Craft Business

My Journey to change

Posted on 10.25.15 | 1 Comment

My Journey to change

End of 2014

2014 became the end of fear and a new beginning towards change – again all sounds so dramatic and so forth, but to be fair it was not really – but it was the wake up moment – the Aha moment that I heard and listened to this time.

A friend contacted me and offered me some work within a local school – and I found my feet and some self respect and focus – my confidence and self esteem in such a short period of time improved and by christmas 2014 I realised that I did not want to go back to any of the feelings, negativity and behaviours that I had been through and been experiencing in 2014.

I have not mentioned even the business with you – both were ok but unfocused and lacked clarity – WHY? because I did. I was and had been operating in panic mode – consistently throughout the year – fear of change, and in total denial that anything needed to change 🙁 not a happy place to be in at all.

To the outside world all was grand, nothing wrong and all ok – yet my weight was ballooning, I was struggling with debt and money and trying to cope being a menopausal hormonal woman as well – it was like my body was attacking me constantly and had become my enemy…….. the warrior and superwoman models of behaviour back in play then!!!

And so began 2015 – Change! New Beginnings

In this blog I will only deal with the start of 2015 as I actually feel this is like a living blog series of posts and I do not want to swamp anyone in what all went on or even get so deep that it becomes a bit boring either.

Some parts of the year will be faster than others and some can be skipped lol ……. I am not going to bore you with – woke up, had breakfast – what I ate was etc – omg nothing like that – but it will be about a very simple journey of awakening that happened for me and how it is and has impacted on me personally and in turn then within my business, plus how I coped.

Menopause – added ingredient to the mix

My journey to change can not ignore this lovely little added ingredient into the mix.

I just can not go any further without raising this in regards to me and my coping strategies around it all and of course its impact on me – personally and my business. Omg it has floored me at times. I started it all around 44 years of age possibly even sooner – and it was not just the hot flushes for me it was major hormonal upheaval and irratic behaviour – so after fighting it for quite a while – I pushed to be on HRT and stayed on them for around 2 years – but as you know everything has risks – I have a range of health issues and one of which is `sticky blood` so being on HRT really became an non option avenue – so came off them. Which is good but needed a replacement – so researched and found Starflower and Menopal Plus from Simply Supplements and a slight change to diet – but thats also in the year of change blog lol.

But being a woman in the change – trying to make changes and deal and cope with changes – no one said it would be easy but dear god……………. please it just becomes another layer of complicated. Plus no one told me your brain goes to mush, your memory gets fucked or that you feel so irratated with everyone so often. But it was the memory lose and sometimes confusion that upset me and put fear of dementia into my head – that was what I struggled with more than hot flushes and sweats – have a room full of 45 + year olds in any room and you just have to make sure no heating on and plenty of water available and of course near the toilets – forgot bladder weakness comes next as well – holy shit I felt I needed traded in ………………..

January 2015 – now Change

Ok so I did not wake up suddenly 1st January 2015 and go – thats it – change. I did wake up and go – ok what do I need to change and how the fuck am I going to do this……… oh shit – and then the internal dialogue of – ok Sharon, get a grip first things first what needs sorted first. Money – what you have, what you don`t have, what you owe, what you paying out, getting in and getting comfortable with making sure you know it inside and out – where you are Right Now?

So thats what I did – not right on New Years Day but the very next day…. 2nd January – I got out everything – bills, credit cards, bank statements and started really taking back charge of what I needed to know about where we were right now – personally and also as a business. And it was not that pretty to be honest – not major bad but enough for us and if we continued in same vein – it would not end well.

With the week I had registered online with bank – I know why had it taken me so long – no answer other than did it and got it set up and then I looked again – and I got hubby to look and we sat down and just went – RIGHT (BIG SHOUTY WORDING) …… lets get a grip. When we budgeted previously it worked for us – but we had gone of the rails (no idea what really did it as christmas was not an expensive spend but we had majorly gone off the boil). We had to get back on track and right now.

And we did – at the same time as getting a grip of our money, cancelling direct debits no idea what for – ex rugby club hubby had stopped playing at 14 years ago ? I know only £2 a month but 14 years of £2 a month adds up – then magazines and others shite that really I did not need, we did not need – now down to bare minimum as bills going out only and essential bills only.

But I also joined an online FB challenge – Money : A Love Story Challenge by Kate Northrup

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MoneyALoveStory

This started my journey into 2015 making changes – I know some might find it a bit hocus pocus as its Fengi Shui orientated but for me it made sense – it started me doing and thinking and actioning – and thus the change began. For the 21 days I engaged in the Fb group and got so much from it all – I would recommend anyone seeking out challenges like this – it asks you to take responsibility and then to take action – and that is just what I started to do.

Action – is it painless ?

No its not – its not easy – we, me – I had to face the reality that I needed to take back the control – take on the responsibility of our money, my money and begin to love it all again and not allow it to control me. The fact that its taken me 10 months to even be blogging about this all – I think sort of says how deep rooted my fear of change and talking about it has been.

At 49 years of age – nearly 50 lol – to actually admit that this is all not perfect and running smoothly and that I have taken so long to get my head right (and still doing so) and all the other stuff as well – is really hard, in fact its taken me all of 10 months to be able to put it on here – I thought I was the worst mum, wife, partner, business woman, woman let along person – basically I was a failure – after all how fucking hard can it be – being organised, being in the right mindset, not getting distracted, not getting into negative behaviours and attitudes, get slim, get fit, be successful, make money – aaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh.

And that was the crucial piece – I felt a failure – I felt I was not as successful as I wanted to be and to be honest at times I was not sure I actually wanted to do what I needed to do to turn it around – therefore by definition I was lazy and therefore a failure and therefore did not deserve to be successful. Vicious cycle and it just went round and round and round – and it was this i had to stop.

But the journey began – change begun and it has grown – its still not right, but good enough, right enough to make changes and progression.

