Tag Archives: coaching

Friday Meditation Ramble

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I had the privilege of coaching a professor today that has a background in Emotional Intelligence as well and we had a nice chuckle over how we all know the things we need to be doing and all of the incredible benefits of doing them, but sometimes we just need that accountability piece to make sure we take good care of ourselves! I needed it a little too much, I think, considering I had a coach for about 6 years back in the day!

When I find myself struggling to do what I know will serve me so well, I like to ask myself two questions: A) What is it going to cost me if I don’t do it? B) How will it serve me if I do? (aka how will it better my health? my life? how will it better me to live at my fullest potential, and to be my best to those around me and better serve others)

Same could go for if you are getting ready to do something you know is not so good for you, but A) What will it cost me if I do? B) How will it serve me if I don’t?

Many years ago, I had worked myself up to meditating 30 mins 2 x a day (I know, I know, wow, those were the days…I think the whites in my eyes were literally radiating light!) and I’ve gone through phases where it’s dropped off to none at all. I’ve been back on the 15 minute bandwagon recently vs. just a few minutes and upped it to 20 mins today. Hopefully, this will be my sweet spot 😉

Sometimes it takes us at least 15 minutes to settle down to get to where we can get to that perfect relaxed state that we only need to be in for a short bit to where our body and mind will remember and the benefits speak for themselves. I was amazed in my yoga practice last night how much more focused I was and able to literally just be doing yoga vs. planning out my evening or daydreaming about tomorrow during class.

Breath is life. Breath is healing. Breath is a natural medicine. It’s the #1 thing to relive anxiety. We would all be absolutely lying if we said that we don’t have two minutes, much less 20 minutes a day we could give ourselves. (Seriously, the things we spend time on these days…you don’t wanna get me started…) I can’t think of a better gift we could give ourselves.

I challenge you (if you are not already) to see what happens when you give yourself two minutes a day of quiet with only you and your breath. You just might want to up it to 5 in a week. Then 10. And, who knows, maybe 20. The cool thing is, you just might start to crave it like it’s your little YOU time every single day where you get to take a mini vacation. Coolest thing EVER is you are also giving your heart, lungs, blood pressure, internal organs and STRESS a vacation as well. And, guess what happens then? You can actually concentrate, be present with others and what you are doing and slow down that exhausting chatter going on in your mind.

End ramble… Cheers to a happy and healthy weekend!

Tessa Morgan

P.S. Want to meditate, but always wondered how and have questions or concerns/fears around it? I’ve been there! Email me, I’d be happy to give you some quick tips! tessa@findyourtriessence.com  I’m also happy to announce that my website has a new facelift with new programs and video if you’d like to check it out, just hit the “HOME” button above.

What Would You Like To Leave Behind In 2015?

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Recently I learned that I need to work on my patience. It’s plain as day to me now, but funny that so many of my yoga students or coaching clients have seen me as one to have a lot of patience. Luckily, in those settings I do, but in everyday life situations, turns out it’s where I need the most work.

I read the book, “They Healing Code” by Alexander Loyd a couple of weeks ago and not only has it been blowing my mind, but I loved the quiz that is included on their website where you can find out the areas where you need to improve in your life to bring yourself anything from better health, to success & relationships.

Patience was my number one thing that I need to work on and I feel like it’s such a blessing to know because I know that the more I work on it to get better at having more patience in every day situations, I will be able to find even that much more joy in my life.

I always find it funny how when you start to work on something, that pretty much immediately it becomes the thing that shows up in your life the most. So, it’s no surprise to me that I had more technology issues the past few weeks than I can ever remember having in my lifetime. I had multiple opportunities to practice patience when my email accounts stopped working, my phone email got messed up, my stereo system for my yoga classes wouldn’t work (all three completely unrelated or connected) and I had to spend 4 hours on the phone with Apple to only find out that we need to swipe my computer and start all over.

This wasn’t one of those 4 hours calls where you could put the phone down and check in to see what progress has been made or multi-task, but one where they took over my screen and had a red arrow pointing to each thing I had to click, so I was doing something with them the entire 4 hours. I will get another chance to be patient when I get back on the line with them to back up my computer tonight and again when I leave my computer tomorrow in their hands for a week to fix these issues.

Christmas time and shopping of course gives plenty of opportunities for patience as well and helping my sweet grandmother yesterday from the nursing home into the car to take her to see my family when she can hardly get around on her own and at a very slow pace was another bonus opportunity.

So, the question is…do you know what you need to let go of this year and leave behind or commit to improve on in 2016?

