Life Begins when you are ready to listen

FREE PREVIEW Introduction – A message from Mary Curran, Personal & Executive Coach I believe you are on this earth to excel and to move from great to brilliant in every aspect of your life. You are not here to bury your talents in the ground – you are here to acknowledge that each of us is born with the potential for greatness. The title of this book “Life begins when you are ready to listen” has been chosen for a reason. When you start to hear and own the messages within you, you see the gift life really is. Being open to hearing the many messages within you, is a critical part of developing your potential. My own experiences in coaching have taught me that many people have already received insights along the way as to what their life purpose is. Clients have told me that in the past they received messages from friends, family and people close to them, who pointed out what they were good at and where their unique gifts and talents lay. However, at the time they were not ready to listen and not open to these messages, and therefore could not act upon them. I ask you now to think about the various messages you have heard from people around you over the years, those well-intentioned words highlighting the natural gifts, talents, and abilities you possess, which are your unique selling points. Have you acted on these yet? Perhaps sometimes you were not ready to hear or listen to these messages. However, the day you do listen is the day your life truly begins to acknowledge your potential. As a Personal and Executive Coach, my purpose is to empower you to be brilliant. Within the coaching relationship I seek to move you from powerlessness to powerfulness by taking you on a journey to discover and develop your true potential. If at this moment you feel that you want more from life; want greater choices and have a yearning to reach your true potential, then this book is for you. Alternatively, if you feel down; feel you do not have any choices; that you are helpless; or if you are looking for a way out and hate what you are doing but have no clue what to do about your situation; or if you are in a relationship but feel you are not being true to yourself or the other person and life is hell, then this book is for you. PAGE 6. Living A Life In Alignment With Your Core And Personal Values Most of the time it is possible to live in accordance with our core and personal values but we are also human and therefore likely to make mistakes. For those who succeed in living in alignment with their values there is a great feeling of peace, integrity, and freedom in their lives. They mean what they say and they walk their own talk. Conversely, when you go against your value system, there is a feeling of internal failure. This goes deeper and is more harming to you because other people do not know about it, only you know about it and therefore only you can do something about it. There could be a situation where in your life you are settling “for less than,” by staying in a relationship you do not want to be in, simply because you value the financial situation higher than being in love. Placing a higher value on finance and security over love and happiness makes it impossible for you to leave this relationship. However, knowing that you put these values ahead of your own happiness will eat away at you with the result that over time, you may get very sick and even depressed if you fail to make a change. Sadly, for some people, their reality is that security is their highest value. They will not leave their relationship and risk losing this security no matter how unhappy they may become. In this instance, they move towards security as their highest value and move away from love and happiness. Consequently, they know they are just settling “for less than” rather than seeking to thrive and realize their full happiness and potential as a person. PAGE 37 Chapter Five Personal Responsibility – Taking Charge Of Your Life Personal responsibility means taking full responsibility for your life, for who is in your life and how you have ended up where you are today. Essentially it marks the point where you move away from the drama triangle of blaming everyone else for how your life is at this present moment. Personal responsibility affects every part of your life. Even if you are in control of your professional life but not your personal life, a niggling feeling will eat away at you. PAGE 52 Chapter Ten Career Coaching As a coach I guarantee to empower clients to achieve clarity around their career and to work towards new goals with conviction and action. I have many clients I like to work with but my preferred specialty is in career change. This is because I am passionate about this area, given my own personal experience of having changed career a few times. Generally, there are four types of clients who show up in relation to career change. 1. The Clients who are stuck in the “Comfort Zone” where the pain of the work they are doing equal the pleasure of the money they make which gives them a fulfilling life outside their work. The pain and pleasure are equal. 2. The Clients who hate their work, however love the physical environment. 3. The Clients who love their work, however hates the physical environment. 4. The Clients who like their work, however have a niggling feeling that they are not reaching their potential in what they do. PAGE 104