2015 has been a battle with Money – loving it, growing it, managing it, saving it, spending it, cherishing it – but I am in control of it more and more. It no longer controls me – as I get towards end of the year and look forward to 2016 – I believe I value it more and embrace it better than I have ever done before. I recommend her book and doing the challenges – if nothing else worth a go to get some sense of what you need to do to progress forward. Seriously it so makes sense and something many many many will not be covering in Business coaching or other areas of support.

http://Money, a Love Story: Untangle Your Financial Woes And Create The Life You Really Want

I am still in midst of the declutter !!! seriously its an ongoing area of work with me – but one I am more insightful on – I recognise the triggers for spend and I am now looking at it all as – do I really need it, will I use it, what could I use that money for if did not spend it on x – is this an investment or a drain, is it an asset or not – and if all of the answers are not positive then its not considered.

The other thing I began to get a grip of…….

Organisation – change

Being organised is key for me – and having become so dis-organised had lead to overwhelm and all of the above for so long – so doing the Money : A Love Story Challenge started the process off and made me realise just how out of whack I really was. This floored me as I felt when I worked in the Public sector for my 20+ year career I was Mrs Organised, so OCD and quite anal to be truthful on where things went and keeping things organised – so this chaos and dis-organisation is where my overwhelm and lack of everything came from along with mindset of course too.

So the journey of change had begun and I was beginning to get a grip – and I was going to focus the whole of 2015 to do it – what I did not realise was that taking this year might only be the start……………… the focus I did not realise totally in January, February or even March of 2015 was that the change was about me and me alone.

Money a Love Story ; ” So what does self-care have to do with money? Everything. Remember, you’re trying to change your thoughts about you – to open your eyes to your worth. …………………. Self care is about loving yourself. If you can`t learn to put energy toward your own care and feeding, who else will? ……………………………………………..Money is about what we value. We pay for what we value. We pay attention to what we value. This is an issue of valuing yourself.”

And that was it – this year has been about money, organisation, family, business, mindset, getting fit, getting healthy all on one level – but its really been about love and value – me learning to love and value me again and its not all been plain sailing.

And so the journey of 2015 continues for this 49 year old menopausal woman in business 🙂 ………

I hope you continue to follow me on my blogs right up to the present day across my year. You will always be welcomed.

Thank you x Sharon 🙂

Stress – How it can Kill You if You Let it.

Posted on 10.24.15 | 1 Comment

Stress – How it can Kill You if You let it.

Part 1 of my journey of change – the voice of my heart.

Past career – past stresses

I walked away from a job in 2011 after 20 years that was over the last 5 years of it killing me – all because of stress – I failed to recognise the signs and symptoms and also thought I was invincible and super woman.
In early October 2010 I just about made it home – I know I drove home stupid I know I know – and within 15 minutes went into a sudden cardiac attack – ie my heart went into melt down – and I was having a huge arrhythmia attack.

Most sudden cardiac deaths are caused by abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias. The most common life-threatening arrhythmia is ventricular fibrillation, which is an erratic, disorganized firing of impulses from the ventricles (the heart’s lower chambers). When this occurs, the heart is unable to pump blood and death will occur within minutes, if left untreated.

All this from stress – I was taken into hospital where I was given medication that stopped my heart and restarted it again to attempt to get the arrhythmia back on track and slow down – as the next stage was full cardiac arrest – (sounds very dramatic and scary – it was I have never consciously held onto a nurse and consultants hands so much in my life and just begged them to help me) – 3 days later I left hospital and told that I was in need of some serious help – but I what I got was some serious help from the best Heart Hospital and consultant in Europe at Broadgreen.

I went in on 29th April 2011 and my operation was 88% successful – apparently they had fun playing space invaders in my heart – Left ventricular de-fibrillation is what Mr Mark Hall did – thank god I was asleep – but next time I apparently need to stay awake eeek – hence why putting off for as long as I can.

I know for me its taken me a few years to actually really try to address and stop the stress impact and its consequences on me – I get stressed easily, I tended to over personalise things – if it went wrong it was because I was at fault, I was the problem, I am to blame – I continued to batter myself on leaving work, worry about money, worry about kids, worry about me – hit menopause lost the plot – flitted all over the place trying to find what I wanted to do – lost a heap of money, friends, because of some of the issues thought I was losing my sanity and my marriage and thought I had lost me. I thought life what shit to be honest.

The year from hell – ok I just lost my way!

2014 turned out to be the best and the worst year – you would have thought 2011 was – but nope – I am a slow burner – and I burnt and smouldered and hurt myself until November 2014 and I woke up from a bit of a fog – fuck me did I wake up (apologies for swearing if offended but I actually do swear).
I looked around me and made a choice to change – (thought I had as had read and listened to all the self help, spiritual stuff and people, books and videos ) but it all just kept nothing at bay and the shite kept coming – and then I looked at me, really looked at me and decided I needed to just stop.
So I did – and then good things started happening – not huge things or at fast paces but small little things – and things begun to change.

As you can see from the video – its all about learning to manage your stress and recognising what the causes are and how to combat them – don`t do what I did for so long – ignore, fight and under estimate what stress can do – both to you and those you love around you – I was a martyr and a warrior but realised the only one I was hurting was those I loved around me and me – the total opposite to what I wanted or thought I was doing . Stupid yes absolutely.

Never under estimate your past – learn from it and move on

In 1995 and in 1996 I nearly died from Eclampsia – my daughters where both still born but I was lucky I was alive, on both occasions they fought to save my life and thank goodness they did – sadly the longer term impact both emotionally and mentally were much more long lasting than the physical impact. But on both occasions I went into cardiac arrest – possibly this was the first real signs I had a heart problem – who knows but I had in 2010 been given a 3rd chance to get it right and for so so long I had – like so many other women – just got on with life. Took it all in my stride, worked harder, did not give up (fought hard to have kids born alive and well and me well) and just kept up the warrior mode and of course being super woman – I did it all.