I have no problem doing the work I need to around patience, as I know that it will bring me even more joy and peace in my life.

The interesting thing that “The Healing Code” provides is a way to work through to have more patience or whatever you are needing. What I was reminded of on my own though is that underneath impatience or whatever negative thing that keeps you from love, patience, kindness, etc. can be something like sadness or anger.

This week I found myself being very impatience with a friend and after digging deeper I realized that it was because I actually felt taken advantage of in that particular situation. Then, I dug deeper to find what other situations I have felt taken advantage of before and was actually able to get to a little bit of anger underneath it all.

A wise woman and mentor of mine happened to catch me at that time and we both decided I needed to get some of that anger out that I usually hold in and have typically been afraid to let out. I mean, who wants to be that “angry” person, right?  I typically find a way to get back in a better mood or just let it continue as being annoyed or irritated vs. letting any of it out and then just go back to being happy while continuing to stuff the anger.

So, we decided I could choose to put on some boxing gloves and get some of that anger out and I ended up going to town on my guest bedroom bed. I actually had a blast recalling up times I felt taken advantage of and got out some anger, but then it wasn’t surprising to me that underneath all of that was sadness. I then found myself crying at the same time I was getting my frustration out and after about 20 minutes or so of this whole experience, I felt drained and exhausted, but it also felt really amazing.

I then did a “Healing Code” from the book and felt such a release and very calm & peaceful.

While I am not condoning anger, there was definitely something very healing about being able to get angry in a safe environment where I wasn’t taking it out on anyone else, but got to release some of the anger that had been built up inside me for so many years.

Sometimes we need to do some deeper diving into an emotion or feeling we are having like frustration, irritability, or even anger to see what is buried underneath in order to let it go so that we can be less of those things moving foreword and be at our best for ourselves and those around us that we care about the most.

Maybe you know what you’d like more of in your life (Me = Patience) or maybe a quiz like the one that comes with “The Healing Code” book could be helpful, but either way, once you figure it out, I encourage you to pay attention to yourself in those situations that come up where you see you are struggling with that thing and dive a bit deeper to see what you have buried and see if you can find a way to release it.

My challenge to you this holiday season is to see what it is you’d like to leave behind in 2015 (Me = Impatience) and what you would like to move forward in 2016 with more of (Me = Patience) and do whatever it takes to challenge yourself to be more of that and then once it has been achieved you can move on to the next thing you’d like more of…before you know it, you’ll be living a life of pure BLISS.

Cheers to an amazing 2016!

So much love to you and yours!

Meditation Is The #1 Thing To Reduce Anxiety: A Simple 2 Week Challenge

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Meditation is the #1 thing to reduce anxiety.  So, do you ever take time to meditate and spend some time in silence?  It’s OK if you don’t, but perhaps you’d consider doing this simple 2 week meditation challenge?

When I’m working with my coaching clients and if we get to the point where we discuss meditation being a good thing for them to add into their life (this is usually with every client!), I notice a common theme.  I find that even when I walk through and send instructions over on how to do the meditation, people have anxiety come up around sitting alone with their thoughts and just breathing or think they won’t be able to sit still long enough.

I’ve had people come back and say they did audio meditations instead and other techniques and then I end up having the conversation of how important it is just to try and do a basic meditation.  I’m not knocking audios as I do them too sometimes, but the point is to also get used to being alone in silence and try meditating that way as well.

First off, if you have fear or concerns around anything around meditation and religion, I just want to clarify that you are not worshipping Buddha or anything just by meditating and paying attention to your breath.  You are just taking time to focus on your breath so that over time you can have more moments of silence to slow down all of the chatter in our minds.

While the end goal could be to have complete & total silence and nothingness, it’s an honor when we have that happen for a moment in meditation.  For the most part, we just have small spurts of time with no thought and we have to remind ourselves to go back to our breath and it starts to retrain us when we are in the real world to have less of the constant stress and chatter in our minds.

Meditation also helps lower blood pressure, relieves depression & fear, improves your mood and emotional intelligence, increases mental focus, improves energy, helps lessen and prevent asthma, fibromyalgia, arthritis and so many other benefits too long to list, but you get the idea.

If you’d like to give it a try, here’s my suggestion for a two week challenge for yourself.

