Waterfall Coaching Newsletter - July 2005
Welcome to the first issue of my email newsletter! My new brochure and
website (www.waterfallcoaching.com) are both available now - it's been a busy
time for me, as you can see! Some of you are new friends and colleagues, and some
of you are not-so-new, but I hope all of you will get something interesting and helpful
to you from reading this newsletter - feel free to forward it to anyone else who you think
might benefit. I plan to send out newsletters bi-monthly, so you can expect the next one
in September. It will include announcements, inspiring quotes (besides those on my
website), interesting links, plus an article on a topic relevant to midlife, Coaching, the
spiritual journey, etc. I am eager to hear your thoughts so please email me at
jbrown@waterfallcoaching.com. As my mother used to say, "we’re off to the races"!
Announcements/Links (ways to feed your mind, body and soul)
- National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine
(www.nicabm.org)
a great resource for trainings and annual conference: December 5 - 11,
2005, in Hilton Head, S.C., "The Psychology of Health, Immunity, and
Disease Conference"
restful, spiritual, informative, worth every nickel!
- Omega Institute (www.eomega.org)
a wonderful setting for all sorts of workshops and conferences on personal
growth, located in Rhinebeck, N.Y.
September 9 - 11, 2005 "Women and Power conference"
- WXPN radio (88.5 FM)
Music Festival - July 22 - 24, 2005
Camden, N.J.
- progressive, alternative music station from Univ. of PA
- for info: www.xpn.org
- 44th Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, Old Pool Farm, Upper Salford, PA
August 26 - 28, 2005
- lots of fun and frolic, whether you camp or not!
- for info: www.folkfest.org ; (800)556-FOLK
Links:
| www.fundraisingpins.com : |
the website of LisaBeth Weber, artist and folksinger,
where you can find gorgeous pins on political or personal
topics - please support her!
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| www.notinourname.net : |
a passionate organization, focused on the critical need for
all countries, especially the U.S., to wage peace.
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| www.whatthebleep.com : |
a site about the recent powerful film exploring the common
ground between quantum physics and human emotion -
fascinating! (DVD or VCR copy can be ordered via site)
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Inspiring quote:
"Take the first step in faith. You do not have to see the entire staircase
to take the first step." - Martin Luther King
"Pushing the Envelope on the Comfort Zone"
" Let's go."
"Yes, let's go."
(Stage direction: they do not move.)
last lines of Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett.
This exchange at the end of Beckett's play, between Estragon and Vladimir, is an elegant metaphor for examining one's Comfort Zone. Adapted from the writings of John-Roger and Peter McWilliams in Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts! , the Comfort Zone is defined as "our personal area of thoughts and actions within which we feel comfortable" (p.25).
The term originates from the heating-air conditioning industry, which cites 72' F. as the temperature at which neither heating nor cooling must operate (AKA the Dead Zone). The McWilliams brothers suggest that each of us constructs our own Comfort Zone boundaried on four sides by Fear, Guilt, Unworthiness, and Hurt Feelings, and that, to the extent to which we are not living our dreams, that Zone is probably contracting, unless we are consciously expanding it. Sounds like a rather tight fit, doesn't it?
This concept provides clear insight into many of us, who talk about our plans to do/go/change but who at the same time are stuck in the current mud puddle. The inclination to take action can be as paralyzing as it is familiar, often because the
way-we've-always-done-it is known and safe, vs. the "other" path, which can seem menacing and filled with potholes. Rather than "leap", we sit, just like Beckett’s characters, and the Comfort Zone gets tighter.
As with most things in life, there is good news and bad news about Comfort Zones.
The good news: it can be expanded! The energy we use to keep our Comfort Zone narrow can be harnessed, the emotion activated toward pushing those boundaries outward. The bad news: it takes a lot of work, requiring courage and imagination.
Fear, which is probably the toughest boundary to tackle, consists of worrying in advance, leading to inactivity, ignorance, lack of experience - which leads to more Fear, etc.
Oddly, there's an upside to Fear: it can sharpen our senses and keep us focused. Guilt, especially the habit-forming kind, is composed of blame and self-anger, but it can also spur us into making change. Unworthiness and Hurt Feelings can both be draining and destructive of relationships, but if we refuse to be discouraged by them, we can push out the boundaries and alter our beliefs about the world and our place in it. We can take action and get going again; we can remember to dream, to visualize success, to view hard times as a challenge, not a life sentence of pain. Woody Guthrie, a great American folk treasure, said that the purpose of singing folk tunes was "to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable" - Thanks to Woody, and the McWilliams brothers, for reminding us to "Get Off Our Buts!".
Well, Friends, that's it, for this month - hope you enjoyed the read! Let me hear from each of you, as we all travel along. See you in September!
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