I fought for everyone – Trade Union secretary, spokesperson at conferences, extra work, degrees and qualifications, work work work, lived hard and played hard – and did not realise just how miserable I was making myself – the mask was on and the sword was in hand.

Then my world (created and designed by me) fell apart, I had taken the voluntary redundancy and my grieving for a career, job and identity began and continued – of course it did, this was me living in chronic stress mode again – cycle of learnt behaviour for me and a coping strategy I only knew.

Post attack but in denial

From 21012 – 2014 I was in denial and fear – adding more and more un-necessary stress to a world I did not need – and while it was better than when in a full time job and career prior to October 2010 it was really just a smaller version of what had been happening then. I got into negative thought patterns, negative behaviour patterns and it was like the self destruct button was under my finger and regularly just being tested to see how far I would take me or my family to the edge of pressing.

By grief was so deep rooted and that I felt my whole identity was so wrapped up in my work and career, I thought it was me – so losing all that was like grieving for a part of me that had died and maybe I was taking myself there unconsciously.

Decision to change – I woke up from a fug

Then as I said I made a decision to change – I knew I was losing my sanity as it was insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Was there an aha moment – sadly I had had a few, but choose to ignore them in 2012, 2013 but the one in 2014 was driving in the car from a part time job taken and just pulled over side of road and sobbed – I hated it. What did I want ? What was I going to do ? How was I going to make those changes? I was at a loss – but for the first time I woke up from a fug – a fog so deep set that I had just been living and not really doing anything more – I knew then that I wanted more but most of all I deserved more, my kids and hubby deserved more and they deserved the happy fun me the real me – the me they loved – but the I needed to get back to loving me and me then being able to really love them all back – love the world back – be me. So I drove home, sat hubby down – kids got into it all too lol – and they just told me to stop hurting myself and start doing what I loved.

Literally the next day – a friend from past asked me to do some work with her in local school and so it all began to change. I began to really see what changes I could make, what choices I have and what chances I have been given.

I started 2015 as I promised I would start it – making changes – positive changes.
I started with money , my love life/ marriage, my family, my business, my friends and through out them all myself. The most important one I often sadly forgot about or used to abuse.

Its Emotional – but good

Its been an emotional year so far – not all has gone smoothly but slowly but surely things are improving – and I know I am at the end of the year ie now also changing other negative behaviours re food and relationship to food and weight – which has just been thrown in there as well lol.

But most of all I am finding what makes me smile, laugh and enjoy life again – hormones don`t help but hey thats the joys of aging and being female …… and I cry alot – just getting it all out, trying to stop being that warrior woman getting angry annoyed, frustrated and so forth – adverts get me going, doesn`t have to take much – but its a source of huge fun in the house – who can get mum sobbing over daft things lol. But its ok –

I have been able to look more and more in the mirror over this year and put the pieces of me back together again – some good people have helped, some via business who are now good good close friends and others via knitting who are now getting more and more close as friends. Others I have let go and thats ok – my circle of friends is rather small but my networking of colleagues is rather large.

Hubby and me – getting on better, marriage sorted – we still have a few pings in the ring now and again – I am an aries and he is libra – says it all – me quick to react him slow burner – but we are 25 years married and 27 years together so I think holding our own.

Kids – I am blessed – nothing more needs said.

Business & BizMums Networking

Business – well thats on the improvement side – the Knitting Fairy has come out and proud, freelancing working away and its all just moving from strength to strength – even got into the finals of BizMums Awards – Creative Business 2015 – so not all bad then

So can stress kill you? Yes it bloody well can so why are you allowing it to.

Chronic stress over long long periods of time is a silent killer and often many cardiac deaths are caused by it all – please please do not allow this time little word get so much play time in your life and have the huge impact that it will do to you and those you love around you.

Take action now – do not live with regrets – I know I am not any longer allowing chronic stress to have a heart hold on me or my families lives – I want to be around for a rather long time, to spend time with my kids, see them into adult hood, their own families and be a grandparent. I want to spend time with my grumpy ole fella who I adore and want a retirement where we can be there for one another into old age.

Business wise – I no longer want to the have any regrets and my vision of big is now what I am talking about and wanting to put our there.

So don`t let stress kill you – don`t let chronic stress get a grip.

Mindset – Fixed or Not

Posted on 03.23.15 | Leave a Comment

Mindset – Fixed or Not

Mindset is a huge area and one that is growing in popularity and discussion – from looking at the Psychological theories behind it all – Fixed or Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck – author of the book – “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, she explains that people tend to have 1 of 2 basic perspectives about their own abilities and capacities. To looking at how Mindfulness and the area of positive thinking has and can influence your mindset and therefore direction of your focus.

There is a wealth of writings on the whole area of mindsets – Fixed or Not – Fixed or Growth Mindsets – and they are all fascinating and illuminating for a coach to use and discuss when working with a client in a coaching session.

Mindset is important when looking at motivation, interest to grow and learn, resilience and ability to progress forward – for me its about working with you, the client, on what gets you going – whether than be in your personal life or business – as quite frankly its crosses over both.

Understanding your mindset and how you tick is vital – getting an understanding of critical reflective thinking about what you do, how you do it, what you can learn from it and what will do next from that learning that for me leads to people being successful, progressive and developmental irregardless of their personal life or business/ professional life.

Understanding your mindset also works with you on your confidence and self esteem – as a coach working with clients over the years it is in this area that I often see the greatest changes and from those changes in confidence and self esteem, those clients then making huge changes, taking great risks, becoming more successful, gaining in deeper and greater happiness and moving closer and closer to achieving their dreams, ambitions and life time goals.

I like to use this illustration – are you part of the 98% of the population – fixed and stuck in many cases – firmly and solidly fixed in your comfort zone and reluctant to venture out.

Or are you part of the 2% of the population – choosing happiness, looking for opportunities and growth of experiences and abilities, learning from those around you, liking change and getting the most out of life.

