inspirational talk, sure to start your weekend off right!

 

I'm Moving Out of Hiding & Ready to Connect with You

What I notice is that when The Universe wants me to do something I get the message again and again until....well I get the message :).

Last Friday, I read a Charlie Gilkey's post on Productive Flourishing that was one big nudge from The Universe.

Charlie's words have been my companion all week:

You’re hiding.

Strip away the expectations, assumptions, self-talk, head-trash, and labels.

Strip away the not-good-enoughs, the second-guessing, the worry, and the proving.

Now, there you are.

This you is powerful. This you is beautiful. This you has something to share and knows it.

This you is also probably pretty raw right now. You’re not used to standing in the light of day and it might be a little intense.

This you is the real you. This you is the one that can smile and cry freely, want and need openly, and love and cherish authentically. This is you at your best.

This you is what we wait for and connect with.

You can turn the lights back down if you need to, but know that it’s your choice. This you can come out whenever you’re ready.

 

Then of course the second nudge (remember I usually never get this stuff right away) was from my business coach who was pushing me out of my comfort zone to really get my message out about change and transformation to millions of women who really need it and want it. She was pushing me to up the ante and to stop hiding and playing small!

OK, so I heard the clarion call from The Universe and I have responded...so I'm out of hiding and ready to connect with you.

I'm now offering a 15-minute "let's get to know each other" chat and an invitation to join me on a mini-adventure. Click here to read more and get in touch with me.

 

 

No Excuses Power To and Responsibility

My reading of choice lately has been No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power by Gloria Feldt.

Gloria rightly states that it is our responsibility to take our power vs. waiting like a "good girl" to be given power.

Yet what I see with working with my women clients (and by the way in my own life too) is that "responsibility" is a loaded word.

Let's get real, we're the caregivers for our family, friends and communities, so it makes perfect sense that our gaze is oftentimes at serving others' needs before our own.

Sound at all familiar? Here's a blog post where I explored the idea of responsibility and women "from the archives":

The "R" Words and Women

Can you relate? Would love to hear your thoughts.

YES, Realizing Your Dream Can Be Easy

Sometimes I have to pinch myself.

I used to do marketing in NYC for financial firms and spent my days commuting back and forth to a corporate cubicle. Those were the days when balance transfer offers were all the rage. Yet, my life purpose hardly seemed to be helping people get into debt.

Today my life is vastly different. I'm working with amazing women to help them transform their own lives—and every day is an adventure! Changing lives is SO much better than helping people amass more and more debt, don't you think?

I'm loving the impact I'm having on my client's lives—not to mention that my work keeps me on a path to continually growing, evolving, and transforming my own life. I went from dreading change to thriving on it!

What about you? Does change sound too hard... so instead you just keep putting up with the status-quo?

Making a change actually can be easy, especially with the right support and tools along the way. None of us can do it alone right?

If you need a little more motivation, listen to what my client's say about their own transformation in their own words:

"...Thank you so much for all your help and guidance to get me to this point of my journey to transformation. I am taking it in baby steps, but it feel right and it feels like it is really going to happen!"
CJ Tudino, 401.742.2689

"When I started working with you I wanted to take my career in a new direction. You helped find my passion and helped turn my dreams into reality! I'm now doing exactly what I have always wanted to do, but was too afraid to claim it for myself."
Cheryl Verchot, www.SimplyUniqueDecor.com

"When I started coaching with Karen I was getting ready to leave my 'conventional' job... and move to launching my own business. Karen is phenomenal - from the start she was supportive and enthusiastic, yet challenged me to be my best ...I now see all the myriad possibilities in me and have 'a-ha' moments each time we coach together."
Karen Johnson, Solstice Soapworks, 401.248.1331

Still not convinced it can be easy? Attend my FREE teleclass:

If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes...So What Are You Going to Do? on October 26th from 7 - 8 pm EST.

Make it easy, hard is just over-rated.

To your own adventures to transformation™!

Adventures to Transformation™ Interview Series: Robbie Kaye of Beauty and Wisdom

 

Today I'm chatting with Robbie Kay about Beauty of Wisdom, a photojournalism project where she talks to women in their 70's, 80's and 90's.

Why? To learn about change as it pertains to the perception of beauty and how beauty is in fact....ageless.

In today's 15-minute interview, Robbie helps us on our adventures by sharing her tips with us:

 

• Her steadfast belief, "if you do what you love, then the rest will follow".
• How her daily rituals using law of attraction tools serve her
• How she finds the time by multi-tasking: walking and chanting at the same time
• Engaging with people who are ahead of her keeps her inspired

Don't miss this inspirational talk, sure to start your weekend off right!

 

Eyes Wide Open – Adventurous Change Ahead

When the unexpected happens in our life, sometimes it's hard to know if it's the worst thing that ever happend or the best thing that ever happend.