For meditation: Find a comfortable seated position trying to sit with your knees below your hips possibly using a pillow or blanket underneath your seat.  Sit up nice and tall and palms facing up can be for receiving, palms down for grounding or do whatever is comfortable for you if neither of those call to you.  Close your eyes and just focus on your breath.  Your only job is to breathe deep breaths in through your nose and out through your nose.  Try to extend the inhales and exhales as time goes on.  As thoughts come in just let them pass through without judging them and go back to your breath.  That’s all you have to do.  I typically set an alarm on my phone and mine still works even with my phone on silent, but the volume up.  I use the “harp” on my iPhone as the noise to make when it ends to come out of it a little more peacefully.  Play around with doing it in the morning and then some in the evening and see what you like better.  There are a few 2ce a day goals below where you can do it both times and see if you notice a difference doing it twice that day also.  Even if you have to go back and “start over” by going back to your breath 100 times in a minute because you catch your brain going, that’s ok, just start over as many times as it takes & go back to your breath.

Week 1 –

Day 1: 1 min 2ce this day
Day 2: 2 min
Day 3: 3 mins 2ce this day
Day 4: 4 mins
Day 5: 5 mins
Day 6: 5 mins
Day 7: off

Week 2 –

Day 1:  6 mins
Day 2: 7 mins
Day 3:  8 mins twice this day
Day 4: 9 min
Day 5: 10 min
Day 6: 10 min
Day 7: off

Then, after those few weeks, I would decide on a time frame that you like best and stick with that for at least 3 more weeks until it can become a habit.  This is one of the best things we could all do for ourselves and our well being.  You may be surprised that it could turn out to where you start to look forward to that time of your day, kind of like taking a mini vacation!

Speaking of vacation, I’m headed out for one next week, so this will be my last blog until August 14th.  Going to celebrate my belated honeymoon and big 40th bday at the beach getting my surf on.

In the meantime, I hope you consider taking the two week meditation challenge!

Take good care of you.

Do You Allow Yourself To Trust Others?

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Do you allow yourself to trust others?

A lot of times when I’m working with coaching clients, I realize how hard it is for people to trust others.

I had an interesting experience with trust last week at an acro yoga class.  Not only was it quite possibly the most challenging thing that I have ever done that left me sore for about four days, it also allowed me to push myself to my limits and play with trust and communication like never before.

When you are relying on someone to literally keep you from falling, things can get a bit scary. Trust is so important and communication is key.

Your partner has ways of communicating through squeezing your hand as one example to let you know what side they will start on (if necessary) or to verbally cue you.  You also have to trust and communicate with the person spotting you to make sure they know where you are headed and are prepared to be there to support you.

I remember doing all kinds of balancing things like “airplane” as a kid and it being really easy.  As an adult, I found it not quite as easy, but I still had a blast!

Relationships are kind of the same way.  They can be challenging and when it comes to falling for someone in an intimate relationship, things can get scary and trust becomes so important & communication is key.

Do you know the difference of listening to your gut in whether or not you can trust another person or not or whether fear is getting in the way?  I’ve become more clear on those feelings the past year or so after getting them confused in the past.  If you find yourself in a situation where you know that you can trust another person and would like to further your relationship with them, are you willing to put yourself in that scary and vulnerable position?

I think trusting and opening yourself up for an intimate and close relationship can be one of the most beautiful things we can experience.  And as long as both people commit to making communication a priority along the way, I believe that you can always get through anything even if two people end up not always wanting the same thing.

What would it take for you to trust someone enough to let them in 100%?  Would you be willing to make communication the top priority in your most important relationships and commit to finding ways to always make things work together for both people in partnership?  You just might be surprised at how much freedom and joy you could have in your relationships!

We Are Powerful Beyond Measure

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I was in London last week with a coaching client watching him do what he was born to do showing a documentary film that he had created and I was reminded of this quote below by Marianne Williamson.

This is one of my favorite quotes.  It speaks for itself, so I’ve really got nothing else left to say other than when I was on the trip watching a client of mine fulfill his dreams and having the opportunity to let his light shine brightly, I was reminded once again that we all have the ability to do anything that we could ever possibly want to do.  There is absolutely no reason to play small.

Here’s hoping that you play as big as you can for the next two weeks until we meet again. I’d like to challenge you to ask yourself where you are playing small and what you would need to do in order to have your light shine as bright as possible.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

– Marianne Williamson

Do You Help Others Live Out Their Passions And Be Their Best?

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Do you help others live out their passions and be their best?  I know someone who does an incredible job at doing just that and I’m having the privilege of working with him on a special project right now.  His name is Hal Samples and he’s in the middle of producing a film that will be launching April 1st.  You can see more information about it on his blog that he posted yesterday:  http://halsamples.com/blog

Throughout coaching him and assisting him with the film, I have learned so much through watching video footage that he has filmed over the past 10 years, along with interviewing people that he has known throughout the years that know him very well and that he has greatly influenced.