This does not mean that if you feel you might “fit” into the 98% of the population mindset, that you can not change.

C Dweck 2 mindsets of Fixed or Growth – (she claims that naturally about 40% of us are Growth Mindset and 40% Fixed Mindset and that the remaining 20% are a mixture of each) – but can we change, can we develop and move our mindsets – of course we can.

Thats what you do in coaching sessions – working with a coach to challenge the negative, comfort zone and fixed mindset – looking at designing and creating a more positive, confident and growth mindset – supporting you, the client, towards transformational change and long lasting transformational change.

But getting to grips with understanding mindset is key – its the key to changing, its the key to unlocking your potential and its the key to gaining long lasting transformational change – its just then about whether you really want it or not, whether you want to be in the 2% of the population or part of the 98% of the population.

Call me for a phone consultation – 07887653817 – to discuss your transformation and change of mindset

Email me – sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk – to arrange a 1:1 if local face to face , phone and skype options available also.

The Benefits of Coaching

Posted on 01.9.15 | Leave a Comment

The Benefits of Coaching

The Benefits of Coaching.

You need to know what the benefits of coaching are and will be when you work with me in our coaching sessions. But also the benefits of coaching need to be seen as an investment in YOU and that you deserve to have this invest – and these are the reasons why.

Increase your self – confidence
Gives you more motivation
Makes you more self – awareness and understanding
Gives you more clarity in making decisions, choices and judging situations
Allows you to have a more fulfilling life/work balance
Allows you to work on expanding your horizons
Supports you in lessening your stress
Gives you better skills for better communication skills
Supports you gaining better relationships
Supports you gain better health and well-being routines eg diet, exercise.
You feel supported and not alone as you work to achieve your goals
It gives you time to reflect on what is important to you and who you really aspire to be.

When you work with a coach – working as a coach in the way that I do with SLJ Coaching & Training Associates – you can focus on what is really important to you and start to look to shape your life to be more in line with your values. Working with me will provide you an effective structure to support you moving forward in significant areas of your life, including career, your business, personal growth, relationships, family, friends, health, education, work, spirituality, fun and recreation, and your physical environment.

When you work with me as a coach – I support and encourage you to be and take responsibility for the results you generate, ultimately you as everyone is responsible for your own life and the results they get.

When we work in this way and take responsibility for your own life, we have power and influence over it. We can then appreciate our own influence in situations and that we can choose between different possibilities.

When you work with me in this way it works, coaching works, because you are making the commitment to invest in yourself, with focused support to help you find clarity, self confidence and the motivation to continue and overcome barriers. Often we don`t really take the time to work out where we are going, what our lives are about, and what our values and goals are.

If you do not know what you are doing, or want to go, you are unable to focus or have ineffective habits that you are not fully aware of and that will hold us back.

Very often, we unconsciously or consciously resist change, because its easier and more comfortable to stay the way you are, even if it not what you truly want.

Working with me as a Coach helps you to overcome these barriers and make the changes you want, to step out of your comfort zone and test the waters of the stretch zone in a supportive and safe environment.

I empower and aspire you in my coaching for you to find your passion, your purpose and fulfil your full potential in your life and all the avenues of your life.

Sharon Jardine

Coach & Mentor

To be an Entrepreneur or Not?

Posted on 10.12.14 | Leave a Comment

To be an Entrepreneur or Not?

A Woman`s Journey. This is my journey – this woman`s journey of self discovery and business decisions.

At this present moment in time I am in a position of great change – physically, emotionally, mentally and in business – professionally. I have decided that over the next 6 – 12 months I am going to write about this journey that I am apparently on – my road, my journey as a woman 48 years of age and the turmoil, changes and decisions that I am going to make and why.

Why would you be interested? No idea at all other than I know from the bottom of my heart, gut, intuition, emotional intelligence that I am NOT the only one going through any of these issues, decisions, turmoil and changes.

You are more than welcome to join me on this journey as I am beginning today with something below that I read today of a friends page on becoming an entrepreneur and it being a daydream for millions of people.

Mine was a pipe dream of getting out and running my own business, being my own boss, answering to no one but me and making money that would make me feel good and be able to do all the things I have ever dreamed of doing.

You know already my journey in a sense began when had heart attack at 44 in October 2010, took Voluntary Severance from Public Sector job I had been doing for 20 years March 2011 and then had my heart operation April 2011 – this was the major changing point in my life – previously I had risked my health and life having kids – so then 12 years later to put it all at risk – for the stress that was coming from my job – well that was the biggest wake up call I could have had – BUT that is not the ending.

For me this was the beginning of turmoil, difficult decisions and lots of changes – some small and some so big that it has taken me a few years to come to terms with.

So today I am going to leave you with this information and article – scroll down and read away at it – my next blog I am going to respond to this and explain some of the turmoil , decisions and changes that I have had to make since 2011 to the present day and where I am to some degree presently at the moment.

I look forward to hearing any feedback you might want to offer – happy to discuss as I know this is not just happening for me but for many of us at the moment and its not always as black and white as people think – its not always as easy (I am sure none of us thought it ever was going to be easy lol) but we are hoping that it will give us the answers our outcome that we so desire.

Anyway this is the first of many of my blogs and ramblings and you are more than welcome to join me on those – my first change that I will be completing very shortly on my website and front page is a change to the pictures to more reflect who I am and what I am more about. So here we go – SLJ is finally finding its feet 🙂

Article to read and consider for our next discussion. This was an article in the BBC Business news page 12 February 2014 and the link is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26030270

Is being an entrepreneur a nightmare?

By Will Smale Business reporter, BBC News

Becoming an entrepreneur is a daydream for millions of people.

After all, starting your own company is an opportunity to become your own boss, chart your own destiny, and maybe make a fortune.

But is the reality always rosy, even if your business flourishes?

Here 10 successful entrepreneurs talk about the downsides of their jobs. It doesn’t sound easy.

Bye for now but let me know your thoughts.

Sharon

Guided Meditation In Coaching

Posted on 04.5.14 | Leave a Comment

Guided Meditation In Coaching

Guided Meditation in Coaching can bring about deeper and longer lasting positive change for the future – I can hear the deep breathes already even before I have started – REALLY – I hear you ask.

Well yes – I am finding that the more work I am doing with people keeps taking me back to an interest and passion I have always had around me to do with this side of my work. Meditation, relaxation, therapies that can sit with people to help them – getting to know yourself from the inside out – touching base with your inner person, inner self, inner goddess – who ever it might be – but touching base there and HEALING many of the deep rooted issues there, before moving on to becoming more successful personally and in career or business.

Using it to work on my self is so beneficial – the clouds or fog of confusion and lack of clarity are lifting and I believe I am in a better frame of mind, knowing and understanding of what it is I want, what my goals and ambitions are and also being more calm, more in control and greater enabled to become focused on HOW I am going to go about getting them.

Guided Meditation In Coaching don`t necessarily sit together in the purest of senses according to many – but for me I really think they do – not everyone is business savvy in how they approach things, many of my clients need space and time to work out what to focus on first and how to get the space to be able to do that.

Using Guided Meditation techniques in my Coaching sessions – where it is requested and agreed to – does just that – we spend a bit of the session focusing on the guided meditation and then discuss what the meditation brought about for them and decide on action plans for the future – goals can become clearer and focus is more defined and clarity is there as the client is less stressed, more relaxed and able to get to what they really want to focus on rather than it often getting jumbled up in the chaos and jabber that often surround many of us when trying to make changes in our lives. The inner self talk can be a powerful tool for good but it can also cause self doubt and sabotage on being able to get to where we want to go far too easily.

Hence why Guided Meditation & Coaching works for me with some of my clients – not all want to use it but its one that I use with increasing frequency.

Often primarily in the early days of the coaching relationship and then many clients go on to want just meditation sessions as it allows them space and time to focus on what they want for themselves and to learn to get better at it and hone the skill of meditation more.

What is Guided Meditation?

Guided meditation is when you are guided, by a narrator, to elicit a specific change in your life. You are first guided to relax your body and mind, to help you reach a deep meditative state before going on a journey, in your mind, to reach a specific goal.

As the brain does not distinguish between an imagined event and a real one, the experience you have with a guided meditation is just like having a real experience. This has an amazing effect on your life due to the way the brain works.

There are many studies that show that practicing something in your mind is almost as good as practicing it in real life.

The beauty of a guided meditation is that you can bring about change in your body by using your mind, and that means activating muscles, changing your biological state, and even changing the way the cells in your body work.

Pay attention! Here comes the science bit

I am often asked why guided meditation is so effective, so I would like to give you a little science behind guided meditation, and why it benefits you so much.

If you think of your mind as being an MP3 player, with hundreds of songs uploaded. All the songs on this MP3 player represent a program that dictates the way you think, act and behave in certain situations. These programs have been installed since your childhood and more added as you’ve aged.

So, for example if you were told, as a child that you were no good at maths, a program has been installed in your subconscious mind telling you that you’re no good at maths. Years later as an adult, someone asks you how to do a calculation for something, you quickly tell them ‘Oh, I don’t know I’m no good at maths.’ Your brain doesn’t even try the calculation as it takes it for granted that you’ll never be able to do it as you’re no good at maths.

The fascinating part about all of this is that the programs have not only been written and stored in the brain, but stored in the very cells of your body. The brain has literally created a path, a neural network, to coordinate your actions based on environmental factors, which speaks to the cells in your body.

If you stop to think about the implications of this for a second, you’ll realize that our genes do not determine who we are; it’s the images we create in our minds of ourselves that determine who we are.

We have thousands of programs written into our subconscious mind, and each program will determine how we think, act and behave in any given situation. The trouble is, it’s extremely difficult to change these programs without some type of way to access the subconscious mind to rewrite the programs, and make a new neural pathway that will communicate effectively with the cells and genes in our body.

Guided meditation has the power to reach your subconscious mind, by feeding it images, sounds, and directing your imagination to experience all your senses, thereby giving your brain an experience of what feels like a real experience. When you have a real experience new neural pathways are made that affect your whole body, so when you listen to a guided meditation from GuidedMind your are literally rewiring your brain to form new neural pathways for your future success.

So now looking at Guided Meditation and Coaching you can see how sort of `hot wiring` your brain to think differently will support you in your journey to make changes, working on your goals, action planning for the future and how in coaching, mentoring it is a great way and another tool in supporting you in that journey and ultimately getting your goals, desires, dreams, ambitions and all that you want to work towards success either personally, in business or career or performance in a job.

Contact me for more details – I will be running Guided Meditation workshops and sessions locally but sign up to my newsletter by contacting me on

sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk or sign up via contact on the website.

https://www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Be Your Own Life Coach

Posted on 03.4.14 | 1 Comment

Be your own Life Coach

Making and taking tough decisions is not always easy but starting with being your own Life Coach is vital.

Being focused on yourself is the most important point and the very beginning of any one persons journey – let me support you being your own Life Coach in this vital starting point for yourself and learn what I know will make long lasting changes, transformational changes, to you, both personally and professionally in your business or career for the future.

I will share with you over the coming weeks – case studies of where I have worked with real people such as you on making those changes and how working with me can do the same or similar for you.

But start with you – do some of the ground work yourself – get an interest in being your own Life Coach as well – start the changes now and realise that you matter and that you are that important.

Be your own Life Coach – I started doing exactly just that – hey who coaches coaches.

Fiona Harrold – be your own life coach.

http://Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams

This little book started such a huge change in my life – I had already been making and taking tough decisions on making long term changes in my career, setting up in business and also some in my personal life. But what this book did was open a window a fraction of space for me to see how much more work I needed to do ….. on ME – nothing else just ME.

I now follow Fiona`s work and coaching and I admire her approach as a Coach that I would like to emulate and role model. I have had the privilege of being on a coaching programme she ran in 2013 and this further galvanised me to refocus and get to know with greater depth and clarity what I really wanted for me and my future.

This small book started a domino effect of getting for myself my own coach – both looking at my business and myself on a personal basis and realising the impact this investment could have on all areas of my life – not just where I thought it would be in.

Thats why I highly recommend not just this book, but also starting with yourself – be your own life coach – if you do not see the benefit of it all, then it does not matter how many, or who or what you get coaching in and around either your business or personal – you will just be given tools but have no motivation, no interest or see no value or worth in those tools. Then they are just a waste of time, energy, finances and effort. Basically you will only go so far and will very quickly slip back into bad habits and unsuccessful ways of being, working and running your life or your business.

Mine in the early days was all about believing in myself, getting rid of self doubt and having self worth.

Recently I have gone back and re read Fiona Harrolds book as I have been following her on Facebook and also doing some webinars and coaching sessions with her as well – following on from all of this I actually took up an investment of a coaching programme with her and the benefits catapulted me forward in both my personal and also my business life.

I realised I needed to invest in me and to do that I needed not just a good coach but a great coach – one who I could connect with and that is what I got on that coaching programme. She has from this little book and me focusing on myself as being my own coach, me to realise that I could use all my skills, expertise and years of experience and be an excellent coach in turn to others who work alongside me. That is now what I offer from me just being my own Life Coach.

Now while coaching other people is not what everyone else is going to do – having a good coach is what everyone needs and that is now what I offer and I know that my clients receive. I will share with you over the coming blogs some of those case studies of clients and organisations I have worked with – how and where coaching has worked for them and why they see the worth and value to them of a Coach on both a personal and business level.

Coaching is about making and taking tough decisions – we often do not realise how much we sabotage ourselves and our businesses or potential for successful futures. So read this little gem and start the journey by being your own coach and enjoy.

www.facebook.com/sharonjardinecoachingandtrainingassociates

Twitter : @sharonjardine

Sharon Jardine – email : sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Posted on 01.26.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start – Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy – for me has become the greates learning curve both on a personal and a professional / business level. When I was in paid work as an employee all I wanted to do was earn more, get higher up the career ladder , get recognition for all that hard work that I was doing and get rewarded with something to show for it all.

When redundancy came around I found out how quickly 20 + years was actually worth in £ cash – and it was not that good – and despite all the years of working so hard and not being finanically rewarded for those extra hours, stress and dedication – my redundancy pay came down to purely length of service and payments made only on ratio of how Redundancy payment calculations are constructed – so this taught me a great and very powerful lesson I am determined never to repeat again – Know your worth and know what you are working for and why.

But this is not just about money as such – this New Year New You New Start part is around understanding Financial Literacy – in that I want to introduce you to the term and for you to ask the question – because believe me it will run across your personal and definitely into your business life – are you Financially Literate – do you understand money, your attitude to it and how you relate to money. If you do great x if you do not – then this is the final area but a vastly important area to get to grips with in this new year new you new start for 2014.

How hard do you work ? – do you work for money or do you make your money work for you?

Ok – so why should I want to be more financially literate – doh why not? I am not doing it for the money I hear you say – ok then here is a fact.

a. You will never be able to afford me as your coach – fact – I am a business and you pay me by the hour – I am not free.

b. You will never run a successful business and probably work exceptionally hard to earn money that you never hold on to and end up ultimately working too hard for too little money and never have the work / life balance you ever wanted in your life, owe out money all over the place and end up stressing over money all the time and ultimately always chasing money as you will never have enough. Your business will never be financially in a position for you to be able to leave it ie take holiday or take a break and you will always be in debt moving from crisis to crisis and financial worry to financial worry.

Phew that was alot …………… but do you get a picture forming here.

I am not going to talk to you in this blog about making money – NO – I want you to look at your understanding of your Attitude you have to money, about money, how it relates to you, how you see money and how you relate to money – that is about understanding what Financial Literacy is all about – for me and its here that I learnt huge valuable lessons over the past few years.

So lets start by asking the questions…..

What is your attitude to Money ? What were you told about money growing up? How was money referred to in your home by your parents, family and so forth – even your community?

Do you have patterns of money in your family, with you now ? ie are you in debt? how often do you get into debt? what is your attitude to debt?

When I use the word RICH – what image jumps out to you – these are the areas that I start to work on with you when we do our coaching sessions – working through this area allows you to understand how you manage money, see money, feel money, images of money, and your attitude to money – as they all relate to success – and not always around wealth and financial success.

Money is only one area we work on – success is not money alone but it may well be one area that you work on to ensure you have greater opportunity to get to the successful outcome or goal that you want. It has a part to play whether we like it or not it is part of the overall equation.

I will relate this to me and give you an example –

Took redundancy 2011 – at that time was in debt, mortgage, credit cards and loans – decided Redundancy would last about 2 years and I could take time out to get well after heart operation and might decide to get back into part time work later on. All my life I have been told – work hard get educated and get more money – well did all that and we still had a good wage but not vast wealth that I would have liked. I often said then – my job is my vocation money is not necessarily the main reason I work – well how right I was about that especially when it came to my company looking after me after all those years of extended loyality. When it came to it, all my worth was calculated in complete years that had worked for the company and nothing more – not the success that I had brought to that company, not the time putting in when did not get paid or get time back, nothing but years calculated to the least amount of money that they could pay me as possible – I was only ever referred to as a number – faceless and emotionless and purely fiancially driven. I totally understand it – but it taught me a valuable lesson in worth, value and my interpretation of where I put my value of me higher than the company put their value of me – plus despite being vocational / educational and working for development community etc it was still a business and businesses look at The Bottom Line – cost.

Less that 12 months later – still had credit cards, still had loans and needed to get into work asap – nothing financially had changed including how we spent as a couple with 2 people working on 2 good salaries. Reality check arrived and it was big – then decided after a crap attempt working for `friends` and being screwed over and going for a job in a large major supermarket chain for minimum wage and at last minute turning it down – to take leap of faith and started up SLJ Training – realised very quickly not the right environment for Training etc – so went back and retrained and learnt all I could around Coaching and Business Development. Took previous skills as a Senior Manager in Council and turned all those skills into business directed skills for Coaching and Business Coaching – plus add on qualified counsellor, managed staff and teams and budgets for 20 + years into skills I could harness in SLJ Coaching & Training Associates. But the biggest part of all the learning (and this was someone who has been in the education and educational / learning world for all my adult life ) was to learn about my attitude to money, what it meant to me, how I related to it and how it managed me in so many cases and not often in a positive way.

And rightly so you are saying – AND SO WHAT………..

What I did in the meantime was – read and learn, listen and talk to people who understood the business world and success – what I needed to do was also change – change me and change my attitude to money, how I earnt it, what I did with it and what I needed it for.

My ultimate goal (I have a few but start with this one) is to own a Villa in Turkey to be able to retire there or have a retirement home outside of UK in the sun – I want to do this by around 55 but as Mike retires from his salary job 58 will go for then – that gives me 10 years (11 actually) to do it in. Plus Retire from `working` life (not sure I ever will but ultimate goal.

This does not happen on fresh air – but I also have 2 teenage kids to school, head off to college, university and clothe, feed and sort as well in the meantime – basically without an income this will not happen.

In changing my mind set around Money and getting better and better at it – I am now making changes – I am no longer spending and I am looking at my spending patterns and how and what we need , we have little or no personal debt, credit cards are paid off, mortgage for house has been dealt with, we save at a higher level than ever before – I am more savvy with money and what I do for money and what includes how to go about making money. This in little over 2 years and even more so over the past 12 – 18 months.

My learning around money is improving and improved vastly – I know more and more about what I want money to do for me rather than previously working my ass off for money and still having nothing at end of month – rather than me just working for money – NOW money works for me.

I now know that for my Business to get better – for me to improve their and in my personal life I need to have assets not liabilities, I need to make money work for me not me killing myself working for money and I also need to be astute in what I do with my money – ultimately I can do more and give more and have a greater impact in my goals for my business and for me in starting up my business.

Thats the start of Financial Literacy – there are loads more but this is just a glimpse into what you do with me – not just dealing with light nice things but really delving in deep (not into your accounts – thats for you and your accountant) but about what you value money to be for your success or your journey towards success. What it means to you?

So if you are ready for the New Year New You New Start and learning about Financial Literacy – then contact me further and lets journey together – the more you understand yourself, your attitudes and what you want from life via personal goals and beyond the more you will be come successful in your business goals and life – goes without saying really as one is not separate from the other.

Money and Financial Literacy are not dirty words, but an area which is vast and getting a greater and better understanding of it and how you relate to it and work with it – can only make anything you do better – becoming Financially Literate is the ultimate part of the changes of New Year New You New Start for 2014.

Thank you for reading my musings over the past few weeks and I hope as we end January 2014 to hear from you, that you have enjoyed or gotten something from what I have been saying and might be interested in talking to me about being your coach for the future.

Best wishes and Keep in Touch

Sharon –

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

Posted on 01.19.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start – Goal Setting

Question I am going to start off with on our 3rd blog session in January 2014 – Do you set goals ? Do you write them down ? Today you are – WHY? because people who write down their goals are more likely to actually ACHIEVE their goals, targets, dreams, ambitions, desires – what ever you want to call them – writing them down is the starting point.

Over the last few blogs I focused on YOU – getting you ready and in the right frame of mind to – CHANGE – to make CHANGES – and be READY TO CHANGE.

Now we are focusing on GOAL SETTING – New Year, New You, New Start – is about making daily changes, putting in place good positive habits and SETTING GOALS.

Coaching or Mentoring for me is about this picture – I am your guide, your map reader to assist you in reading the road map that you need to set out, to guide you and show you what is possible for you – in your personal life, career, employability, weight, personal development and of course your business.

I will work with you to assist YOU to Determine WHAT you want and WHY you want it. I assist you to understand what is important, and what you need to do to achieve YOUR GOALS by GOAL SETTING.

BUT

this is where it gets exciting, interesting and challenging at times as well.

Now we begin to break down your Goals into steps, we design a plan , a plan of action and that is what I work with you on – this is where as your coach and mentor I do my job – working with you on transforming and making the transitions from having a dream into a reality.

This is the value of goal setting – making them Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant & Realistic but most important of all as well Time Bound.

This is now were YOU start to become SMART – and start taking the path or road map to achieving all your dreams and ambitions – in any or all avenues of your life.

Working with people – not clients or customers – but people – this is the most exciting part of my work – being with you and watching and working with you on your transformation and transition into achieving your goals.

Taking steps to make your goals happen is invaluable.

Make it happen today – take a pen or pencil, paper and start writing down what goals you want or what you want in your life, personal or business – why do you want them. What difference will it make to your life having them – write that down also, then write down what difference to you or your life is there in not having them – once you start thinking in this way you start to see changes – New Year New You New Start.

Now you need to start looking at it from this point of view and telling yourself – “I am going to achieve my goals, dreams and ambitions” and start with imagining or thinking that you have them already – what do you see, hear, feel – what does it look like for you – personal or business – if you had those goals already achieved, what difference would it make to your life.

Hold on to that image, hold onto those thoughts and now write down what you need to do to break the goal down further into steps – what steps do you need to take to get to that goal.

What blocks or barriers are there as obstacles that might stop you getting there – and then how are you going to over come them – what are you going to put in place to remove those blocks, barriers or obstacles.