Julia (not her real name), one of my clients was recently laid off from her customer service position at a major investment firm. She really didn't enjoy the job because of the stress, commute, and the time taken away from her dream to build a retreat center on the 40 acres she owns. Yet, she couldn't quite made the decision to leap.

When the choice was taken out of her hands, Julia discovered that she felt far more relief than she expected and a sense of eyes wide open possibilities instead of loss.

The job loss was a catalyst to re-ingnite her inspired adventurer and to begin to design a life that reflects her passions and dreams now.

So, how's your life feeling to you? Like it's an adventure or not so much? Perhaps you aren't searching for a major life overhaul like Julia, but you've noticed that certain areas of your life need tweaking.

You owe it to yourself to thrive, be energized and step into the beautiful, powerful woman you are.

Need some help and support?

Check out my FREE Teleclass: If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes...So What Are You Going to Do? 

Right from the comfort of your own home on Tuesday, October 26th from 7 - 8 pm. Click the email link to be sent registration information.

To your own "adventures to transformation"!

 

 

 

My Real Life "Adventure to Transformation": 75 days until Santa Fe

I'm tickled purple (my favorite color) to share with you that I'm moving to Santa Fe, NM in mid-December — about 75 days from now.

Why tickled? Because I'm actually living my tag, "Adventures to Transformation"'.

We plan on driving across the country to Santa Fe in about 5-6 days with our miniature schnauzer, Zack. Neither my husband nor I have ever taken a cross-country car trip.......so this seems to be offering us the opportunity of a lifetime!

I'm looking forward to having ribs in Memphis, checking out Nashville and Little Rock, and seeing how the landscape changes as we drive along. It's sure to be a real adventure!

Yet, it's a huge move, especially since both my husband and I are "dyed in the wool" Northeasterners.

My move to Santa Fe, like any other change, offers me the exciting freshness of new vistas and opportunities and at the same time a feeling of sadness and loss.

Saying "goodbye" to my community, to the ocean, the beaches, my extended family, my home and property, and to all the myriad of connections that, like a jigsaw puzzle, make up my life is hard. I find myself being quite nostalgic and sad at times....and the next moment feeling the excitement of living in a brand new area of the country. Interesting how both feelings can co-exist. 

I've moved quite a few times before and find that it takes me a good amount of time to settle in and feel comfortable, usually one or two years.

I remember when I first moved to South County, RI how stressful it was to drive down long, windy roads and needing to call my husband, who had lived here for over a decade, to help me when I was lost. Moving also means figuring out all the mundane details of everyday life — determining where you should go to take a yoga class, which grocery store you like to shop at, which dry cleaner is the best, what pediatrician you should take your children to, where the closest hardware store is, where to get the best cup of coffee, etc.

I know that I will be facing all these same challenges again.

Yet, this time something is different.

It's almost as if my "adventures to transformation" has taken on a life of its own and is guiding me. I'm in the flow and trusting the wisdom within this process of change in a totally new way.

Got a big change coming up for you in your life?

To your own "adventures to transformation"™

 

 

 

 

 

FREE Adventures to Transformation™ Teleclass

  

Does your life sometimes resemble Tina Fey and Steve Carell's in the movie "Date Night?". I don't necessarily just mean relationships...has ANY part of your life become stale, routine and boringly predictable? Or maybe you're just sick and tired on the same old, same old?

If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes...So, What Are You Willing To Do?

Let's figure it out together!

Join me for the Adventures to Transformation™ teleclass to help you discover what areas of your life you'd like to change and how to begin your adventure to transformation. (Don't worry we'll make sure your adventure isn't quite as hair-raising as Date Night!!).

My classes and live and interactive— and SO easy because they can be taken from the comfort of your home by simply dialing a conference line number that you'll receive upon registering.

Sign up today to get your spot. Click here to send me an email and I will send you the conference number and pin information so you can join us. Make sure to include your full name, city/state and zip code in the body of the email. That’s it!

 

FREE!  If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes...So What Are You Wiling To Do?

Tuesday. October 26, 7-8 p.m. Eastern Time

In this class we're going to figure out:

• What area of your life needs a jump start
• Determine 3-5 sweet steps
• Commit to a time schedule
• Get you into psyched up again and into action!

 

As the Adventures to Transformation™ coach I work with amazing women who believe that transformation is an adventure. Come chat with me on twitter, where as a newbie I have my "training wheels" on: @Karen_Hodges. Or visit me at www.synthesiscoachingblog.com

Go Ahead....Take a Chance on Change

I'm going to be one of the speakers in the Career Track for "Taking a Chance on Change" at the Reinvention Convention 2010, October 22nd at the Water's Edge Resort in Westbrook, CT.

You can grab a discount and attend the all-day event for $150.

How? Just dowload a copy of the registration form and MAIL (no online submissions) it with your check and my name on the check as a reference. All registrations must be postmarked by October 15th.

Here's the registration form: http://ideacircleforwomen.com/registration.html

Hope to see you there!