I had an epiphany the other night because it hit me that we are both actually trying to accomplish the same goal, we just do it in different ways.  I say that my greatest passion is helping people live their life to their fullest potential.  I’m learning that one of his many passions is getting people in touch with their passions and through speaking the truth in love, he inspires them to go and live them out.  My work is through coaching others.  His work is portrayed through his art whether it be photography or film or through just having conversations with others or having people witness his life and actions.

The funny thing I realized the other day is that I’m doing for him what he does for others. I’m helping him live out his dream and passion by being there to speak the truth in love, while holding him accountable (see photo of project map above :)).  Considering I think he’s a genius, it’s a great reminder for me that sometimes in order for us to be the best us we can be (even for a genius!), we need someone there to speak the truth in love and challenge us to do things differently every once in a while.  I know I’ve had many years worth of a couple of coaches working with me in the past to do the same for me and I feel like I literally owe them my life.  If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be living out my dreams today, including being a part of this amazing project.  Did I mention I’m having the time of my life?

What dreams can you challenge yourself to take a step towards today?  Do you have someone who can lovingly speak the truth to you in your life?  If not, would you be willing to find someone?

Happy weekend!

Are You Doing What You Were Born To Do?

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Are you doing what you were born to do?  This man certainly is, in my opinion…

If you’ve never seen the movie “Once”, I highly recommend it.  I pretty much stopped breathing on I believe what is the 2nd song “Say It to Me Now” that he sings on the street, in the movie. I will never forget how I felt when the movie was over.  Luckily, I was alone because I was so depressed and even balling at one point.  The reason I was crying had nothing to do with the story line, so don’t worry, I won’t ruin it for you if you choose to watch it.

My sister happened to call me right afterwards and I must have sounded like I just found out that someone that I loved dearly had died.  About 15 minutes into our conversation and being an absolute joy to talk to on the phone, I remember saying “I’m sorry, I just watched the movie Once and I’m just in a really weird mood right now”…she said “oh my gosh, why didn’t you tell me that as soon as I called?!?! I will let you go”…You see, her and I pretty much think identically, so I’m pretty sure she got exactly why I was so devastated, since she had already seen the movie.

The movie “Once” woke me up.  As I was watching the movie again this week (with someone who also has the power of taking my breath away, but that’s in a whole different context and a whole different story, but just fun to mention 😉 my bad, sidetracked, sorry…), I was reminded of why.  To me, Glen Hansard is the most passionate person that I have ever seen.  I mean, to create the holes in the guitar above from strumming so hard, I’d call that a little passionate.

I’ve had the privilege of being on the front row at one of his shows and have seen him in concert two other times.  He is absolutely flawless.  It’s as if he takes me through a story in every song and I can feel every emotion that he is singing about.  The time I was on the front row, he was strumming so hard that he broke a string and his finger was bleeding all over the place and he just kept on going as if nothing had happened.

In my opinion, Glen Hansard is doing what he was born to do.

At the time, when I first saw the movie, I was so tired of talking about the things I wanted to do and not doing any of them.  I knew I wanted so many things to be different in my life and that I had to get down to the bottom of what it was that was keeping me from doing any of them.  That’s when my whole journey of intense personal development began. Immediately.

I was then able to work through things with someone in order to find out what my blindspots were and the things that were keeping me from living my life to my fullest potential.  I faced and embraced my insecurities and fears and began to learn what I wanted to do with my life and who I wanted to be.  And I’m so happy to say that I am fully committed to living my life to my fullest potential and I truly believe that I am doing what I was born to do.  Helping people live their lives to their fullest potential is my absolute greatest passion in life.

What were you born to do?  One question I sometimes like to ask my clients is what is it that causes them to completely lose track of time?  It doesn’t mean that is what someone needs to do for a living necessarily, but I love to get people back in touch with their gifts and things that they are passionate about.

When I am coaching someone, I have to find a way to have the time up in front of me and keep track of where we are because I could literally spend 8 hours with someone and have the time of my life.

As I was working through coming up with a name for my business, I remember thinking who do I think of when I think of someone living their life to their fullest potential?  I thought of Glen Hansard.  I realize I know nothing about him personally, but to me, he is the definition of Greatness (with a capital G).  He helped me live my life to my fullest potential. Thank you, Glen Hansard.  I will forever be grateful for the inspiration that he has given me in my life.