See what you are doing! – slowly but surely you are setting out your ACTION PLAN in how to achieve your goals.

Most importantly of all – put dates to those actions, when are you going to start it and when are you going to do it – and of course when you need it finished or completed by – setting dates and even times to it – make it real – make them SMART.

Don`t use ambiguous words – give it all full details – the more details the better – an example = I want to lose weight – by end of year, well losing a kilo is still losing weight but you want to lost 10 kilos – so define it. I want to lose 10 kilos in weight and I want to lose 2 kilos each month, 1/2 kilo each week for the next 5 months or 20 weeks.

Another example: I want to make money – ok so you make £10 this week or this month – you still made money – or you can give it details :-

I want to change from having a 4 figure or 5 figure yearly salary and want to have a 6 figure yearly salary – ok so how you going to do that? My question would be next – what do you need to change or do to make that happen – do you need to learn new skills, better use of your money, your time, do you need to change jobs, do another job – what additional knowlege, skills, and abilities do you need to acquire to achieve your goal and how will you acquire them.

See whats happening here ! You are defining and refining your action plan – being specific – follow this and you will soon find that goals you have had become achievable.

Thats the coaching / mentor role to work with you on Goal Setting – Making an Action Plan to achieving those Goals – getting you to keep to the action points and ultimately working with you to get to where you want to go and achieving your goals.

So start now – get Goal Setting and enjoy your New Year, New You and New Start to 2014. Make it count.

New Year New You New Start – Your State of Mind

Posted on 01.18.14 | Leave a Comment

New Year New You New Start

Your State of Mind

Start the New You Now – sharing this link to not just Dr Wayne W Dyer but also the link to the website for the free 7 day programme of being able to listen to interviews, online films and articles.

https://www.facebook.com/drwaynedyer/

“Start the New You Now is available all weekend – all 7 days of conversations, yoga and the 7 movies are all available free starting right now – if you missed any of the life changing conversations or the movies this is your chance. I highly recommend My Greatest Teacher the movie on day 5 and The Shift movie on Day 6. If you have time I would also listen to Christiane Northrup’s interview on day 1.

enjoy the weekend – here is the link

http://www.hayhousenewyounow.com/listen/

If you have been listening and watching during the week please let others know what you think they should watch or listen to.”

Why not over this weekend take the time to look into it all. You will be so pleased that you have done so and I know you will all get so much more from it all.

Even if you are not full immersed in it all – you will take some thing away from it that will ultimately help you make your life better.

Your State of Mind – is all important in this all

Coaching that I do at SLJ Coaching and Training Associates uses many many techniques and approaches that help support your transitions in life, evaluate where you are currently to where you want to be or go ultimately in your personal and also your business.Looking at were the blocks and hurdles are and supporting you in finding you your solutions to those for ultimate success in your goals for life. I work with you on goal setting, getting the priorities right for you, setting them and then setting out your journey or development plan of how to go about going and achieving those goals.

I work with you on your State of Mind – looking at the New You and how those transformations can spill over into your personal life obviously and also your business life – as your whole approach to things will change.

Remember – what you put out there is what you get back – eg I sometimes feel overwhelmed with not enough hours in the day to do what I want to do – what happens = I never have enough hours in the day to do what I want to do and get frustrated and more and more overwhelmed.

What am I doing now? Shift in thoughts – Looking at my State of MInd – I plan what I need to do – breaking it down into smaller daily jobs in a more thoughtful way in order of priority and I allocate them the time I am able to – I started this only very recently in all areas personal and business and I feel now – instead of waking up and going omg I have too much to do today and not enough time. I wake up and go – ok I have 3 jobs that are needed to be done today – I will do them then and then tick them off the list, if they get finished then great if not then they are top priority list for tomorrow. My feelings of being overwhelmed are reduced and I feel more in control of what I can do and I am doing – and slowly but surely I am doing more as completing tasks rather than being overwhelmed and panicking and doing nothing as previously felt like a rabbit in the headlights stunned into being frozen.

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. -Lao Tzu = Your State of Mind

How wonderful are these words and for all of us so very true in our modern times from way back then – If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place – for me this has been the journey that I am walking on right this moment and have been journeying towards for some time – slowly but surely the pieces are falling into place as I am getting myself `correct in my mind` and now know that as that happens ` the rest of my life is falling into place`.

Small Daily Improvements are the key to staggering long term results – they are in deed very profound words – but often we start (as I have done so many times) in a rush of enthusiasm – lose weight, new business, new projects, decluttering , business adventures – and the list goes on – and then in days or even weeks its set to the side or you give up in frustration and feeling of being overwhelmed and disappointed – as it is not going the way you wanted or at the pace you need etc etc etc.

I often used to say – the Time is not right – what I was waiting for was often the Perfect time to do something – or if the project, idea or something that I was doing did not work out immediately in the perfect way that I planned – it was therefore a failure and stop – then panic and get upset, annoyed, overwhelmed, anxious and more and more frustrated – what I am now realising more and more in my work, my life and my business – is that there is no perfect time – my state of mind was that I wanted Perfectionism – and becasue nothing is ever that perfect or runs that smoothly ( we all wish) then I thought it was a failure and that I had failed – my State of Mind needed fixing.

Now I Think differently and therefore ACT differently – I am now making and have made huge changes in my thought processes, my thinking and this is truly being reflected in my personal and business life – I am ok now with it all and not waiting until the Time is Right – I am doing it Right Now and changing daily.

To keep progressing, you must learn, commit and do – learn, commit and do, and learn, commit, and do it all over and over again – Stephen R. Covey

Make those small daily improvements, change your thoughts, change your state of mind, learn how to do that, commit to doing that and keep doing them over and over again on a daily basis. Learn and commit to becoming in a New Year New You New Start.

Thank you for indulging me in my blogging – as I am learning along with you all also and for that I genuinely appreciate your time, patience and support. x Sharon x

email : sharonjardine@sljassociates.co.uk

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