I recently started listening to The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. I’ve heard about the book for a while, but never got around to reading or listening. Well, I finally started it a few days ago and it’s a beautiful practical application of some ancient spiritual practices that can help us live our best life. Not just our best life, but a life truly inspired, peaceful, and happy.
Singer clarifies the fact that we are not our mind. We are not the ups and downs, the highs and lows of the mind, or all that mental chatter that gets us down. The voice that tells us we’re not good enough, talented enough, skinny enough, whatever enough, is not our true self. We’ve been sold a bill of goods that encourages us to go down this road of negativity. If we don’t have the money, the car, the boat, blah, blah, blah, we’re nothing. All you have to do is look around to see current state of our culture. Most people are overweight, out of shape, and more and more people are committing suicide and becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. We’re in a health crisis beyond comprehension.
How does it all stop? How can we get to that inspired, peaceful, happy place that Singer writes about?
One way is through coaching. You can hire a coach, or you can coach yourself by following this quick exercise from Sir John Whitmore’s book Coaching for Performance. He created the GROW Model of coaching which has been used in organizations improving leadership and performance for decades. GROW is an acronym for Goals, Reality, Options, and Will. Take the steps that follow to improve your overall well-being and start having that awesome life you know you can!
G – Goals: What are your goals? This step is for you to identify what you want and/or need to do. Setting goals is easy. What does your heart desire? A better relationship? To run a marathon? Make more money? Be more open hearted? State it clearly.
R – Reality: What is the reality right now? You need to do a self-assessment to see where you stand. I do this all the time with my clients. We create a baseline of fitness and wellness. It doesn’t matter where you are, so there is no right or wrong answer. You can keep these answers to yourself if you want, but I find accountability is always a great motivator.
O – Options: What are your options? This step identifies the possibilities and the strategy. If you’re going to run a marathon, will you hire a coach? When will you train? How will you change what you’re currently doing to move forward toward achieving your goal?
W – Will: What will you actually do to achieve and maybe even exceed your goals? This is when you create a plan of action to implement. You can also identify possible obstacles that may come up. Ultimately, it’s all about ensuring that your goal is reached and your healthy enough to raise the bar for yourself to continue improving.
Follow these steps, see what begins to happen for you, and let me know! I love hearing from people about their growth. Of course, I’m always here to help you along the way if you need a helping hand. Send me a message @teddymcdonald on social media. May you have an awesome life!!
Originally published on the author’s website.
Photo Credit: Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash