A Little Inspiration

This is my desk right now where I am writing – and so it begins…

Well, it has been a while since I have written …. I have kept telling myself, “it’s because I’m so busy with other work”, “people won’t want to hear from me”, “I don’t want to contribute to the online durge of endless people writing stuff”, or, well, with a little more honesty I often think …. “It’s too risky to write – people might actually read it and judge it” Eeeesh….(!!)………..So I didn’t prioritise it….

…Until a client yesterday had a stern word with me at the end of our session – “you are doing a disservice by not sharing this stuff – not sharing widely that your coaching even exists. Why Joey? When you could be helping more people!” Ouch. Ok.

So…. without starting regular social media posts again I have decided to a go little more subtle – and balanced – and do a post here every 2 weeks, that I spend no longer than 20 minutes writing. Timed. Strictly. And only very minimal editing afterwards. Then press send. Job done.

I begin this today, taking all the inspiration from Robbie Swayle’s most useful book “How to Start When You’re Stuck“. It is part of a way of life that I aspire to and it goes like this: “If you start something and do it regularly – even for only 12 minutes each week – and keep doing it, after a few years you’ll have something – and it might be something magical.” And in honour of Robbie – well, I have just set a timer to 20 minutes – starting now!

My First Piece Written in 20 Minutes:

“Robbie is absolutely onto something – something pretty simple and obvious. In fact I seem to remember my Granny often saying “Little and Often” when I was learning anything new. Neuroscience research shows abundant evidence that in terms of learning and developing substantial change, smaller more regular chunks of the new activity, with ‘down time’ in between, will integrate our intellectual, emotional, and physical learning more successfully. 

In schools I have come across this as ‘spaced learning’ which I like – it allows for space, for your mind and brain to process. What Brené Brown calls “The Rumblings”. 

So, here I am putting that concept into practice with this blog. Because? I would like to become more consistent to create something bigger. And, also to explore some learning concepts myself, and in turn perhaps you (dear reader who might actually be reading (and judging) this!) can begin to explore too. And in turn, bring about change in yourself. I hope to grow a practice of being more methodical and steady. Creating any regular practice and finding a way of measuring it will support that process. Hence this writing. Thank you Robbie Swayle.

I also hope in every blog post there will be a juicy more helpful element for others as well as myself. And this may be it: Thinking about ‘little and often’ reminds me of another concept – ‘Small Wins’. Sometimes, if I have a day that feels more of a struggle I have found ‘small wins’ incredibly useful to shift into a more positive way of thinking. We tend not to think of the normal mundane things such as making breakfast, kids off to school content enough, and on time, doing a quick workout, calling that person, clearing away the washing – whatever! We so easily look into the future and focus on what we haven’t done yet, sometimes sending us into a blind panic at worst, and and best, taking on the day with stress and a long to do list. 

So this writing is also a way of celebrating the small wins: Just saying to yourself “yes, that’s a win” when you finish and clear away the breakfast, “yes, that’s a win’ when you see the kids off, “yes, that’s a win” when you got dressed or made the bed even! Notice the things you are doing. Instead of all the things you haven’t, and it can help you to seize the day with more confidence and a feeling of ability. 

And my timer just went off…… so I’ll write again in 2 weeks!”  

Oh – and I’ll add this to my “That’s a win” !

Thanks for reading guys, Joey 🙂

With all the difficulties that are happening right now in the world, if you know of anyone who could benefit from coaching, anywhere, I offer pro-bono coaching engagements with charities, or with those who need it as part of my practice. Please get in touch to talk it through.

If you’d like to read a few more of these, then please sign up at the very bottom of this webpage. And if you would like to experience coaching with me I always offer a free 1 hour coaching session, with no sales, just coaching. You can book it here.

Self-Compassion Creates Positive Impact in the World

Most people I work with aren’t just in a coaching process for themselves, but shine out with compassion and care for others, a deep need to make the world a better place. They’re working with me because in one way or another they are not managing to create the level of kind and positive impact they want to, because they are not feeling kind and positive about themselves.

And when you don’t feel good, confident, content with yourself, it is harder to do good, instil confidence, lead by example and create positive impact.

Over the years I’ve come to learn that in order to build a solid confidence in yourself – you need Self Compassion – and over the last month particularly – this has stood out to me loud and clear.


Isn’t it amazing how once you start noticing something, our unconscious starts to support us in our ‘noticing’ it – we see whatever that something is – everywhere! A type of car, a person, shoes, and idea – whatever it is. And in the last few weeks I have seen, heard and felt self-compassion all over the place. (Those of you who have worked with me know I refer to our Reticular Activating System and how it functions to make this process happen, you can find a good explanation of that experience here ) 

So, Self Compassion, it has not only been highlighted in my work with clients, but in articles I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to – and also within my own family and friends. Once you start listening to people speaking about themselves, it becomes acutely clear how people speak negatively about themselves habitually. It seems unarguably true that we have strong, long standing, solid inner critics. We berate ourselves – consistently beating ourselves up. 

I hear it, and, honestly, I do it too sometimes. Not many of us seem immune to this – in fact in European and Asian cultures I’ve been working in this month, it feels as though there is some kind of medal attached to making sure everyone knows that ‘don’t worry! we know our own faults!!’. We beat ourselves up, and vocally. And I have begun to understand that this is not for any negative intention, but mostly it appears to be because we think it will help us to improve. To get better, be better, do better. 

