Today we have a guest blog from Dr. Samantha Sutton, a Senior Coach and the Director of Courses and Seminars at Handel Group Life Coaching. Samantha is the leader of our flagship workshop, Design Your Life Weekend. Please enjoy; I’ll be back next week! – Laurie
Many of us are stuck in one area of life or other: maybe we’re not taking the next step in our relationships, or are afraid of leaving our current job for something more unknown. What area are you stuck in right now?
The fire alarm went off when I was sitting in my local cafe the other day, and it struck me that we have a lot to learn about “being stuck” from observing how we behave in the face of a fire alarm. After all, don’t we often hear internal “fire alarms” that tell us that it’s time to change?
How we react to a fire alarm:
1) We don’t want to leave our comfortable seat.
Upon the first screeches of the fire alarm, I groaned. I was sitting in my nice comfy chair, a steaming peach rooibos tea beside me, and was mid-thought on the document I was writing. Get up now? But I don’t wanna!
2) We use others as an excuse.
Next, I looked around at the other people in the coffee shop, who were doing the same thing as I was. An unspoken agreement settled over the crowd: if you’re not moving, I don’t have to move either.
3) We reason that if we ignore it, maybe it’ll go away.
Enough said.
4) We hope someone else will fix it.
People began casting furtive glances at the baristas. Won’t you guys go do something? Can’t you see I want to enjoy my tea in peace?
5) We tolerate it.
Eventually, I settled into a “work with an annoying siren in the background” mode. I hummed a song under my breath to block out the noise. The student next to me put on his headphones. No reason to let an annoying siren ruin a comfortable gig.
Finally, I had to laugh at the absurdity of what I was doing. I left the cafe. I stepped out into the bright early-spring sun and felt the delicious quiet, with the faint sound of birds chirping. Why was I avoiding this so mightily? I couldn’t remember. Like the fire alarms in life, the world can be much more beautiful once we’ve left our comfy coffee shop chair.
What fire alarms are you currently ignoring in your life? Comment on this blog post. I would love to hear from you.
Love,
Samantha
http://samanthasuttonphd.com
P.S. Need help dealing with the fire alarms in your life? We have designed Design Your Life Weekend just for that reason. During this two-day, intensive workshop, you will work with our coaches to design where you want to go in your life, how you are holding yourself back, and develop an action plan to go get it. Our upcoming courses are:
* April 30-May 1 in Laguna Beach, CA
* June 4-5 in NYC
* June 25-26 in Boston
See our Life Coaching Workshops for details.