So, it’s good to ask yourself, does it really help? 

My answer is no: And here is an example of why. At the moment I am working with a primary school teacher who uses self flagellation to make sure she always keeps up, to make sure she does her absolute best, and that everything is done, her classes are ‘perfect’. Which if course they never are. So she beats herself up again, pointing out all she has done wrong to herself – because she wants to be perfect. Of course this pattern is prevalent in her personal life too, as a wife, mother, daughter, friend. Perfect. But the problem with perfect is it is never attainable. Never. Because it doesn’t exist. So she will always be berating herself, which makes her feel exhausted and never good enough – precisely because she’ll never feel good enough. And because she consistently knocks her own confidence she hasn’t actually improved in the way she wanted to. Which makes her agitated, annoyed, and not as kind and giving as fun as she wants to be! 

Perfect really is – the enemy of the good – because it doesn’t exist. 


The wonderful thing is though is that she is a teacher. And a kind, nurturing soul, who wants to give, and care for children as they grow up, equipping them with a quality education not only academically, but also emotionally and spiritually. SO, she fully understands that in order for a child to

flourish,

gain confidence,

self-belief,

and learn and succeed in school, a teacher needs to operate from a place of

love,

encouragement,

positive challenge,

patience,

highlighting the achievements….. and more!

It took her a little while but I think you just might be getting the point that she finally realised – Why on EARTH has she never done that for herself to bring the best out of herself? The best out of herself that can then go onto confidently serve and care for others.


In fact – Why on earth don’t we all do that?? 


The reasons behind it are multi-faceted and maybe we need to be understanding them – societal, family, media – but maybe we don’t need to understand them, maybe we just need to take action to become our own friend. 


Take a few minutes to answer this question: does my negative self talk really help me to improve? And see what comes up in your answer. Maybe you think sometimes it does. Sometimes it is useful to critique and learn from mistake – absolutely it is! But how do you do it? And what is the result?
And maybe your answer is, actually no. As a client of mine said of her own ‘inner critic’ – “actually it’s not kicking me up the bum, it’s kicking me down”.

Maybe we just need to start a practice of ‘noticing’ and being mindful of when we are not being kind to ourselves. When we are not being our own friend. You can then stop and ask yourself, what would a kind friend say to about this? Or, how can I reframe this to see the positive side?


I always offer a free coaching conversation as a gift, opening up a space for you to talk, and exploring how you can build a stronger more solid confidence and self-belief – and yes, maybe just be your own friend once in a while.


Have a wonderful Spring,

Joey  x

What our Kittens teach us about Love

Cute kitten time! We have kittens right now. And they bring so much love and fun (and poo) into our home. We all LOVE them no matter what they do.
It occurred to me this week that they are a wonderful example to us of ‘Level 3’ love.

…Let me explain:
In Human Needs Psychology 3 Levels of a relationship are specified:

Level 1 is where people in a relationship are focusing on what they need, and putting that first.

Level 2 is about an exchange. You believe it is fair that if you are fulfilling your partners needs, then yours should be fulfilled in return.

Level 3 is unconditional love – where you totally just know your partners needs are your needs. Not because it makes you a good person, not because they’ll love you in return – but because fulfilling your partners needs totally brightens every cell in your body. You just LOVE making them feel good – it makes you feel wonderful.
Level 3 comes with CONFIDENCE. Confidence in yourself, confidence that you are able to largely fulfil your own needs. Confidence in who you are. Confidence to love whole-heartedly.

I have never met a couple who stay at level 3 every minute of every day! But being aware of what level you are at is useful. Often couples mostly operate in Level 2, and dip into level 1. Understanding and then rising up and touching Level 3 – unconditional love – playing there regularly – it brings trust, commitment, love, intimacy, passion – and sustains a relationship like nothing else does.

Our cats miaow loudly and whinge, they scratch us – we love them. No matter what. Because to make them purr, cooch up with us and see them happy, it makes our hearts fill up with joy. And that’s what Level 3 is. I’m not saying I love my husband like I do a cat – obviously! But when we manage to reach and play in level 3 that’s the best times we have. THE BEST by far times. And in 21 years we definitely experienced all 3 levels!

If you’d like to have a conversation about how you might access Level 3 in your relationships more often (and it doesn’t need to only be in romantic relationships of course), then DM me or drop me an email. I always open a couple of free sessions every week. So you can get a flavour of what you can achieve embarking on a coaching process.

And I promise I won’t make you cuddle any cats!

Wondering what coaching with me is Like?

For some reason the concept of coaching is often a hard one to grasp. I like to explain it in 3 stages – gaining clarity on what you want to change, creating a strategy to make that change possible, and then becoming accountable for the changes – making them, and sticking to them with a coach in your corner every step of the way. This can be done from wherever you are, anytime.

Continue reading “Wondering what coaching with me is Like?”

‘Listening Within’ … a 5 minute daily practice

Well I have been meaning to actually write a blog post for some time now… and never quite found the time. In my own 5 minute practice the fact I hadn’t written anything yet, despite meaning to for months kept coming to me, like a little voice inside. Go on Joey, make time to write something! So I’ve listened to my intuition, and I made a space to do it …. ‘Listening Within’:

Continue reading “‘Listening Within’ … a 5 minute daily practice”